malay weddings - past and present

black and white photo from national archives of s'pore

the arrival of the bridegroom is still heralded by the hadrah troupe. the group will beat the hand-held kompang and sing verses from the koran. the groom is flanked by the two bunga mangga carriers, friends and relatives. in the past, they used colour crepe papers to fold the bunga mangga. these days, they use shining aluminium-like papers. bmw and mpv have replaced the modest japanese cars as wedding cars.

in my kampong days, aside from the troupe beating the kompang, there were some who dressed up as warriors and they 'rode' on cardboard horses (kuda kepang). there would also be a small group who performed the malay art of self defence, silat. i also remember watching one performance where the exponents each used a kris. this kind of performances is rarely seen nowadays.

generally, malay weddings were noisy and lively affairs and in this respect, they still are. usually, a malay band would be in attendance. nowadays, instead of kroncongs, you hear more of malay pop songs. if i recall correctly, there were also joget sessions at these weddings during those kampong days. today, some have done away with the malay band. they just hire a deejay to play cds on a karaoke or sound system. all the noise is to add to the merriment for the day.

i have always admired the gotong royong spirit of the malays. friends, neighbours and relatives would all help in the preparations for the big day. they would camp overnight at the venue of the wedding ceremony. the cooking of the food for the wedding feast actually started the day before, usually on a friday or saturday night. even the decorations for the 'banquet' were done by amateurs. nowadays, some make use of the services of event companies to give it that elegant touch and they also use caterers to provide the restaurant type of food. the caterers will come on the morning of the kenduri to cook the food.

though most continue to use the void decks of the hdb block or the community halls as venues for the bersanding, some have moved on to community clubs, restaurants and hotels. in those kampong days, as we, the guests, were leaving, we would be presented with a red egg placed in a small cup or container and a stalk of artificial flower. the name for it is bunga telur. these days, most gifts are commercially prepared and may take the form of a miniature vase, a few pieces of chocolates, a small towel, a piece of fruit cake, miniature cutlery, rolled up handkerchief, an ornamental display set, a glass cup, a crystal plate or a cake of soap. i know a friend who made a trip to bangkok to buy these small gifts for her wedding. the more traditional malays still retain the practice of giving away boiled eggs, some with no colouring. these eggs are restricted to relatives and close friends of the families.

most chinese or indians, when invited to a malay wedding, will normally give the host or hostess an ang pow. back in those kampong days, we would normally wrap a small ang pow, usually not exceeding $5. when i was working and when invited to my malay colleagues' weddings, i normally gave between $10 and $20. today's a reasonable amount would be between $30 and $50, especially if the food is catered and the ceremony is held in a community club or restaurant.

red and green eyes twakows

on friday morning, we went to trace a section of the singapore river. we started from new bridge road and walked westwards until we came to the former jiak kim warehouses, now a favourite haunt of youngsters, going by the name zouk. seeing how nondescript the place looked in the day, i wonder how it could manage to draw such crowds, especially on wednesdays - mambo nights.

we came across a number of bridges spanning the river, some of them known to us, while some we were getting to know for the first time. one of the first bridges was ord bridge. then, there were clemenceau bridge, robertson bridge, pulau saigon bridge and the most colourful of all, alkaff bridge. i remember a pulau saigon circus from the past but not the bridge.

the bumboat, lighter or twakow which was passing under the bridge brought us back to the days when this vessel was used to transport goods from the inner or outer roads to the quay. today, these boats have been refitted to take tourists on a river cruise. some of these boats appear to be air-conditioned.


back home, i was reading this informative brochure published by the national heritage board, when i came across something interesting about the lighters that used to ply the singapore river.


as the singapore river was too shallow for ships to sail through, small boats known as lighters were used to fery goods between the ships docked at the harbour and the quay. the lighter trade was initially dominated by the chuliahs (indian muslims) and their large wooden crafts known as tongkangs for the larger part of the 19th century. chinese boatmen, mostly teochew and hokkien, started displacing the chuliahs at the beginning of the 20th century with their smaller and faster boats known as twakows. despite concerns over the seaworthiness of the lighter twakows, the chinese lightermen and their twakows became a common sight on the river until the last lighter was relocated in 1983 because of the river clean-up project. the twakows, with its distinctive 'eyes' painted at the bow (red for teochew-owned twakows and green for hokkien-owned twakows) can still be found on the river today performing a different role of ferrying passengers instead of cargo.


