Ipoh, as foreign as it gets. (Book Review of "Postcards from a foreign country")

Book Review of "Postcards from a foreign country" by CHELVI MURUGIAH

Postcards from a Foreign Country by Yin is uniquely Ipoh. Author Yin sees Ipoh as being a ‘foreign country’ during the period when Malaysia had just gained independence, a time when expatriates’ influence on locals was most apparent.

The book consists of ten short stories, all of which unfold in our familiar local Ipoh streets and otherwise ‘quiet’ townships like Buntong and Bercham. The dialogues created between the characters reflect the ‘harmonic blend’ of local dialects of various ethnicities which is truly Malaysian. This goes to show how strongly our cultures bind within this informal form of communication, which is evident even today.

The seemingly unassuming stories are etched with local humour that most of us can easily relate to. That makes reading this book, pleasurable. My assurance it that you will be caught chuckling to yourself and maybe even let out a guffaw or two, as the writer craftily engages you in his local tales.

Each short story is laced with its own specific storyline. When you read Langchia Man, you read about Ah Bah, a trishaw peddler, who dreams of making it big. His story unfolds like an allegory; there is a silver lining in every cloud. Yet he is constantly reminded of his earlier actions. As the saying goes, what goes around comes around.

DIFFERENT TIME AND PLACE

Postcards from a Foreign Country, takes you on a journey to a different time and place, as in a travelogue, yet all of the ‘happenings’ are local, having taken place in Ipoh, Perak. Yin presents a period when people were simpler, not as race conscious, as we are today. Everybody accepted one another, for their racial differences, as an assortment of chocolates in a box. This message is reflected in Numbers from Hell, a ‘scary’ story involving a group of young lads, Tiger Lok, Pauzi, and Thaya who seek the assistance of supernatural ‘dark’ powers to help them win ‘big’ money. Ironically, there is much truth to the story – there are still many who think along those lines.

I also realise that the writer has taken his right to freedom of speech and expression to a higher level of awareness, which may take readers by surprise. You would recognise the hard realities of our history, in a poignantly told tale of Eric Burton, a British expatriate and his wife Jean in And Life Goes On.

With so much censorship today, it’s not often that we are able to get hold of a book such as Postcards from a Foreign Country that exposes the early signs of segregation, with subtlety.

Overall, this book is for leisure reading. Do get comfy. Read it with your hot cup of coffee or tea, preferably, in the quietness of the afternoons. In this way, your hearty laughter can be heard right throughout your neighbourhood! I come away sensing that there is some ‘truth’ to all these ‘tales.’ Anyway, life goes on and the communities have moved on. Just pondering, is there a story worth writing about Ipoh, as it is today?

My clear favourite is Samy the Barber.

AVAILABILITY

Postcards from a Foreign Country is published by East West Publishing Pte Ltd, Sydney and is in soft cover. The book is priced at RM30 a piece and is available at MPH and Popular bookstores in all major cities.