Friendship which grew along with Ipoh’s “nasi ganja”

At a time when there are many who are selfish and have a narrow racial outlook, the famous "nasi ganja" stall in an Ipoh kopitiam is showing what friendship and racial harmony is all about.

When the Indian Muslim nasi kandar stall operator was ordered to shut his business over hygiene issues recently, the Chinese owner of the shop from which he operated in followed suit, in a show of solidarity.
The coffee shop owner, Ang Kwang Ngiap, who sold only drinks, did not have to close his business but he pulled down the shutters because of the strong bond he had with the nasi kandar seller, Mohd Nihmatullah Syed Mustafa.
Some may brush this off as a business decision, given that without the nasi kandar, what drinks could the coffee shop owner sell when there were no other food operators there.
But the bond between the two men that was forged more than 50 years ago by their forefathers was palpable when The Malaysian Insider visited them recently.
Halfway through the interview, Mohd Nihmatullah, 49, manager of the famous Nasi Kandar Ayam Merah on Jalan Yong Kalsom, asked if Ang could join in and gestured to his friend who was sitting behind the counter to come over.
Ang, in shorts and T-shirt, walked over and took his seat closest to Mohd Nihmatullah at a table in the centre of the coffee shop.
Ang offered that when his friend was ordered to close, he wanted to support him by closing shop, too.
According to the 63-year old Ang, his father ran the coffee shop during the time of the nasi kandar founder, the late Kassim Mohd. Three generations later, the partnership remained intact.
"We work together. When the Health Department asked them to close, we closed in solidarity, even though the issue was with the fridge in the next building," said Ang.
Ang said he never had any doubts over the cleanliness of his friend's nasi kandar operations, and added that his nephew, who is poised to take over from him, will maintain the partnership with Kassim's great grandchildren, who are already working in the business.
Mohd Nihmatullah offered that back when the nasi kandar business started 55 years ago, Kassim, who is his wife's grandfather, would stand in front of the shop and invite people in using the Tamil word "vangey", "vangey", which means "come", "come".
That was in the 1950s, when Kassim had just arrived in Malaysia, bringing with him the nasi kandar recipe from his hometown in Irumeni, Tamil Nadu.
The shop became known as the "vangey vangey" shop then and along the way, it earned another name – nasi ganja – because of its tasty fare.
As such, it came as a rude shock to Mohd Nihmatullah and his family when the Kinta Health Department came calling one evening last month and ordered the operations to cease.
The matter was resolved immediately – three days later they resumed business – but not before it made headlines nationwide.
According to Mohd Nihmatullah, his customers who hail from all over the world were equally shocked.
Concerned regulars from Singapore and relatives and friends from India called him after reading the news, he said.
Things became more heated when a claim surfaced on Facebook that the Health Department had ordered the closure after finding traces of faeces in the food.
The person who made the allegations subsequently apologised.
The episode has left a sour taste in the mouth, with losses over three days and the fact that some regulars have yet to return, but Mohd Nihmatullah said they did not want to dwell on it.
When pressed further over the allegations of faeces in the food, he said: "Why must there be slander? Why is there jealousy? I don't understand," he said calmly.
Mohd Nihmatullah's concern over the loss of income during the closure was not a light matter, as they sell between 800 and 900 plates a day.
"When this business first started, it was one chicken a day. Now we use 90 chickens a day, and we are still the cheapest in town, where you can get a nasi ayam and nasi ikan for RM4.40 and RM4 respectively."
And while 20% of their regulars have yet to return since the controversy broke, Mohd Nihmatullah said they now have a new string of "curious" customers.
"A few days ago, a family of 10 came from Teluk Intan, saying that they never heard of us before, so this sort of makes up for the regular customers we lost.”
They have a wide customer base, from as far as Thailand and Australia.
"On weekdays, we have the Ipoh crowd. On weekends, the Ipoh folk leave town and those from outside come. We have many regulars from Singapore," he added.
With the fame that came with the recent controversy, would he look into opening a branch?
The answer was a vehement "no" and Mohd Nihmatullah stressed that it will always be this one nasi kandar shop in Jalan Yang Kalsom. – December 8, 2013.