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A Historical
Perspective
on the Word 'Keling'
In 2003, wide controversy erupted in the Malaysian media
over the use of
the word 'keling', with a lawsuit by an Indian Muslim group against the
Dewan
Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) over the inclusion of the word in the official
Kamus
Dewan Malay dictionary. They claimed the word is a racial slur and
derogatory,
and found offence with the dictionary's inclusion of examples such as
"keling
mabuk todi" (to connote one fond of talking nonsense) and "keling
karam"
(one who talks noisily) in the dictionary.
The word 'keling' may well have been derived from the name of the
kingdom
of Kalinga (the modern state of Orissa). Nebertheless, it has been used
to
describe south Indians since early times, and not specifically to
inhabitants
of Kalinga. The Malay language unfortunately makes a similar mistake
with
the term 'Bengali', who are of course not really Bengalis at all, but
Punjabis.
The first reference to the word 'keling' in the Sejarah Melayu, for
example,
occurs in the second chapter dealing with the exploits of Raja Chulan,
whom
the emperor of China is said to refer to as 'Raja Keling'. If this
chapter
is indeed, as some theorise, a distant memory of the invasion of
Rajendra
Chola during the Sri Vijaya period (circa 1025 AD), one can surmise
that
that the 'keling' referred to in the chapter may indeed be the Cholas
of
south India rather than Kalinga in the east.
Many other references in the Sejarah Melayu refer to more
recent
events during the Melaka Sultanate period - such as Hang Nadim's visit
to
'Benua Keling' - which must refer to India generically, rather than
Kalinga
in particular, as Kalinga had by then significantly declined as a major
power
for quite some time, following its destruction by Asoka and later the
Moghuls.
The Hikayat Hang Tuah also has a whole chapter describing Hang Tuah's
voyage
to 'Benua Keling'.
The Dutch 'Dagregister' refered to Indian inhabitants of Melaka as
'Clings'
or 'Klingers'. More contemporary British colonial writings also refer
to
the 'Klings' - again, mostly in reference to immigrants from Madras and
the
Coromandel coast. Nicholas Belfield Dennys' 'A Descriptive Dictionary
of
British Malaya' (1894) defined 'Kling' as "a general term for all the
people
of Hindustan, and for the country itself". Scareboeus is quoted in the
16th
September 1887 issue of The
Penang Gazette as stating that "the word Kling is a most interesting
one
and points to a connection between the Straits and India reaching
nearly
as far back as the time of Alexander the Great, the only trace of which
remains
in its continued application to the natives of Southern India." He adds
that
the word was not only used in the Straits but all over the Dutch and
Portuguese
possessions in the East Indies.
Isabella Bird's famous travelogue of the Malay Peninsula, '
The
Golden Chersonese', written in 1879, described the Klings as natives of
southern
India. "Among the twelve thousand natives of India who have been
attracted
to Singapore, and among all the mingled foreign nationalities, the
Klings
from the Coromandel coast, besides being the most numerous of all next
to
the Chinese, are the most attractive in appearance, and as there is no
check
on the immigration of their women, one sees the unveiled Kling beauties
in
great numbers." Bird's book is illustrated with a drawing of a southern
Indian
gentleman, captioned as 'a Kling'.
What is important to note, however, is that none of these
examples
of the use of the word or references to 'kelings' - from the Sejarah
Melayu
in the 16th century down to the British travelogues of the 19th century
-
were in any way used in any derogatory sense or intended as racial
slurs.
It was simply a word to describe the people of South India or their
descendants
in the Peninsula.
I personally would hate to see a word that has come down to us
over
the centuries and used in the epics of Malay literature to be suddenly
struck
out of our vocabulary in classic Orwellian 'new-speak' style - just
because
some people might think it is a quick-fix solution to address racism
towards
Malaysians of Indian descent. I realize myself that many people do use
the
word 'keling' in a derogatory manner and I deplore the use of terms
such
as 'keling mabuk todi' or 'keling karam' - but I doubt if 'India mabuk
todi'
or 'India karam' would be deemed less of a racial slur.
Banning a word is futile if you don't address the racism -
institutional
or otherwise - behind its derogatory use. And that is by far a more
challenging
task than striking a word out of our dictionary.
Write to the author: sabrizain@malaya.org.uk
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