OF MEE BANDUNG AND MELAYU LAMA

By: Allahyarham Norajelan Maamor

16 January 2021

If by any chance, you are in Bandung, Indonesia, forget about ordering Mee or Sirap Bandung. For all you get are just blank stares.

Mee Bandung originated from Muar, Johore, while Sirap Bandung had an interesting story of a Qweilo stationed in Singapore during the colonial days.

concocted a drink due to his distaste of tea, which he described as foul-tasting as dung. After a few trials he found mixing tea with milk and sugar removed the foul taste, and he told his colleague he would name his concoction 'banned dung', which they thought was related to Bandung.

Later years street vendors, especially the Mamak, innovated the formula by introducing rose syrup and added milk, thus the pink colour and hence the birth of Sirap Bandung, and today the recipe had a new twist when ice cream soda was added to get that 'punch' taste and is a favourite beverage during the Ramadhan breaking of fast.

But what is Bandung actually, and why Bandung?

I found out that 'bandung' in Malay means 'pair' or 'pasang', no, not like 'air pasang' or 'pasang lampu', but rather more of a suitable mix. So here Mee Bandung is a recipe in which you pair the noodles with veggie (Sawi usually), egg (a must), and the gravy, whose taste is between Mee Jawa and Mee Rebus.

Coincidently, 'bandung' is also a term used in property in the olden days.

'A Rumah Berbandung' refers to a semi-detached, but today it is replaced by a rumah berkembar. Imagine going to a developer office asking for Rumah Berbandung. It's like a 21st-century guy with a body of a 19th-century Hulubalang trapped inside you. You'll also get that blank stare.

Now, 'Hulubalang' is one of the 'Melayu Lama' words that will be forgotten. It means 'warlords' or 'warriors'. Similarly, titles like 'Memanda Menteri', which is 'Minister', and 'Memanda Bendahara', referring to 'Chief Minister' or 'Prime Minister'. Only Laksamana, which is Admiral, is still used today, especially in our Royal Navy.

Then, there is Mata Mata, who is a police constable. Back in the good old days, elders would always be careful, especially when riding bicycles, for fear of being caught by the Mata Mata.

'Mata Mata' literally means 'eyes', meaning that those constables back then were eyes and ears for the government. However, according to the dictionary, 'Mata Mata' also means 'spy', but let's not be confused with the infamous 'Matahari', whose deceptive looks and moves were beyond your eyes only. Okay, back to Mata Mata, it is only a rank, and all are still police or Polis, hence Polis Di Raja Malaysia and not Mata Mata Di Raja Malaysia. Hmmm...just wondering what it would look like if all our patrol cars were labelled Mata Mata.

Then there's 'Soldadu', which means 'soldier', now replaced by 'Perajurit'.

Some Melayu lama words have undergone transformation, like 'kereta api' to 'keretapi' and now 'tren', while 'kapal terbang' is now 'pesawat'.

Did you know that the Melayu Lama word for 'radio' is 'Tetuang Udara'? I know this for a fact, as my late grandfather told me, and as usual, my curiosity led me to check what Tetuang is. According to Kamus Dewan, Tetuang is from the base word 'Tuang Tuang' and was said to be a communication tool used in the olden days, usually from buffalo horns, and so with the invention of the radio, the communications were by waves via the air, and so the word 'udara'. After a while it was decided to drop this and stick to Radio.

Today Melayu Lama is almost unheard of, and with new words like 'Lepak', which I was told was universally accepted, apart from Kampung and Amok, and just like our multi-racial dishes, our lingo too is a melting pot.

Don't believe... "Hello MACHA, kasi TAPAU satu Roti Canai dan Teh Tarik." 

Copy and paste:

11/2/2025: 9.51 a.m.