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Giant Weird Sculptures At Malaysian Roundabouts

April 19, 2005

The other day on the way to Cherating, we were at Malaysia’s one and only “Persimpangan Bunga Cengkih”. Yes, you read that right, there IS such a thing. How did I know? There were signs in all directions telling us about it. And sign from 5km away preparing us for this ‘special’ landmark, as if it’s the world’s biggest durian.

For those of you wondering, “Persimpangan Bunga Cengkih” is a direct translation of a ‘cloverleaf junction’. It’s an American traffic engineering term (I learnt this is college). Malaysia boleh, man. Why stop there? Why not have signs for every “Persimpangan Batu Intan” (diamond interchange) or Persimpangan Separa Terompet at Permukaan Datar (at-grade partial trumpet interchange)?

Which makes me wonder, why do Malaysians put weird, weird things at road junctions and roundabouts? Giant durians, giant mangosteens, giant groundnuts, giant congkak-boards, flowerpots big enough to bathe a cow, giant flowers with accompanying giant insects and giant butterflies (but no giant bird droppings), strange ‘artistic’ carvings that look like crap when its faded and rusted, etc…

I hear somewhere in East Malaysia there’s a giant white cat. But that’s acceptable, since it really blends with the name of the city. (On a side note, the council staff must spend a lot of time every morning clearing the area for giant buried cat droppings. And giant fish bones littered all over.)

But it isn’t all bad. Sometimes these ‘landmarks’ serve a good purpose – as a ‘landmark’! “Yeah, OK, you go straight, aa? Until you see the giant Siti Nurhaliza billboard, aa? Then you turn left, you know, until the roundabout with the giant orang-utan, aa? Then go 3 o’clock…”

But one word of caution. Make sure all these works of art are adequate protected by railings and kerbs. Over the years I’ve seen dozens of ‘mat racers’ smash into the center of the roundabouts or junction islands during their midnight drag races.

We wouldn’t want the beautiful giant durian wantonly damaged, do we? How will we ever find our way without them?

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