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Do you use the word - Keling Kia OR In Tor Lang

Froggy

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This morning while having breakfast vegetarian beehoon at the famous Tanglin Halt stall, I saw an Indian queuing and was curious told my family member with me in Hokkien something like this "Look, strange that keling kia also know how to eat tng-lang vegetarian beehoon." (sibeh kay gian keling kia poon aye hiao jia tng-lang aye jay-beehoon).

I suddenly thought, hang on why did I not use the other term In-Tor-Lang? I used the term tng-lang when referring to Chinese why not in-tor-lang for Indians? I realized that since god-knows-when among family and friends I've been using the term keling kia and it's seems like everyone around me uses it too. Today there seems to be like an awakening that the term keling kia seems derogratory. Do you use the same term keling kia like me when speaking among your friends and family? Should we be more sensitive to our fellow compatriots and refer to them as in-tor-lang?

 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Quietly under my breath I call them the name my parents taught me..." Hak kwai"..."politely" I call them "kek leng jia"..or "kek leng" or "chow kek leng"....more of "kek leng jia" under the breath..." hak kwai"..
 

Microsoft

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
long x no go tanglin halt...use to eat the veg noodle at the standalone coffee shop...think is ah xing coffee shop back then...is it the same stall? moi eat there during de 70s...:biggrin:
 

halsey02

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
long x no go tanglin halt...use to eat the veg noodle at the standalone coffee shop...think is ah xing coffee shop back then...is it the same stall? moi eat there during de 70s...:biggrin:

Tanglin Halt...no longer, the run down part of Singapore anymore..where the poor lives....now, the 'richer' poor live there, in the BTO's...& over priced "pigeon holes"...it has change a lot....70's , that is 40+ years ago...& there was a Setron TV factory , a Van Houten Factory , Tye Hong Biscuit Factory & Lindeves Jacoberg & others around that area....life was simpler then...
 

Microsoft

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
Tanglin Halt...no longer, the run down part of Singapore anymore..where the poor lives....now, the 'richer' poor live there, in the BTO's...& over priced "pigeon holes"...it has change a lot....70's , that is 40+ years ago...& there was a Setron TV factory , a Van Houten Factory , Tye Hong Biscuit Factory & Lindeves Jacoberg & others around that area....life was simpler then...

Yahman...a lot has chg...tanglin school all gone...moi remember there was a tai ma textile factory...some classmate work there during sch holidays...stole few cartons of demin jacket n sell cheap cheap to us...

near the demolished gas station...there are few bread bakery...smell n taste super goot in de morning...

across de railway, there was a sandy swimming pool...quite ulu n not much ppl noe...damn peaceful place to spend an afternoon...

Really miss de satay and bbq stall of de 70s...
 

gingerlyn

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
actually it is nothing wrong to address Indian as Keling-kia.
I am happy today so let gingerlyn your meimei explain.

In Tor Lang
You are refering them as Indian. In Tor means India in Hokkian.

Keling
It is not racist to refer Indians as Keling-kia, especially if they are from South India.
Kelinga is a district in India.
Many of us call it Keling. It is actually Kelinga in India.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_(India)

he term "Keling"[edit]
Long past the end of the Kalinga Kingdom in 1842 CE, derivatives from its name continued to be used as the general name of India in what are now Malaysia and Indonesia. "Keling" was and still is in use in these countries as a word for "Indian", though since the 1960s Indians came to consider it offensive.

Why indians feel it as offensive when we call them Keling-Kia?
I dont know.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalinga_(India)
 

yinyang

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
long x no go tanglin halt...moi eat there during de 70s...:biggrin:
MS, you old cock (wait BS come suan you) :p. Early 80s, had a night school classmate who ran a old shophouse factory in Tanglin Halt making hon yu (or copy Axe brand? :biggrin:) in tiny bottles. Told us the small bottles cost more than ingredients.

In keeping with this thread, no FT Indian labour then :cool:
 

airplug

Alfrescian
Loyal
Any myths behind the names???

This morning while having breakfast vegetarian beehoon at the famous Tanglin Halt stall, I saw an Indian queuing and was curious told my family member with me in Hokkien something like this "Look, strange that keling kia also know how to eat tng-lang vegetarian beehoon." (sibeh kay gian keling kia poon aye hiao jia tng-lang aye jay-beehoon).

I suddenly thought, hang on why did I not use the other term In-Tor-Lang? I used the term tng-lang when referring to Chinese why not in-tor-lang for Indians? I realized that since god-knows-when among family and friends I've been using the term keling kia and it's seems like everyone around me uses it too. Today there seems to be like an awakening that the term keling kia seems derogratory. Do you use the same term keling kia like me when speaking among your friends and family? Should we be more sensitive to our fellow compatriots and refer to them as in-tor-lang?

