Baba/Nyonya
Penang button

 Pair bark bai


baba nyonya sayings 

and  pioneers of Malay journalism

 
Baba sayings

chi lang chi soo koo
kam cheng kar eh koo
chi lang chi pnua
kam cheng bay see snua
chi lang chi ch’ooi
kam cheng kar bay ch’ooi

one quarter to each person
then friendship will last

one half to each person
friendship will be steadfast

one mouthful each
and friendship will stay solid

*****

lim tair lim tnar
mair nee snair baba

when drinking tea drink the cup dry
next year you will have a baby boy

******
pair bark bai
bolang chn’ia
kar kee lai

white eyebrows
uninvited
and he turns up

(A shameless fellow)

contributed by Betty Chng
#

Pioneers of Malay journalism

The Peranakan Chinese community was among the pioneers of Malay journalism,  and had encouraged Peranakan readers to learn the Malay language.

Just as in Jawa and Sumatera, the Peranakan Chinese in Malaya pioneered newspapers in Romanised Malay starting with Swat Khabar Peranakan in 1891

Other publications by the community were Bintang Timor (1894), Kabar Slalu (1924), Kabar Ucapan Baru (1926) and Bintang Peranakan (1930).

The earliest Malay publication in the Jawi script was the Malay-English bilingual magazine called Bustan Ariffin or Malay Magazine published by Christian missionaries in Malacca in 1821, he said.

In the Chinese Peranakan newspapers, some interesting articles concerned the community's attitude towards the Malay language.

An article in Bintang Timor  urged the community to learn Malay "supaya apabila orang Melayu ber-bahasa Melayu yang halus, kitajan-gan tinggal bingung, akan tetapi supaya kita bulih, mengerti dan menjawab dalam bahasa Melayu yang halus juga..." (so that whenever the Malays converse in exquisite Malay, we are not baffled, but are able to understand and reply in exquisite Malay too).


(From the speech of Universiti Sains Malaysia Vice-Chancellor Prof Datuk Dzulkifli Abdul Razak at a  seminar on Key Figures in Malaysian Journalism in the 20th Century at USM, jointly organised by USM's School of Humanities (History section) and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.
#)

 
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INDEX

Point to the article that you want to read, and CLICK

Index page    Baba pioneers    Baba sayings    Book review    Constitutional proposals (5)  
The death of Koay Jetty   Food guide   A gifted choir  How the land was lost   The jungle war (5)    
Letter from Pulau Tikus  

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The Penang File Issue  46