Dear Diary,
By now, I should be lepak-ing, eating, having drinks or all of the above at my in-laws’ place in Bau, Kuching, ahead of tomorrow’s Hari Gawai.
Just like Kaamatan in Sabah, Gawai is a harvest festival. It is celebrated as a religious and social occasion where the Dayaks visit – or ‘ngabang’ in the native tongue – friends and family.
Gawai is a month-long celebration and several kampung (villages) celebrate it on different days – although the common holiday is June 1.
This year marks one of the rare times I will not be in Sarawak for the celebration since 2000. It is also the first time my wife will not be going back.
It won’t be much of a celebration back in Bau too, as everyone is still wary of Covid-19.
Yes, there will still be makan-makan and much tuak (rice wine) but most will be in their own homes as visiting is limited to just one day with a maximum of 20 people.
That is going to be difficult as my wife’s family is huge. She has 12 living siblings and all but one are married and have kids.
On any given day, having 10 to 20 people in the family home is not uncommon so you can imagine how crowded it usually is during Gawai, Christmas and birthday celebrations.
The hardest part of not going back is not seeing our son Owen, who was born and raised there. He’s 16 this year and although lives far from us, is very close to his sister Carra who turns 13 in September.
One of the reasons for that is my wife spends nearly two hours each day on video calls to Sarawak.
In case you haven’t guessed, both our children are named after former Liverpool players – Owen for Michael Owen and Carra after Jamie Carragher.
The first choice was to name our son Fowler after Robbie Fowler, but my Home Minister said it might be too difficult for Malaysians to pronounce it.
Unfortunately, the kids are not big football fans although they do occasionally watch matches with me.
Most of my wife’s siblings are also Liverpool fans although the younger generation has not seen the light and supports other clubs.
But during Gawai, there is hardly any talk about football since the season usually is over – except for last year as the Champions League final was on June 1 (June 2 in Malaysia).
Strangely, while I do miss all the delicacies from Sarawak, the thing I crave the most is a canned drink – Sundrop.
Why? Well, we are on constant contact with the family and it is now easy to get Laksa Sarawak – the second-best laksa in the world with the No 1 being Eurasian laksa – mee kolok and other Sarawakian delicacies in the Klang Valley.
Even tuak and kek lapis Sarawak are readily available. But I have never found a can of Sundrop here.
We are planning a quiet celebration in our Subang Jaya home tomorrow with some kek lapis and tuak and we may even wear the sepiah (the diary’s main image) which the Home Minister just completed today. We would probably be having the meal while on a video call!
Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai (long life, health and prosperity).
Anyhow, here are the updates on Day 75 of the Movement Control Order.
Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob says automated teller machines’ operating hours will be back to pre-MCO times. The government had enforced an 8am to 8pm ruling on April 19.
He also says the government-developed MySejahtera application for visitor registrations at business premises, including factories, constructions sites and offices, will be made available at three Aeon outlets from Tuesday. He, however, did not specify which outlets.
There are 57 new Covid-19 cases which bring the total to 7,819 cases with fatalities remaining at 115. Another 23 patients are discharged, meaning 6,653 people have been cured.
Here’s a number about not going back to Sarawak to celebrate Gawai.
