While awaiting a flight back home to Bombay, I came across this wonderful book in the book shop at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Taikor (elder brother) follows the life of Ya Loong from British Malaya through to the 1980s. Loong who is raised partly in Penang and partly in Shanghai, becomes a triad after the Japanese occupation of Malaya ends and over time turns into a legitimate businessman. The story also follows the lives of 3 Malays, who are the children of a farmer, each one making it big in modern Malaysia.
If you're interested in Malaysia and the pride that it takes in its multi-racial society, this book is a must-read. Moreover, I would recommend this book for those who like the city of Penang. Kheng takes the readers into the shady lanes of the heritage city in the 1950s and 60s and gives the reader a great insight into the Chinese culture of the island. The gang-wars and violence isn't graphic and there is a great flow in the book that keeps the reader interested.
The section dealing with the Japanese occupation of Malaya seems much like a first person account, without any of the malice that Chinese-Malaysians of those times (justifiably) feel towards Japan.
The author skirts through the race-relations issues of the 1960s and one of his protagonists, Suleiman, a politician with Malaysia's ruling party, grows to oppose the affirmative actions policies of the government.
TAIKOR: Valour,Honour,Suspense, Betrayal and Love, the Definitive Malaysian Saga
The author was a leading business consulant and has a chequered career in writing books in the business realm but Taikor has definitely shown that he has a creative side as well. Kheng-Hor Khoo, now retired, lives in the mountains.
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