A Flash of Water

by Chan Ling Yap

  Shao Peng followed her. “We’ll talk to Rohani.” She was seized with a sudden anger at her stepmother. She blamed her for her selfishness that drove Li Ling away, that resulted in Li Ling’s sufferings and the sufferings of a brother that she loved and the suffering of a sister-in-law who by all accounts was blameless. She pounded on Rohani’s door and marched in without being invited. She told Rohani what happened. By the time she finished she was breathless and drained.

  “I know I am to blame,” her stepmother said. “Let’s not play the blame game though. If you had not brought Li Ling and if you had not brought Su Hei to this household, none of this would have happened. Of course, if I hadn’t put pressure on those two young people to marry, this too perhaps would not have happened. If! If! What is the point? What do you want me to do? Kill myself?”

  Rohani’s face was suffused with blood as she screeched out her frustration; the veins in her temple and the tendons in her neck pulsated with a life of their own. She stood up, swayed and sat down again. Shao Peng fearing another heart attack went immediately to her stepmother. “You are right. I am sorry. I too am to blame. Take a deep breath. Try to keep calm.” She snatched a glass of water from the table and held it for Rohani.

  “Ask Suet Ping what she wants,” said Rohani in a quieter voice. “It is not what we want that counts. Does she still want to be Siew Loong’s wife? What is she prepared to do to keep him? In the end, I am afraid, that is all that which matters. If she wants a divorce, I would not stand in her way although I do not wish it. Then of course, what does Siew Loong want? What will bring him home again?”

  ***

  Suet Ping went home to her mother. She took Fern and Rose with her. She told no one. Mayhem broke out the minute she stepped into her parents’ house. Mrs Lam was shocked at her daughter’s audacity in returning home without consulting her or her mother-in-law.

  “Whatever happens, you owe it to your mother-in-law to tell her that you are leaving. You owe it to your father and me to tell us before making such a momentous decision. What will people think! Be assured, people will say that it is your fault; that your inability to bear a son has caused the Ong family to kick you out. You should know that is a legitimate reason for a husband to divorce a wife. Worse, people could say that you have done some terrible things like ... like adultery or failing to be filial to your mother-in-law! They will not believe that you left on your own accord. What shame for our family! Listen, I have never heard of a woman leaving her husband. Who will look after you and your daughters? Have you thought about Fern and Rose? How could you be so selfish to think only of yourself? What are their marriage prospects if people know that their mother was discarded by the husband’s family?”

  Suet Ping clamped her hands to her ears to shut out the accusations hurled at her. Mrs Lam pulled them away. She pushed her face close to Suet Pings. Alarmed, Fern and Rose sobbed and huddled together in shock.

  Mrs. Lam Mu Lan stopped. She pulled Suet Ping into her arms. “I am sorry,” she murmured into her daughter’s hair. “I do not wish you to be hurt. But we women have to accept our fate.” She stroked Suet Ping’s hair.

  “Look at Fern and Rose. Think of them.”

  Lam Mu Lan fished out a handkerchief and wiped her daughter’s face. The tears had soaked into her own blouse and were still flowing down Suet Ping’s cheeks. “Do you love Siew Loong?” she asked.

  Suet Ping blew her nose and nodded.

  “You told me about this girl Su Hei. Would you consider this?” She whispered in Suet Ping’s ear. “Go home and think about it. Don’t let on that you came home with the intention of leaving your husband. Just say that you went to see your parents for the day. Think carefully and let me know. I’ll help you in whatever way I can.”

  ***

  Suet Ping returned to the Ong’s household. After comforting Fern and Rose and seeing them to bed, she sat in the dark alone to think over her mother’s proposition. The crying and talking had left her exhausted, yet strangely calm. It was as though a great weight had been lifted from her. Her mind was cleared. She did not want to be seen as a woman discarded by her husband. Why should she? She had done no wrong. She wanted to stay as Mrs Ong Siew Loong, the rightful first wife. Why should anyone have her place? She wanted to win Siew Loong’s love. So she should give him what he wants. If that was Su Hei, then let it be Su Hei.

