Kelantan, a 'Country' of its Own

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he last time I’ve been to Kota Bharu (KB) (or New Castle!) was probably 10 years ago as a short trip when I was working in Kerteh. This year I made another short business trip. It has changed tremendously. I remembered back then there were only 2 hotels worth considering, Perdana and Temenggung. Today, KB is vibrant surpassing its closest competitor, Kuala Trengganu.


The first thing I noticed about KB is that there wasn't much green. Well plenty of green flags everywhere but you know what I mean. The development over the past years must have destroyed all those big trees in the town and it has now become like one of those Australian towns in the middle of the barren region. Very warm, very “concrete” and not much emphasis has been put in fitting in trees and gardens. I hope YAB Dato’ Nik Aziz and his administration notice this lack of green. They call KB “Bandar Islam” (Islamic Town) on banners everywhere. So, in my mind, they ought to follow the Quran where trees are given special mention and importance in the gardens of heavens.

All they need to do is to implement necessary policies via the necessary government department or the Local Council – remembering a quotation once read in Gila Gila magazine years ago: “Dato' Ishak dari Jabatan Perancang Bandar dan Desa (JPBD) menggesa semua bandar di Malaysia mendedahkan 40% ruang terbuka untuk tumbuh-tumbuhan dan taman” (Dato' Ishak from the Town and Country Planning Department urges all towns in Malaysia to reserve 40% open areas for trees and gardens). Why it appeared in Gila Gila, God knows - they must have linked the quotation to a joke somehow. Anyway, that was my first impression of KB. The enthusiastic Islamic spirit should also include some natural greens to complement those green flags.

Whenever I leave the Central Business District of Kuala Lumpur and surrounding Selangor, I’ve always aimed to be observant over surroundings that matter to the main stream Malaysia. Kelantan, the state where KB is in, in my mind, has to be one of the most significant “main stream” Malaysia. Why not? The federal government lost the state to the opposition for donkey years and never to recover. So I went to an orphanage run by the state government. A simple hostel-like establishment with 185 orphans aged up to 17 years old.

The best way to understand what the “rakyat” (citizens) goes through in their daily lives is to understand their struggle. Unlike many other states in Malaysia, Kelantan only has 6 orphanages. Yes, 6, and even that, only 2 are registered. What is worse, the largest one is the one I visited, YAATIM of Jalan Pengkalan Chepa – with only 185 orphans, it qualifies as the “largest”??!! What is worst, Kelantan has thousands of orphans – approximately 5% of Kelantan population are orphans. (Note: These statistics are merely estimation and no imperical evidence has been presented. However, they are from reliably sources).

These orphans’ education is often neglected by their families to the point where we, Malaysians, deserve to be chastised. A normal 12 year old Malaysian strives for 5 A’s in their Standard Six Examination (UPSR) and gets frustrated when they get B’s. These orphans get 5 E’s for heaven’s sake. Some of them don’t even know how to read at the age of 13, both roman alphabets as well as Arabic! For an Islamic state like Kelantan, we would have imagined that at least Arabic literature is addressed.

I am not accusing the state government. I am merely stating the fact how neglected these poor children are. The Headmaster Y Bhg Dato Dr Abdul Razak and his team of 20 or so wardens employ special teachers to do one-on-one teaching to at least, ensure minimum level of literacy allowing these children to live a decent life when they reach 18. This is a very admirable effort.

There is hope, by God’s will. The orphanage established in 1994 has produced capable citizens contributing to the productivity of Kelantanese economy. Some of these orphans managed to go to local universities and graduated as engineers, teachers and one is in the process of completing medical studies. Of course a huge chunk of them did not excel but they are not without any useful skills. After being pushed into vocational institute in Kelantan, Kolej Bistari, they later become good technicians, mechanics and semi-skilled factory workers. Had such efforts not materialised, we’d probably have a bunch of new generation drug addicts and criminals.

In the night, I wanted to roam the town for some excitement but the best suggestion I got from the hotel concierge was Wakaf Che Yeh. It seems that people of Kelantan, or KB in particular, have not much of a night life other than night markets. I wanted to watch a movie just to catch up with the latest releases – to my surprise, no movies available after dusk. Anyway, the night market at Wakaf Che Yeh, in my opinion, a perfect sample of what can be extrapolated to represent the majority of the night life in KB.

On normal nights, things are quite uninteresting but on that particular night, folks from the villages came down to KB to attend their first ever family carnival hosted by a national TV channel. When a taxi driver was asked, he revealed that no such event has ever occurred in KB as far as he can remember (..and this taxi driver was probably in his 60’s). This cannot be true? Can any of you readers who are from KB or Kelantanese please correct me if I’m wrong. I swear a taxi driver vouched this for me.

Wakaf Che Yeh, at first glance appears to be like any other Pasar Malam (Night Market). With a chicken burger on one hand and a ciggy on the other, I did my walkabout. When observed, there is a peculiar feeling unlike the Pasar Malams in the other states. I began to notice that the economy is pretty much self contained - or in a more positive words, self sufficient. Clothing and kitchen ware are mostly from across the border (Siam). Food and beverages are unique to the state and the currency seems to have been converted to a Kelantanese "Ria" rather than Ringgit.

What surprises me more is the music industry. You would have imagined that familiar national faces such as Siti Nurhaliza, Mawi or Faisal Tahir appearing on the covers of the CDs (original or imitation) - but No! - none of these artists are those that appear on our TV. These artists are Kelantanese. At that point I realised that Kelantan can survive on its own without depending on the other states, well, perhaps not politically correct to say that but at least, from music point of view, it is apparent.

Kelantanese CDs everywhere, male and female, in the Kelantanese dialect complete with video clips and all - Dang Dut being the preferred genre. A famous example would be the girl band Jagoh 7. This Kelantanese girl band seems to be at the top of the chart along with 9 other Kelantanese artists giving no room for the national artists that we see on the TV. Guess what? They even have cartoons and animation of Kelantan folks in Kelantanese dialect! (Link to an example of a Kelantanese animation). Here I am thinking that Malaysia had just beginning to explore this in labels such as "Keluang Man", "Upin & Ipin" and "Lat"; I see a Kelantanese animation! Wow! I left Wakaf Che Yeh thinking "Kelantan, a 'Country' of its Own".




* kopihangtuah


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