Mahathir: No fish? Prawns will do!

Mariam Mokhtar, one of my fave writers, penned an interesting piece where she cleverly weaved the topic of Makan, and Malay idioms on Makan such as Makan darah. Makan diri. Makan gaji. Makan jalan. Makan rasuah. Makan suap. Makan tidor, the recent rendang saga, and corruption in Malaysia.

Naturally she attacked both Mahathir and Najib, but seems to biased me (wakakaka) at least, to be a wee light in her criticism on Mahathir, because Mariam believed the old bloke has been more repentant, wakakaka - I doubt it.

Anyway, an extract of her article sparks an idea in me to bring out an old Chinese saying (in Penang Hokkien of course) to share with you. The extract of her article follows:

The corruption destroying Malaysia is not an overnight phenomenon. The seeds were sown during the tenure of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, but the 93-year-old has admitted his mistakes and is willing to right his wrongs. That is no mean feat. A man, as arrogant as he, is willing to eat humble pie and work with his former adversaries, to save and rebuild Malaysia.

My dearest Mariam, vis-a-vis your take above, there is a Penang Hokkien saying which goes "Boe hoo, hare pun hoe".

And you would have noticed the immersed Malay word of 'pun' in that saying, which typifies many Penang Hokkien sayings as they are near-baba-nyonya.

That saying "Boe hoo, hare pun hoe" means "If there isn't any fish, prawns would do fine", implying the fish must be far more preferable and maybe more tasty and even more expensive than prawns. Thus we gather the prawns would be the less desired seafood than fish.

no fish? 

prawns will do 

The saying must have arose in the earlier days of my grandparents when fish were definitely far more expensive than ordinary prawns.

That saying sums up the dilemma of a desperate Mahathir who is only willing to eat humble pie and work with his former adversaries, not so much to save and rebuild Malaysia, but because he has no other significant (powerful) friends or allies. Maka, kalau ta'ada ikan, udang pun boleh (jadi).

If he couldn't marshal his old faithful (from the powerful UMNO) to his personal banner to serve his urgent needs, he thus seeks help from his political enemies, arch foes like Lim Kit Siang, Anwar Ibrahim and even Old Nick himself.

The Faustian Pact
Faust's pact with Mephisto (Old Nick)
Dealing with the Devil

And that's the sad story of a desperate old man.

By the by, Leviticus 11:10 regard prawns as non-kosher (haram).

In the Jewish Bible the full phrase on prawns is sheketz hame lachem, which means 'they shall be a detestable thing to you.'

'You' means the Jewish people.

The learned Jewish commentary on prawns was/is that:

No, God does not 'hate' prawns, but He does instruct the Jewish people that they should not eat it as one part of their particular spiritual regimen to be a 'holy people' and a 'light unto the nations.'

He made prawns tasty for non-Jews, so they should enjoy prawns as He intended. For Jews, we now have fake prawns , made from kosher fish, to satisfy our desire for the taste of prawns.

Making something that's detestable to Jews but tasty to goyims?

Hmmm, looks as if the Jewish God is protecting His Chosen People, the Jews but f**king up goyims (gentiles or non-Jews). But that's the story of racist Judaism.