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Page 11
 
 
 
 

HERE I AM IN HOSPITAL WITH A BROKEN ANKLE, A VICTIM OF PENANG'S DIRTY HABITS

How did it happen?

I had walked down to the rubbish chute room below my flat with my waste bag when I slipped on some muck. I couldn't stand up and knew then that something had happened to my foot. I crawled back up to the phone. It was late evening, and lucky for me my friend was home and she rushed me to hospital in her car

Some of my fellow residents simply throw their rubbish on the floor instead of into the chute. Not knowing the floor had become treacherous and slippery, it being late evening, I had stepped on the muck and slipped. 

It was midnight before my turn came for an X-ray. Two very pleasant and kind persons, probably the ones who X-rayed me told me that my ankle was broken. I would have to wait to see the doctor

I had no idea the hospital was so busy; the queue was a long one. Some became desperate. One man got angry and tried to jump the queue. He argued with the guard who asked one of the waiting ladies to show him her card: it was number 100. The lady told him she was also waiting to see the doctor; she had two children with her. I can't afford the private hospital, she told me.
 

I wait and wait. I wished motor cyclists were more careful. They kept coming in with head injuries. I thought their helmets would protect them; or perhaps they were not wearing them the right way? And the broken legs too kept coming in

Casualty ward is not an ordinary ward; it is meant to be a quick-in quick-out place but nowadays it is overwhelmed by large queues and the inevitable delays and long hours of waiting and waiting. It is simply not equipped with equipment that an ordinary ward is. But this I was to learn later. Then I was angry at the conditions. For example, there were  no bed pans. The girl next to me with a crushed foot wanted to pee and someone said she could try use a chair to go to the toilet! In the end some good hearted nurse went hunting and found a wheel chair for her. But anger soon gives way to impatience, and after many hours to an acceptance of things as they are. 

Day 5

My "any time now" goes into Day 5. I am starving and the only food I have had has been Milo with a bite at biscuits. It is night and finally they take me in for the operation and I come out in the early hours of Day 6

Day 8

I am free at last. My friend comes to take me home. There is confusion about whom to pay for what. We discover that you no longer pay the hospital for all the services because there are private companies supplying medicine, medical supplies and services. It was confusing and we only cleared it up on Day 9, having learnt who and where to pay to

And now I shall have to learn to move about on crutches

____________________________
 

Malacca Babas were descended from the co-habitation/marriages between Male Chinese and Malay women as well as those from Sumatra (not necessarily Muslim). The same maybe said of  Penang Babas except that Penang Babas also had Siamese or Burmese spouses all of whom were later worshipped as tok nenek on All Souls Day. Until about 50 years ago, Penang Nyonyas in general knew who their tok nenek were in terms of ethnicity. This was to ensure that those who had Malay tok nenek avoided using pork as an offering

Source: Prof Dato Khoo Kay Khim:" Tracing Baba and Nyonya Heritage" The Star newspaper 14.12.1997

Slaves from Nias, Bali, Java, Toba, Karo and elsewhere form the archipelago were sold in Penang and in the main were bought by wealthy Chinese merchants. They became the ancestors of the Baba and Nyonya (Cina Peranakan)

Source: Abstract of a talk by Abdur-Razzaq Lubis, Malaysian representative of the Sumatra Heritage Trust. Penang Heritage Trust newsletter Issue 69, August-September 2000

I talked to an 80 year old man who says that after stools and mats had been arranged the story teller would light one joss stick and tell the tale. After each joss stick we would pass a coconut shell around to collect his "fees". I myself remember hearing Sam Kok (The Three Kingdoms) stories in Cantonese and paying one cent per joss stick story

Chai Kai Wooi
Telok Anson
 

Reference "The Butterfly Lovers at the Dewan Sri Pinang" by Dr Ghulam-Sawar Yousof in The Penang File issue 7 anent "Bangsawan Origins and Development".

In Paragraph 4, he mentions that "The first Pesta Pulau Pinang in 1970, saw a revival of Bangsawan in the Old Town Hall at the Esplanade...."

The first Pesta Pulau Pinang was actually in 1966 (I know this because I was the Organising Secretary.), and the Bangsawan was staged on 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th December at the St. Xavier's Institution Hall.

Khoo Heng Choon
Penang