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Christmas Our Style 4 CHRISTMAS OUR STYLE Fair Fowl,PRESENTS Heavenly Herbs, FromPeranakan BUDGET Flavours from the HEART to BOUNTEOUS What it means to really give Gifts to suit every purpose Contents ISSUE 4 • 2012 Cover: see Dalam Dapor, page 23 Food styling and photography by Anton Kilayko www.peranakan.org.sg 2 EDITORIAL Giving Our All 23 FEATURES 3 The Peranakan Art of Giving 6 Curated for Christmas 11 From Malacca, with Love 13 Severing Ties Giving Women a Strong Foundation CHAKAP CHAKAP 15 Because Every Little Bit Matters 6 19 Step by Step DALAM DAPOR 23 Christmas a lá Nyonya 3 THEATRE 11 27 Mari Kita Main Wayang 15 28 Betel Box bistro has come to town! Go W!ld for Christmas EVENTS 30 Salute to Dato’ Seri Khoo Keat Siew A Meeting of Founders NOTICEBOARD 19 31 Peranakan Associations in the Region 27 32 DIRECTORY THE PERANAKAN ASSOCIATION SINGAPORE President: Peter Wee • First Vice-President: Alan Koh • Second Vice-President: Bebe Seet • Honorary Secretary: Lim Geok Huay • Assistant Honorary Secretary: Ee Sin Soo • Honorary Treasurer: Chan Eng Thai • Committee Members: Linda Chee, Angeline Kong, Emeric Lau, Edmond Wong, Alvin Yapp• For enquiries please contact Lim Geok Huay at 6255 0704 THE PERANAKAN MAGAZINE Editorial Advisers: Lee Kip Lee, Peter Lee • Editor: Linda Chee • Assistant Editor: Emeric Lau • Art Editors: John Lee • Designer: Michelle Yap • Advertising Manager: Alvin Sng • Administrative Manager: Low Whee Hoon • Circulation Coordinator: Lim Geok Huay • Editorial & Photography Committee Members: Colin Chee, Ee Sin Soo, Edmond Wong, Jason Ong • Webmaster: Claire Seet • For advertising, please contact Alvin Sng at 9839 8188 The Peranakan is published by The Peranakan Association Singapore, Raffles City PO Box 1640, Singapore 911755, Tel: 6255 0704. Printer: Lithographic Print House Pte Ltd. MICA (P) 075/10/2011 ISSUE 4 • 2012 | 1 GIVING OUR ALL ooner than you can say “Ho, ho, ho”, – Adelina Ong, Aileen Ong and Caroline Kwan we’re once again at the end of the year – for their charitable work amongst the less S(and poised to sail into the next)! The fortunate. We hope their stories will inspire you festive season always brings a sense of excitement to join in and give what you can; every little bit – there are the home to decorate, presents to counts! be wrapped and placed under the tree, and get- In need of inspiration to prepare the festive togethers with family and friends. feast? Dalam Dapor proudly brings you Sylvia The editorial team thought long and hard on Tan’s Christmas recipes with a Peranakan twist. the theme of giving, and we’re happy to present Plus, all the latest news and upcoming events an issue with a strong mix of features that we of our ever-growing community. Here’s wishing hope you’ll find useful, heart-warming and all our readers a Wonderful Christmas and a inspiring. We’ve sourced a selection of gift ideas Happy New Year! that reflect Peranakan culture, and are proud to commend three most deserving nyonyas Emeric Lau, Asistant Editor LETTERS From Roney Tan, Singapore: In the article A Palace for the Dead (Issue 2, 2012) the grave shown on page 22 is actually on the slope of Outram Hill which was once owned by Tan Tock Seng’s (1798-1850) eldest son, Tan Kim Ching J.P. (1829-1892). The grave is the resting place of Madam Chua Seah Neo and Madam Wuing Neo. Both died in 1882. Madam Chua was the granddaughter of Melaka Kapitan Chua Su Cheong (1750- 1802) and was married to Tan Kim Ching, one of Singapore’s leading Chinese merchants. Tan Kim Ching was the first Siamese Consul General in Singapore and had in 1850 succeeded his father as the Kapitan China of the Straits Chinese community. For his role in settling disputes within the Singapore Chinese community, the British appointed him as a Justice of the Peace in 1865 and as an Honourable Magistrate in 1872. He was also a member of the Siamese Royal Court and had introduced British governess Anna Leonowens to King Mongkut (Rama IV) to be a tutor for his children, an event which forms the basis of the famous musical, The King and I. Madam Wuing Neo was the daughter of Wuing Boon Whatt, who, according to Sir Song Ong Siang, was Singapore’s first Chinese to practise law in the Straits Settlements. She married Tan Soon Toh, the second son of Tan Kim Ching. In the Singapore Directory of 1890, Tan Soon Toh was recorded as the Siamese Vice-Consul in Singapore holding the royal title Khoon Rasada Borirax. SENJAKALA EDITOR’S NOTE: We wish to inform you that the The Peranakan, Issue 3, 2012, page 23: Chinchalok above theatre production, originally The ingredient “400ml or 5tbsp rice wine” should scheduled for 6-9 December 2012, is correctly read as “400ml good quality rice wine, or 5 tbsp postponed till further notice. brandy”. We apologise for this error. 