Mamak is more than ya'think!

         Mamak makes Malaysia Malaysia, without Mamak Malaysia will cease to be Malaysia. Mamak is an esssential element of Malaysia , they had leave a perpetual imprint upon this nation that if we were to extract them from the equation, what's left is no longer equal or near what we today call Malaysia. The gravity of their influences, quiescent as it might apear on the surface, is so strong that it pulls all the bits and bytes of Malaysia forming and intricate monolithic nation which priorly was a country that was at the edge of near falling into civil war  because of racial breakdown on 13 Mei 1969. Mamak can be depicted as the taylor who sewed back the rapport between races in Malaysia, and a doctor who successfully heal the racial prejudice that prevailed as an aftermath of sosioeconomic imbalance. Their contribution analogous to a silent war hero, often ignored, but the impact which they wrought on are impeccably undisputable and had allowed Malaysia to plumbs a larger depth in the investment of cultural and social economic delicacies. ( too much of self-praising verbiage here)

       Most Mamak owns a restaurant. My family themselves , nearly all of my mother's brothers, which are my uncles, owns a restaurant each to supply for their family. And my mother married my father who also now own a big restaurant in Port Dickson, It seems as though Mamaks revolves around food-serving industry. Its hard to picture Mamak and restaurant separately as two set of images. "Restaurant" had been implanted into our definition of the word "Mamak".  This is how Mamak has contributed to Malaysia, not just economically, but through this widespread tradition of opening a restaurant precint in strategically-interest area gathering all races under one roof to eat spices-based food are just magnificiently beautiful and harmonious scenery. Mamak restaurant had allowed and make shelter for cultural rapport to be swiftly establish and preserved and gradually shaving off the racial prejudice that exist between Malaysians. Chinese, Indians, and Malays had united into one new voracious  'sapu-tarians' through a process known as phyletic gradualism in evolutionary biology that takes place in Mamak restaurant, the only place where all the various distinct racial-based appetite merge into one type of halal food.

         

    Its not always just about the food. Its a place for Malaysians to appease their appetite is one thing ,but also where they get to sit down or 'lepak' with their friends and family while enjoying the tasty mouth watering taste of teh tarik.( that might be an exaggeration, but if you go to certain Mamak restaurant you would find it to be true on many occasion). Most often than we realize, Mamak restaurant often become the place for rendezvous. Official or not, Mamak restaurant is a strategic place to have a long tiring discussion and perhaps debate without ever need to wait for a pause to order food because Mamak seems to have a very discerning memory of what the regular customer wants though it could be thousand of them. There are times where I would just sit down without ever having the need to call for a waiter to get my orders done, they just knows what I want. Customers could resume their 'cerita kedai kopi' for hours (this is true, very true), talking about current  and future economic policy, who's gonna champ the election, dirty tricks and magical 'blackout', Proton's new car coming out and all other intense zeitgeist topic as if they were somehow deeply involve in and plays a major role in what gonna be the future. Perhaps the most brilliant of ideas in Malaysia lights up while taking a seep of hot teh tarik in a Mamak restaurant. What a public place to have a ' eureka moment'.!

     Mamak will keep records of your face so that in the future they could charge you for a regular-customer price if you are among the ones had visited the place often and spend quite a money( now would you get that at a franchise!) .But, money is never an account for hungry, starving horses who just want to fill their empty stomach. Try to analyze keenly the past records of your meals. Malaysians eats alot, but we throw money at expensive-franchise to get small meals. What a waste of money! Most college students, speaking in part of myself, budget their meals so that they wont get short of money very soon before the next allowances is banked-in and find it very handy to always have a Mamak restaurant a stone-throw away. You gotta admit, roti canai banjir when compared to a Macdonald burger is way way more cheaper but surprisingly tasty and makes you full. Mee goreng mamak to pasta . Milo Ais to pepsi. Kopi'o panas to cuppachino. Franchise against Mamak ? They will topple down by mere wind gust. Franchise's food is more healthier and ensuring,? Not really. They are just fancy looking . You would be surprise to hear some testimony of my friends who had work at a franchise. The point is, im not trying to degrade franchise, nor am i being higly of Mamak. Its just how we had set a different standard betweeen the two of them what makes me feel not right. We should appreciate and show support for our local entrepreneur in food-industry more than international franchise. Thats all i gotta say. Sorry if there is certain words that harsh or offensive.