  Having such a young girl as the second wife was better than contending with one that was experienced and could and would fight back tooth and nail. Her mother assured her that such loves will come and go; the wife will remain. And she Suet Ping will remain. In turn Suet Ping should ask for her due in return for her acceptance of Su Hei. Her mother had explained that the practice of secondary wives and concubines was so ingrained in the Chinese culture that she was in fact surprised that Siew Loong had not taken one earlier. She had reeled off a list of men, rich men with not two, but even three, four or more wives. Suet Ping found comfort that she was not the only wife so misused.

  She sat still as a dormouse in the dark letting these thoughts go through her mind. Her heart hardened. Yes, she resolved, I would have to have my dues. Su Hei’s firstborn son shall be mine and mine alone. I shall name him Ming Kong. She would have to give him up completely to me to raise and love. That would be my condition for my consent that she be taken in.

  ***

  The wedding took place one month later.

  From across the street, Li Ling stood amongst the crowd to watch the procession. She caught her breath when Siew Loong came out to greet Su Hei and to take her formally into the house. She closed her eyes. It was like he had come for her. Li Ling received the look of love Siew Loong gave to Su Hei as her own. Her heart brimmed over with happiness and pride. She was not just a flash of water. She was part of Siew Loong.

  The Historical Background

  In writing this novel, I was inspired by real historical events in the late 1800s and early 1900s and wove them into the story.

  In China, where the story begins, it was a time of the rise of warlords and social unrest. Christian missionaries flocked into China following its defeat in the Second Opium War, sparking hatred against foreign imperialism and Christianity. This was later to manifest itself in the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1900) where thousands of Chinese Christians and many foreign missionaries were killed.

  In Malaya, the changes were equally dramatic. More and more Chinese women came to Malaya when China lifted the ban on their travel. Where previously there were well over ten Chinese men to one Chinese woman in the country, the disparity in numbers between the genders began to fall. Amongst the rich Chinese, polygamy grew to become more common place. Rubber was introduced into Malaya and the crop overtook tin as the main foreign exchange earner in the country. With it came Indian and Sri Lankan migrants who supplied most of the workforce for the plantations. This second wave of mass migration into the country following the first advent of Chinese labour to work in the tin mines wrought huge social and political changes in the country, the impact of which remains today.

  With the entry of these two ancient cultures, geographical segregation amongst the different ethnic groups began to materialise and solidify. In Kuala Lumpur where the story is mainly located, the Chinese congregated in Chinatown, now known as Petaling Street, or Chee Cheong Gai. Later they spread to Pudu. The Indians settled in rubber plantations. Within cities, however, they stayed mainly around railway depots because they provided the workforce for the construction of railway lines. Brickfields and later Sentul, both railway centres, became the hub for Indians in Kuala Lumpur. In the face of this, the British administration established Kampong Baru for the Malay people to preserve their culture. The British kept themselves apart from the local populace, occupying the hilly western part of the city to the west of the Gombak river. This segregation is often suggested as one of the main causes for division between the races.

  Kuala Lumpur, situated between the confluence of the River Klang and the River Gombak, w
as transformed during this period from a settlement of huts to the beginnings of a modern city built of bricks and mortar. Several notable events sparked this transformation. The first were the great fires and floods of the early 1880s which swept away large parts of the town. When Frank Swettenham took over the administration of Selangor in 1882, he decreed that new buildings were to be built of brick and mortar. Two appointed Chinese leaders of the time, Kapitan Yap Ah Loy and later on Kapitan Yap Kwan Seng, rose to the challenge. Yap Ah Loy bought the land now known as Brickfields and set up a brick-building industry that was to spur on the rebuilding of Kuala Lumpur. Yap Kwan Seng, when he took over the post of Kapitan China, did the same thus aiding in the further development of the town. The floods described in the novel were inspired by the great floods that tore down much of Kuala Lumpur in 1881. The tapioca and rice mill mentioned in the story were inspired by the tapioca factory owned by Kapitan Yap Ah Loy.

  A system of education gradually took root in the late 1800s. Christian missionaries played an important role, often with the philanthropic support of Chinese businessmen and the Kapitans China appointed to oversee the Chinese community. I borrowed the beginnings, though I did not keep strictly to the timeline nor the real characters, of Bukit Nanas Convent in my novel.

