The Ah Beng Subculture: A Popular View CHAN Suet Kay University of MALAYA is a trend among Malaysians in using the Hokkien term Beng’, in describing ‘Ah unsophisticated people. Beng’ means quite simply, a bumpkin’. However, there has ‘Ah ‘country not been any academic studies on the subject in Malaysia, whereas popular media tout it as a cultural icon. There are some issues related to the use of this term for example, do people – readily identify themselves as Beng/Ah Lian’ or is it a pejorative term? Furthermore, among ‘Ah Malaysian Chinese there is a divide between the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking groups. Do the English speaking groups deliberately conjure up a term to disassociate themselves from their Chinese-speaking counterparts, for fear of being seen as unmodernised? And why do the Chinese speaking Malaysian Chinese display these characteristics by the non-Chinese ‘mocked’ speaking Chinese which include traits like the overt display of Western brand names, copying – trends from East Asia, persistently sticking to their own mother tongue, and displaying a form of anti-intellectualism? In Singapore however, leading sociologist Chua Beng-Huat has spearheaded much of the academic literature on the Beng’, and charts its rise from ‘Ah to a desirable subculture. This paper surveys the general public opinion in urban ‘stereotype’ Malaysia of the concept of Beng’, using a total of 200 respondents from the urban youth in ‘Ah Kuala Lumpur. The Ah Beng: Definitions Singaporean sociologist Chua Beng-Huat, who has largely pioneered the study of youth subculture in Singapore, especially on the Ah Beng, has termed the Ah Beng as: contrast to the English-educated young, with their “In skimpy tank tops, spaghetti straps, and basic blacks, the Chinese youth are influenced by different cultural flows. The latter are unlikely to have successfully completed the four years of secondary school. They have been pejoratively termed locally as 'Ah Beng' (for males) and 'Ah Lian' (for females).” "As the 'other' to the English-educated, the figures of Ah Beng and Ah Lian are not simply lowly educated, they also have supposedly 'pre-modern' or 'sua-ku' (hill tortoise, metaphor for 'backward')
The Ah Beng Subculture: A Popular View CHAN Suet Kay University of MALAYA is a trend among Malaysians in using the Hokkien term ‘Ah Beng’, in describing unsophisticated people. ‘Ah Beng’ means quite simply, a ‘country bumpkin’. However, there has not been any academic studies on the subject in Malaysia, whereas popular media tout it as a cultural icon. There are some issues related to the use of this term – for example, do people readily identify themselves as ‘Ah Beng/Ah Lian’ or is it a pejorative term? Furthermore, among Malaysian Chinese there is a divide between the English-speaking and Chinese-speaking groups. Do the English speaking groups deliberately conjure up a term to disassociate themselves from their Chinese-speaking counterparts, for fear of being seen as unmodernised? And why do the Chinese speaking Malaysian Chinese display these characteristics ‘mocked’ by the non-Chinese speaking Chinese – which include traits like the overt display of Western brand names, copying trends from East Asia, persistently sticking to their own mother tongue, and displaying a form of anti-intellectualism? In Singapore however, leading sociologist Chua Beng-Huat has spearheaded much of the academic literature on the ‘Ah Beng’, and charts its rise from ‘stereotype’ to a desirable subculture. This paper surveys the general public opinion in urban Malaysia of the concept of ‘Ah Beng’, using a total of 200 respondents from the urban youth in Kuala Lumpur. The Ah Beng: Definitions Singaporean sociologist Chua Beng-Huat, who has largely pioneered the study of youth subculture in Singapore, especially on the Ah Beng, has termed the Ah Beng as: “In contrast to the English-educated young, with their skimpy tank tops, spaghetti straps, and basic blacks, the Chinese youth are influenced by different cultural flows. The latter are unlikely to have successfully completed the four years of secondary school. They have been pejoratively termed locally as 'Ah Beng' (for males) and 'Ah Lian' (for females).” "As the 'other' to the English-educated, the figures of Ah Beng and Ah Lian are not simply lowly educated, they also have supposedly 'pre-modern' or 'sua-ku' (hill tortoise, metaphor for 'backward')
SKCHAN_ACAH2010_0175_paper.docx