Chapter 5: Personal Opinions of the Kampung

WONG SYE JIA

This time was a great experience for me in the kampung. This was my first time to experience and be involved in a Hari Raya celebration preparation. I got to know their culture and lifestyles. This was so enjoyable to relax and have fun in the kampung and you will experience something that you can’t get from the city.

We went to the kampung to cook with the aunties. We all cooperated and were divided into different groups and assigned with different task that was the food we were going to prepare for the celebration such as lemang, rendang ayam, rendang daging, dodol, ketupat, and many more. We got to know what the ingredients were and how to cook it. We experienced cutting onion, garlic, ginger, cleaning raw chicken, putting nasi pulut into the bamboo, how to make ketupat, how to cook dodol and rendang. The aunties and uncles were very friendly and patient to teach and guide us. At the same time, we had a chance to taste other Malay food like cakes and biscuits. I think that the traditional culture and food should be passed down to the future generation as it is a super nice one. This is awesome as multicultural people that are Malay, Chinese and Indian could work together and have fun together and this is unique in Malaysia. 

On the second day, we were all wearing traditional clothing like baju kurung, baju kebaya and punjabi suits. All dressed nicely and were excited for the celebration. It was the time we enjoyed all kinds of delicious Malay food. After that, we had a photography session with the villagers. At about noon, we went to visit one of the villagers. We ate, talked and laughed together. It was so much fun. Then, Ms Sharmila brought us to a hot spring and waterfall nearby. We also packed extra food from the kampung and had it after we swam. Additionally, we saw people were doing “korban” activities near there. They said the animal is sacrificed for the poor during this festival. 

In conclusion, I like to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri with my Malay friends. This is an ever sweet memory for me. I hope I can get a chance to join this celebration again. We got to know them and we understood people better and can live in a harmonious environment even though there are different cultures among us. The kampung house is a significant and unique house in Malaysia. I encourage that these have to be preserved as a unique identity and passed down to future generations, so that our younger generation has a chance to experience the beauty of the kampung. 

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CHEONG KAH YEAN

14^th and 15^th October were the days we visited the kampung again and celebrated Hari Raya with the folks. The first day we prepared food with the villagers in the Dewan Kampung, where the whole class was divided into few groups to cook different dishes, and our group was given the task of cooking beef rendang.

                We started our preparation once we reached and “salam” with the aunties there. First we prepared the spices for the rendang such as onions, garlic, ginger, etc. We had lots of fun during the preparation especially when we cut the onions into small slices. The onions made us “cry”. After lunch time, the spices and meat were prepared, and it was time to cook. We spent the whole afternoon cooking the rendang with the help of kampung people, and it was the most precious and memorable moment for me because it was special to experience the Malay culture.

                The second day was the Raya celebration day. We wore Malay traditional costume and enjoyed various mouth-watering Malay cuisines such as dodol, lemang, ketupat, etc, and also the beef rendang cooked by us. We chatted with kampung folks and took photographs after the meal, and we had a lot of fun there before we departed to Kuala Lumpur.

                The kampung is a traditional yet beautiful place. There’s no place like the kampung which is full of not only Malay culture, but also the Malaysian culture. It should remain traditional and not be modernized like the rest of Malaysia. Thus kampung is definitely a significant identity of Malaysian architecture.

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SHERILYN KEE EN EN

It definitely was a wonderful moment when we got to celebrate Raya Aidiladha with the villagers of Kampung Dusun Tua, although it wasn't the main Hari Raya celebration. We were cooking most of the time on the first day, while on the second day, it was mostly eating and chatting, getting to know one another and making unforgettable ties. This experience will stick with me for a very long time as it was a very meaningful event, not only because of the celebration, but because I grew closer to my course-mates in the process.

As we are approaching the end of our third semester together, it is unavoidable to reflect back on the things that happened a year and the half ago- how we met, how we grew closer (and further apart too) with each other, how we became even closer friends through all the arguments and disagreements we had. All these things make me sit back and thank God for putting me where I am and for making my path cross with my friends'.

