Winter Break

The one-month long winter break in Malaysia was a grand tour of home. In fact, I am telling my story in sub-stories of places and people I met.

Kuching
I did not return home straight. Instead, I spent 2 nights visiting my uncle in Kuching. I was very much jetlagged but was pulled into a carolling group in Kuching because my WYD mates were there. The night I joined them was focused on the poor in Kuching. 5 families in total and mostly single mums.

Bintulu
Home is home.

Longhouse
A relative died a tragic death in mini rapids in front of my father's longhouse which sits along the Rajang river. Attended the funeral after the body was found 4 days later. It was my first visit back to the Long Mejawah longhouse in 20 years and my first time witnessing a Kayan funeral. Kayan people, as I noted, bury their dead above the ground. The Maren (ruling class) used to bury them on top of the salong, a wooden pole that is usually 10 feet tall.

Sabah
My family and I put our family's new Toyata Hilux to the test by driving it to Kota Kinabalu. Christmas was spent on Manukan Island where we (except my mum) snorkelled to watch fish in the clear sea water. Also, we feasted on fresh seafood all the time. No place in Sarawak or even W. Msia can beat the seafood in Sabah. I claim I ate more prawns than in the past 1.5 years.

Grandparents in Sibu
Through the holiday, my mother pestered me to spend a night in Sibu to visit my grandparents. I dreaded the idea of taking a 3-hour bus ride down along the boring Bintulu-Sibu road so I spent a day transitting there on my way back. To my surprise and perhaps my grandparents surprise, I spent the whole day talking to my grandfather about his experiences as a civil servant. My grandfather spent most of years in the government as a clerk. He told me the story on how they moved from little towns to little towns as he was constantly transferred. My mother told us about their time in Sundar, a very rural pekan near the mouth of the Trusan river, near Limbang. My grandfamily has a particular fondest memory on this place because they were there during the fall of Limbang. My mother's story wasn't the most elaborate as she was only a little girl below 5 when the fiasco happened. I took the opportunity in Sibu to ask my grandfather on the family's experience. I can't tell everything here but I'll more than happy to tell you the story in the bar.

Basically, my grandfather organized the few civil servants stationed in Sundar to protect the little station from the pemberontak who took limbang for nearly a week. He told me how to distributed rifles to his colleagues, some who had never fired a shot before. Wives and children grouped together in the paddy warehouse or gudang padi and fortified themselves by walling the building with bags of rice. The British Royal Marines came to protect the town not long after that. They were joined by the Gurkhas. Despite without any higher education like we do, my grandfather was able to converse in limited English and acted as a translator to the British soldiers.

During the Sarawakian communist insurgency in the early 70s (kacau laban komunis), my grandfather worked for the Rajang Area Security Command (RASCOM) which was in charge in protecting the people of the communist terrorists living in the Sarawakian jungles. My grandfather's duty, in particular, was to convince the longhouse villagers to leave their longhouses and resettled to a completely near place. Among the longhouses that he dealt with was several ones in Ulu Tatau which were later resettle to Skuau, an area off Sibu.

Our conversation was interrupted when my grandma's kitchen tap broke and flooded the kitchen. We called a plumber after I realized that I cant fix it due to the broken nut. By the time we wanted to continue our day-long chat, I had to go to the airport.

KL
I visited my brother over the weekend before I flew back to the U.S. Met Daphne and Priscilla for lunch after not seeing them for quite sometime.

SINGAPORE!!