Nasi Lemak 2.0

An Anthonian Baby Boomer was inspired to write a review of Nasi Lemak 2, in Chinese. It took another SPS, and a Banana to translate his work into English, see below for definition. In case we had interpreted inaccurately, will the author please forgive us.

从吉隆坡回来北马也快一个星期了(九月九日至十四日)！本来想在十日记述一下吉隆坡的婚宴，但是天不作美，整天豪雨，忙着洗车，洗衣和洗地。孤身寡人，做起事来，好像需要更多时间；虽然无人打扰，但是乏味无聊。昨天，花了三小时写了“外甥的婚宴”。辣死你妈2.0这一套戏，在九月八日就开始在全国隆重开演。很想先睹为快，可是还是压后观赏。

I came home after spending a week in Kuala Lumpur. I had intended to write about my nephew’s wedding dinner in Kuala Lumpur but was distracted by the bad weather, raining heavily all day. So I ended up washing my car, doing my laundry and cleaning the floor. Being alone, it seemed more time was needed to complete the chore; though there was nobody to distract me, I found the work was monotonous and boring. Yesterday, I managed to devote 3 hours writing up on the wedding.

“Nasi Lemak 2.0” is in the cinemas nationwide starting from the 8th of September. I was very keen to attend premiere but had to abort my plan.

九月十日清晨，带着轻快的脚步到附近的早市买东西时，发现整个安乐园已被雨水和河水泛滥，奇怪的是我住的这条路没有被淹及。相信是这条路尾端河边大水泵的功劳吧！庆幸毫雨转细，太阳也显露。过后我就和一位马来同事到他的黄梨园，采了好多粒黄梨回来。晚餐后，同我的好友去观赏黄明志(黄大侠)自导自演的处女创作电影。

It was early in the morning of 10^th September, while walking light heartedly to the nearby morning market that I realized that most of the whole housing estate was flooded by the swollen river. Strangely, the road along my house was not affected at all. I believed tthe huge water pump installed at the river bank towards the end of the road had saved us. Luckily, the rain had turned into a drizzle and the sun started to shine. So I decided to accompany a Malay colleague to his pineapple farm and came home later with some of the fruit. After dinner, I went out with another friend to catch the Namewee or Wee Meng Chee's maiden film which he created and directed and even acted in it.

我不是电影评论家，也从来没有写过影评。在这里，只是想追忆这部据说是支持一个大马概念的电影。黄明志是一个敢怒敢言，敢做敢当的热血爱国华裔大马人。他创写了很多歌曲，也创作了不少短片。我们可以在youtube看到他的杰作。他的一首NegaraKu Ku (鸟国家), 震醒了大众，惊动了巫统(UMNO)，激怒了“斯文又纯洁”文化部长Rais Yatim. 他的父亲曾向警局调查部求情，有些华人政治家和社会领袖也为他辩护，终于，在会见首相部部长Nasri之后，政府不再追究。 他也一举成名！

I am not a film commentator and I have never published any film commentary. I only wish here to recall what I believe is a film that explores the concept of 1Malaysia which has thus far been allowed to remain a fuzzy slogan. Namewee is a daring and outspoken patriotic Malaysian of Chinese origin. He has written many songs and created numerous videos. We can see his masterpieces in Youtube. His song “Negara Ku Ku: (country of birds) had awakened the public, shakened UMNO, and even angered the “polite and pure” Rais Yatim, the Minister of Information, Communication and Culture. Namewee’s father was pressured to plead with the authorities after several police reports were lodged against him by shallow minded political and non-governmental groups on the supposedly anti-government undertones of this song. A few Chinese politicians and community leaders were compelled to defend him. Eventually, after a meeting with Nazri, the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, the government stopped pursuing the case further and Namewee became famous overnight!

