What it means to be a Singaporean Minah
"Minah."
Just the thought of it amuses me.
For those of you who don't know, 'Minah' just refers to a malay girl. Usually, this term is accompanied by a noun, verb or adjective to further describe the kind of girl she is. Below are some pairings to help you understand:
"Minah Bunga"- Bunga = Flower
A malay girl who extremely adores flowers and typical includes floral prints in her everyday wear.
OR
A malay girl who is extremely sensitive and has an immense tendency to sulk at the slightest thing
"Minah Celup" - Celup = Dipped
A malay girl who is of mixed heritage
"Minah Angau" - Angau = Lovesick
A malay girl who is constantly daydreaming of her prince charming throughout the day
"Minah Rock"
A malay girl who enjoys rock music or heavy metal and dresses up according to that genre's style.
And the very infamous
"Minah Rep"
A malay girl who is involved in crimes such as gang activities and underage sex. Typically hurls a lot of malay vulgarities in everyday speech, has the signature highly arched eyebrows and viewed as uneducated and unruly.
Over the years (from the early 2000s I'd say), the reputation of "Minah Reps" in Singapore began to become more widespread, resulting in people shortening the phrase to just "Minahs". Hence, it's no wonder that people (even Malays) find it harder to distinguish between the two.
I've been called a Minah since I was in primary school. As time went by, this name saw different variations with different groups of friends.
In secondary school, I was called "Minah Express" and "Mak Minah". Why?
Well, language has always been my stronger suit. I sucked at Math and did fairly well for Science, but languages and humanities made up for it. My mum (she's indian), used to drill the importance of my culture in my head by saying "Tak guna muka melayu tapi tak tau cakap melayu."/ "There's no use if you've got a malay face but you don't know how to speak malay." That is probably why in primary school, I participated in numerous malay story-telling competitions, malay poetry recitations and learned malay dance.
By the time I was in secondary school, my grasp on the malay language was relatively better than my peers but I was also more in the know when it comes to culture/tradition related topics. I was a malay nerd, but I was also able to excel in my studies like any other chinese or indian student in my cohort. For some reason, some people found it intriguing. Why? Because I was a malay who didn't really fit into their impression of malays. That's a compliment right? Wrong.
I continued taking part in debate and poetry competitions but I was also a very active member of my school's english drama club where of course, I earned the "Mak Minah"/ "Minah's Mum" title.
Initially, I hated it whenever someone would call me "Minah". I mean, come on, my parents gave me (what I'd like to think) a pretty name, Nisa Syarafana, arabic for 'noble woman'. Why would you address me by "Minah"? Note that at that time, Minah was widely associated to Minah Reps, so no matter what noun/verb/adjective you add, it did not erase the negative connotation, at least to me. When my drama instructor first called me "Eh Minah!", I resented it. It showed on my face. I remember he said as-a-matter-of-factly, "What? Minah just means Malay girl what." to which I protested with a "But still!" and an unhappy expression. Clearly that did not change anything.
It took a while before I could embrace being called a "Minah." In fact, it was only until last year that I realised, there is truly nothing bad about it. It's actually endearing. So through years of being called "Minah Express", "Mak Minah", "Atas Minah", "Minah Hipster", I finally saw the merit of being a malay girl. And then this happened.
Random Malays:
"Sorry lah, I not very malay.
I don't know how to eat with my hands.
I don't know how to speak malay."
Me: Urm. Okay. Good for you. (proceeds to write blog post about you.)
I've met many Malays in Singapore who take pride in the fact that they are "not very Malay".
What's worse is that some are even embarrassed to be identified as Malay, especially if there's some celup going on.
Eh no, I not Malay because
"I got arab blood."
"I got pakistani blood."
"I got indian blood."
Eh, I didn't ask you whether "You ada mix apa" kan? (please get my Coco reference.)
Okay I take it back. That wasn't the worse. This is.