Coming back to the kampung topic. In my opinion, the kampung should not be modernized like the rest of Malaysia. This is because the kampung is a heritage that one can only find in Malaysia, and the act of modernizing the kampung will only waste the efforts of certain bodies that have fought hard to keep it as it is. Besides, modernizing the kampung will force the villagers to adapt to a new modern lifestyle, which cannot be compared to their simple lifestyles. Who likes to adapt to a new environment in a blink of an eye? Well, if no one does, I believe the villagers wouldn't too. So, in short, I strongly thing that the kampung should remain traditional as it is already now.

Personally, I do think that the kampung is a significant identity of the Malaysian architecture. The fact that a kampung was introduced and built by uneducated people in the past shows that even without education, there is still the God-given creativity possessed by humans to come up with such a magnificent architecture. I believe that the structures and construction methods of the kampung have been adopted into many of the buildings we see now in Malaysia. 

To throw away this identity for the sake of modernization would be a selfish act not only towards this country, but also towards the younger generation of this land. Just as I have never experienced a kampung lifestyle until this trip, I would really like my kids to be able to experience what I experienced, in the future. I do not want the younger generation to be naive and take things for granted, like the IT generation now. In a nutshell, the kampung is a very precious heritage that should be kept for as long as possible.

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YASSAMIN GHAZWAN

The experience gained was mainly about the traditional Malay buildings and the rituals of the kampung people living there. We've been inside a traditional Malay house and we were introduced to the materials of the building, the type of furniture used in the house, the ways of adapting to the climate and some of their daily life activities. Later on, the kampung people were very generous by sharing their Hari Raya Haji celebration with us, with the Raya celebration details from wearing traditional clothes to preparing the special Raya food and seeing some part of Raya gatherings in the kampong.

The kampung should remain traditional since it is one of the richest parts of Malaysia’s heritage and history. One of the reasons which make it so is the adaptation of the house to the weather and climate generally. The houses at the kampong use natural ventilation inside the house with no harm or effect to the environment. It is considered affordable for poor people as it is constructed from low cost materials and less worker compared to the modern city building.

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LIEW EE LYN

On the 14^th and 15^th of October, our class went for a trip to a kampung at Hulu Langat. This was a great experience in my life and it was my first time being involved in the whole Hari Raya celebration preparation.

On the first day, when we reached, we met the mak cik. She was so kind and friendly and waited for us in front of the house to invite us. After entering the house, our whole class was informed to divide into a few groups to help out the mak cik for the ingredients preparation. We cooked with the mak cik, learned her special dishes, chatted and shared together. From there we knew more about the Hari Raya celebration. Hari raya Aidilfitri is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims and is the day that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of dawn-to-sunset fasting. It is considered one of the most important celebrations for muslims, the other being Hari Raya Haji- the festival of Abraham’s sacrifice. And in their culture for the Hari Raya celebration day they will go to the mosque pray early in the morning and visit relatives and friends to feast on traditional Malay delicacies like ketupat, rendang and lemang. In Malaysia, children are given token sums of money from their parents or elders. After completing the preparation of the ingredients we had lunch that was prepared by the mak cik. During the preparation for the whole day we knew more of their culture, religion and surely their recipes.

After joining the event, there was a total change of my stereotype of what they did during the Hari Raya celebration. It is mainly a the festival of Abraham’s sacrifice (korban), I witnessed the whole process, and we knew from Ms. Sharmila that the sacrifice is the offering of food, objects or the lives of animals to a higher purpose, in particular divine beings.

In conclusion, the kampung people in olden Malaysia lived very simple lives. Their houses were simple, they were made of wood built on timber stilts to avoid flood during heavy rainfall. They had no fences around them, these houses were built without a single nail. The kampung people use pre-cut holes and groves to fit the building elements together. The toilets and bathrooms were in the backyard, usually separated from the house. The water supply was from nearby stream or home dug well. Although the environment is poor than what we have in the city but still they live simpler and happiness than other city people can do, it is the beauty of kampung culture.