Today, I came across two pieces of writing with a similar thread: racism.
The first piece is a reader’s letter to TODAY. Surekha A Yadav describes how a foreign worker was assaulted in a bus, and how no one bat an eyelid, including the bus driver. Among the possible conclusions she reached about the incident:
So, I am left with some ugly theories about my countrymen.
Did the others in the bus dismiss his plight because he wasn’t our equal? A foreign worker gets himself in trouble. He probably had it coming.
Or was it due to the colour of his skin? And that brings me to my response. Did I rush to the worker’s aid only because of the appearance of similarities in racial origins? I would like to think not.
The second piece is ThugChic’s blog entry about a racist term (via tomorrow.sg) which many do not realise is a racist term: ahpunehneh.
I have reproduced her post in full below, as she has exhorted. It is hard-hitting and incisive, dealing with behaviour which has been trivialized to the point of being acceptable. I believe this is partly because we are constantly reminded about the fragility of our multi-ethnic society and how it will fall apart if we talk about it in depth.
But talk about it, we must, in order to gain a deeper understanding of each other. Also, I have to say that while I agree with a lot of ThugChic’s points, I don’t condone her threatening violence on others.
You might also want to check out the comments (blogger)(haloscan) on ThugChic’s blog as well as the comments on tomorrow.sg.
Let’s make it clear for once and all. If you happen to read this, pass the message to your friends as well. Or if you have a blog, refer about it as well. Whatever it is, make sure this piece of important news travels.
“Ahpunehneh” is not a proper word.
It is not a Tamil word. Nor it is an English word. Nor it is a Greek word. Hell, it is NOT even a word. It is gibberish of the purest kind. Yes, yes. I hear all the gasping and “Did you hear that?!” and “Is it true?”. Yes it’s true. If there is one gibberish that is to be flushed down the toilet, this is it.
I am tired. Tired beyond words to explain what this gibberish has done. I am pretty much sure almost all my Indian counterparts will agree. Been called “Ahpunehneh” in a country that calls itself happily multiracial. There is nothing happy about this. I now take it upon myself to give all my clueless Singaporeans a much needed enlightment on this. Read and read well. And pass it on. Because the next time i hear or read that blasted gibberish, I won’t be patient. Anymore.
It makes me cringe just to think of the gibberish, much less typing it. But what has to be done has to be done. I can’t stress enough. “Ahpunehneh” is not a word. It’s a disgracing gibberish. I once read a comment on MrBrown’s blog that ahpunehneh is a form of respect for elder brother. Form of respect my ass is more like it.
But still, let’s autopsy this stinking mess. This gibberish can be broken down into 2 parts; Ahpu and nehneh. “Ahpu” looks and sounds like the mutated clone of an olden Indian name “Apu”. The name “Apu” was and is in use in India. But I doubt if anyone has been named Apu in Singapore for the past 20years or so. ‘Cause, Apu is, after all, a very old name. And no sane Singaporean parent would want to name their son something that has been used as a racist remark.
The second part, “nehneh”. Just what the hell is this? It is no word in the Tamil language. Yes. And stop arguing that it is. ‘Cause this is my mother tongue language and not yours. Just because you know a couple of Tamil words and can somewhat mispronounce them doesn’t mean you know this language. The nearest I can place this gibberish is to the Tamil word “Annan”. “Annan” in Tamil means elder brother. We all know that most languages are bound to have these 2 kind of forms; the formal written form and the informal spoken form. For example, “relax” is the formal written form and “relac” is the informal spoken form. In this case “Annan” is the is formal written form. And the way it is said in informal way is “Annah”.
Stop. Before you start agruing that it’s the same. It is not. It is not said in the highly ridiculous singalong tone you use. Another thing is, in chinese you can say papa, mama, poh poh. You can say the word twice and it would still mean you are calling you dad, mom and grandmom. This doesn’t apply to Tamil. Shortening a word then saying it twice doesn’t work in Tamil. Therefore shortening “Annah” to “neh” to “nehneh” is not correct. Don’t think you twist and turn my mother tongue language and claim it’s ok to do so. ‘Cause i will bitch-slap you. So my guess is, there was some guy called Apu in the earlier days of Singapore. And people chopped, pounded and minced the word “Annah” and mutated it into “neh” and postfixed it to “Apu” and voila! You have a gibberish that is known nationwide used to address all Indians.