  The real sisters of the Congregation of the Holy Infant Jesus who started the school in 1899 soon after they arrived were: Reverend Mother St Levine, Sisters St Sabine and St Magdalene. Any resemblance of the characters in the book to these three women is purely coincidental. The first school was in a garden shed located opposite Bukit Nanas, or Pineapple Hill so named because of the pineapples grown around an old fort. Provided by a Chinese lady, Nyonya Ah Yok, it inspired the one described in the book. The school later moved to Brickfields. This was made possible by its benefactor Goh Ah Ngee who helped raised funds for the purchase of a hotel (the Victoria Hotel) which was used to house the school. In 1912, the school moved back to its present location, Bukit Nanas.

  Other prominent missionaries who aided the development of education in Kuala Lumpur include Betty Langland, who started the first girls’ school in Kuala Lumpur. The school was first conceived in 1893 when she brought some girls together and taught them to read. It was originally called the Chinese Girls’ School before acquiring its present name, Bukit Bintang Girl school, when it moved to that location. Then there was the Methodist Girl school (1896), Methodist Boy school (1897), St John’s Institution (1904) and St Mary’s (1912), my old school. The Victoria Institution, a boys’ school mentioned in the novel, was for many years the only secular school in Kuala Lumpur. It was founded in 1893 interalia by my great grandfather Kapitan Yap Kwan Seng and formally opened in 1894 and named after Queen Victoria, to commemorate her golden jubilee. The Victoria Institution provided my sixth form education. Albeit a boys’ school, it took in a handful of girl pupils from girl schools that did not have sixth form facilities.

  Lawlessness and fights between secret societies and gangs were commonplace. Many a battle between rival clans and chieftains were fought in Bukit Nanas. In the early days, the British Administration, for the most part acting only in an advisory role, left the care of the different ethnic groups to the heads of the respective communities. Brothels, opium and gambling dens were rife. Many if not most of them were tied to secret societies and triads. In 1877, Singapore had 212 public brothels; by 1905 the numbers reached 353 housing in total some 1,150 prostitutes. Kuala Lumpur, a much smaller township in comparison, had about 53 brothels and just under a thousand prostitutes in 1906. The numbers excluded non-registered brothels and other informal arrangements for trafficking women. Conditions in these brothels were often described as horrendous. Venereal diseases were rife. Life for these women was hard.

  I have given a glimpse of the historical inspiration behind the novel. But it is to be remembered that this is a book of fiction, and its characters and happenings are purely sprung from imagination.

  About the Author

  Born in Kuala Lumpur, CHAN LING YAP was educated in Malaysia and the UK. She has a PhD in economics and was Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Malaya and then Senior Economist in the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in Rome. She now lives in the UK. Her novel New Beginnings won the Readers Popular Choice Award in 2014 in Malaysia while both Sweet Offerings and Bitter-Sweet Harvest were shortlisted for the award. For more information visit www.chanlingyap.com.

  Also by Chan Ling Yap

  SWEET OFFERINGS

  ISBN: 978-981-4328-44-9

  Set in the late 1930s and 1960s, this is the story of Mei Yin, a young Chinese girl from an impoverished family. Her destiny is shaped when she is sent to Kuala Lumpur to become the companion of the tyrannical and bitter Su Hei who is looking for a suitable wife for her son Ming Kong ... and ultimately a grandson and heir to the family dynasty.

  Sweet Offerings is not just a fictional story of the events that ripped one family apart, but a taste of Malaysia’s historical, political and cultural changes during its transition from colonial rule to independence and beyond.

  BITTER-SWEET HARVEST

  ISBN: 978-981-4351-68-3

  Set in a Malaysia emerging from the outbreak of racial conflict in 1969, Bitter-Sweet Harvest tells of the difficulties and tensions of a marriage between a Malay Muslim and a Chinese Christian. Atmospheric, dramatic, action-packed and intriguing, this novel is peppered with local flavour evoking the heat, colours and sounds of Southeast Asia. Prepare to be taken on a spell-binding journey through contrasting cultures: from the learned spires of Oxford in England to the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia; from vibrant Singapore to Catholic Rome and developing Indonesia.

  NEW BEGINNINGS

  ISBN: 978-981-4408-61-5

  In the southern Province of Guangxi amidst the turmoil of the Taiping Rebellion and the Opium War, a woman is kidnapped and her husband shipped out as a coolie to Singapore. Yet from despair came good fortune. Seen through the eyes of one family, this is a moving story of the scourge of opium and one man’s plight and rise in fortune in British Malaya.