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Cuisine in Melaka

KL SINGAPORE HIGH SPEED RAIL LINK BY 2020

Singapore, Malaysia to build rail link

From: AAP
February 19, 2013 4:17PM

SINGAPORE and Malaysia announced that they will build a high-speed rail link between the city-state and Kuala Lumpur with a target to complete it around 2020.

“This is a strategic development in bilateral relations that will dramatically improve the connectivity between Malaysia and Singapore,” said a statement issued after a meeting between Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak.

“It will usher in a new era of strong growth, prosperity and opportunities for both countries. It will facilitate seamless travel between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, enhance business linkages and bring the peoples of Malaysia and Singapore closer together.”

The statement said the two leaders tasked a joint ministerial committee to look into the details and implementation of the project.

Webmaster: Certainly good news for Malacca as well because the high speed rail link will come to Melaka. More tourists and Singaporeans will want to stay in Melaka. Bad news will be more expensive homes in Melaka. Singaporeans and KLites can commute from Melaka to Singapore in 1 hour or 45 minutes to KL.

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Cuisine in Melaka

NATIONAL ARCHIVES TO RECOVER PRE-1800 HISTORICAL RECORDS

National Archives to recover country’s pre-1800 historical records

Posted on October 31, 2012, Wednesday

MELAKA: The National Archives is on a mission to recover records on the country’s history dating back before the year 1800, of which many are currently kept in foreign countries, especially in India.

Its director-general Daresah Ismail said this effort could help to enlighten the people on the history during that era, as the historical records kept by the Naational Archives at the moment were mostly after the year 1800.

“We lack of historical records during the British, Dutch and Portugese colonial eras before 1800 because those records had been brought back by them.

“So the National Archives is now attempting to bring back copies of the records especially from India as it was a former administrative centre for the British,” she told reporters after attending an outreach programme at Saad Foundation College here, yesterday.

Daresah added that the oldest collection at the National Archives was on churches in Melaka during the Dutch colonial era in the 16th century as well as the birth and death registry of that time.

“We also have copies of documents from Japan which contained stories on Admiral Hang Tuah and the Melaka Malay Sultanate in the 1500s,” she said. — Bernama

WEBMASTER: IT WILL BE INTERESTING IF WE CAN GET A COPY OF SIR STAMFORD RAFFLES’S LETTER TO LORD MINTO APPEAL TO HIM TO STOP THE DESTRUCTION OF THE MALACCA A FAMOSA FORTRESS.

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Cuisine in Melaka

KAMPUNG HAILAM IN MELAKA

The Hainanese Village of Melaka

MyKampung 2012-10-09 16:53

The Hainanese people started to emigrate to Melaka about a century ago. Photo courtesy: Guang Ming Daily
1 of 8
Translated by WINNIE CHOOI
Guang Ming Daily

MELAKA — A translucent sunlight makes a perfect timing to explore Hang Tuah’s tomb with a wonderful setting of azure sea and blue sky. A complete journey should be accompanied with a search of the Qiongzhou accent omnipresent in the Hainanese Village as well as the unmistakable Hakka Dongjiang cuisine.

Tanjung Kling

Melaka is such a casual and romantic place where the beach could be reached within 30 minutes. One of the popular beaches in Melaka, Tanjung Kling is also the final resting place of national hero Hang Tuah.

Tanjung Kling is located about 10km northwest of the historic city. Along the road are rows of shophouses erected on reclaimed land with the coastline beyond. The beach is easily accessible with a short 10-minute drive from town. Its serene ambience makes it a perfect venue for leisure and recreational activities.

Kampung Hailam

Half way towards Tanjung Kling from the city centre, along the small road leading to Pantai Kundor is a milestone standing next to a shabby Malay shop house marking the entrance to “Hainanese Village, where environment is our common responsibility.”

Walking into the alley and not far away lies the sea followed by a few houses at one corner. Some 95% of residents living in the 9-acre Kampung Hailam are Hainanese, with only three Hokkien households.

During the West Han dynasty of China, the Hainanese people began emigrating to Southeast Asia. The Hainanese people started to come to Melaka about a hundred years ago. They came together to form a tiny fishing village rich in the Hainanese culture.

Fishing and cooking

There are about 50 households in the Hainanese Village leading a typically laid-back lifestyle in a strongly bonded society. However, due to the lack of development, most young villagers have moved to the city to make a living.