经过这场风波后，这个血气方干的台湾大学毕业生并没有退缩。为了正义，当然也为了饭碗，他再接再力的制作了他的第一部电影，辣死你妈2.0。。。。辣死你妈(NasiLemak)是椰酱饭。饭是以米加椰酱(最好加一些姜丝)煮成，然后加上另外煮调的辣料，可用江鱼，咸鱼，鲜鱼，虾，鸡和各种肉类。辣死你妈是又香又辣的食物，大马各民族都喜欢吃。我觉的黄明志以此片要大马各民族明了和睦相处的香 ，和感受到政府行政不公以及社会歪风的辣。。。

The energetic Taiwan graduate was not deterred by this stormy encounter. For the sake of justice and, of course, for his livelihood, he produced his first film “Nasi Lemak 2.0” …….Nasi Lemak (translated literally as "hot till your mother die") is coconut flavoured rice. It is cooked with coconut milk (and is best with slices of ginger thrown in), and then garnished with other cooked spicy ingredients such as ikan bilis (crispy anchovies), salted fish, fresh fish, prawns, chicken and other meats. Nasi lemak is a spicy and fragrant food enjoyed by all races in Malaysia. I feel that,Namewee hopes, via Nasi Lemak 2.0, to tease the various races in Malaysia into appreciating the “fragrance” of living in harmony and to feeling “hot” about our unhealthy society and bad government.

此片一开始，就看到一批游手好闲的非华裔年轻人明目张胆的抢劫一位华妇小贩，来来往往的行人看了也不伸出援手，好像不关己事，还是避免惹事上身，自讨苦吃。这时，一个小学生经过而看到了。他的脚前的地上，刚好有一

个空水罐。犹疑一阵后，他终于将它踢向那班流氓。被击中后，这班流氓便追逐这个小孩。在后巷追逐时，很多人都开后门看热闹，当小孩求救时，个个立刻关门息事，不给他进。看了会辣吗？这个小侠，就是长大后的黄大侠---黄明志(Namewee)咯！。。。。。。。

At the beginning of the show, a group of idle non-Chinese youths were seen openly robbing an ethnic Chinese lady hawker. Passersby did not give her a helping hand, acting as if that was none of their business. But then, a school boy happened on the scene. Hesitating for a while, he spied an empty can on the road and decided to kick it towards the rogues. It hit them. Annoyed, the rogues charged at the boy. They pursued him to a back lane where many people opened their back doors to gawk. When the boy screamed for help, the doors were closed on him. Won't anyone get not “hot” with this callous behaviour? This small hero grew up to be none other than Namewee.

片内有很多令人欢笑的情节，对话与歌曲中隐藏着特别讯息。这是一部好电影，有几首动听的歌曲。对我来说，最好听的是那首咖哩咧(Curry Neh!)，我是福建人。 我感受到黄大侠一面在推销辣死你妈，一面戴歌戴舞的骂人。(应该是骂政府吧！)。。.让我们一起吃Curry Neh! Kan Lin Neh! Kan Lin Neh!...........

There were many comical scenes in this film, the dialogues and songs had special hidden messages. This was a good film with a number of beautiful songs. To me, “Curry Neh” was the best song. I am Hokkien, I could feel that Namewee was not only selling “Nasi Lemak”, but he also sang and danced while 'bombarding' others. (aiming at the government, I presume!)….. Together let's eat Curry Neh! Kan Lin Neh! Kan Lin Neh!........

写到这里为止。读者最好亲自去戏院看。这部片的确值得看。有的人看了又看。还在等什么？快！赶紧去看辣死你妈2.0！

I will stop here. It is better for readers to catch the show in the cinema. This show is worth watching. There were people who watched the show more than once. What are you waiting for? Hurry up, go and watch “Nasi Lemak 2.0” NOW!

Definition

Chew Wah Yeong, Chee Sai Gnow and Khoo Joo Lee completed their secondary education at the St Anthony’s School in Telok Anson (since renamed asTeluk Intan) in 1967. While Wah Yeong and Sai Gnow had the benefit of primary education in Chinese, Joo Lee spent all his 11 school years in the same building that housed St. Anthony’s

A 'BANANA' is a Chinese Malaysian who, while conversant in at least one Chinese dialect, mostly Hokkien or Cantonese, is illiterate in Mandarin, speaks better in English and Bahasa Melayu and tends to be Anglo-centric, a kind of WOC (as distinguished from WOGs, the C standing for Chinaman) You can get other and "more generous" interpretations of a 'banana man' HERE

SPS (是或否, yes or no). This is what 'bananas' frequently hear those folks from the remove class utter after each sentence; thus they came to be identified as 'SPS'. Remove class is where students with vernacular primary education had to spend a year orientating themselves to the national medium of instruction (Bahasa Melayu and a sprinkling of English); this practice was stopped many years ago when it was found to be redundant.