The second time around, grEAT was emptier than usual, owing to the festivities I presume. As a result, Shah had room and time to sit down and chat while I ate. We spoke about a number of things, so this is in a way me trying to condense and digest what was relayed.
To begin with, I showed Shah my sketch of the farm-to-table supply chain, and he understood better what I was trying to achieve with my documentary project. He said that he used to be a fisherman himself. "Nelayan ini, ada tiga jenis. Ada yang "hunter", ada yang memancing, dan ada yang guna bait. Jenis "hunter" ini jenis yang menyelam. Shah dulu duduk dekat island kecil, bila masuk musim, kita keluar ke laut. Laut ini besar, bergelora, bahaya. But, I believe in the saying that goes "you eat only what you can catch"". To translate, he meant that there were three main types of fishermen. Those who hunted and dived, those who angled, and those who used baiting mechanisms. He has tried all three. It is a dangerous profession, but to him,
...you eat only what you can catch.
Dinner arrives. We play a small game where I guess the ingredients in my bowl. My bowl today had soy crisps, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkin seeds, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, oyster mushrooms in nestum, and some ground cashews, accompanied with brown rice. Most of the ingredients in the meals here are sourced locally — we have places like Cameron's which are able to cultivate all the things we need. The brown rice comes from Thailand. White rice would be local jasmine rice. We remember that the bulk of rice in Malaysia is now imported as we continue to export our agricultural produce at the same time. Just today, I read news of how the increase in export of durians due to demand from China has heightened demand for land, which means more incursions into virgin forest and tribal lands for the cultivation of durian trees (Raslan, 2019).
Shah tells me that the oyster mushrooms can be pretty much found anywhere. He also says owing to the festive season, he will have to spend the next day going around securing supplies before the vendors, for example the mushroom vendor, go on break for the New Year. He's probably going to be working in the restaurant over the next week. But he's also considering spending less time at the restaurant and more on other things that help bring in the dough, like Grab. According to Shah, he has friends that know a way to use cars that companies purchase but seldom use, for this purpose. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a few friends the other day — one of them had parents who love purchasing cars, but often times they sit in the driveway. Utility of ownership triumphs utility of usage.
I discover that Shah is from Perak. He still has an old Identity Card (IC), and never changed it since he was 18. Because of the cars, we start talking about human excess. He proceeds to tell me about how the world has 16, condensed from 32, different kinds of people.
"Dunia ini ada 16 jenis manusia, dan manusia ini ada 99 jenis perangai", or 99 traits.
I asked then, what happens when the 16 clash? Is good and bad part of the equation? He says that two types can be different, but when they meet, their expressed traits can be the same, we all share the 99 different traits. These traits may be things like greed, love. Evil always has the opportunity of turning into good. I ask him if there are inherently evil people; and he says yes, but they always have the opportunity of turning into good. I ask him where he gets these classifications from — he says experience. He draws from Islam, believing that the closest thing to oneself is not a loved one, but death. He also believes that the heart and mind often oppose each other; I ponder this point because I think our concepts of "heart" are rather abstract and may point to specifics like empathy, compassion, impulse, and unlimited wants. At the core of it is this desire for more. Shah says that in our lives, there is often a lack of something because God has given them more of something else — but we do not see the gift, focusing instead on the lack.
Shah used to work with communities where people are addicted to drugs. He akins himself to an angel, coming and going in the span of a month, leaving lighter souls behind him. He says people more often that not, try to be something they aren't, or want others to accept them, understand them. The trouble with this is we all want to do something that helps, or something that is good, but that is not the same reality others live in. The fundamental law of 16 types of people cannot be broken, and that God created diversity of people so we could exercise choice. If we accept that we are fundamentally different people, but may share the same traits, we stop trying to make others like us, and us like others, and exercise choice in the traits we choose to own.
Most of all, he says, people need direction. Most of us try to achieve without direction. When you look into the sky, find the three brightest stars, and use this to remind you of true compass.
Sources
Raslan, K. (30 January 2019) Appetite for Durian Swallows Malaysian Tribal Lands. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2184156/chinas-insatiable-appetite-durian-swallows-malaysian-tribal-lands