According to older villagers, their livelihood was mostly dependent on fishing during the colonial days. Many families here boil and dry the salt in their own compounds and almost every vacant plot of land in the village has been turned into salt fields. As fishing is the most primitive skills of the Hainanese people, many villagers have started to make fishing their main source of livelihood.

Records show that during the colonial days back in the 1950s, villagers quit fishing because of inconsistent income and became domestic helps for senior British officers in order to earn more lucrative incomes. In addition, the Hainanese were also known for their cooking skills and almost every Hainanese family has produced at least a chef serving at major restaurants worldwide.

Cherishing freedom

83-year-old villager Lin Jin Luan told Guang Ming Daily she had been living in the Hainanese Village for more than six decades ever since she was married to her husband and relocated here. She said majority of the fishermen in the village used to be Chinese but now there are more and more fishermen from other races.

Having grown accustomed to life by the sea, Lin said she would have problem adapting to the new life if she were to move away from the beach.

“How would you like to live in the city?” When confronted by the question from the Guang Ming Daily reporter, Lin replied, “Urban people lock themselves in the concrete cages; city living is not my cup of tea.

“I would never want to move into a bungalow even if I become rich one day. I would prefer to live by the beach and stare at the open sea.”

Lin’s daughter Yan Yu Zhuan, a maths teacher in the nearby SMK Bukit Rambai, chooses to remain in the tiny fishing village, unlike her contemporaries.

“If possible, I would like to continue living in the village.”

He Ping Hakka Restaurant

Hakka dishes are also known as Dongjiang dishes. Traditional Hakka food is characterised by its heavy taste and is somewhat salty, spiced and fatty. The saltiness is to prolong the preservation period of the food while fat provides the energy for Hakka people who used to be engaged in manual works, while spicy food stimulates the taste buds.

Located at Pantai Kundor about 10 minutes from Tanjung Kling and the Hainanese Village, the restaurant has been in operation for 15 years now. Among the Hakka specialties served are the abacus yam balls, pork with preserved vegetables, steamed duck and stewed bean curd.

Webmaster:

Kampung Hailam is also near to the Malacca Club Rotunda which is Malacca’s oldest club which was founded in 1890. Melaka Sailing Club used to be located near Kampung Hailam during the 1970s. Unfortunately, the sailing club is non-existent now.

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Cuisine in Melaka

MELAKA BABA NYONYA ACTOR DIES OF HEART ATTACK

Wednesday October 5, 2011

66-year-old Baba Nyonya actor Chee Hood Siong dies
By MICHAEL CHEANG
newsdesk@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia has lost one of her most beloved television icons. Chee Hood Siong, of the popular 1990s comedy Baba Nyonya, passed away on Sunday of a heart attack.

He was 66, and left behind wife Gladys Ong Keng Wah and two children.

Chee was best known for his role in TV1’s Baba Nyonya, in which he dressed in drag to play Ah Chim, a Peranakan woman together with his long-time partner Kenny Chan, who played “her” best friend Bibik Kim Neo.

The series is recognised by the Malaysian Book Of Records as the longest-running TV series in the country ever, lasting from the late 80s till 2000, with 509 episodes in total.

Chan, who now owns a restaurant called King’s Caf in Malacca, said that Chee would be sorely missed.

The pair of close friends had worked together in show business for more than 30 years.

“He was a very versatile actor. He could take on whatever role you gave him,” Chan said.

“We’ve gone through thick and thin and travelled all over the world together.”

The pair was most recently seen in the local box-office hit Nasi Lemak 2.0, directed by Namewee, in which he and Chee played a Baba and Nyonya couple who taught Namewee’s Chef Huang character how to make a good nasi lemak sambal paste.

Fred Chong, producer of Nasi Lemak 2.0, said it took him and Namewee two months to convince Chee and Chan to come out of retirement and appear in their movie.

“Uncle Chee had already retired, and did not want to do the show without Kenny. We finally convinced them to do it after they learnt about the message of social unity that we wanted to convey,” said Chong.

“When they finally came on the set, they were amazing! They had so much chemistry that only about 50% of their scenes and dialogue were scripted. The rest was done impromptu!”

According to Chan, Chee was initially reluctant to take the role because he did not want to act as a woman anymore.

“I had to convince him to take the role by becoming my husband instead!” he said.

“I was glad that we took part in that movie, but I am also sad that it was to be his last movie.”

Webmaster: Baba Chee and Baba Chan have promoted Peranakan culture and cuisine in Melaka and all over the world over the years. Sad that Baba Chee has passed on but his legacy lives in all of us, Malaccans. May he find Nirvana and our condolences to the family of Baba Chee.