"I really don't like malay people," says a completely malay person.
I've asked these people about the shame that they feel when associated to the malay community. It's always the same thing.
a) they are lazy
b) they are uneducated
c) they are always involved in crimes
For real?
Every single time I hear this, it makes me sad. Many people think that one's race has got everything to do with one's behaviour/attitude. So what, if there's statistics from the government? I honestly don't care. There's a famous wordplay within the malay community "melayu layu" or "wilted malay".
To me, Melayu won't layu if they just understand that stereotypes are meant to be broken. If you think that the Malay community is viewed as inferior to other races in Singapore, your duty as a Singaporean Malay person is not to abandon or further criticize your community. You as a Malay person, should take a step forward to prove that such stereotypes shouldn't stick. You should encourage people to see the community differently instead of join in the group that allow for this stereotypes to perpetuate.
You do not stop when someone of another race says "Even a Malay can do so and so", you stop when someone no longer feels the need to mention your race to account for the quality of your work and respectable demeanor. Now that's a compliment. Nobody ever says "Even a Chinese can do so and so". Nobody even bothers to bring up the fact that they are Chinese.
Don't just sit there and complain about privilege. Act on it. If any of you think that you have been treated unfairly, don't resign to fate. It is not your fate. You were born on this land to receive the same rights as everyone else. You were part of the same system that gave you education and allowed for opportunities to hone your skills in whatever industry you want. If you want a job, do whatever it takes for it. Don't settle for less, don't say "There's nothing I can do, that's the way it is here." Speak up, and make people listen, in a civilized manner. Don't ramble and curse, think and then write. Anger is good if you channel it through the right mediums.
No, I'm not asking for a revolt. I'm asking for you to take your lives into your own hands. To be brave and loyal like Lieutenant Adnan Bin Saidi, our forgotten hero. To be creative and witty like Alfian Sa'at. To be respectable and cherished, like the future you. That's all.
To me, that's what it'd take for me to be a Singaporean Minah.
Just the thought of it amuses me.
For those of you who don't know, 'Minah' just refers to a malay girl. Usually, this term is accompanied by a noun, verb or adjective to further describe the kind of girl she is. Below are some pairings to help you understand:
"Minah Bunga"- Bunga = Flower
A malay girl who extremely adores flowers and typical includes floral prints in her everyday wear.
OR
A malay girl who is extremely sensitive and has an immense tendency to sulk at the slightest thing
"Minah Celup" - Celup = Dipped
A malay girl who is of mixed heritage
"Minah Angau" - Angau = Lovesick
A malay girl who is constantly daydreaming of her prince charming throughout the day
"Minah Rock"
A malay girl who enjoys rock music or heavy metal and dresses up according to that genre's style.
And the very infamous
"Minah Rep"
A malay girl who is involved in crimes such as gang activities and underage sex. Typically hurls a lot of malay vulgarities in everyday speech, has the signature highly arched eyebrows and viewed as uneducated and unruly.
Over the years (from the early 2000s I'd say), the reputation of "Minah Reps" in Singapore began to become more widespread, resulting in people shortening the phrase to just "Minahs". Hence, it's no wonder that people (even Malays) find it harder to distinguish between the two.
I've been called a Minah since I was in primary school. As time went by, this name saw different variations with different groups of friends.
In secondary school, I was called "Minah Express" and "Mak Minah". Why?
Well, language has always been my stronger suit. I sucked at Math and did fairly well for Science, but languages and humanities made up for it. My mum (she's indian), used to drill the importance of my culture in my head by saying "Tak guna muka melayu tapi tak tau cakap melayu."/ "There's no use if you've got a malay face but you don't know how to speak malay." That is probably why in primary school, I participated in numerous malay story-telling competitions, malay poetry recitations and learned malay dance.