Now that I have done the autopsy, lets proceed to other things that is related to this gibberish. My dear fellow Singaporeans, you look fucking retarded saying things in a singalong manner and claiming that’s how we sound. There was once I was at Dover station with my group of newly made friends from class. Then one of them said a few sentences in a high singalong tone and weird ass accent. Then started to laugh. The rest didnt know how to respond, because for a starter, this was done in front of a Indian girl. Me. I just looked at him and started to double over with laughter. After catching my breath, I told him “Did you know how fucking retarded you looked and sounded just now dude?! OH MY GOD!!” and promptly went into fits of laughter again. Red faced, he defended himself by saying “But that’s how you all sound”. I looked him in the eye and asked “Do i sound like that?”. “Err, no..” was his reply. “Does S(another Indian classmate of ours) sound like that?”. “Err..no la..But that’s how they sound in the movies”. “Which part of the movie?”. “The song lor”. This, is the highest form of stupidness i have encountered in my life. A song is supposed to be in a singalong manner, no? So for the record, we don’t talk in a ’singalong’ manner. It’s just your inability to understand a song is a song and doesn’t apply to talking as well. You people definitely don’t talk like Jay Chou or Sammi Cheng or any Chinese artiste’s singing. It’s the same. So quit it.
Next. Repeat after me. Brown is not black. Black is not brown. We have people from different walks of life and somehow in this nationwide disorder, almost all chinese cannot differentiate brown from black. Once again another example that happened to me. This happened in the first year of uni. After one of the lectures, i was waiting at the back of the lecture room, for a couple of my clique guys. This part of the lecture room was not lit but rest assured the rest of the room was. So it is understood the part i was standing wasn’t pitch black. Then another guy from another clique, who was standing near me, turned and said this “Hey TC, why you stand there? You so black, still stand there. Cannot see you lor. *Insert laughter*” The following was the connversation that happened between us after he said this. All my replies were said in a deadpan face and tone.
Me : Now that’s a pity. How long have you been having this disability?
Him : Huh? What disability? What you talking?
Me : Ya what. This color-blindness disability of yours. Have you been having it since young? Never got it checked ah?
Him : *clearly in a confused state* Color blindness?! Where got? Don’t have what..
Me : Yes. It is color blindness. You can’t differentiate brown from black.
Him : *Finally understanding what i was getting at* Oh..aiya..I thought what..
Me : Seriously, you ought to have it checked lor. Can be quite dangerous.
Him : *laughs* How can it be dangerous..
Me : It will be, when i punch you. (Note to everyone. I am not exaggerating. I am capable of throwing a punch to the face)
Him : Hehe, sorry la. Brown and black the same what.
Me : What’s the color of my TShirt?
Him : Black lor.
Me : And my skin?
Him : Hehehe. Brown..ok la ok la..sorry..I maybe perceived as an anal retentive person in the conversation above. But I don’t appreciate called “black”. Simply because I am not. I am chocolate brown. The bottom line is brown is not black. Black is not brown.
Third. Holding your noses when an Indian comes near you. Some of the older Indians and India nationals (these are 2 different kind of people) adore their coconut or jasmine hair oils. It have been their practise for centuries and just because you can’t stand it, they are not gonna quit. It’s the same how an Amercian will first react to durian. Do you as a Singaporean give up eating durian just because someone unused to it claims it’s smelly? No i suppose. That been said, not all Indians use these oils. As much as I have observed, modern image conscious Singaporean Indians, don’t use it. So it’s unfair to automatically hold your nose when any Indian comes near you. What are you, a no brainer robot? It’s not like every ah pek, ah mah, uncle and auntie I come across is sweet smelling. Some reek of sweat and body odour. Which is much more worse than coconut and jasmine oil if you ask me.
Fourth. Indian girls and ladies wear a “dot” on our forehead. The proper name is “pottu” but forget it. You are still gonna call it a dot. It is not there for infrared or bluetooth purposes like how one sms from my poly fren claimed to. I am still pissed.
It’s sad to let you all know that this racist behaviour comes mostly from Chinese(not as if you guys don’t know it in the first place). Which is why i can only write about what I have encountered. Just because this race forms the majority of Singapore doesn’t mean it’s superior. Simply because, it’s not. And I don’t know how long more i will be patient to these kind of racist treatment. Of course, 90% of my friends are chinese. Not all are like this. It’s just too contradictory to claim ourselves as a multiracial country. Yes we have different races and we have one whole day called Racial Harmony Day and we live in relative harmony. But that is only possible because people like me, who have been subjected to racist treatment since young, prefer to keep quiet. But how long do you think we will keep quiet? Patience is only this much. I seriously had enough of all your “ahpunehneh” rubbish, holding noses and all racist acts. And parents, if your kid points and says “ahpunehneh”, correct him/her. Don’t you freaking ignore it or worse encourage it. If i see one more kid look in my general direction and say “ahpunehneh”, i will throttle him/her til he can’t remember the rubbish ever again. I swear i will do it. Because i had enough.
