MALAYSIA

 

READ

The Rice Mother, by Rani Manicka, is a sweeping family saga, beginning in the early twentieth century and continuing into the twenty-first century. It’s the story of Lakshmi, who was born in Ceylon in 1916, beloved daughter of a woman who had married badly and who tries to do better by Lakshmi. She arranges fourteen-year-old Lakshmi’s marriage to a thirty-seven-year-old Malayan widower with two children, whom she believes to be a man of wealth and position. After the wedding, the groom, Ayah, takes Lakshmi back to Malaysia with him and she never sees her mother again.

When Lakshmi arrives at Ayah’s home, she learns how badly her mother had been deceived about Ayah’s circumstances. Nevertheless, she takes on the challenge of setting up housekeeping and improving their situation. Over the next several years, she is often pregnant, giving birth to six children by the time she is nineteen. While the family is not rich, they manage well enough, and the children have a fairly happy childhood.

However, everything changes on December 13, 1941, when the Japanese invade Malaysia. Murder, rape, and theft by the Japanese occupiers is rampant, and Malaysian families go to great lengths to hide their daughters. Some, like Lakshmi’s daughter Anna, have their hair cut short and are dressed in boys' clothing to hide the fact that they are girls. Others, such as Lakshmi’s uncommonly beautiful daughter Mohini, are hidden completely from the outside world.

The Japanese occupation lasts for more than three years, but the psychological and physical damage caused by the occupation stays with Lakshmi and her family forever. Their stories are collected on tape much later by Lakshmi’s granddaughter Dimple, and the book’s chapters are narrated by various family members at Dimple’s prompting.

Lakshmi is a strong woman, whom her son Sevenese refers to at one point as the “Rice Mother.” He tells Dimple that she is “the keeper of dreams. Look carefully, and you will see, she sits on her wooden throne, holding all our hopes and dreams in her strong hands, big and small, yours and mine. The years will not diminish her.” Yet even a matriarch as fierce as Lakshmi is unable to prevent the fates that await her children and grandchildren. 

The Rice Mother held my attention from beginning to end, despite the tragedies faced by all the characters. What a wild ride it was!

COOK

Many of the specific dishes mentioned in The Rice Mother were from Ceylon, where Lakshmi had spent her childhood. A couple of Malaysian desserts that made their way into the book – coconut cookies and Nyonya cake – sounded delicious, but required ingredients I couldn’t get and appeared to be more complex than my cooking skills would allow. So I searched the Internet and found a recipe at VeggieDesserts.com for laksa, a spicy soup made with vegetable broth and coconut milk, to which rice noodles, snow peas, mung bean sprouts, and baby corn are added. It sounded like it should taste better than it actually did – it was a bit on the bland side. I used low-sodium vegetable broth, but I think a little salt would have improved the flavor immensely.

 

GIVE

One effect of climate change throughout the world has been the decline in healthy coral reefs. These reefs are needed to provide food to countless numbers of marine species, and their loss could threaten the entire ocean food chain. On the GlobalGiving website, I found a project that would help protect the coral reefs on the Malaysian islands of Tioman, Mantanani, and the Mersing group.

According to the project description: “Coral reefs provide food source and employment for millions around the world, especially coastal communities. They act as an important carbon sink, which helps in our fight against climate change. Despite being ecologically and economically important, coral reefs are under increasing threats from human pressures such as overfishing, marine litter, sewage pollution, unsustainable tourist numbers, and coastal development. They also face natural threats from climage change and global warming.”

This project will provide funding that Reef Check Malaysia will use to “track and monitor the health of coral reefs at over 220 sites around Malaysia. Equipped with reliable data, we will develop reef management and conservation plans according to site specific needs. Recently damaged coral reef sites can be rehabilitated. Coral reefs that are affected by pollution can be addressed by promoting environment-friendly tourism practices. We will also advocate for policy changes to reduce human impacts in marine park areas.”

More information about this project is available at Protect Coral Reefs in Malaysia - GlobalGiving.

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