 
Last edited:

Microsoft

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
MS, you old cock (wait BS come suan you) :p. Early 80s, had a night school classmate who ran a old shophouse factory in Tanglin Halt making hon yu (or copy Axe brand? :biggrin:) in tiny bottles. Told us the small bottles cost more than ingredients.

In keeping with this thread, no FT Indian labour then :cool:

ah...yes...nite class...moi old friend used to hav a crush on 1 of de nite class girl @ tanglin secondary ...cb every nite drag moi along go beo but dare not approach...:biggrin:
 

sirus

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Etymology[edit]
The origin of the term is rooted in the former cultural and historical influence of the Kalinga kingdom over Southeast Asian kingdoms. During the reign of Khārabēḷa (Khāravēla, 193 BCE – after 170 BCE) who was the third and greatest emperor of the Mahameghavahana dynasty of Kaḷinga (present-day Odisha), the Kaḷinga state had a formidable maritime reach with trade routes linking it to the lands including Simhala (Sri Lanka), Burma (Myanmar), Siam (Thailand), Vietnam, Kamboja (Cambodia), Malayadvipa (Malaysa), Borneo, Bali, Samudra (Sumatra) and Jabadwipa (Java). The use of the word as a synonym for Indian suggests it first entered the Malayo-Sumbawan lexicon during this time.

In the 7th century, an Indonesian kingdom was named Kalingga[1] after the aforementioned Kalinga in India. Chinese sources mention this kingdom (訶陵 Hēlíng[2]) as a centre for Buddhist scholars around 604 before it was overshadowed by the Sanjaya or Mataram Kingdom. The most famous Kalingga ruler was Ratu Shima.

The Sejarah Melayu (the Annals of Malay history), written in the 15th century, used the term keling to refer to India. In its early usage, the term was not considered offensive or derogatory.[3]

Castanheda was a Portuguese traveller who lived in Malacca during its heyday—1528 to 1538 has written about the Kelings of what should have been said Kalinga.

"In the northern part of the city, live merchants known as Quelins (Kling, the people of Kalinga, from India); In this part, the town is much larger than at any other. There are at Malacca many foreign merchants, who I said before live among themselves. They are moors and pagans..... "[4]
The change of the word keling as an offensive term can be said started around 1960 / 1963. This is based on the change in terms of orang Keling Keling people in Cherita Jenaka published in 1960 to orang India Indian people in Cherita Jenaka published in 1963[5]

Usage[edit]
In the Chinese and Malay communities, keling is augmented into various words of their language to form new phrases that may considered offensive and to discriminate Indians.[citation needed] Keling is original word that refers to the Indian migrated to Malay peninsular back to 15th century whereby the Kapitan Keling came for trading in Malacca and Penang. The Malacca ruler at that time has provided them a land for them to dwell call "Kampung Keling" (Keling village). They (the Indian Moslems) then built a mosque called Masjid Kampung Keling for religious activities. Nowadays, the Kampung keling is longer exists but Masjid Kampung Keling remains as a historical place to visit. In the Malay language, the name keling which is a derivative of Kalinga, became the common name for all Indians. The Chinese call them kleynga.[citation needed] They usually add a suffix kui which means "ghost". The ancient Chinese used to call the Kalingas kaleynga and the Tamils zhùniǎn. Zhùniǎn (注輦) is derived from Chola. Now the word has become chulia (朱列/烈 zhūliè or 朱利亞 zhūlìyǎ) and is used to denote the Tamil Muslims. The advent of the Kalingas stopped about six hundred years ago.[clarification needed] But the Tamils were still coming and going. However, the name Keling stuck to them. Every town had its own quarter where the Tamils lived. These were known as Pekan Keling, Kampong Keling, and Tanjong Keling.

Malay[edit]
The word keling has been used since 15th century within the Malay community to mean "Indian-Muslim children". The term "Kapitan Keling" was used for a representative of an Indian community, similar to the "Kapitan Cina" of a Chinese community. In early Penang of the 1790s the Kapitan Keling was Cauder Mohideen who, together with the Kapitan Cina Koh Lay Huan and other prominent members of the community, formed the first Committee of Assessors to decide the rates and collection of taxes.[6] This usage is preserved is the name of the Kapitan Keling Mosque, a prominent Penang landmark (see below).

In many cases the word is used as a derogatory term.[3] Keling was recently used by Members of Parliament in Malaysia, resulting in uproar by the Malaysian community accusing the MPs of racism.[7] Popular usage in Malaysia also suggests a tone of general disrespect to Indian Malaysians[according to whom?].

