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, to 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 named his concoction ' banned dung' of which they thought was related to Bandung.
Later years street vendors especially the Mamak innovated the formula by introducing Rose syrup, 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 is added to get that ' punch' taste and is a favourite beverage during 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 that 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 of which its 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 replaced by Rumah berkembar. Imagine going to a developer office asking for Rumah Berbandung is 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, 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 which is Police Constable. Back in the good old days, elders would always be careful, especially when riding bicycles for fear 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 mean 'spy', but let's not be confused with the infamous ' Matahari' whose deceptive looks and moves were beyond for 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 wonder what it would look like if all our patrol cars are labelled Mata Mata.
Then there's ' Soldadu' which means a Soldier, now replaced by ' Perajurit'.
Some Melayu lama words has undergone transformation, like Kereta Api to Keretapi and now it's 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 that 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".
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11/2/2025: 9.51 a.m
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