ABSTRACT
Early evening-Saturday 9th of May 1998 I am sitting on my heels and watching the work of Penang-born Chinese mechanic Tan BengTeongand his brother Tan Beng Hooi (hereafter Ah Teong
16 Masculinity, Power and Technology
and Ah Hooi). They are crawling beneath a large Volvo truck, struggling to fit a drive shaft in to place, and being assisted by their apprentice Boi and their uncle Tan Leong Soon. Despite it being almost nine o'clock in the evening, the temperature remains close to 40 degrees Celsius. Although I only help with a few tools, I sweat constantly. With the help of a jack and plenty of muscular exertion, the drive shaft is fitted to the truck. The brothers slowly emerge from the vehicle that has literally consumed them for the preceding hour. A certain merriness catches around combined with a feeling of relief due to the fact that a six-day working week is over. At around 9.30pm we prepare to go for dinner. We jump into the cars and ten minutes later we are seated at a friend's outdoor seafood restaurant in a nearby neighbourhood in the Chinese community of Jelutong.
