What's In A Name?
To Malaysianise Or Not?
Politically Correct Street Food Names?
Recently I posted a review of a common Penang Street Food snack, crispy peanut pancakes sold by a bicycle push cart in Kimberley Street. Somebody commented that the local name of the snack is Ban Chiang (Chinese) or Apom (Malay) and perhaps yours truly should not use Westernised names like “pancake” for our local Street Food.
But I pointed out the vendor names the food his push cart sells as "Ko Cha Bi Pancake" (Hokkein for authentic or traditional style pancake). Growing up in my sleepy hollow hometown we've always called this Street Food snack “peanut pancake”. (We have Apom too in Malacca, but our version is made with coconut santan and Gula Melaka and is not crispy. Completely different from Penang's Apom which although it does contain coconut, is always crispy, sometimes with an egg stirred in).
Changing Historical Names
Some political operatives in my hometown want to rename the historical St Paul's Hill as "Bukit Melaka". For the past couple hundred years since the Portuguese times, the hill has happily been called St Paul's Hill by generations of Malaccans. Why change the name now because some people (I think but cannot be 100% certain these people were not even born in Malacca town, IE they are NOT Anak Melaka like yours truly) just want to score cheap political points?
I say if you want to change a street or hill's name in my hometown then lets call for a referendum. Let's see if the majority of Malacca town residents agree. As a “true blue” Anak Melaka (Malay for born in Malacca town) I think it's fair that ONLY residents actually born in Malacca town should be allowed to vote in the referendum.
So I don't care how long you've been resident in Malacca or even if you own property in Malacca . You, Sir, are not a Anak Melaka if you were not actually born in Malacca. No outsiders and political operatives born in other Malacca daerah (Malay for districts) should vote in any referendum to change names, please.
When I was a student in a illustrious Malacca high school more half a century ago, we called a historical street by the Malacca river "Heeren Street" because of its association with the Dutch. I wonder why some people later decided to rename Heeren Street after a MCA political operative.
Surely if it was necessary to rename Heeren Street (a perfectly good name true to its historic origins) there must be better Malacca born candidates than Sir Tan Cheng Lock. You see Sir Tan accepted a knighthood from those pesky British colonialists.
Those political operatives also decided later to rename Jonker Street after a legendary Malay warrior who defied a Malay ruler (I think nobody thought about having a referendum to ask if local residents agreed). Problem is many historians say Hang Jebat may or may not have existed. Or worse (he and his fellow cohorts -Hang Tuah, Hang Lekiu, et al were not ethnic Malays)
The point I am trying to make, of course, is that changing historical names that have endured for hundreds of years is something that needs to be carefully considered. The British colonialists pursued a deliberate divisive policy. Under "Divide and Rule" the various races were kept apart: Malays in their kampungs, Chinese in New Villages and towns and Indians in plantations. In today’s Malaysia I think we should not cede any space to those who want to again divide Malaysians.
Whenever new names are proposed by political operatives, therefore I think righted minded Malaysians must question what is their agenda. Are they uniting Malaysians of all races ? Or are they keen to promote another divisive narrative ?
Post Script
My high school in Malacca, MHS, was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles, an Englishman. Back in the 1970s, MHS was renowned for the sporting prowess of its cricket, rugby and hockey teams. Our British type school house system was named mostly after famous historical figures like Albuquerque, Van Diemen, Raffles, Minto, and St Francis. The exception was Famosa House after the Portuguese fortress tower.. I don’t remember any protests by Malacca politicians then why the sports houses of Malaysia’s second oldest school were all named mainly for white people who invaded Malacca, (except for St Francis Xavier, a Jesuit missionary)
My high school used to hold an annual cross country run that took runners over much of another historic hill called Bukit Cina (China Hill), one of the oldest Chinese cementeries outside China. Now if those same people who want to change the name of St Paul's Hill because of its previous association with Portuguese colonialists then I fear it's only a matter of time before some bright spark wants to also rename Bukit Cina. After all, Bukit Cina has long been associated with Admiral Zheng Ho of the Ming dynasty who made the Malay rulers of Malacca pay tribute to his emperor in China.
