Entri kali ini kita hendak membincangkan satu pantun yang telah viral sejak kebelakangan ini. Pantun ini kebisaannya digunakan untuk meluahkan kegeraman atau ketidakpuasan hati. Biasanya difahami apabila diucapkan baris pertama (pembayang) sahaja yang kita salinkan di sini
Pergi ke kedai membeli cincau
Mereka yang mengikuti perkembangan semasa pop culture / meme culture terkini Malaysia, our local scene dan juga laras-laras yang digunakan di media sosial tidak kira di isnta, facebook mahupun twitter atau lain-lainnya, pasti tahu benar sambungan bagi baris pembayang tersebut.
Bagi tujuan rekod dan rujukan, di bawah ini kita salinkan pantun tersebut secara penuh. Penulis hanya berhasil mencari 2 versi; versi pertama versi ringkas, yang pada pemerhatian penulis lebih banyak diguna pakai, dan versi kedua lebih menepati kesempurnaan sifat pantun 2 kerat, iaitu versi yang panjang sedikit.
Versi 1
Pergi ke kedai membeli cincau, Lancau!
Versi 2
Pergi ke kedai membeli cincau, Nak maki cibai terkeluar lancau.
Persoalan yang kita hendak gali ialah sama ungkapan tersebut boleh dikira sebagai pantun atau tidak? Jika ya, mengapa? Jika tidak, mengapa?
Sebelum kita pergi ke persoalan itu, kita lihat dahulu latar belakang pantun cincau ni. Earliest date I could track this pantun’s existence is from twitter of @hanifjamals on 3.10.2020.
And it resurfaced, based on my observations, on March to May 2021, and it has been regularly used as a manifestation of frustration for anger towards (most of the case) the government’s decision on matters pertaining covid19, or other injustice committed by those that goes against the movement control order.
It is viral, used by pretty much anyone within 15 (or maybe lower) to 40 years old. It seems to be prevalent within Malay community, however there are instances where other ethnicities used it. Therefore, I would say that this is generation specific slang/meme culture. I’m yet to find the older generation to use this on their socmed. That kinda give me a relief.
Celebrities like Elizabeth Tan in her Insta posting used it, intentionally or not is up for the reader to decide.
As for the origin though, I’m not so sure. Much more sampling needed to really know the source. However, given the nature of socmed nowadays, it could be safe to settle for a random commonly shared source. It may be originating from a person. As far as my reading is concerned, @hanifjamal may be the one who started it. It’s either that or he could be the one who spread its usage.
Pantun with the form of “Pergi ke kedai…” is not new. In Kurik Kundi alone there’s 2 of the form and some other variants. Below are the samples of such pantun:
Pergi ke kedai membeli arang, Bawa dapur memasak kerang; Apa guna harimau garang, Kalau tidak memakan orang. Ke kedai membeli pulut, Pulut dibeli di kaki lima; Alang-alang kasih di mulut, Kasih di hati kami terima.
The 2 pantun above is from Kurik Kundi. Below some samples from the internet:
Pergi ke kedai membeli roti, Roti dimakan bersama kaya; Kalau baik buah pekerti, Disayangi orang dimana jua. Pergi ke kedai membeli timba, Tadi-tadi saya dah tiba. Pergi ke kedai membeli bunga, Bunga dibeli cantic sekali; Alam sekitar perlu di jaga [sic], Agar hidup sentiasa harmoni. Pergi ke kedai membeli halia, Halia dibeli bersama serai; Rajin membaca amalan mulia, Agar menjadi orang yang pandai.
There are other variant, involving the act of going to kedai to get something, such as
Cik Buang pergi ke kedai, Belikan saya sebatanglah tiang; Jangan kata saya tak pandai, Mata tak tentu mata keranjang. Kalau Cik Jah ke rumah Cik Maimun, Singgah ke kedai membeli bunga; Mati gajah tulangnya menimbun, Mati hamba nak tinggalkan nama.
This form, if I may, is an established one. First because of its simplicity. It allows the pemantun to adjust the last word according to what it want it to rhymes with in the maksud. If your maksud line ends with mulut, just adjust it to “Pergi ke kedai membeli pulut”. If it is, say, raja then you can opt for “Pergi ke kedai membeli baja”. Pretty much everything that you can find in a kedai and kedai is quite generic, thus you could pretty much rhyme any words with this form.
