Indahnya Hati Melayu

Though I'm doing medicine, I'm a huge fan of the Malay literature. Its our heritage. Long before blogging and facebook were introduced, Malay culture taught us the very basic of self-expression - through poetry. There is this technique called "bahasa kiasan". It is an old Malay art of expressing one's thought without being too direct, simply said, a classy way to define one's mind.

Malays are very hypocritical to a certain extent. We refuse to wear our hearts on our sleeves (referring to the old ways), as the heart is free to feel anything, and most things felt in the heart aren't necessarily accepted by other individuals, or at times ungodly. But sometimes, we do find the need to get messages across without embarrassing ourselves. Hence the art of "bahasa kiasan".



For example,


"Anak tiong, tiong juga,
Manakan sama anak kedidi"

"Enggang sama enggang,
pipit sama pipit"

These two stanzas have but one message - You should know where you belong.




Another example,


"Bak teratai/kiambang, nampak seri akar tak jejak" 

In a nutshell - Something that shouldn't be counted on as we don't know where it stands.






The two stanzas below are excerpts from a song called "Embun Setitik" (A drop of dew). The song has a very deep meaning to it. I love these kinds of songs which seem obviously hogwash to those who don't get the messages between the lines.

Teratai taut berpayung mekar,

Putik berbalam serinya,

Hujan ribut gunung terbakar,

Embun setitik padam apinya

Mawar intan berkembang,

Sejambak budi bawa bersajak,

Datang tuan bagaikan kiambang,

Nampak seri akar tak jejak

Believe it or not, the one above describes a person who hides his/her feelings well. Sometimes anger and sadness consume the mind, but the rage would subside easily when that someone is around.

The one below tells us that when we love someone, a simple gesture of kindness from that particular person  means the world to us. Alas, the person is mysterious and might not love you the way you love him or her.

Indahnya hati Melayu.