Sunday June 3, 2007

Scent of Hisham

By SARANTSATSRAL A.
Political activist Hishamuddin Rais is helping youths through a cafe in the heart of the city.

Enticing aromas: Hisham preparing his signature teh serai– hot BOH tea with sticks of crushed lemongrass.

A DEMOCRATIC space managed as a ‘collective’ effort to encourage self-reliance in Malaysian youth. This is prominent political activist, filmmaker and writer Hishamuddin Rais’ latest venture: Bau Bau Café, which is operated ‘collectively’ by its workers.

“It is an experiment to prove that youth should be able to help themselves. They should have the self-initiative to help themselves,” said Hisham, in between puffs from his pipe at the café’s open-air terrace.

Still donning his ponytail and dressed in a casual short-sleeved shirt with a pair of mid-calf loose trousers, he appeared the staunch socialist that he has been since his student activist days in the mid-1970s.

Opened three months ago, the café has six previously unemployed youths aged between 18 and 30 years committed to this ‘collective’ effort under Hisham’s guidance.

“The café gives them (the six young men) space and confidence to find employment while learning self-management and self-discipline,” said Hisham.

The communal cafe is different from typical business organisations where decisions are made at the top level and filtered down.

Here, decisions are based on consensus of everyone in the ‘collective’.

“This is a non-capitalist venture. Everyone who works here is an owner and part of the ‘collective’. They are the bosses and they are the workers.

“As we make hardly any profit now, most of them are effectively volunteers with incomes below commercial rates.

Collective effort: Bau Bau Cafe youngsters (from left) Ibrahim Haris, 29, Musmuliadi Teguh, 24, and Fiqtriey Al-Haqimiey, 22, packing mee kari ayamfor a customer.

“But we just want to get the ‘collective’ going. And hopefully the movement will catch on in the country.”

Located on the first floor of a colourful building dedicated to the arts which has seen a similarly colourful change of tenants over the years, the café is a bohemian escape from sometimes stifling urban life.

Posters that cater to an activist crowd ranging from the latest political forum to theatre performances adorn the bright yellow walls. But Hisham explains that the café is non-political.

“It is a democratic space. There are not many in Malaysia.

“Once a month, we have open mike sessions for poetry recital, music or for just anything, really.”

True to its socialist leanings, the café is closed on Sunday when the workers, or owners, cook for the homeless and drug addicts in the Food Not Bomb project which has been running for the past six years and is now managed by the café.

The menu is also faithful to local roots and promotes only local food.

“There is no Coke or Pepsi, only local drinks. So it’s a politically-correct café,” said Hisham, with a big grin.

He recommended his signature teh serai (lemongrass tea) – hot BOH tea with sticks of crushed lemongrass.

“It was my flu remedy when I was in England.”

Other specialities include mee udang (prawn noodles), mee kari ayam (curry chicken noodles) and mee vegetarian (vegetarian noodles).

“Even our recipes are the result of consensus. We discuss what goes in the noodles and whether the prawns (in the prawn noodles) should be shelled.”

Although he spends most of his time at the café, Hisham is in the midst of finishing his latest film, Tiga Darai.

The movie is based on an ancient performance art form in northern Malaysia – ghazal – in which men would perform dressed in women’s clothes.

“Although it’s from the Middle East, it’s non-religious. Instead, it celebrates life and culture.

“It played a major role in our struggle for independence as it was usually performed before political ceramahs (talks).

“Essentially the live entertainment at that time, it was banned by the Kedah religious authorities in the late 1970s.”

On top of teaching at the National Arts Academy and writing a string of weekly columns, he is giving free philosophical classes at the Central Market Annexe every Wednesday.

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