There will be a question on whether the pembayang made using this form will make sense or not? Or will it contribute to the whole structure and semantic of the pantun as a proper pembayang is expected to? For me this is secondary. Secondary as in that in oral pantun, the ideal case is not the only case. A pantun is a pantun, be it bad or not. We will revisit this idea later in this entry.
The second reason why I would assert that this form is established is because the concept of pergi ke kedai is well-embedded in Malay culture. Therefore, its use is in no way could violate the essence a pantun should have.
A little detour; perhaps its older equivalent will be that of pergi ke pasar, as the concept of pasar was a lot more common and earlier than kedai. Here we provide some sample of pantun using this form with pasar instead of kedai:
Pergi ke pasar membeli bayam, Bayam ada bercampur kangkung; Jangan diturut resmi ayam, Belum bertelur riuh sekampung. Pergi ke pasar membeli keladi, Opak ubi sama borongkan; Biarlah biar apa terjadi, Kehendak hati saya turutkan. Kalau abang pergi ke pasar, Belikan saya ketam lumut; Kalau abang pergi belayar, Tinggalkan saya kain selimut.
If we are to compare with the more generic form of
Pergi ke [place] [action] [object]
the right choice of [place] will dictates on the variety of words could be used for the [action] and [object]. For example, if you are to say “Pergi ke pantai…” then you must continue the pembayang with things that make sense for a person to do at pantai.
Pergi ke pantai tangkap belangkas, Dapat dua bagi bertiga; Sudah kuat lagi tangkas, Ayam didik disambar juga. Pergi ke pantai melangai udang, Banyak dapat depan kuala; Sudah biasa main di gelanggang, Tak sempat elak kutepis pula. Pergi ke pantai memungut kerang, Ambil bersama dengan lokan; Umpan disambar bukan sebarang, Disambar ikan cuba dimakan. Pergi ke pantai mengambil kerang, Taruh mari di bakul pandan; Saya ini serba kurang, Tidak pandai bawa ke Medan. Pergi ke pantai membeli ikan, Bungkus mari di kain cukin; Belum sampai kita tepiskan, Biar melayang di tempat lain. Pergi ke pantai menjala ikan, Dapat seekor ikan gelama; Baik-baik memilih intan, Jangan terpilih batu delima.
And there’s less object one can obtain in pantai to rhyme with compared to objects one (hypothetically) could get from kedai. And this is, again, a generic kedai. You can buy emas from kedai, perak, intan, beliung, suasa. You name it, there’s a high chance a kedai for it exist. We shall have another discussion on this form and its variation in another entry.
Given its established used, it is not a surprise to see this form of pantun made its way back (a comeback) in the modern generation, used to reflect one’s feeling the same way a pantun was used and will always be used. There are others established and more familiar form, thus I believe it’s just a matter of choice and convenience for this form “Pergi ke kedai membeli…” is selected.
The pantun we are focusing on is a pantun 2 kerat. It has the basic characteristics of a pantun dua kerat:
1. It has 1 line of pembayang followed by 1 line of maksud
The first line is clearly a pembayang since it does not in any way directly related to the second line. Unlike, for example, a certain viral “pantun” 2 kerat popularized by a group of comedians, constructed in a way that the second line is a respond/continuation/conclusion from the first line, an example of which is as follow:
Pergi ke kedai membeli roti, Roti habis.
I personally will not consider this “Pergi ke kedai membeli cincau” as a pantun if the second line is “Cincau takde”.
2. It rhymes
Well, at least it has end rhyme cincau-lancau (for the shorter version). The longer version did have an internal rhyme (kedai-cibai)
However, the more popular version of it lacks the balance of number of syllables. The second line unfortunately contains only one word. The second version will have a fighting chance though, but I believe the first version is the most dominant one in the sense that people (those that know) will only think about the shorter version when hearing it.
Given that argument then, it can’t be a pantun. Can’t it though?
Well, pantun 2 kerat is in a way unlike pantun 4 kerat. The number of syllables per line is first of all secondary, and there’s instances where the lines of pantun 2 kerat contains less or more syllables than the “unofficial” recommendation.
To justify why we should accept one word as enough for a line of pantun, is to look at the real objective of the pantun. We could argue, in favour of this pantun, that one word is enough for the second line. The main objective of a pantun is always to deliver message in a compact form. If one could achieve this using only one word, why not? It may be the extreme case, but it works.
