LXXXXXXXX

Round quart 8. Two vadai again, single piece of Mr. Hussein Dodol’s kway, preceded by an apple. (Last week Zainuddin had enticed with the deep fried, oily vadai and kway had been bought in his honour from his old-time friend Mr. Huss.) Teh followed hot on the heels. One piece of kway had been taken with the afternoon teh and the third given to the Catlady Auntie Helen going out. The South African apple that was the choice crop at Mr. Lim’s stall at the Haig had been reduced to one dollar. As there had been no seat at Wadi, the apple had been eaten on a bench over at J. C. Complex on Changi Road corner. People gathered early for their iftar meal at Wadi with their co-religionists awaited the call before their plates. One could not help feeling an intruder and rubberneck even after more than six years in the neighbourhood, especially as so many in attendance during Ramadan were from far-flung corners of the island. Little more than half an hour later Wadi had cleared and there were numerous seats available. Along Onan coming out as usual people sitting in the gutters, youngsters mostly with their friends alternating cigarettes with the food and in one instance bites from a single paper bag. Opposite the bench at J. C. the stall specialised in Big Size Ladies & Gents apparel, LX - LX8. There was insufficient space on the board to fit the seven additional Xs. Scanning the racks from the bench the relevant articles could not be sighted; at the back of the rows perhaps or within a trunk in a corner. Topmost heavyweights were in fact not much in evidence in Singapore. Even lovely little Princess’s Ma at 118kg reportedly, might only reach LX5 or 6. In Kuala Lumpur in particular there had been scenes of grotesquely over-weight ladies often in phalanx stumping along the malls. (BN and UMNO supporters no doubt.) In Pekan in Pahang State today where Najib had retained his seat, the man was on the attack over one thing and another; his wife too having the gall to request dignity for themselves and their family. As more and more of the back history emerged on Malaysiakini, it seems the political murders went well beyond the young Mongolian translator and the prosecutor Morais.