NST Online: StreetsJohor
NST Online: StreetsJohor |
| Posted: 29 Aug 2011 10:22 AM PDT 2011/08/29 After a month of fasting, Muslims in Johor celebrate the arrival of Syawal by strengthening ties with family and friends THE Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration in Johor is a much-cherished festivity that is celebrated the end of Ramadan. It is an opportunity for family and friends to come together and seek forgiveness from each other.
The merriment of Hari Raya can be felt weeks ahead of the big day. In the days following the advent of Hari Raya, families are busy making preparations and shopping for baju Melayu, baju kurung, other clothes and shoes.
In kitchens, women, and a few men, toil away baking cookies and cakes; while the postmen sort out thousands of greeting cards. In Johor Baru, a sure sign of Aidilfitri is when shopping malls like Plaza Angsana gets even more crowded as the celebration draws closer.
Plaza Angsana is known as a one-stop centre for Hari Raya shopping. It has everything one needs for Hari Raya such as baju Melayu, baju kurung and baju kebaya to trendy ladies' and men's attire. The mall also sells ketupat, lemang, traditional kuih, pineapple tarts and crackers such as the crunchy rempeyek. Although such delicacies produced in factories are easily available, there are those who prefer to buy homemade cookies and kuih. Maizatul Jaffar, 40, has transformed her passion for making cookies into a thriving business during festive seasons. The former secretary to ex-Tanjung Puteri state assemblyman, Mohamad Kasbi, had to learn to bake cookies when she was 10 years old because her family could not afford to buy ready-made ones. "My mother, Rajiah Muin, would buy the ingredients and asked me and my siblings to bake the cookies. She said if we wanted kuih raya, we had to make them ourselves. "My siblings were not much help as I often ended up finishing what they started. "That was how I learned to bake, and now I have a business supplying cookies and cakes," said Maizatul, who sells 30 types of cookies, and four types of kek lapis. Because of the nature of her business, Maizatul has her hands full even during the first few days of Raya. "Some of my suppliers drop by during the first day of Raya to collect their payment, while traders who sell my cookies come to pay me. It is business as usual for me during Raya. I only visit my relatives a week later." However, Maizatul keeps to the tradition of performing solat sunat Aidilfitri and visits the graves of loved ones on the morning of Raya. Maizatul also fulfills her obligation by paying the annual zakat fitrah or tithe which Muslims must pay before performing solat sunat Aidilfitri. "I join my siblings and their children to pray at the Kampung Melayu Majidee mosque. We then visit my late father's grave before returning home for meal of ketupat and rendang." It is after this meal that families such as Maizatul's gather to shake hands and ask for forgiveness from each other. Children gleefully receive duit raya after kissing the hands of the elderly. It is common to see children in villages going from house-to-house in groups to beraya and collect as much duit raya as possible. Maizatul's niece, Fatin Shafiqa Mahadi, 21, is still receives duit raya from her parents because she is not working. However, the diploma in physiotherapy student knows that receiving money is not what Hari Raya is all about. For her, it is about strengthening family ties and getting together with relatives. "My family and I spend the first two days of Raya at my aunt's place in Batu Pahat. We visit my grandparents' grave in the morning and all my relatives will adjourn to my aunt's for a family gathering." Aishah Kamal, 21, who celebrates Hari Raya in Kampung Melayu Majidee, close to the heart of Johor Baru, has a slightly different way of ushering the first day of Syawal. The civil engineering diploma student meets up with friends during her open-house visits and they proceed to the cineplex in town to catch a movie. "Unlike other people, my family does not balik kampung as our relatives all live close-by. "We celebrate Raya in the city. After visiting some open houses, my friends and I love to go downtown to do some shopping or catch a movie. "You could say it is the city slicker way of celebrating Hari Raya," said Aishah. Meanwhile, Singaporean Ariffin Ahmad, 32, who was doing his Raya shopping in Johor Baru, said he visits relatives in Johor Baru and Air Hitam during the first week of the Aidilfitri. "I make it a point to visit my uncle in Johor Baru and my aunt in Air Hitam during the Raya season. They are both Singaporeans who married locals and now live in Johor." |
| Hold on, I can smell a toilet a mile away Posted: 29 Aug 2011 09:53 AM PDT 2011/08/29 THE last time I wrote for this page, I spoke about cleanliness at Ramadan bazaars and how the lack of it could affect our health. Now I want to touch on something a bit more nauseating -- filthy toilets. Those of you tucking into kuih raya at this time may want to put it down as the subject matter is quite gross. We have seen them at one time or another. The stench emitting from these dirty toilets are enough to put off any sane person.
But what if we are faced with only one available toilet such as when we visit a park? Recently, I followed a friend to the state National Registration Department (NRD) at Kompleks Kementerian Dalam Negeri, or Kompleks KDN in Taman Setia Tropika, Johor Baru.
The complex is relatively new, being in operation for less than a year. My visit on Aug 18 to the sleek new building was only my second. It was a shock to discover that the toilets on the ground floor of the main building were under repair.
To reach the facility, however, one had to get down the hill by walking down 17 steps, and traverse quite a bit of ground. If one was unsure of the way, one needed only to sniff to pick up the "scent". The stench led to the toilets, Two female workers were sitting outside, geared with with a barely filled bucket of water and toilet paper. I assume the items were for the users as the mobile toilets provided nothing in the way of sanitation. Hold it. No water? I have been to many mobile toilets in my lifetime, with some cleaner than others. The cleanest was the one I used during the F1 concert in downtown Singapore last year. Not only was there running water, there were many workers standing by to clean up after the users every few minutes or so. Now back to Kompleks KDN. The six mobile toilets may have been the worst I have ever seen. Not only did they stink, most of them were filled to the brim or overflowing with what could only be sewage. The floor was wet and covered in grime and stains that left little to the imagination. In one of the toilets, toilet paper was strewn all over. To be fair to the management of the complex, there was a big crowd the day of my visit. It was the final days before the Aug 21 deadline of the ministry's legalisation and amnesty exercise for foreign workers. The exercise, known as 6P, has resulted in thousands of foreigners lining up, and occasionally camping, outside immigration offices nationwide to settle their documentation issues. At Kompleks KDN, hundreds of foreign workers were queuing up or seated outside the state Immigration Department headquarters. However, the company assigned to upkeep the cleanliness of public toilets at the complex had failed to anticipate and cope with the influx of visitors. I am sure some system could have prevented the mobile toilets from ending up in such a deplorable state. It further saddened me when, a week later, I visited the KDN Kompleks to find the condition of the toilets pretty much the same. Although the huge crowds had disappeared, visitors were still required to use the mobile toilets as the complex toilets were still under repair. Even the worker stationed at the toilets felt sorry for the more squeamish visitors nauseated to the point of retching at the sight of the filthy toilet bowls. "Some of my co-workers fell sick after having to deal with the toilets every day," the worker said. I suppose the cleaners had tried their best to keep the toilets clean, but something must have gone went wrong along the way. Many visitors I saw shook their heads in disbelief upon opening the doors to the mobile toilets. Some walked away but others, like I, had to bear with it to answer nature's urgent call. The episode left its mark. I swear the stink stuck to me for several hours after that. One man accompanying his pregnant wife was disgusted by the lack of proper toilets. "I can't believe that such a new and modern building can be without decent toilets," he grumbled while he waited for his wife. |
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