(from tides of change, the singapore river trail, published by s'pore heritage board)






if you look at the bows of the boats, it is not the eyes that were painted a different colour. in fact, the eyes in both the teochew and hokkien boats are/were black; it is the background that has the distinguishing colour - red for teochew and green for hokkien. looking at both past and present photos, it will appear that the number of hokkien boat owners outnumber the teochew.

changes to the pasar malam scene

photo from national archives of singapore

pasar malam (night bazaars) have been around from as early as the 60s. maybe, even earlier. in those early days, the hawkers set up everything themselves. they set up their own portable tables or just lay a mat on the ground to display their ware and they provided their own lighting, using those kerosene pressure lamps or even carbide lamps. before the generator made its appearance at night markets, some would also use those florescent lights that ran on batteries.

in the old days, most pasar malam were a one-day affair. the pasar malam were scheduled according to location. ( i think, they still have this system for small towns in malaysia.) so, for example, on monday night it would be along a certain stretch of thomson road, tuesday night, it would be held at balestier road and so on.

because it was a one-day happening, the stall-holders could be seen packing up slightly after 10 p.m. when the crowd would have thinned considerably. nowadays, the stall-holders either sleep at the site or they just cover everything with the blue and white tarpaulin sheet and leave for home.

in the early days, there was no protection offered from the elements. they did not have the canvas or tarpaulin shelters put up by the contractors for the present day stall-holders. in those bygone days, when it rained, the wares would be hastily bundled up and the pasar malam would come to a close. today, when it rains, business can go on as usual although takings will definitely be affected as most potential customers will stay away.

photo from national archives of singapore

today, the stall-holders at pasar malam (night bazaars) are still itinerant: they move from one location to another location. after a few days' stay at one part of an estate, they will move on to another part, in the same estate or to another estate. depending on the lucrativeness of the location, today's pasar malam may last from 3 days to 2 weeks. (we are not talking about those housed under one huge tent or those at chinatown, geylang and little india prior to the respective festive seasons; those go on for one month or longer.)

these days, the pasar malam is not really the place to seek out cheap bargains because the stall-holders have to pay a fee to the residents' committee or the town council for the use of the place and for the facilities that are provided for them. lately, these facilities include the installation of wash basins and provision of fire extinguishers at the site. i observe that the wash basins are meant only for the stall-holders to use.

today, this banner - advertising the ramly burgers - can be seen at every pasar malam. the stalls manned by malays are mostly food stalls. besides the very popular ramly burgers, you can also get other popular malay food like nasi lemak, epoh epoh, otah and goreng pisang. other stalls managed by malays are those selling clothing and health tonic or ointment. so far, i have come across one manned by indian - two indian ladies selling vadai.

the prices are comparable to those at neighbourhood food courts and the stalls outside some shopping centres. a beef or chicken burger is priced at $2.80, a canned drink cost $1.00 and otah costs 30 cents a piece. one large mango cost about $2.00 and durians are at $10.00 for three fruits.

one type of snack food sold by the chinese, which can be bought at pasar malam only, is the tea egg. i have never tasted one and i do not think i will ever do because i am put off by the smell.

tea eggs are simply hard-boiled eggs that have been further stewed in a salted tea liquid. other flavourings such as soy sauce and the five-spice powder are often added as well.

the name 'pasar malam' does not seem appropriate in these modern times; it seems like a misnomer. since they pay rent, the sellers try to maximise the opening hours and some actually start operation as early as eight o'clock in the morning. (these pictures were taken at bangkit road in bukit panjang at about 9.00 a.m.)

although, much has changed over the years, the fact remains that the pasar malam is the place to go to savour local delicacies and to buy accessories, clothes, cds (tapes in the past) and toys.

like in the past, there are still game stalls where the children can have some fun fishing for artificial fish or frogs, spin a numbered wheel or throw balls to knock down some objects (toys) for them to take home.