Ko macam indon la..
Ko cindian ker?
Mcm org sabah/sarawak jer...
ko mix ker...
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| 1 Malaysia Perpaduan Teras Kejayaan |
Hahahaha. These are some of the remarks I get when I let people know that I am a chinese. Well to be precise I can consider my self a Baba Nyonya (since on of the definition of baba nyonya is living in the life style of the malay culture)
Well what ever it is. I am just proud to be gifted with this..ermm how to say...muke oriental. hahaha. Well I did not gave this title to my self. oh no no no =)
I still remebered 2 incident that happen during my secondary school. Eh actually it was 3..or maybe more..hahaha. what ever it is. These are the incident that I remembered.
The first.
Back in shool, i think it was in form 4, i join the pengguna club, and was selected to participate in the Quiz pengguna competition. We were called by our principal, cuz he wanted to pass us some notes that will help us in the competition(he was one of the judges of the competition last year) So off we headed to see him. The moment we entered the room..
He asked " Erm kamu dua ya yg akan masuk pertandingan tu"
We (me and my fren) "Ya kami dua"
Principal "kata ada seorang chinese..mana dia.."
..what?? I am standing in front of him and he asked where is that chinese guy ahahaha.
My Fren " Ni sebelah saya ni (pointing to me, and giggling)
Principal " Huh?! ya kah muke macam melayu jer.."
"Betul ker awak cine.(muka mcm tak percaya)
"Yg Cina mcm melayu, Yg melayu macam Cina"
hahaha. Imagine that!
My fren: "betul."
Hahaha well that was my first encounter with such situation
ps: I think my principal's name was A'Saiman
The second
It happen when I was receiving my certificate for the commitment I gave when I join the Badan Pengawas.
Was on Stage to receive the certificate from this high rank police officer, when he suddenly ask.
"Nama awak Daniel Teng Chin Loong ker?" Again muka tak percaya.
Me "Iya..Nama Saya tu"
Police officer " Giggling. Tapi muka macam melayu" My teacher aslo Giggled.
The Third
A teacher asked me. You chinese ker? and I answered " ya kenapa?"
Muka awak macam melayu ada, chindian ada, macam org asli sabah sarawak ada and a few more she mentioned. Then bla bla bla( hahaha can't really remember the whole conversation) She said you are special. cuz you have an oriental face. Which mean I can be anyone I like aahaha( no la mean where ever I go, my face will look like the natives)
And that is how I got the title muka oreintal. hahaha
Well there are other incident too happening after that. Like the time I want to pay my celcom bill
Gave them my mobile number to check for the bill and their reaction was like.
"Daniel Teng Chin Loong??!!
" Nama awak"
"Ya nama saya"
With the confused face hee.
Well what ever it is I am just happy to be who I am. Sometime (including me) tend to focus at the the things we lack rather then the things we already have.
We got to be more grateful, cuz everybody is unique in his/her own ways.
Everybody is born in the World for a reason.
Appreaciate life and live life to the max
Peace out!!
ps: so now when people ask me "awak org apa"
I just answer I am a Malaysian. Saya anak Malaysia!
Nice piece of thoughts and well written too...
ReplyDeleteWell done!!
I agree that some people are ignorant and easily deceive by an individual appearance. They will just jump to conclusions based on your skin colour or looks (I also have the same problem with you, especially in KL, chinese people tend to speak malay to me when buying food or asking me for directions).
However, there is something that I need to clarify here... You did mentioned that one of the definition of Baba Nyonya community as "living in the life style of the malay culture". Which is not true at all. Even tough the cultural identity of the Peranakans consist a few malay traditions and customs BUT it is only a fraction of the whole distinct culture. Therefore it is unfair to claim that someone who lives based on the Malay cultural life style would be Baba Nyonya. Peranakans only adapted three aspect of the local malay culture, such as cooking, language, and attire.
Even so, they did not fully embrace the culture of the local in Malaya but blend it beautifully with the customs and beliefs of their forefathers.
For instance, Baba Nyonyas love sambal belacan and geram asam, but at the same time they take pork!(which the local malay would not). Secondly, the Peranakans communicate in a language known as the Baba Malay which actually is a patios that consist a mixture of Hokkien words and phrases. And lastly, the Nyonya kebaya is another invention of the nyonyas in the olden days...because of the humid weather in Malaya, they were force to adapt to the local attire. However, because of their passion for beauty and fine handicraft, the Nyonyas adorn their Kebayas with chinese motifs and embroidery and soon, it gave birth to the exclusive Nyonya Kebaya that we are proud of today...
And apart from that, having settled so far away from their land of origins... The Baba Nyonyas preserves and highly value the cultural practices of their forefathers in a foreign land that they called their new homes, which is still visible until this present day! Household Deity and Ancestral worshiping is very much emphasis in their daily live style...
Therefore, what I wanted to clarify here is that, it is not fair to define or consider Baba Nyonya as chinese that live in the malay cultural life style. This is because Baba Nyonya have their own distinctive and vibrant one of its kind culture and heritage!
Hye Lee thanks for the clarification.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your Thoughts =)
and lg 1 kejadian...nk tmbh ni...
ReplyDeletemase dlm teksi..ootw nk gi clunk central...
pakcik teksi ingt u melayu...
xsmbut chinese new year...hahaha...
still remember?
hahaha.meme ci la...keee
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