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BUMPER ISSUE CELEBRATING YEARS WINNER SPECIAL INTEREST MEDIA of THE YEAR MPAS AWARDS 2018 ISSUE 1 • 2019 EDITOR’S LETTER 46 Stories of One Malaccan Family EVENTS 5 Celebrating 25 Years 56 31st Peranakan Convention: 47 Tok Panjang Exploring the Roots of Peranakan FEATURES 6 Fondly Yours at 25 DALAM DAPOR 58 Beautiful Peranakan Colours Art Workshop A love letter to our faithful readers. 48 A Belly Full Of Porky Goodness Nostalgic family recipes revealed. 59 God of Wealth Talk 12 A Culture of Interconnections 60 Potong Kertair 14 25 Things I Love Merah Demonstration A millenial’s take on being Peranakan. 14 50 60 50 61 ON THE COVER: The Kitchen Horse And Other Grate Stuff Christmas Malam Jolly 20 Baba Conudrums Part Two of Ode to The Coconut (in 2018 Issue 2) A watercolour painting of Amusing riddles from days gone by. IN MEMORIAM peonies by artist Gabby Malpas. MUSEUMS 62 Lee Kip Lee Peonies are commonly 52 ACM: Raffles In Southeast Asia found on Peranakan material 21 Panton Taon Babi 64 objects and symbolise wealth FEDERATION LISTING and honour in our culture. 22 A Bowl of Babi Brown 52 NUS Baba House: Glossaries Read about Gabby’s Peranakan A humourous tale of porky revenge best served cold. NOTICEBOARD connection on page 58. THEATRE 65 53 Ayer Di-Tetak Takleh Putus CHAKAP HABIS Gabby is represented in Singapore 24 Did You Know? Play preview: Blood is thicker than water. 66 by Utterly Art LLP. Fortune-telling rice and other curious The Rubber New Year customs. Magnate’s Daughter 54 Forget This Not Gunong Sayang Association’s 24 Lu Siapa? reviewed. 26 66 Keys to the Past Fondly Sangketan jewellery re-discovered. DIRECTORY Yours 54 68 The Peranakan Guide Singapore 28 Silver Treasures at 25 32 The New Modern Lights Baba boy band makes new music. THE PERANAKAN ASSOCIATION SINGAPORE • President Colin Chee • First Vice-President Alan Koh • Second Vice-President Raymond Wong • Honorary Secretary Ronney Tan Koon Siang • Assistant Honorary Secretary Agnes Ng • Treasurer Bryan Tan 34 The Chitties of Melaka • Assistant Treasurer Elizabeth Ng • Committee Members Monica Alsagoff, Christine Ang, Christopher Tan, Dawn Marie Lee, 6 Enter the world of the Indian Peranakans. Ngiam May Ling, Gwen Ong, Josephine Tan, Philip Yeo. THE PERANAKAN MAGAZINE • Editor Dawn Marie Lee • Assistant Editor Emeric Lau • Editorial Adviser Linda Chee • Creative 34 Adviser John Lee • Editorial Committee Members Colin Chee, Bryan Tan, Victoria Chanel Lee, Natalie Cheah • Webmaster Victoria Keys to Chanel Lee • Designer Joanne Low • For advertising enquiries, please email: [email protected] the Past 42 Guardians of A Lost Era Ancient houses with a once glorious past. Sangketan The Peranakan is published by The Peranakan Association Singapore, Raffles City PO Box 1640, Singapore 911755 jewellery Email | [email protected] • Printer | Oxford Graphic Printers Pte Ltd MCI (P) 097/11/2018 re-discovered. BOOKS 44 Singapore 1819: A Living Legacy All reasonable efforts have been made to identify and contact copyright holders but in some cases these could not be traced. If you hold or administer rights for materials published here, please contact the publishers. Any errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions. Copyright is by the publisher. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. The Peranakan Magazine and The Peranakan Association Singapore disclaim all responsibilities in the articles herein, and state that the views expressed in them, if any, are those of the writers and not theirs. They assume no responsibility for unsolic- 45 Rebel With A Cause ited materials or articles published herein and state that the writers are wholly responsible for the veracity and authenticity of their articles. 26 44 The Peranakan magazine house style reflects the Baba Malay spelling found in A Baba Malay Dictionary by Baba William Gwee Thian Hock. ISSUE 1 • 2019 | 2 ISSUE 1 • 2019 | 3 editor’s letter CELEBRATING Years25 an you remember what you were doing in 1994? artistic value of the print media and share a Looking back at the past can be bittersweet. The year similar vision. The Peranakan magazine exists Cthat The Peranakan magazine was first published, to inspire, educate and document our culture. Singapore won the Malaysia Cup. Singapore football fans In November last year, The Peranakan brought the Kallang Roar to the brand new Shah Alam clinched the title of Special Interest stadium in Selangor and cheered our Lions on to a glorious Media of the Year (Bronze) at the Media 4-0 victory against Pahang. I remember the shouts of joy that Publishers Association Singapore (MPAS) Awards 2018 rang in unison throughout my neighbourhood each time a where magazines