Just when the panic over SARS was dying down, we have new problems: A huge cloud of methane has enveloped Sandakan, in Eastern Borneo.

The first I heard about it was - of course - from my maid. The grapevine exclusive to house staff exists all over the world.

"Have you heard about the baby that spoke after it was born?" she asked me.

What?! She told me about it and I had a good laugh. However, this rumor is rampant in Sabah, so much so that a report was published by the Daily Express. It quoted the acting Director of the local hospital as having shot down the myth that green beans, when boiled and eaten, would be the best defence against the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) virus.

The article continues: "It was widely rumoured in Sandakan that a newborn baby spoke, giving the advice that those seeking to avert .... SARS, must eat boiled green beans before 12 midnight on Thursday."

 

The price of beans shot up at once, with eateries everywhere in Sandakan selling bean soup, and everybody in sight carrying bags of bean soup home to their families!

Other Sandakan residents I spoke to had their own versions of the story, adding hastily, "Of course, we don't believe in it". But they went ahead and had some mung bean soup anyway.

Similar rumours circulated in Sarawak and Kota Kinabalu, but east Malaysia is not the only Asian country suffering from green bean frenzy. Cambodian authorities are investigating a similar phenomenon that has caused massive price hikes.... Cambodians claimed that relatives in the US and Australia alerted them to the miraculous effects of the mung beans.

Long past the deadline, a major part of the population was still making a beeline for green beans. Despite the price hikes by traders taking advantage of the situation, rocketing sales were reported....

Only in Asia .....