Archaeologists have been studying a hill called Monte Testaccio in Rome. No, they are not hunting for fossils of pre-historic life as Monte Testaccio is only about 2,000 years old. The 35-metre high hill is not a natural geological feature but a huge pile of about 53 million amphorae or earthenware containers.

The massive pile of ancient amphorae has provided archaeologists a glimpse about life in ancient Rome, particularly about how millions of litres of olive oil were imported from as far away as Spain and North Africa.

Considering that the amphorae, like any other earthenware container, were susceptible to breakage, transporting olive oil thousands of miles in them was a monumental achievement. Not that the Romans had any choice as olive oil was and still is a staple food item there and in other places around the Mediterranean. Without it, the Romans could not have had their spaghetti aglia oglio, as the oglio (oil) part is olive oil.

About 1,500 years after the Romans made a hill of empty amphorae, the Melaka sultanate practised similar importation of staple food items.

When he arrived in Melaka in 1509, Portuguese nobleman Diogo Lopes de Sequeira noted that Melaka had lots of fresh water and orchards but everything else had to be imported.  This is mentioned in the book Portuguese Documents on Malacca from 1509 to 1511 by M.J Pintadao, published by the National Archives of Malaysia.

As the importation of staple food items is nothing new, the Malaysian government’s decision to import egg to remedy the egg shortage problem should not be viewed negatively.

But was egg ever traded over long distances in the Malay Archipelago hundreds of years ago? I’ve not come upon any written record specifically mentioning the importation of egg into Melaka but an old pantun may hold the key.

Telur itik dari Singgora, (Duck eggs from Singgora)

Pandan terletak dilangkahi,

Darahnya titik di Singapura,

Badan terlantar di Langkawi.

Although the first two lines are just the pembayang or foil for the real message in the last two, they were well-chosen and not just put there willy-nilly, which means there must be a truth in them. Given that this pantun was in the Malay Annals written by Tun Sri Lanang 400 years ago, it shows that Singgora (present day Songhkla in Thailand) was known for its duck eggs. As Tun Sri Lanang lived in Johor and later in Aceh, it is probable that duck eggs from Singgora were exported to various places within the Malay Archipelago.

For a better context, let us look at another pantun.

Kalau roboh kota Melaka, (If ever the Melaka fort should fall)

Papan di Jawa saya dirikan, (I shall erect (a new one) with wooden planks from Java)

Kalau sungguh bagai dikata,

Badan dan nyawa saya serahkan.

To build a fort, one needs very strong and tough wood, and the island of Java has millions of strong and tough teak trees (Tectona grandis). When the Dutch landed there in the 1600s, they noted that there were pure and almost pure stands of teak wood forests, stretching for hundreds of kilometres. Teak must have been traded between Java and other parts of the Malay Archipelago for the island to be mentioned in the pantun as the place to get wood strong enough for a fort.

I am neither a pantun expert nor a historian, so the above observation may be inaccurate. I welcome experts in the relevant fields to correct me if thereis anything fundamentally wrong with my observations.  

Although importing egg is not new, the flow of trade is a bit strange at a glance. A shortage of egg forced us to import millions of eggs from India but at the same time we are exporting millions of them, mostly to Singapore and Hong Kong. I believe not all the factors that led to the current situation fall under the purview of the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry (MAFS).

Perhaps what we need is an agency to control the upstream and downstream activities involving every aspect of egg production, import and export. Bernas controls everything about rice production and importation and we have never had any shortage of rice. Maybe we should have a Bernas-like agency for eggs.

We can call the agency Bertelur, just to remind us that it should function like Bernas.

Some may be wary that such an agency can give rise to problems. Prime Minister  Anwar Ibrahim lambasted Bernas for allegedly putting poor paddy farmers at a disadvantage. However, Bertelur should be free from such issues as the poor are not in the layer farm industry. Of course there are poor people rearing chicken for their own use but they are not industry players.

Furthermore, Bertelur can help the poor in rural areas by setting up layer farms there. The poor can join as workers or participants, and they can later go into the business on their own if they want to.

Tekun Nasional has been providing micro credit to entrepreneurs. Bertelur can recommend budding layer farm entrepreneurs to receive help from Tekun.

We can call the project Tekun Bertelur.

These are just my ramblings. I am sure the government has more awesome ideas. After all, years before he became the Economic Affairs minister, Rafizi Ramli shared a brilliant formula to reduce car prices. Egg supply problem should be a walk in the park in comparison. We should not let MAFS shoulder all the burden. All ministries and government agencies should work together to figure things out as food security affect the life of all Malaysians.

The writer is a journalist, writer, retro bike enthusiast, blacksmith, tinkerer.. not necessarily in that order. Spent 20 years in the manufacturing sector before joining NST as a journalist.