By the time I was in secondary school, my grasp on the malay language was relatively better than my peers but I was also more in the know when it comes to culture/tradition related topics. I was a malay nerd, but I was also able to excel in my studies like any other chinese or indian student in my cohort. For some reason, some people found it intriguing. Why? Because I was a malay who didn't really fit into their impression of malays. That's a compliment right? Wrong.
I continued taking part in debate and poetry competitions but I was also a very active member of my school's english drama club where of course, I earned the "Mak Minah"/ "Minah's Mum" title.
Initially, I hated it whenever someone would call me "Minah". I mean, come on, my parents gave me (what I'd like to think) a pretty name, Nisa Syarafana, arabic for 'noble woman'. Why would you address me by "Minah"? Note that at that time, Minah was widely associated to Minah Reps, so no matter what noun/verb/adjective you add, it did not erase the negative connotation, at least to me. When my drama instructor first called me "Eh Minah!", I resented it. It showed on my face. I remember he said as-a-matter-of-factly, "What? Minah just means Malay girl what." to which I protested with a "But still!" and an unhappy expression. Clearly that did not change anything.
It took a while before I could embrace being called a "Minah." In fact, it was only until last year that I realised, there is truly nothing bad about it. It's actually endearing. So through years of being called "Minah Express", "Mak Minah", "Atas Minah", "Minah Hipster", I finally saw the merit of being a malay girl. And then this happened.
Random Malays:
"Sorry lah, I not very malay.
I don't know how to eat with my hands.
I don't know how to speak malay."
Me: Urm. Okay. Good for you. (proceeds to write blog post about you.)
I've met many Malays in Singapore who take pride in the fact that they are "not very Malay".
What's worse is that some are even embarrassed to be identified as Malay, especially if there's some celup going on.
Eh no, I not Malay because
"I got arab blood."
"I got pakistani blood."
"I got indian blood."
Eh, I didn't ask you whether "You ada mix apa" kan? (please get my Coco reference.)
Okay I take it back. That wasn't the worse. This is.
"I really don't like malay people," says a completely malay person.
I've asked these people about the shame that they feel when associated to the malay community. It's always the same thing.
a) they are lazy
b) they are uneducated
c) they are always involved in crimes
For real?
Every single time I hear this, it makes me sad. Many people think that one's race has got everything to do with one's behaviour/attitude. So what, if there's statistics from the government? I honestly don't care. There's a famous wordplay within the malay community "melayu layu" or "wilted malay".
To me, Melayu won't layu if they just understand that stereotypes are meant to be broken. If you think that the Malay community is viewed as inferior to other races in Singapore, your duty as a Singaporean Malay person is not to abandon or further criticize your community. You as a Malay person, should take a step forward to prove that such stereotypes shouldn't stick. You should encourage people to see the community differently instead of join in the group that allow for this stereotypes to perpetuate.
You do not stop when someone of another race says "Even a Malay can do so and so", you stop when someone no longer feels the need to mention your race to account for the quality of your work and respectable demeanor. Now that's a compliment. Nobody ever says "Even a Chinese can do so and so". Nobody even bothers to bring up the fact that they are Chinese.
Don't just sit there and complain about privilege. Act on it. If any of you think that you have been treated unfairly, don't resign to fate. It is not your fate. You were born on this land to receive the same rights as everyone else. You were part of the same system that gave you education and allowed for opportunities to hone your skills in whatever industry you want. If you want a job, do whatever it takes for it. Don't settle for less, don't say "There's nothing I can do, that's the way it is here." Speak up, and make people listen, in a civilized manner. Don't ramble and curse, think and then write. Anger is good if you channel it through the right mediums.
No, I'm not asking for a revolt. I'm asking for you to take your lives into your own hands. To be brave and loyal like Lieutenant Adnan Bin Saidi, our forgotten hero. To be creative and witty like Alfian Sa'at. To be respectable and cherished, like the future you. That's all.
To me, that's what it'd take for me to be a Singaporean Minah.
This is great
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