Doktor cina yg pakai tudung

Having been raised a Malay, my siblings and I don't pay particularly much attention to our obvious oriental features. But it's fun watching other people do.

When I was about 6 or 7, I had gotten lost while shopping at (now closed supermarket) Crescendo (or was it? or maybe Crescendo was that supermarket we could get 5 sweets for 10sen? Aah, those were the days) in Ipoh. Back in those times shopping is done in supermarkets rather than malls and typical to supermarkets in the 80s, the place we went was one of those places where you go in one direction up the stairs (i.e to the right) and down the same stairs in an anti clockwise direction. Guaranteed to never miss a floor! Anyway, I was engrossed in something on the wall and was saying something to the guy standing next to me, thinking that he was Pa. Imagine my surprise when he turned out to be a complete stranger! I don't remember crying though but I remember going up and down the stairs looking for Ma and Pa.

Finally a chinese couple noticed me wandering without much purpose and asked me questions. Ma had sent us to a chinese kindergarten and I could speak cantonese as well the next kid so what I said to the chinese couple must have made much sense that they decided to bring me with them!

The next thing I knew, Ma was screaming for me and proceeded to thank the chinese couple profusely.

As we grew up, people would always say to us, often in a surprised tone, 'Waa, lu melayu aa? Apasat muka selupa cina?' - usually in response to us saying 'Saya bukan cina'.

Sometimes, when I would go out with Ma, they would say 'Waa, apasal lu punya anak selupa cina?' Ma would just smile good naturedly and proceed with whatever business she was there for.

Sis Yanie is the least chinese-looking one among us and now whenever she is out with Hannah and Hariz, all sorts of strangers come up and say how chinese looking Hannah is. In fact, with her porcelain complexion (a nightmare with mosquito bites, shows up like anything!), one could even mistake her as a Japanese.

The thing is, when I look at my reflection in the mirror, or when I look at my siblings, I don't see what people are talking about! Weird, yes?

and wearing a tudung doesn't lessen it at all as when one of my staff nurses told me the other day that one patient described me as '...doktor cina tapi pakai tudung..' (hmm, ngumpat aku la tu)...