Now that i have said all, whoever reads this, if you are Singaporean, and have done any of the above mentioned or know of people who done or does any of the above, read this entry and read it well. ‘Cause i don’t like to repeat. Print this out, distribute or mention it in your blog. I don’t care. I just want this to gibberish to stop. Because me and my Indian race had enough.
And all my Indian counterparts, whether I know you or not, if any of the above have happened to you, I feel your frustration. Share with me what were your experiences. Everyone else who wants to say something. Go ahead. But do it in a civilised way. You have been warned.
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I have made the following comment on ThugChic’s blog. Hope it offends no one!
KS said…
Yes, “Ahpunehneh” is not a word. I know because I asked an Indian friend for the word’s meaning during a chit chat session. He also told me that his parents used it in a few conversations with him when he was young. Mainly in the same context that many children in Singapore come into contact with this term: ‘If you don’t stop misbehaving, the Ahpunehneh over there will take you away.’ Ok, sadly this Ahupunehneh character normally is filled in by a darker skinned individual. So it sticks in the head of the child that indians are called Ahpunehneh. So when they do use it (as a child or when they grow up), they do not use it with racist intent, in contrast to the term ‘nigger’. I personally feel that it is a sad case of miseducation, mainly from adults who use the term loosely in front of their kids. Hope that our next generation parents will know better.
Secondly, about the conversation with your friend, whom I assume to be chinese, I wish to point out certain interesting things about the chinese. Firstly, note that local chinese may not speak very good English. If you noticed (it would be easier if you understood the chinese language), some chinese students do direct translation from Mandarin into English, thus accounting for odd sentences like ‘Don’t like that lei’ or ‘Later you go where?’ This direct translation phenomenon is due to the demands to be bilingual.
In Mandarin, when we talk about someone’s skin colour, it is always white or black. Note that this sounds offensive only because of the limitations of both languages. A more accurate explanation would be that in mandarin, ‘white’ in this context means ‘pale’ while ‘black’ means ‘dark’. So, an individual with a relatively weak command of English would use the direct translation of the Mandarin term of ‘Black’. I’m not trying to bluff my way out of this one because I’m a relatively dark skinned Chinese myself, and I have received comments that I’m rather black. So, please do not get worked up over this issue about the term black or brown. It’s not meant to be racist, it’s just improper English usage. Really.
And finally, it is true that not all Indians smell. But if someone chooses to pinch their nose as they walk by, is it racist? I pinch my nose too (at least block it) when necessary. But I don’t do that to Indians, I do it to smokers. Am I a anti smoker? No! Some of my best friends smoke. I just don’t like the smell, that’s all. I do not know how you get the idea that people who pinch their nose around Indians are racist (they might do it to other individuals from other races wearing too strong a perfume), but try not to look too much into a certain action. Instead, take the thought of racism out of your head and objectively access the situation whether that person’s ‘racist’ action is justified. Maybe the person does really smell a little off or maybe the nosing pinching person is having a runny nose or something. Misunderstandings normally occur when we jump to conclusions too fast. Ask yourself today: have you been racist?
i have an unabashed penchant for interacting with people from a different race from mine because i am drawn to the colourful diversity of cultures, but along with diversity comes misunderstanding.
however, i have to state for the record that sometimes its not “misunderstanding” per se that is perpetuated, rather its plain bigotry.
in my experience as a teacher in a multiracial society that claims itself to be modern and rational, i have encountered a chinese parent requesting that i move her daughter’s seating position in class away from an indian girl as a precautionary measure against getting ticks in her hair.
i did a double take and flatly refused this chinese parent and also vouched personally for the indian girl that she does not have ticks.
this however is the only racist incident that i came across in the three and a half years of teaching, i observe most children interacting uninhibitedly and politely with those from a different race. perhaps that i why i enjoy being a teacher, i can correct misconceptions among children and also be in a position to rebuke even parents.
in response to KS’s mitigation of thugchic’s bane, i’ll go out on a limb to hazard that most actions such as nose-pinching and derogatory references stem from stereotyping on the part of the majority race and not sheer misunderstanding. that is to say, to play safe, we pinch our nose, to play safe we rather our children not get ticks.
presently being a minority in a majority white country heightens my respect for sensitivity between races. i have not experienced any encounters with racism, but i am prepared to be patient with people who perpetuate certain stereotypes, and when they do it is more often a case of the lack of awareness rather than a malicious attack. for instance, in the four day trip around tasmania i attended with 10 white participants (non-aussie) and a white guide (aussie), it was assumed that i have difficulty understanding english simply because i am asian.
however, i do not hold it against them because it is no fault of theirs that they happen to have not encountered many asians. the thing is, they are very receptive and willing to be corrected.
i just hope that everyone else can do the same, be receptive and willing to be corrected rather than be on the defensive.
on my part, i thought that that just because the participants on the trip were white, they were all aussies - blonde hair blue eyes isn’t it?
