Up market Malay boutiques in 'Shah Alam City Centre (SACC) mall' for Malaysian ladies.

In Europe, the trend on ladies fashion will be determined largely by the seasons. However, we in Malaysia are more likely to follow our big festivals such as Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali and Christmas. Our haute couture scenes are likely to be influenced by celebrities and local models from local magazines.

‘Baju Kurung’ and ‘Kebaya’ are two Malaysian equivalents to evening gown for the westerner. With the right outfits and accessories, Malaysian ladies can accentuate their beauty and sexiness without exposing so much flesh.

This Raya season, Muslim ladies of all ages from all over the country are demonstrating their latest ‘baju kurung’ and ‘kebaya’ outfits with distinct style of individual taste and creativity. Those with limited budgets will shop at lower to middle class retail outlets around the country while those with money are swarming boutiques or big name tailors. Fabric materials and workmanship are what matter most with emphasize on unique design.

The one up market mall that specializing in haute couture of Baju Kurung is the SACC mall in Shah Alam, Selangor where all the big names in the industry are concentrated in the 1st floor and above of the mall.

A few days ago, I took the opportunity to accompany my mom to the posh mall with my sister and did some study, observation and comparison while my mom and sister were busy shopping.

Even though I am not an expert in ladies fashion and apparel, I must agree that SACC mall is the number one when come to big name designer boutiques for the ladies in Malaysia. While the upper class pricing can be a hindrance to some, you can almost be assured of the design exclusivity and quality of most of the merchandise compared to the mass market produce in Nilai or some bazaars in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman.

In SACC, a piece of scarf can be spotted in much higher price than the original Levis or Nike shoes but that distinct piece of art mode a worlds apart between a beautiful 'Datin' and common ladies. For Malaysian ladies, the experience of shopping in SACC mall in Shah Alam is like shopping in Paris or Milan designer capitals.

Ps: I am proud of Bumiputera entrepreneurs, boutiques owners and designers achievement in the industry. I believe there are unlimited potentials for them internationally. For Malaysian, do support our local bumiputera industry and happy shopping.

Love,
Hanafi

Informal branding – a study of the booming 'Mamak’ (food establishments) in Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur.

Hi readers,
Today, I am featuring my short study on the restaurant or food establishment industry with special emphasize on the most flourishing eateries that Malaysian in general fondly identify as ‘Mamak’. My study however is only limited to the area of Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park , Kuala Lumpur where I live and will not take into consideration the whole of Kuala Lumpur or other parts of the country.

In Malaysia, the term Mamak refers to Indian Muslims, who generally own and operate the food establishments. The word 'Mamak' is from the Tamil term for maternal uncle. Originally, Malaysian ‘Mamak' are Tamil Muslims of Malaysian nationality, whose forefathers mostly migrated from South India centuries ago.


Yes, they love posing for you, quite talented in modelling too.

’Mamak’ is very popular among Kuala Lumpur youths as hang out spots, due to relatively ‘cheap food’ and beverages being served as well as being open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The mamak has been stamped permanently into Malaysian culture due to its ubiquitous nature and popularity.

As Muslim, Mamaks only sells ‘halal’ food but the restaurants are open to all patrons regardless of races and religions. As a matter of fact, they are more popular with the Malaysian Chinese than the Malays in Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park.



Special curry and all things curry.

Currently there are 8 Mamak restaurants/cafes and 3 stalls in Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park of different owners / operators (not a single Malay restaurant except food stalls at the old food court that open only for less than 6 or 7 hours per day). All of them are armed with big screen televisions or LCD projectors and misting fan systems designed for tropical countries. A number of them come with WiFi for internet surfing.

All Mamaks here are offering similar choices of food that have evolved from traditional Mamak like roti canai and all things curry to western, Malay and Thai foods. They are extremely adaptable to the ever changing local taste, you can even order ice blended coffee ala ‘Star buck’ at most Mamak less the expensive price. ’Nasi lemak’ served with ice blended mocha, ‘kewl’ huh. One thing I observed, they are not afraid of competing against each other although in near proximity from one to another Mamaks.

One distinct feature of Mamaks in Kuchai Entrepreneurs Park is that all the restaurants uniformed their workers (predominantly foreign Indian, Pakistani and Nepali) in yellow or orange collared t-shirt, some with aprons.

Communication does not pose a problem with those foreigners when come to ordering with the help from written menu. However, shaking their heads do not necessarily mean disagreement or 'no sign' as they will always shake their head even in agreement (I have no intention of being racist or making fun of people outside my culture, just trying to document my experience here).


Picture menu hanging on the wall - typical setting at Mamaks.

Despite of criticisms, rumors and gossips that we can hear and read every day through e-mails, word of mouth etc. they strive to prosper in bearish or bullish Malaysian economy. A lot of attacks especially matters regarding their doubtful hygiene has been raised but they still outnumbered any similar establishments of our Bumi restaurants. So how they do it? Cheap pricing – I doubt that, 24 hours – maybe, TV and misting fan – maybe, good food – I don’t think so, strategic location - definitely, cheap labor - probably.



Photos taken from the back of the restaurant.


I say that their 'gut feeling' in investment, perseverance, and branding....yeah branding make them strong. I believe they have been branded naturally as an adaptable food establishment hence I think that must have been their best asset. You can even see Mamak in other parts of the globe with the same informal branding. Some like in the UK are quite similar except the tables are with tablecloth which is not common here.

So Bumi entrepreneurs, are we learning valuable lessons from ‘Mamak’?


Ps: I prefer to make my own roti canai, served friends homemade roti canai when I was in Papua New Guinea. Anyone for teh tarik?

Shopping online with AmBank NexG prepaid MasterCard

It is a known fact that shopping online is not a favorite pastime for Malaysian. The number one reason, is the fear of being phished, scammed, hacked or whatever names they call it these days. I personally have confronted a phishing site 2 months ago when trying to pay a bill online using my Maybank2u.com when the Firefox browser I was using informed me on time that the site (not the original maybank2u.com) was a phishing site. Even though I was lucky enough to escape, that incident gave me few sleepless nights.

But what if I really need to shop online like buying a domain name and site hosting which are customarily selling efficiently online. Try ‘www.godaddy.com’ or even ‘yahoo small business’, despite the fact that they are among the cheapest in the world but they accept no more than payment online. I guess, my safest alternative is to pay with a prepaid debit card so I can control the amount of balance thus minimizing the risk of doing transaction online.

I did just that when I bought my domain names, www.hanafionline.com and www.nafibiz.com, both from 'godaddy' and ‘yahoo’ with an ‘AmBank NexG prepaid MasterCard’ that I bought from Seven Eleven nearby where I live. The card sold at RM25.00 and I can top it up according to my approximate amount that I need to pay online after I have verified my identity with a form provided and forwarded through fax. Other special benefit from the card is that the bank automatically covers me for RM10k in personal accident insurance for the first year.

Right after the payment transaction, I called the bank and asked for the detail of my transaction and they willingly gave me the info of my transaction up to my balance after confirming my identity. Now I can be rest assured my transaction is in a safe hand. Well, I suggest that you too pay with a prepaid debit card if you are not confident enough to do transaction online.

Good night and happy surfing.