It is our local culture that refreshments are served after each meeting/function. Usually there is some food left after everyone has taken their shares. So the leftovers are usually "tapau"ed by some people, rather than throw it away.
Since it is leftover food, what is so big deal about this "tapau"? Why do I still want to make a big fuss about it.
Actually I am p***ed off with people 'tapau'-ing the food even before everyone has taken their shares. We usually nickname these people "Mr Tapau" or "Ms Tapau", depending on the gender. If it is the 3rd gender, we just nickname the person "Tapau".
It happened again this morning when we were served food after His Majesty's visit to Tutong. The menu was roasted chicken, curry beef stew, curry pineapple stew and savoury rice, served with softdrinks and mineral water.
When the food was served and we were queuing for the food at the buffet table, some members of a family were putting lots of food in their plates. The sick thing was that the children were doing the same thing for their parents. After they collected the plates of food, they went back to their seats, poured the food into containers, and went back to the buffet table and repeated the process.
Due to their process of 'tapau'-ing the food, the queue was not moving. As an aggressive person when it comes to food, I pushed my way into the queue, stood behind the boy who was 'tapau'-ing. Then when he finished filling his second plates and wanted to pass the food to his father, I blocked his way.
Then I shouted to my students, "how many of chicken pieces do you want? I will take that for you before someone finishes tapau-ing the food?" Then another former student said to me "Sir, can you pass me the rice as I have been standing here for a while as people are tapau-ing here?"
We were trying to embarass the "Tapau" family. Not only they took the food, they took away the scoops as well. Why dont they just take the whole food trays, and make their life even easier.
One of the funniest thing is that a student actually stood in front of Mrs Tapau and pointed at her plate of food and said loudly to me, "Sir, look! She tapau so much!". hahahaha
After we all had our shares of food, there was lots of leftovers, and people were busy tapau-ing. I dont mind these people as we have already eaten. Better to tapau than to throw away.
Just don't tapau before others even take their shares.
Dont tell me this is extreme poverty. I would rather consider this as secondary poverty (Seebohm Rowntree 1901) or just plain greed.
I have taken some pictures of the infamous "tapau-ing"
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