Get-to-Know Baba in SEGi! by Kasie Foo

In order to get to know more about the culture of Baba and Nyonya, I had decided to have an interview with one of the Peranakan from our college, SEGi University College— a pure Baba named Darren Ben who studies Diploma in Video and Animation. We get to know more about him through some interesting questions about him as a Baba.

Kasie:    Do you know the history of your family?

Ben:      My dad is a Baba with Hainam origins. My grandmothers from both of my parent’s

             family started a long way back actually around the 1500s. Haha! My mom has

             an interesting story for the Peranakan heritage. According to her, the Chinese

             never married with the Malays to begin with, they just adopted to the Malay

             culture and made it there.

Kasie:    So, do you speak Baba Malay?

Ben:      Oh yes, I’ve been speaking it for 19 years.

Kasie:   What are the differences between Baba Malay and Malay?

Ben:      We use the word “pakay” instead of “pakai” and “guna”. We don’t use “guna.”

             We also refer oneself as “Gua” and refer to second person as “lu.” Table cloth is

            called “kain tokpoh.” “Ju” means ‘wash’ in Baba Malay. When we ask someone

            to use the table cloth to clean a table, we say “ambil kain tokpoh ju meja.”

Kasie:   How about your religion?

Ben:      I'm a Buddhist, but we use the term “Allah” a lot. For example, we say “only God

            knows” as “Tuhan Allah saya tau.”

Kasie:   Since you are a Baba, do you wear traditional Baba clothes?

Ben:     *laughed* No, it’s heavy and hot. But the Nyonyas still wear Kebaya and beaded

             shoes. Kebaya is very expensive as a lot of Peranakan back in those days worked

             with the British and was considered as high brow people.

Kasie:   There are lot of Peranakan food, which one is your favorite?

Ben:      Rempah Udang. It’s a kuih. There used to be an old Nyonya who sold it and the

            kuih-muih she made were delicious, but now I can’t eat the kuih-muih anymore

            because she passed away.

Kasie:   You are a Baba, what race do your friends think you are?

Ben:     Strangers often ask me about my race, I always tell them I’m a Chinese and they

            actually believe it because I look like a Chinese. But, when I speak Malay, they

           have the second guess, I look Chinese but I don’t speak Mandarin.

Kasie:  Do you have any particular marriage rules in your family?

Ben:    No, not necessary to get married with the same race. The funny thing is my mom

           told me that Nyonyas are very hot tempered and I shouldn’t get married with one

           of them. Actually, I think she is talking about herself. Haha!

Kasie: What do you think of Peranakan nowadays?

Ben:    We are dying out due to our culture integration with another modern way of life. If

           you want to learn more about our culture, the Peranakan in Singapore or Indonesia

           know it better.