The Mats and The Daks of My Land

In the Malay or Muslim community, the name Muhammad or Mohd (which sounds the same as Muhammad) or Ahmad are very common to embrace the sacred name of the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. The short form of this name in Malay community is Mat. Not religiously preferable or correct to say the least, but people have been using Mat since forever. If your name is Mohd Tarmimi, the chances that people will call you Mat is very high. If your name is Mohd Jais, yours will be Mat Jais, that’s normal, even though the name Jais will make you get beaten at school. Don’t expect people to go by your long name in the village, it’s almost abnormal. But the funny thing is, my village people took this Mat name-calling to another level of ‘sophistication’. Let me give you a few examples: 


Mat Keneneng – Keneneng in Malay language means giddy or dizzy. This Mat Keneneng is not a fictional character; he exists in our village. Really! I’ve seen him twice. I am not quite sure whether he had a Parkinson disease or what, but his head kept on shaking when he talked to people. And because my village people were a creative bunch, he got a lovely name of Mat Keneneng carved on stone for him. It’s MEAN, people!


Mat Bangkang – Bangkang means to rebut or dispute. This guy was very popular for his disconformities to public opinions. He always tried to go the other way, believe the other side of the story almost all the time, which landed him this name. What would be the wife’s name if the husband were called Mat Bangkang… it’d be Bini Mat Bangkang for God’s sake. Bini means the wife, not a stretch at all. 


Mat Cabang – Cabang means branch. I don’t exactly know why people call him Mat Cabang. He liked to fish with my father, he had a very kampung face, dark (burned) and full of pimples. Maybe because it’s got something to do with his character because in Malay there’s a saying “Lidah Bercabang” which means Two Tongue – someone who likes to say one thing to one person, and another to other person. I am not really sure but he’s my father’s fishing buddy and still rides a bike, never got promoted to a motorcycle after all these years. If you spent more time working and less time fishing….. 


Mat Lalak – Lalak means wailing. I pity this guy because he’s stuck with the name since he was very young. But his wailing technique was legendary. Crying is his forte so the villagers made fun of him easily by calling him this name. And they didn’t actually being subtle about it, they called you Mat Lalak in front of your face. Haha! And I don’t think Mat Lalak minds. 


Those are the 4 most popular mats in my kampung. The other shortform that the villagers used to call someone is Dak, a shortform for Budak (Kid). When I was small, people called me Dak Ana, meaning budak Ana. I would say it’s exclusively Southern of Malaysia, Johor and Melaka kinda slang. And for the Daks, I want to present to you 4 of the most popular Daks of all time. 


Dak Husin Kelepet – This name giving was mean but again at my kampung, it can be quite appealing. When people care about you, they called you names. Haha! Isn’t that ironic? This unique name came about because of the shape of his ears, it looks like a flip at the end of book page when you pause reading. And the name continued until he had kids and all. The kids were called anak Dak Husin Kelepet, the kids of the Husin Kelepet. 


Dak Achim Beruk – The name of the person is Hashim. Decent. But the villagers found a way to make it even cuter by calling him Achim. Beruk is monkey. Who ask him to have a monkey as a pet? They put two and two together and you have a perfect nickname, Dak Achim Beruk, that kid Hashim who has a monkey. Isn’t that creative? Haha! 


Dak Usop Cathay – This is so funny, you have to have your LOL moment for 5 seconds at least for this one. This guy was a normal guy but the structure of the house screwed him up. His father built a house that looked like a Cathay cinema from the front. Cinema was not very common in the 80s in my village and his father’s uniqueness landed him the name. His name is Yusof, by the way and he had a tendency to dance like a moron in weddings, massaging his crotch at all times. Eeeeww! 


Dak Tijah Kentel – The only woman that’s my list today. She’s legendary. She walks miles everyday. She smokes like nobody’s business. She insults people as she pleases and she always wanted to sell my mom her duck eggs. Her name is Katijah which in English would be called Cathy but in Malay, it’s Tijah. Kentel if im not mistaken means fondle. She likes to fondle tobacco and puts it in her mouth until the mouth turns red. She’s the opposite of a lady, so to speak. 


There you go, the most popular Mats and Daks of my land and I remember them because of their awesome nicknames! So, if you were to be called Mat or Dak, which one would you be?