Roti 'Kok' 
Feb 19 2014, 09:25 PM, updated 12y ago
IF you are looking for a place near Malacca where you can sit back and relax after retirement, then the quaint village of Machap is the place for you.
The village began life some 75 years ago, during the colonial period. Although not my birthplace, this was where I grew up, from my early childhood days.
With 2,500 residents in 600 homes, the village is populated by mostly rubber tappers and farmers who cultivate oil palm, vegetables and fruit orchards. The remainder include business operators and shop owners.
There is, however, a scarcity of those from the younger generation as they prefer seeking greener pastures in urban centres.
The village became a Chinese-majority area when immigrants from China, specifically the Hakka community, came to the peninsula to seek greener pastures. They survived on poultry farming and plant cultivation.
A village elder, Nge Piyan Moi, 74, used to stay in a wooden house surrounded with pigs, chickens, vegetables and fruits from which she made a living.
"Our village then did not have electricity, running water or other modern conveniences that are now taken for granted," she said.
"During the Emergency years, my parents and siblings were forced to moved here to Machap Baru new village, some two kilometres from Machap Lama. For security reasons, the entire village was fenced up. No villagers were allowed to leave and identification cards were kept with them at all times.
"Every morning at 6am, the British would open up the gate for us to go and tap rubber. We were not allowed to bring out any food, out of fear that we would pass them to the communist insurgents. We also had a curfew and had to return by 4pm, otherwise they would catch us and confiscate our bicycle and we would be interrogated."
On a happier note, Nge said she could still smell the village's famed produce, roti kok, a bread that is baked till hard like a biscuit.
"All around the village, one can catch a whiff of the baked bread from the chimney of the factory that is located in the middle of the village," she said.
"That is the signal to say that the roti kok is ready, and then everyone will queue up at the shop to buy the hardened bread which is best eaten by dipping in a cup of piping hot black coffee." Nge said the bread used to be baked in a clay oven heated by firewood which gave the bread a distinctive fragrance and flavour.
"Now, the factory uses an electric oven whereby the fragrance and taste is somehow compromised. However, this modern method ensures that the roti kok is more evenly baked, unlike in the old days when parts of the bread would be badly charred," she said.
The roti kok factory owner, Puah Chin Poh, 87, said the bread was first made by his father using just margarine, eggs, flour and sugar.
"My father learned how to bake in Merlimau. He started up this factory in 1935 and now the factory is being run by my eldest son Kia Men, who is 61," he said.
The village is also known for its pious Muslim resident Tok Mesap or Datuk Machap, also fondly called Datuk Gong by the Chinese villagers. It was during the Japanese Occupation in 1941 when some 50 residents from Machap Baru were rounded up for allegedly helping the freedom fighters. Miraculously, the lives of these 50 people were spared, thanks to prayers offered by Tok Mesap, whose real name was Jailani Mendik Mesap, when the Japanese soldiers suffered stomach aches and were then forced to retreat.
Machap Baru is also famed for the Tan Gong Xian Sheng Temple. It was believed that the founder of the temple had a dream asking him to build a temple in the village in 1940. This is where villagers will seek advice on determining important dates, names for newborns, finding missing belongings or persons, and even for getting lucky numbers.
In addition, Machap Baru today is also famous for restaurants that serve exotic delicacies. These are where one can order fare like wild boar, deer, snakes, frogs and anteaters which are served with herbs and spices, ginger and soya sauce, or dried chilli with cashew nuts.
http://www.nst.com.my/streets/northern/fan...c-meat-1.482596
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