Kampung ku ? Errr..... let me think sat...

Once I was complaining to a friend of mine. I complained about Abang’s inability to speak Malay. I brought up the subject after his class teacher confided in me that Abang has a hard time mixing with his classmates because his Malay is bad. Super duper bad. Apparently this causes him to have very few friends. There is Daniel who can also speak English very well like him, Imran who is a nice boy and doesn’t care what other says and a few bit more.

I feel for my son. I really do but there is nothing I can do save from talking in Malay with him. And buy more Malay books. Anyway, like I said, I was complaining to her about it and you know what she said, “Akak rasa akak tahu kenapa. Sebab A cakap Melayu pun pelik jugak..”

Errrmmmm….. AAaaaaa.... Hmmmmm...........

Okay, tak pe lah kot. Anyway, I relayed the story to my friends, they laughed tetapi my husband said, “You memang cakap Melayu pelik sebab you cakap Penang…”

Ha ini nak kena. Ghoplah jingga sungguh. Seluloi dok gelak-gelak pasai orang Penang, this.. this… Selangorian. (nak kutuk susah sebab anak2 aku kiranya orang Selangor …)

Hello, awat pelik ka loghat Penang ?

Anyway that is not the story. That is just the introduction to a memory the above conversation ignited.

It was 2000 and I was in Malaysia working as a trainee engineer in a cable factory in Kelang. As the norm, people asked where am I from in the form of “Kampung kat mana ?” Me being me, said Penang and Perak or Penang/Perak. It so happens that one guy is memang orang kampung my grandparents in Perak and one other guy knows my gandma’s house in Penang (I am not orang Tanjung but orang Bagan…).

I have never lived at either places sure but those places are where I balik kampung. For Raya and kenduris and school holidays etc. So that is my kampung lah. Dah tanya kampung kat mana, kan ? Kan ? Kan ?

Is that wrong ?

Apparently it is because one day I heard one said, “Budak baru tu orang kampung aku tuh….”

Nak jadi cerita the other guy was also there. “Eh takdelah. Dia orang kampung aku… Rumah dia depan surau blah blah blah….”

Err… Not my house but my grandparents’ yang kat depan surau.

“Eh tak lah… Hari tu dia cakap rumah dia dekat dengan Sekolah St M*****.

Err…. Again not my house tapi rumah Tok Wan.

I flamed up for sure. Then jalan laju ! Laju ! Yah ! Yah ! Hilangkan diri ! He he….

So next time people ask me where is my kampung, I answer Shah Alam, is it ?

But that is not my kampung, really. This is very confusing. I understand my ex-colleagues to tell you the truth. Most of them did the merantau bit on their own. Left their kampung to look for work in the big city. Me, my parents did the merantau and I just happened to be born where they stopped.

Then, I cannot say I am Shah Alam-ian too because I was born in Kuala Terengganu.

So, what do I tell people ?

Ini yang nak meroyan balik ni.