By C C Pung, Justice of Peace
Tokoh Wartawan Sabah and FT Labuan.
This sign inside the popular BTC restaurant at Inanam says “certificates of food quality”.
I counted 10, including the Halal certificate for which Malaysia claims some good recognition.
Good, I say to myself.
This lunch should be good.
Just as I was thinking so, the waiter came around with my food.
Without saying a word, or even looked my way, he proceeded to put the food on the empty space on my left.
That means, had I a lunch companion, that food would have been meant for him.
I halted the waiter, asking why he placed the food sway from me. He didn’t seem to catch my drift.
I quickly told myself I was there to eat, and nobody’s child was in need of a tip on common sense… not from me.
So I sat myself (mentally) down, munching at an order of substandard nasi lemak made with long grain basmati rice but had not the essential coconuty lemak flavour.
The sambal and billis were passable. But the freshness of the beef rending and curry chicken were suspicious.
I suppose the uncommon combination was created to justify the price of RM25+ for what’s supposed to be Malaysia’s national dish, which I had eaten enough times in my life time to be able to discern a nondescript ripoff to the genuine one wrapped in banana leaf and put together by a village makcik, and can be had for anything from RM1.50 upwards, with freshness guaranteed.
The 10 certificates of BTC bring to mind Michelin Star restaurants.
My city has none.
And I haven’t been to any. But having watched enough of Gordon Ramsey and the Food Channel, I get a sense that a Michelin Star place breaks your bank for a lot of things from the famed chef to ambience and service.
For the Michelin price I paid for BTC’s nasi lemak , there was of course none of these, in fact, the service ( aside from the waiter) was non existent.
Take this – I picked up a piece of tissue and accidentally dropped in on my curry chicken.
The waiter serving my coffee saw what happened, said nothing, and walked away.
I think BTC can do with at least one more certificate – that of common decency and common sense.
But that’s rare in Malaysia, isn’t it?
Malaysia is increasingly fastidious about things Islam.
Especially anything halal.
The latest is about some religious genius somewhere determining that a Muslim husband has the right to determine if his wife could participate in group activities, like group aerobics, where there are men.
Let’s step away from religiosity, and look at more practical issues.
Good manners and decency probably not related to halal.
But it’ll be nice if our waiters, young people and everyone else practise common sense and possess basic decency.
Don’t you agree?