are judged by a jury of industry leaders. goal was scored. Winning titles are That year, there selected for excellence was much public debate in content and design. and grumbling when I am proud to the Goods and Services say that our magazine Tax was introduced (at was in competition a rate of three percent). with dozens of titles Also in 1994, Singapore from publishing giants became a talking – household names point in international that you will find news when American on newsstands. Our student Michael Fay magazine was the only was sentenced to four winning title that is run strokes of the rotan for entirely by volunteers vandalising cars with and is distributed free spray paint (which is a of charge, not only crime in this country). to members of The We gained both Peranakan Association Editor Dawn Marie Lee (fourth from left) and General Committee members (left to right) support and loathing Baba Raymond Wong, Nyonyas Gwen Ong, Agnes Ng, Christine Ang, Elizabeth Ng and Singapore, but to the from the international Baba Ronney Tan Koon Siang proudly accepted the Special Interest Media of the Year community at large. community. (Bronze) award on behaf of the editorial committee at the Media Publishers Association All the hard work by 1994 was also the Singapore (MPAS) Awards in November 2018. editorial committees year that local theatre past and present over company, The Necessary Stage, put up its very first Peranakan the last 25 years has made us what we are today – an award- play - Mari Kita Main Wayang. Written by Baba Felix Chia and winning magazine that Peranakans can be proud of. directed by Baba Alvin Tan, the play had a six-day run at the I hope that you will enjoy this bumper issue. Read Jubilee Hall in the Raffles Hotel. former editor Nyonya Linda Chee’s love letter to the In the programme booklet, Alvin wrote, “I believe I have magazine in Fondly Yours. The youngest member of our been moulded by my parents’ responses to the Peranakan editorial committee, Nyonya Natalie Cheah, writes about 25 lifestyle…going through life as Peranakans in modernising things she loves about Peranakan culture. In celebration of Singapore…Sometimes self criticisms were made – very our Silver Jubilee, we invited our readers to share the stories “thought through” comparisons of what is old and what is behind their favourite silver items. In Keys to the Past, Baba new, often leading to their more “open/modern” behaviour Alex Teoh uncovers the fascinating history about a little- especially towards their children’s world and interests.” known colonial-era silver item that was influenced by the Alvin’s words resonate with me. Introspection, vision chatelaine. Baba Colin Chee writes about the Chitty Melaka and a willingness to accept new ideas will bridge the older community, who have been overlooked in history books for generation and the new. These are the principles that will far too long. Of course, no issue of The Peranakan magazine propel this magazine into the next 25 years. will be complete without a feature on delicious food! Try out While putting together this special Silver Jubilee bumper the pork recipes shared by Baba David Neo in a tribute to his issue, I’ve come to realise that 25 years is a long time in the Kim Kim. Don’t forget to scan the QR codes for all the bonus life of a print magazine. Especially when younger generations content – from music to video. no longer rely on magazines as a reference point or to On behalf of the editorial committee, I would like to say, express opnions. In this age of Instagram where content costs “Kamsiah banyak banyak!” to all our contributors, advertisers, nothing and social media satisfies the need for new stories, our families for their patience and understanding in allowing images, contacts, and creativity, coupled with the high cost of us to spend countless hours working on the magazine, and to publishing, producing a magazine really is a luxury. So why you, our loyal readers. Happy Silver Jubilee! do we continue to do it? The past and present editorial committees of The Peranakan and our contributors will agree that this magazine Dawn Marie Lee is a collective work by a group of creative people who Editor are passionate about Peranakan culture, believe in the [email protected] ISSUE 1 • 2019 | 5 feature Dear Good Babas and Nyonyas, or those who do not know me, I was the Editor of The Peranakan for half its 25-year life since it began modestly in June 1994 as a four- Fpage newsletter. Sometime in September 2004, when I said “yes” to then-Editor Peter Lee to join him, was the moment of my cultural awakening as a Peranakan. After 12 enriching years of growing The ondly Peranakan brand, I put to bed my last issue as the f Editor in 2016.