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 the 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 unsolicited materials or articles published herein and state that the writers are wholly responsible for the veracity and authenticity of their articles. 2 | ISSUE 4 • 2012 FEATURE THE PERANAKAN ART OF GIVING Baba Peter Lee reflects on gifting practices and the true spirit of giving or as long as I can remember, and even until I was a Tan. If women ever received a large fortune it was from dead university student, our household amah, Yip Ching Sim, husbands. Wealthy widows there were aplenty, and several Fperformed a daily ritual that left an indelible impression notorious merry widows as well! Cases were often complex, on my life. In a sense, it was totally mundane: at the crack of and from Song Ong Siang’s One Hundred Years’ History of the dawn, long before the first rays of light filtered through the Chinese, it is not difficult to guess how much lawyers raked in curtains, she would quietly slip into the bedroom I shared from generations of litigious Peranakans. with my brothers, just for a brief moment, simply to ensure My paternal grandparents were very fair with all their we were all still properly tucked in, re-arranging our blankets children in their bequests, and an unmarried aunt even if we had inadvertently shoved them aside during the night. received an additional portion of their estates, as they Although she barely made a sound when she entered, I would considered that her brothers and brothers-in-law were able invariably and almost expectantly wake up at her gentle to earn a living for their own families. Thankfully our clan appearance, which, like the visitation of an angel, radiated so remains tightly-knit, even if we, like any other, have had our much comfort, reassurance and love. There was also the added fair share of dramas. comfort in the knowledge that there was still another precious hour until we had to get out of bed for school, or, over a Ritual & Tradition decade later, for the army camp. Gifts were, of course, part of the ritual of Peranakan On the rare occasion she did not life. The angpow (紅包) would be the most common form appear, I would feel totally out of sorts for of making a gift. At Chinese New Year, this was given the entire day. Her absence engendered to young children and unmarried adults. At my first experience of a sense of loss, almost fifty I am still a beneficiary of and I clearly recall the heavy feeling this tradition, even though as long in my heart, the agony and anxiety of ago as 1934, students in Singapore separation, which quickly plunged had already held debates on hot into fear and panic when I led myself topics such as ‘Should the system to the unbearable question, what if of giving angpows in the Chinese she were never to make her daybreak New Year be abolished?’ (The appearances again? In a sense, she Straits Times, 14 February 1934, died every time she did not appear, p. 12). The pre-war angpow was a and I would cry myself back to coin or note wrapped in red paper. For sleep. The irony of this is that she weddings, cash was inserted in small pink is still alive and well, at the age of envelopes. Traditional wedding gifts for 101 years. the bride would have comprised jewellery, This act of kindness was my usually from the immediate family, and also daily sustenance, reminding me that batik sarongs, wrapped in staid brown paper I was loved, and provided me with an decorated with a small paper square with emotional anchor that has sustained me until today. It is scissor-cut designs, stained in auspicious red. Tokens of cash the most precious gift I have ever received. Her actions also given in sympathy at funerals are referred to as pek kim (white, revealed to me the power of the smallest gesture in shaping or or mourning cash). These days, cash is inserted into white transforming someone else’s life, and also how simple, pure envelopes, although in the old days, it was just presented and transcendent an act of giving can be.
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