Why do we even need a national dish in the first place?
A NEW nation needs national symbols. National symbols are what makes a conceptual idea like a nationhood real.
When we say we are Malaysians, for example, we need something real to define our Malaysian-ness, and this is where things like the national flag, national song or national flower come in.
Things like the Jalur Gemilang, Negaraku and the bunga raya are useful symbols to manifest our identity as Malaysians.
It is because we do things like wave the Jalur Gemilang with pride, sing the Negaraku with spirit and give the hibiscus a special place, that we have a way to manifest our Malaysian-ness, and make being Malaysian not only something conceptual, but something that is real.
The purpose of having national symbols, in other words, is to consolidate and manifest a national identity.
Consolidating and manifesting a national identity is something that ought to be done during the formation of a nation. Malaysia was formed 60 years ago.
Considering that, why are we still making national symbols out of things like bak kut teh, when we are not even a new nation anymore, and when declaring things like bak kut teh as a national symbol is only dividing us further.
Declaring something to be a national symbol, especially when that thing is not exactly fit to be a national symbol, can be a troublesome affair.
Take MAS for example. It is because we made MAS into a national symbol that we are stuck with it, even if it is almost perpetually making a loss, because to part with it will be a shameful affair.
Making Proton the national car has also been a troublesome affair, because it has made the prices of cars expensive for all of us, and it is not exactly doing a very good job at making the country proud.
But as much as MAS and proton were not suitable national symbols, at least they were not divisive symbols.
The same however can’t be said about bak kut teh.
Today, we have something called a national heritage food which has named items like bak kut teh as a national symbol that doesn’t represent us all but divide us further.
The thing is, we don’t even need such a thing as a national dish.
Of the other national heritage food that were named, like kolok mee, burasak, nasi ambeng, dodol kukus tahi minyak, kuih genggang or kuih lapis, kuih karas, uthappam, jeruk tuhau, and air katira, I only recognise kolok mee, kuih lapis and uthappam.
What is the point of having a national heritage food that most of us cannot even recognise? I will bet my last ringgit that if you go down to the grassroots and ask them what things like dodol kukus tahi minyak or uthappam is, at least 7 out 10 Malaysians won’t know it.
Uthappam, by the way, which most Malaysians other than Indians don’t know of, is not even a Malaysian food but a dish from South India.
Not only are we creating national symbols that are weakening our concept of nation-hood but we are hijacking the food of some other people and made it ours for no other reason than to satisfy “Ali, Muthu and Ah Chong” arrangement which says that if you want to put something Malay and Chinese into something call it “Malaysian”, you have to add something Indian in it too, or it won’t be right.
A bad idea is something that doesn’t have a purpose and creates more problems the more you execute it. The national heritage food idea fits the description.
Suffice to say, none of us even wanted to have national heritage food. We were actually better off before this national heritage food concept was thrown before us. The minute the concept was created however, all sorts of discord that need not have arisen amongst us have arisen.
All this for what? Nothing, absolutely nothing. – FocusM March 5, 2024
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is the author of “While Waiting for the World to End”. He was a columnist at FMT and a frequent contributor to the South China Morning Post, The Star, Malaysia Today, MalaysiaNow, MalaysiaKini and Focus Malaysia.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
