The Muslims Of Myanmar On Eid al-Adha 2017 In Kuala Lumpur – Part 1

Today is Eid al-Adha, an important Islamic Festival, I previously covered the famous street prayers conducted by Bangladeshi migrant workers at the Jalan Silang area. They have stopped congregating at the venue years ago. Being a regular street photographer at the Pasar Borong area in Selayang. I was tipped and invited by friendly residents. Knowing my interest, several well meaning workers invited me to sit in with them, even knowing I am not a Muslim. When I went there at 8am this morning, the road and sidewalk was already paved with mats and blue tarp – Malaysia’s landslide solution.
The community working in the wholesale market ans supporting shops are mostly Rohingya, Bangladeshis and an assortment of ethic Burmese Muslims who are undocumented migrants who had such hard life. Their journey to this country was fraught with dangers. They do not have access to workers rights, medical benefits, free education for their children as what a citizen.will get. They do not even have a mosque except a rented shopfloor above a Toto shop.
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Yet they are so commuted to their faith and I am touched by their devotion, humilty, faith.and friendly attitude to outsiders, My journey here was fraught with dangers too, With the 5 day long holiday weekend I nearly got the date mixed up and missed it. When I got home, my folder got deleted! To recover, I have the best software and recovering the expired registration key was a battle in itself. A long story for another day as every photographer will need it one day, Due to some fuckery of Windows, a folder went missing when I renamed it.

Here is a file that came back from death.

Panasonic GM-1, ISO 200, f5.6, 1/250 sec

#eid #prayers #religion #islam #sacrifice #selayang #myanmar #migrant

Tong Seng: The Last Truly Multi Racial Kopitiam

Majulah Singapura.

This is a 2010 picture I took inside Tong Seng coffee shop in Liang Seah Street in the Bugis area. It has since closed and one of the reasons cited was the difficulty in hiring help.

Rumour has it that property value appreciation resulted in the family making a tidy SGD 15 million selling the shop and retiring to The Bahamas.

It was the favourite halal certified Chinese kopitiam in Singapore. I always go there to eat the sliced fish soup, chicken rice and prawn mee whenever I was in Singapore. It tasted really good.

According to newspaper reports; on its last day which coincided with Hari Raya Haji in 2013, it decided to give free food to its many Muslim customers during lunch.

Unfortunately, everyone who has never eaten there before and the entire island rushed to the shop when they heard there was free food. Just like Malaysia lah.

The owners were forced to reserve the first three hours of free dinner for Malay customers only because they used to form the bulk of their customers.

Happy 50th National Day today (in 2015), Singapore.

Olympus E-PL1, ISO 1600, f3.5, 1/60 sec.

#singapore #singapura #majulahsingapura #sg50 #sg51

Shanmuga in Berkeley

Shanmuga in Berkeley.

The best nasi lemak used to be from Shanmuga in Taman Berkeley in Klang. Served hot in a banana leaf and old newspaper wrapped packet, it goes very well with their crispy fried chicken and iced milk tea. With so many gangsters in town, I was surprised no epic fights broke out at the narrow open space car park jammed full of double parkers.

I was also nervous and hoped I don’t see an abandoned and lost dog in the surroundings. Some Klang people are sick people with a fetish for owning a Siberian Husky in our warm tropical climate. They don’t take care of them and the poor dogs end up with yellowish and untidy coat. To make matters worse, they like to bring the dogs out with them in their cars. They lose the dogs and make no effort in finding them. I personally know such irresponsible and callous owners from Klang.

#shanmuga #klang #husky #nasilemak #tamanberkely #tamanengann

Rise And Shine

Not to spook some people who use the idiom regularly, it of biblical origin. This may surprise some sensitive Muslim friends who use it innocently and regularly. “Rise” means to get up and “shine” in its normal context meaning to “wake up. act lively and do well” at least, without digging deeper. I used to think it is a soldier’s command. Rise and shine your boots. The internet kills the romantic notions.

The earliest use of ‘rise and shine’ in print allude to a biblical reference, in Isaiah 60:1. King James Version, 1611, gives that as: Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
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~ the Phrase Finder http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/303000.html

Just Another Causeway Sunrise.

Too lazy to drive out to Desaru coast for the sunrise view in the morning. Even in JB city, I had to leave my hotel at 5:30 am to scout for an ideal location east of the causeway.

By line of sight, here’s looking across the Johor Straits through to Admiralty Road on Singapore island, to Sebana Cove on the eastern gulf and onwards to the South China Sea.

Olympus OM-D, ISO 200, f8, 1/400 sec.

#sunrise #landscape #morning #dawn #clouds #causeway #straits #johor #jb #singapore #olympus