after all my morning errands and before heading back to the office, i decided to have my lunch first.
it had rained whole morning and it didn't seemed to want to stop. and after parking my car, i walked to the hawker center for lunch. i had taken my umbrella with me as the rain continued. and it was then that i saw an elderly makcik (a malay woman) and her husband. the makcik was pushing her marketing cart to the car and she was limping. it was clear to me that she had a crooked spine and had problems walking normally. i noted she didn't have an umbrella and i ran to shelter her with my umbrella.
she didn't see me as i sheltered her from her back. but i knew she could sense my presence as she tried to step aside to make way for me. and i spoke to her, telling her to walk slowly and carefully for the ground was wet. she was kinda taken aback that someone actually bothered to shelter her. and i chatted with her in malay as she limped to the car. her husband thanked me and quickly made his way to unlock the car. and after she got into the car, she thanked me, looking a little embarrassed that i had gotten wet while sheltering her. and before i closed the door for her, she turned and asked "awak dari malaysia eh?" (you are from malaysia eh?)… heh heh… there were so many ways to frame that question… but of cos, knowing singaporeans and our societal stratification as a result of our language policies, makcik must have found it funny that a chinese person could speak malay. i must have looked young to her, i supposed. haha…
well, let me explain… all singaporeans borned before the 60s generally can speak malay as that was the main language used to converse with people of different races. malay took a backseat after english was adopted as the working language after singapore became independent in 1965. nonetheless, the malay language continued to be taught as an optional national language in selected schools up till the early 80s. and from mid-80s onwards, it was finally dropped from all schools after the language policy mandates that every child must take up at least 2 languages, namely english as the first language and his mother tongue as the second language. with this development, many singaporeans gradually began to lose touch with the malay language.
and this kinda explain makcik's reaction to me.
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