INTERLOK: COULD RIDHUAN TEE BE RIGHT AFTER ALL?

When a white novelist writes the dialogue of a black character, the condescension can make his reader cringe.

Take the sample below:

“I looks like gwine to heaven, an’t thar where white folks is gwine? S’pose they’d have me thar? I’d rather go to torment, and get away from Mas’r and Missis. I had so.” (Mas’r and Missis are Master and Mistress, as the book was set during the time of black slavery in America).

Does Michelle Obama speak anything like the ‘black’ English caricatured? Heaven forbid.

Now let’s go to ‘Interlok’ and see a sampling of how the book’s Chinese characters are made to speak.

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Page 61: “Gua titak mau mikin susah sama lu, Seman,” … “Tapi gua pikih lu sulah tau. Mapak lu ata manyak hutang sama gua, lia ata ngalai itu tanah kebun di kuala, tanah kampung tempat lu luluk sikalang, itu tanah sawah juga.”

Page 63: “Ini bukan sulat hutang,” jawab tauke itu. “Ini sulat tanah. Sulat hutang ada lain. … Ini hutang lu punya mapak lima libu linggit, ini dua libu linggit, ini satu libu linggit, ini satu libu linggit. Itu malang-malang angkat belum kila lagi.”

Page 64: “Ini semua hutang lu punya mapak, itu sebab gua pigang itu sulat tanah. Sikalang lu pun sutah tau. Kalau lu mau luluk juga atas gua punya tanah, lu misti mikin macam lu punya mapak. Itu pali magi tiga, satu tanah punya sewa, satu gua punya bagian, satu lu punya. Lu punya mapak kugak mikin itu macam. Kalau lu suka lu moleh luluk, kalau lu titak suka lu moleh pigi. Gua mau kasi olang lain mikin kalija.”

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The scenario of the cruel and cunning Chinese man cheating the naïve Malay is paraphrased in proper BM on Page 92:

“Waktu bapanya masih hidup, kita semua tahu, bapanya tu ada banyak membeli tanah. Tanah sawah, tanah kampung dan tanah kebun dekat kuala dialah yang beli. Tetapi alih-alih waktu dia mati kata Seman tanah itu semua sudah digadai pada Cina Panjang tu, dan orang Cina tu pun dah suruh Seman ini keluar dari kampung tersebut. Seman ini buta huruf, tuk penghulu, alif sebesar batang kelapa pun dia tak kenal, mata tongkang, jadi saya tak berapa pasti apakah betul atau tidak, ataupun orang Cina itu mau perdaya dia saja.”
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Lu, gua, apa bikin?

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Do many Chinese today speak such bad BM as mimicked in Interlok? How relevant is the book to our society today?

How would you feel when you’re forced to digest the ‘lu’, ‘gua’ Cina Pek mimicry, and mockery of stereotypical Chinese pronunciation, e.g. “Gua mau kasi olang lain mikin kalija.”

The Chinese character painted above by Interlok author Abdullah Hussain is the ‘bad’ Chinese. Abdullah’s ‘good’ Chinese is the one who sides with the Malay and turns his back on his own [Chinese] people.

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The breach between father and son occurs on Page 240:

“Apa Ah Seng? Gua kejam apa?” [asks Cing Huat when confronted by his son Yew Seng who accuses the father of 'kacang lupakan kulit' and mistreating the Malay hero] suaranya keras dan meninggi.

“Papa terlalu kejam pada Seman,” jawabnya lagi dengan tenang. [replies the son]

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Ah Seng repudiates his own father. As we know from previous excerpts from the novel, the Chinese have been portrayed as the scums of the earth. The Malays on the other hand have been portrayed as most kind and noble.

In Abdullah’s book, Ah Seng is the good Chinese.

If you’re a regular reader of Ridhuan Tee’s Utusancolumn, you’d know that he likes to scold those Chinese who can’t speak BM passably.

Recently on Feb 20, he had high praise for this girl (left) who speaks fluent Malay and who scored an ‘A’ for Arabic in her PMR.

Sejuk hati apabila melihat penerima tokoh Maulidur Rasul, Wee Soo Yen, 16, pelajar Cina dari Kelantan kerana mendapat A subjek Bahasa Arab Komunikasi dan semua A subjek yang lain dalam Penilaian Menengah Rendah (PMR) lalu. Apabila diwawancara, cara beliau berbahasa Melayu begitu fasih sekali.

The girl, Ms Wee (pictured), is Ridhuan’s model of a good Chinese – see Utusan story here

Below are the other good Chinese Hannah Yeoh and Elizabeth Wong. Selendang Queen Teo Nie Ching, topmost photo.

courtesy of Hartal MSM