GE13: Locals in Seri Kembangan deeply-rooted in their dialect and culture

The Star, Friday April 26, 2013

Story and photos by LIM CHIA YING
chiaying@thestar.com.my

Hidden gem: Food business in the Seri Kembangan New Village continue to thrive.

 

VENTURE into the Seri Kembangan New Village, and there is no mistaking which dialect group the locals belong to.

Senior folk to greet each other at coffeeshops with zhou mak kai (what are you doing?) and sit pau mau (have you eaten?).

Welcome to the predominantly Hakka area, where the people often launch into dialogues in their native tongue. From grocery stores, food stalls, wet market to car repair shops, the village is like one big family.

Hakka people, which is known as ke chia ren in Mandarin, historically means nomadic people who keep moving from one area to another, hence their ‘guest’-like culture which the word ke indicates.

“Hakka people are reputed to be loud talkers, because they used to sing and shout across the huge plantations they toiled,” said a Hakka colleague.

Hakkas are also renowned for their array of delicious dishes, and there is no shortage of that in the new village.

One such outlet is the Kien Kee Sup Pedas and Ayam Kampung, a no-frills outlet located not too far from the old morning wet market.

During a recent visit, the owner’s grandson Kelvin Sang said the shop was opened in 1999, and was patronised more by outsiders rather than the locals.

“Our signature dishes are lat thong (peppery soup), fah teu kai (chicken in dark soy sauce and fah teu wine) as well as yellow rice wine chicken.

“Everything is prepared and cooked fresh daily. I think the ingredients we use and the flavourful taste are what draw our customers,” said Sang, 22.

Speaking in Cantonese, he said it was not necessary to learn Hakka to trade in the area, as long as one could converse in Mandarin or Cantonese, which are widely spoken in the area.

Tasty treat: Lee preparing Hakka noodles using those made by Wong (pic, below).

 

Another famous Hakka dish is yong tau foo, which are vegetables stuffed with fish paste and (in the case of the Hakka version) pork.

The Leong Meng Fatt Hakka Yong Tau Foo shack in one of the roadside lanes has been around for more than 30 years, said its owner. They also serve paper-wrapped chicken, which is another Hakka delicacy.

For many Hakkas, though, what they miss is homemade Hakka noodles.

Former noodle seller Wong Kim Yen is one of the rare few who continues to make it from scratch, using flour, egg, oil and salt.

“Homemade Hakka noodles have become almost ‘extinct’ — a traditional trade gone because nobody really makes them now. From kneading the dough to letting it rest, the process is time-consuming and a test of your patience.

“Even in the new village, not many people, especially the younger generation, know this,” said Wong, who started making it more than five years ago in her home in Taman Universiti Indah.

She used to sell about 25kg of the noodles a day at her stall in Kuala Lumpur, but stopped last year due to time constraint.

Now, she only supplies the noodles, selling 4kg of it daily to a Hakka food stall owner.

“There is a marked difference between Wong’s homemade noodles and those that are mass-produced in a factory.

“Wong’s noodles are springier and do not have an alkaline taste,” said chef Ken Lee, 37, who runs the Chong Steam Fish Head and Hakka Food restaurant in Taman Universiti Indah.

Lee is a fourth-generation Hakka in the food trade. He aims to spread the goodness of the noodles and introduce other old-time specialty Hakka dishes to customers at his rented outlet, which opens from 4.30pm to midnight.

 

 

Driving through the new village, flags of various political parties can be seen flapping wildly in the wind. Yet one seems to have the feeling that most folks here are more concerned about going about their daily routine and businesses than get caught up in the election fever.

There might be the occasional coffeeshop talk among friends and families, but many chose to remain mum on their voting choice.

He felt that there was still an insufficient number of Chinese schools in the new village, especially since 90% of the population was Chinese.

Another woman, who declined to be named, felt that Pakatan Rakyat had done a fine job and said the people now voted based on party rather than candidate.

Senior citizen Choy Sai Chee, 75, did not hide who he was voting for though — adding that he had been voting for the same party all his life.

Serdang DAP candidate Ong Kian Ming has picked up basic Hakka greetings man sheong hau (good evening), which he now dishes out during his ceramah.

He would continue his speech in Mandarin, but not before apologising to the audience and saying he was trying his best to learn the dialect.

“If given a chance to serve, I pledge to be fluent in both Hakka and Mandarin. If I still can’t do it within the next five years, then voters are free to kick me out,” he said previously.

His opponent, Serdang Barisan Nasional candidate Datuk Yap Pian Hon, is a Hakka, as are his two other state seat candidates Chin Toong Kang (Seri Kembangan) and Dr Lai Kwong Choy (Balakong).

“It is a 90% Hakka town here, where people from nearby areas such as Sungai Besi and Serdang Baru were resettled by the British under the Malayan Emergency.

“Coincidentally then, the Hakka community had already existed. The British called it a new village but it was actually more like a detention camp,” said Yap.

Seri Kembangan’s DAP candidate Ean Yong Hian Wah is a Hakka and Balakong’s Ng Tien Chee a Hokkien. Ng also pointed out that there were two new villages in Balakong — the Balakong New Village, which was mainly Hakka, and the Batu 11 New Village, which is predominantly Hokkien.