Couldn't help remembering my history classes here in Jakarta. It offered living proof that we Filipinos are truly descendants of Indo-Malay people (who walked on landbridges long before we could recall the name of our oldest forefathers)!Skimming the surface. Apart from a closer semblance to Indonesians compared to other Southeast Asian cousins (from Thailand, Vietnam, etc. who seem to have stronger Chinese influence), we are very much prehistorically related to Indonesians in terms of our positive disposition (friendly, extremely hospitable), food (greasy) and language. In fact, one of the highlights of this trip was figuring out some of the Bahasa words I encountered. Dig this:
BAHASA / FILIPINO (DIALECT ) / ENGLISH
dua / duwa, dalawa / two
pitu / pito / seven
walu / walo / eight
libu / libo / thousand
pintu / pinto / door
gunting / gunting / scissors
balut / balot / wrap
anak-anak / anak / child
mura / mura / cheap
mahal / mahal / expensive
makan / mangan (kapampangan) / food
babi / baboy / pig
kambing / kambing / goat
krupuk / kropek / some crunchy fishy-smelling snack
I even found this dish that closely resembled our bulalo (bone marrow soup) except it tasted more like beef sinigang and they had a different way of taking out the marrow. They suck it out with a straw! Eeeeyyyummmm...
Trang and Rahul marvelling at this thing called the krupuk, found in almost every market stall --- in different shapes and colours, too!
And just when I thought that the kulintang was originally ours, I find that they have it too! Either they invented the musical instrument or we did! Does it matter?!? :) This isn't exactly the kulintang but I saw a lot of it in the souvenir shop as well as the sungka!
Under our skin. Both our nation's histories share a similar pattern. Our culture has some Chinese influence the same way that theirs has traces of Indian culture. Our countries were both colonised by European nations for several centuries and somehow been bruised by that experience. In spite of this we both seem to carry on a deep sense of religiousity. Indonesia is about 80% Moslem, 20% Christian while the Philippines is about 80% Christian, 20% Moslem.
1 comment:
yes! the similarities are amazing :) makes the world much closer and the love for other cultures much stronger , i believe. my family used to live in jakarta before i was born, so i've noticed all these similarities. hope you were able to try out the beef rendang, sate ayam, sate babi and nasi goreng :D yum yum yum!
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