COMMUNITY IRKED BY USE OF DEROGATORY TERM
Don’t use ‘mek awang’, urges Terengganu Chinese Peranakan group
THE decades-old terms “mek” and “awang ” to describe young women and men of Terengganu’s Chinese Peranakan descendants, have become a bone of contention among the ethnic community here.
According to the newly-formed Terengganu Chinese Peranakan Association, the combination of the words, “mek awang”, had been widely used to refer to effeminate men and transvestites.
Speaking on behalf of the association, its secretary Yap Chuan Bin said the terms mek and awang, when used separately, lent an endearing quality for men and women of the community.
“However, when you combine them together as mek awang, it becomes something else.
“It is derogatory because it is a term for transvestites and effeminate men.
“We have advised associations and organisations against using the term mek awang but it has fallen on deaf ears,” said Yap at Jalan Sultan Sulaiman here.
Present were association advisers Tan Ten Hong and Alex Lee.
In the past decade, Terengganu’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry had promoted the mek awang brand for its annual Peranakan Festival, including organising the mek kebaya beauty pageants.
The chamber had branded elderly Peranakan women and men as mok and pok respectively, with mok kebaya beauty contests held in the past.
There is even a Mek Awang Cafe in Jalan Bandar, Kampung Cina which recently ceased operation.
Yap said the association, a fully registered entity since June 21 last year, had decided to formally voice its objection on the matter.
He said the Peranakan in Terengganu were ethnic Chinese whose ancestors came from China during the Ming Dynasty.