Word: lumpur
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When the gypsy music stopped, the host rose from the table and began to tell his guests of the virtues of squid with mayonnaise. "It exerts a favorable influence on metabolism," he said, "and is prescribed for persons with heart problems." The setting was Kuala Lumpur's Hotel Mirama, and the host was a man from Prodintorg, the Soviet agency in charge of food exports. He was promoting Russian seafood, but the sales luncheon was neither a gastronomic nor a commercial success. Oily sardines were served with Georgian brandy so medicinal-tasting that it is sometimes known as "Stalin...
Residents of Kuala Lumpur, both rich and poor, used to congregate by the thou sands each night around long rows of food stalls throughout the city. Many were there for their evening meal of satay (meat roasted on a short skewer of cane and dipped in curry sauce). Others stopped off on their way home for a bowl of soup. In the polyglot capital of Malaysia, this nightly relaxation attracted not only Malays but also citizens of the large Chinese minority and the smaller Indian and Pakistani groups...
...past two months, however, Kuala Lumpur's food stalls have closed early and the street crowds that usually mingled pleasantly now scatter for cover at any unusual sound. In the wake of bloody race riots that may have claimed 2,000 lives, Malaysia's peoples have bro ken little bread together; they have probably broken any hope for multiracial harmony for many years to come...
Last week, though no further rioting occurred, Kuala Lumpur was a city of mounting tensions and widening divisions. In the weeks since the first riots-which terrified primarily the Chinese, since they were the main victims-new incidents have centered on Indian communities as well. With both minorities now targets for mob attack, the struggle has become more clearly than ever the Malay extremists' fight for total hegemony. Whether or not the Malay-controlled police force and emergency government have actually stirred up some of the house-burning, spear-carrying mobs, they seem unwilling to clamp down on them...
...allow householders to go out and buy food. The fires burned on, however, and there were still occasional racial clashes. For some time to come, Malaysia would be a bitterly divided society. Already many Chinese have given up hope: one senior government official spoke of abandoning everything in Kuala Lumpur and returning to his native Singapore. There was no doubt that if many others followed his example, severe damage to Malaysia's once-prospering economy would result. Beyond that was the question of whether the wounds opened last week would ever sufficiently heal to permit Malaysia's diverse...