François-René Daillie in Alam Pantun Melayu made an assertion that the longer a pantun is, the weaker its effect. This is why at the very first place the “unofficial” recommendation of amount of syllables per line exists. If we are to treat this assertion / principle to the extreme end, then one word per line could be accepted given that it gives meaning and achieve its objective. And when it comes to this pantun, I believe it has fulfilled both criteria.
Another argument in favour of this as a pantun is the very fact that it works just like how pantun-pantun 2 kerat out there works. Za’ba when discussing on the development of pantun stated that there’s a stage where a pantun transitioned from a mere bidalan/pepatah into a bidalan/pepatah berangkap (couplet) and the distinguishing feature is that for such a couplet, whenever you say the first line (the pembayang), the second line will be automatically known.
Let’s take “Siakap senohong gelama ikan duri”, we will automatically know that the second line will be “Cakap bohong lama-lama mencuri.”
Or when having a conversation, and we would want to warn a person to be very extra careful with what they’re about to say, it is enough just by reminding them “Terlajak perahu boleh diundur”. It is automatically or should I say by instinct know what the speaker want to talk about. Well, it’s too bad if one might not get it, but that’s the thing. This sayings, proverbs, pantun is learned and instilled through oral transmission. To the point that it has been established in certain group or community, that it has the characteristics mentioned by Za’ba.
It is unfortunate though that the message of the pantun is rather vulgar. It is understood that it is intended to manifest frustration and anger. However, it is a bit out-of-place to use pantun as the medium.
Here we copy a comment on this pantun from blog.akudarahanakmalaysia.net
Walaupun rima akhir A-a, tapi pembayang belum mencapai tahap menggambarkan maksud. Tidak ada illah atau asbab untuk mengaitkan perbuatan membeli cincau dan makian lancau. Pantun ini tidak gramatis. Cukuplah 2/10 markah dalam peperiksaan kerana menepati ciri-ciri pantun.
It is further argued that pantun is not appropriate for vulgar or abusive language and there is other way one could use bahasa Melayu to manifest that feeling i.e in a more decent way.
And yes, as far as my experience concerned, pantun has always been associated with grace, civility and politeness. It’s the highest form, the pinnacle of discourse to impart thought, wit and courtesy (akal dan budi) of the Malay community. It feels out-of-place than to maki using pantun. It looks like it beats the purpose to berpantun at the first place.
It is however worth to note that, no matter how much ideal we put into it, there exists or at least could exist pantun that are in one way or more, won’t fit to such an ideal. Muhammad Haji Salleh in his preface to Kurik Kundi Merah Saga made a remark about pantun lisan:
“Tetapi, kita juga harus tidak lupa bahawa inilah kenyataan pantun lisan – terdapat bait-bait yang baik di samping itu terdapat juga beberapa rangkap yang longgar atau kurang halus.”
“However, we must also not forget that this is the reality of oral pantun – besides good stanzas, there are also stanzas that are loose or lack of finesse.”
The fact is bad pantun exists or could exist. It could be minor, or extremely bad and vulgar but it’s a pantun nonetheless. There will be questions on why such a pantun should exist, and whether or not we must reject or disown it. But damage’s done, it is out there, accepted by certain group, have established meaning, achieved its purpose.
Yes, we have to address it. And I’ll be fair and frank about it. As much I don’t want it to be a pantun, it fits my understanding of pantun. It just so happens the content is much regrettable. The use of word is not the "Malay adab" I know of. It is a dangerous pantun if it’s not addressed carefully. This is not the standard, but again, it’s a pantun.
In summary, I personally would accept it as a pantun. It is vulgar and a bit tibahh but given the points made, it might as well be pantun.
It rhymes
Has a clear distinction of pembayang and maksud
It manages to deliver message intended in a compact manner
Given the first line (pembayang), the second line (maksud) can be deduced.
Bad (read: vulgar, indecent) pantun can exist.
It is however worth to note that I would personally not recommend of such pantun (and its hypothetical variation) to be frequently used or even to be popularized. I couldn't stress this more; it’s not a good example.
Imagine if this is the norm this generation let pantun be used for, what would happen in the future? Could pantun changes entirely, or there exists a new form, like a post-modern pantun of some sort. Who knows? I don’t. Hope it won’t change much. But if it has to, hopefully the traditional form and sense is not totally forgotten.
We can’t stop changes, might as well embrace it. But the fact that we embrace it does not mean that we have to abandon a whole established traditional culture in favour of a new one.
Till then.