Having read with interest the above replies to the very interesting article, especially the reply given by KS, perhaps he can be excused for his ignorance of what’s happening in society because it probably is not happening to him - and I’m rather amazed by some ‘facts’ he’s quoted.
The most amazing thing is his claim about the limitation of the Chinese language in referring to skin colour. Of course there are nuances in every language that require our understanding and I’m not decrying them. But seriously folks, if there is a linguistic norm that tends towards racism when it can be helped - changed that is - it seems only fair to attempt this change.
Chinese is not my language, but I know it to be a rich and very developed tongue that goes back a few thousand years - at least according to many historians. With such a rich heritage, it is questionable if you ask me to believe that the language does not have words for colour. For instance if you are simply talking about colour and not referring to the skin, there are words to denote different colours, for example, “hong” for “red” (simplified Mandarin as I understand it. Hence we have the “hong bao” or “red packet”. If normal colours can have variety, why not skin colour?
And about the nose-holding, my friend Mr K S, I would agree that is understandable (thought maybe rude) to hold your nose obviously when a person with an unacceptable odour passes by. But what do you make of people who take a look at you from 30 metres away and start holding their noses - right after you are freshly showered, stepping out to work and THEY have been tending to their pet animals faeces and cleaning up at the time WITHOUT holding their noses until they see you that far away.
I have to go into such detail because I can understand that there may be other justifications for holding noses. But how do you explain the above, friend?
And yes “Ahpunehneh” is not a word. Most of us know that. And a pottu is not a bluetooth device. And yes you say we are anally retentive to point that out. You also say a similar jibe in return wouldn’t be taken badly. So would it be okay to call Chinese “Ching Chongs” or “Cina Bukits” or to say that chopticks would be good for, say, scratching backs? I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen the theory tested. Most of the Chinese would disagree, and they have disagreed. So are they anal-retentive then?
Think about it people. We’re not a bunch of idiots to be twisted around semantic cobwebs. Racism is there. It’s global. There’s no denying it. What we can do is to minimise it. All said, yes I agree that to get overly sensitive is to invite not only “anal-retentive” labels but also to demonstrate a lack of security and confidence in one’s own ethnic roots and respectability. Why have the Americans gone where they’ve gone? You can point out a lot of reasons, but I’d say a big one is their ability to laugh at themselves - an essential quality for all of us.
Well said. I know what you mean.
First of all let me stress that the word “ahpuneneh” has been going around for a long while.
I would like to share my real life story (which happened 25 years ago) about how I handled a situation where I came to a point where I could not stand being called “ahpuneneh” continuously by a child.
I had just started working life and was in a shophouse in Chinatown installing a telex machine (in those days, telex machines were complex machines which needed three engineers to instal - and two chinese colleagues were with me).
In the shophouse, business was conducted at the front and the back portion was used as residential. The telex machine was installed at the back portion and there were some children and women in the room where the machine was being installed.
One child started to call me “ahpunehneh” “ahpunehneh” continuously. The women in the room started to giggle. Encouraged by the giggling of the adults, the other children too joined the chorus and started chanting “ahpunehneh”.
Well, I was young and as expected of any young, hot blooded man, I lost my cool and turned to one of the women (at that moment I did not care whether the women was the child’s mother or not), and said the following in a very calm manner (I had to remember that I was still a representative of my company even though I was boiling mad inside) :
“Do you know that your child is calling me “father” when he refers to me as “ahpunehneh”? Am I the father of your child?, In Tamil Aphaneh means father”.
Everything went quiet in the room. Everyone stopped giggling and the “blood” drained from the faces of the women. The children just stood there staring at their mothers not knowing or understanding why the mothers had suddenly gone quiet and looking shocked.
I then walked out of the shop, leaving my two other colleagues to complete the job. When my colleagues came out, they told me that the women were very upset by what I had said. I was then sure that that was the last time they ever used the word “ahpunehneh” in their lives.
Now coming to a loose intepretation of the word “ahpunehneh”. In Tamil, there is a word Appaneh which means Father. The word was commonly used by the older generation especially so in India. This is one interpretation. It is therefore possible that the word (in a sing-song manner) distorted to be become “ahpunehneh”
Therefore, if you come across anybody making fun with the word “ahpunehneh”, try asking them if you are their father and see the reaction. Have fun seeing the reaction and I guarantee that that will be the last time they use the word.