THE MEMOIRS OF MUSTAPHA HUSSAIN - Malaysia Today

54 Memoirs of Mustapha Hussain
along those lines. One of these older boys approached me after hearing
that I had been circumcised during the school holidays. He asked if I had
kept the snipped foreskin.
I replied “No,” wondering what that question was all about.
“You are stupid! That is the best medicine (aphrodisiac) one can
have!”
It seemed that if the foreskin were kept in a little coconut oil, the
mixture would make a mighty strong aphrodisiac.
Then, he asked, “When are you going to sepuh (plate) it (my asset)?”
I responded, “What is sepuh?”
He whispered to my inexperienced ears, “Go ‘there’. Bring some
money!”
The puzzled look on my face made him add, “A new ‘machete’ will
only remain sharp if it is ‘plated’. Even old machetes, once ‘re-plated’,
would be sharp again.”
But I was still a little boy, and I did not dare take up on his advice
even though it was given in good faith.
I later learnt that the place he had asked me to visit was a brothel.
There were many along Boon Bee Street, which featured Japanese women
licensed and ‘taken care’ of by the Health Department. The usual charge
for services rendered was one dollar. These brothels disappeared after a
world conference on prostitution in Paris.
The other place my friend recommended was along Jalan Tupai,
where its multiracial occupants charged the same amount as the Japanese
women, but were neither licensed nor ‘taken care of’ by any health
authorities.