There’s a Malay saying for almost any situation these days

IN Malay culture, there is always a proverb, maxim and even aphorism to describe a situation. Traditional Malay society, known for its humility and modesty, loved to use pantun or peribahasa (proverbs) and simpulan bahasa or bidalan (idioms), to convey proverbial metaphors or similies.

The proverbial metaphor, a figure of speech found in classical Malay literature, usually refers to indirect references. The proverbs are generally created in styles portraying sindir (indirect references) and kias (analogies).

The Malays of old observed nature and the environment and created proverbs from what they saw. Case in point: Jika melentur buluh, biarlah dari rebungnya (Inculcating good values should start at an early age).

Really, the wisdom of old Malay proverbs is timeless, as they can be applied to most of the situations in today’s world.

Over the past few weeks, with so many incidents that have left us shaking our heads in disbelief, social media has been bombarded with proverbs that seemed to be replete with sindir or kias. You just have to love the psyche of Malay society.

For instance, a Malay proverb that says: Kerana nila setitik, rosak susu sebelanga (literally translated as, because of a drop of blue dye, the whole pot of milk is contaminated) is apt to describe the reputation of the government service following the arrest of a public servant involved in a “project tender cartel” last week.

Another apt proverb to describe the act of these unscrupulous people is: Harapkan pegar, pegar makan padi (don’t expect a pheasant chicken to protect the padi fields as it feeds on padi seeds), which demonstrates how power can corrupt officials.

Similarly, a former Immigration Department employee was arrested for allegedly falsifying Temporary Employment Visit Passes for foreigners, which is akin to, seekor kerbau membawa lumpur, habis semuanya terpalit, — because of the bad actions of one person, the whole organisation has fallen into disrepute.

When the syndicate first came into being, the members would have been sworn to silence to protect their illegal activities. Biar pecah di perut, jangan pecah di mulut— the only way to keep a secret is to say nothing.

If one or two members are overwhelmed with guilt when they realise the depth of trouble they are in, but it’s too late to back out, we’d say, alang-alang menyeluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan — since you have your hand in the pot of pickled fish, you might as well put in your whole arm.

It is fitting to say, bagai enau di dalam belukar melepaskan pucuk masing-masing, when one syndicate member decided to “tell all” in an exchange for a lighter sentence.

It is every man for himself, and the devil takes the hindmost, as the English proverb goes.

In politics, the phrase, terlajak perahu boleh diundur, terlajak kata buruk padahnya could be applied to the two political leaders whose conversation was allegedly recorded and now widely circulating on social media.

But people might say, tak tumbuh tak melata, tak sungguh orang tak mengata as much as kalau tiada angin, masakan pokok bergoyang, but let us leave it to the authorities to investigate the matter.

Then, there’s the accusation against a leader who is said to be musang berbulu ayam (a wolf in sheep’s clothing).

He was alleged to have been dealing with his political nemesis, making him api dalam sekam, musuh dalam selimut (fire smoldering in padi husks, enemy under the covers).

Someone described to me the political atmosphere has become hidung dicium, pipi digigit —political parties are now entering marriages of convenience, but will still stab partners in the back.

Asserting that all political parties have different agendas, he said politicians were interested only in wresting power at the expense of the peoples’ wellbeing, like lain dulang lain kaki, lain orang lain hati (different strokes for different folks).

For ordinary people, I’d say, we should be luka di tangan kanan, jangan percaya tangan kiri or else, we shall end up sudah terhantuk, baru terngadah. The lesson learnt here is sekali tersengat, selalu beringat. You know, birds once snared, fear all bushes.