Are You A Tiewgai?

If Singaporeans are kiasu (afraid to loose, especially 'loose face' or be humbled), then what are Malaysians, or less sweepingly, Sabahans?

In Hakka, there's a term called tiewgai (literally stealing the chicken). I'm come to the conclusion that that's what we Sabahans/Malaysians are, a bunch of tiewgais, or people who consciously try to beat the system, or take short cuts, either to save time, money or work.

The most obvious thing they tiew/steal is traffic lights time. If the lights turn green, never go immediately if it's your turn. Never. There's sure to be at least 3 to 5 cars shooting past the red lights and you can almost feel their smugness as they make it across: There, I've tiew again today! I recently talked to the Chief of Traffic about this. A handsome, well-educated fella from West, he was attentive and soft-spoken (man, he should've been a psychiatrist!) but...well, at least he was good to look at. And he did give me a discount on my traffic summon. No, it wasn't for running a red. Apparently, here the authorities help you to tiewgai too. I was directed to see the Handsome Chief for a discount. Why? It was Operasi something, a campaign to promote safe driving. I thought that's when they should stand firm and show us they mean what they say! But hey, I shouldn't complain, I got to tiewgai.

Another common Sabahan habit: at wedding dinners, leave at the side doors before the party is over. Maybe it's a way to punish the hosts for starting dinner late (upto 1 1/2 hours late in a recent wedding dinner I attended, another peculiar Sabahan habit). The reason they always give is that they want to beat the traffic leaving the venue. Why bother to attend the function if you are more concerned about getting home early? This habit applies to watching the movies as well. Before The End, people are scrambling to get out. I used to think maybe they've all seen the movie except me, or maybe there was a fire outside. It has become such a common habit that now even I stand up before the credits roll.

Another tiewgai habit is when people are queueing. I've experienced it many, many times. Some man/woman will cut in and look like they have all the right. It's unbelievable. I have told people to get back so many times I'm afraid I'd get punched one day. I did once had my neck strangled by this guy who held up the line. I was studying for my SPM exams (Grade 10/ O Levels equivalent) in the British Council Library in town and I had to call home. The line was long and my friend Benny said the man in the telephone booth had talked for a long, long time. I went and knocked on the booth door. He came out later, asked who knocked and when I stepped forward, he said he was a CID man (plainsclothes policeman) and he could talk as long as he liked. I disagreed, and the next thing I knew, he reached out and squeezed my neck like I was a chicken. I reached back and squeezed the bully by his neck too but it was hard like a steel column! This was near KK's Central Market and I was just a schoolgirl still in school uniform for goodness sake! All the Chinese vendors called out for him to stop and for me to let go ("Ah moi, ng mou lau ge da loh!!"). When he finally let go, I was gasping and crying and saying I'm going to the police. You know what Benny reminded me? But that guy was the police! I harbored a vigilante kind of fantasy against policemen for a long time... Gosh, what was my point again?

Still not convinced? How about this? If your country doesn't have a certain x program, and sent a man to piggy-back on another country's, for a fee paid by all you hard-working taxpayers, then declared that it is now astronomically advanced, I'd call it tiewgai/short cut. Or when you think no one is looking and you want a certain position but don't want to work your way up, you give someone a call...ah ha, tiewgai again!

Come on, don't you agree that we are a bunch of tiewgais??