Heritage

My dad was adamant on having Kluang Station for dinner.  Not thinking much about it, I obliged.

Casual dinner became a more significant occasion because of my Hainanese roots with the franchise.  I vaguely know my heritage, because I was too young to appreciate it, nor did my grandfather reveal much.  I suppose my dad found it opportune to shed some light on it.

My great grandfather, and grandfather had emigrated from Hainan, China amidst the growing Communist influence there.  My grandfather refused to share his past, but from what my dad gathered, my ancestors were loan sharks of the time, amassing quite the wealth in the process.  Communism meant that they had to share that wealth with others, and the enemies made from their days of collecting debt meant that Malaysia was a good place to move to.

Seeing as the Hainanese were one of the last ethnic groups to move to Malaysia, work was scarce.  The Hokkiens and Cantonese people occupied most of the mining and rubber tapping industries for the Chinese immigrants.  Most Hainanese turned to cooking, providing meals for the British colonist.

Which led to the establishment of Kluang Station.  It was a popular spot for the Hainanese community, with my granduncle securing a contract to manage all the Hainanese food stalls in Malaysia.  This made the Lim family well-known, as a result.

A worker under my granduncle had the idea of making a franchise out of the Hainanese style cuisine, which was a marriage of Chinese cooking to British palate.  Hence the emergence of the Kluang Station brand.

So yeah, that's my history.  It was a much-welcomed thing to have, learning more about my roots.  Here's to leaving a legacy behind for my progeny.

Ultralight Beam - Kanye West