The phrase janji keling (janji being "promise" in Malay) OR cakap macam keling (cakap macam being "talk(s) like" in Malay) is sometimes used by people of Malay-speaking communities (regardless of race) to refer to a liar, someone who gives conflicting statements, or, more commonly, someone who changes their minds and decisions often. Considered offensive, this term is comparable to the North American English expression Indian giver (although referring to different types of "Indians") or the English expression "to welsh", meaning to fail to honour a bet.

Javanese[edit]
Traditionally in Java, Indonesia, the term Keling is linked with the ancient 6th century Kalingga Kingdom, which ultimately derived from Indian Kalinga kingdom. The term however also refer to several meanings, such as "ship", paku keling which is a technical term to describe "blunt nail" or rivets used to connect metals,[8] and also means "dark skinned person" which traditionally associated with Southern Indian people.[9] In contemporary Indonesian vocabulary use and also in colloquial Indonesian, the term do not have any derogative meaning or racial connotation, as it can be applied to any person with dark complexion, not only Southern Indian descents, but also to native Indonesians with darker complexion and foreign blacks.

Chinese[edit]
The phrases keling-a (Hokkien; 吉寧仔; POJ: kiet-lêng-á), keling yan (Cantonese; 吉寧人; Yale: gat-lìhng-yan), and keling-kia (Teochew) are frequently used within the Chinese community in Malaysia and Singapore. These may be used in either a derogatory or non-derogatory manner: e.g., in Penang Hokkien, which is spoken by some Indians in Penang, keling-a is the only word that exists to refer to ethnic Indians.

The Hokkien and Teochew suffixes -a and -kia are diminutives that are generally used to refer to non-Chinese ethnic groups. "-yan" mean human.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keling
 

General

Alfrescian
Loyal
Its safe to call chinks Pig skins.
According to you, its okay for a pigskin to be a vegetarian and not eating the pigs balls for a day, but its not okay for an indian to be vegetarian.
But i know your pig skin women love sucking the ang moh cocks daily.
 

Najibee

Alfrescian
Loyal
in my corrupted land the word keling is racist remark. your neck might end up under their parang.

so be mindful if you step your kaki on my land.
 

Semaj2357

Alfrescian (Inf)
Asset
Quietly under my breath I call them the name my parents taught me..." Hak kwai"..."politely" I call them "kek leng jia"..or "kek leng" or "chow kek leng"....more of "kek leng jia" under the breath..." hak kwai"..
no need to mutter, just use "per-rye-ya" - the ang mo version of pariah, and the injuns will think it's an honourable term :wink:
Tanglin Halt...no longer, the run down part of Singapore anymore..where the poor lives....now, the 'richer' poor live there, in the BTO's...& over priced "pigeon holes"...it has change a lot....70's , that is 40+ years ago...& there was a Setron TV factory , a Van Houten Factory , Tye Hong Biscuit Factory & Lindeves Jacoberg & others around that area....life was simpler then...
the ford showroom and service centre was there too.
 

Thick Face Black Heart

Alfrescian (InfP)
Generous Asset
I suddenly thought, hang on why did I not use the other term In-Tor-Lang? I used the term tng-lang when referring to Chinese why not in-tor-lang for Indians? I realized that since god-knows-when among family and friends I've been using the term keling kia and it's seems like everyone around me uses it too. Today there seems to be like an awakening that the term keling kia seems derogratory. Do you use the same term keling kia like me when speaking among your friends and family? Should we be more sensitive to our fellow compatriots and refer to them as in-tor-lang?


Couple of points:

(i) If the situation were reversed - Indians the majority race in SG, would they also consider using racially sensitive terms to treat the Chinese and other minorities well? As someone has mentioned, "pigskins" as a possible derogatory term for the chinese.

(ii) The Chinese are the more tolerant races on the planet. If you have to be the minority race, is it better to be the minority race in a Chinese society, or in an Ang Mo society?
 

mojito

Alfrescian
Loyal
in my corrupted land the word keling is racist remark. your neck might end up under their parang.

so be mindful if you step your kaki on my land.

Yes. Those uneducated matland keklengkias think that kek leng means the "kleng kleng" of the chains tied to the feet of Indian convicts sent to Malaya for hard labour.
 

syed putra

Alfrescian
Loyal
in my corrupted land the word keling is racist remark. your neck might end up under their parang.

so be mindful if you step your kaki on my land.

Although the term keling maybe derogatory, there are places which still maintain the word, such as kapitan keling mosque in penang and tanjung keling in malacca.
 
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