I happened on this forum today and have found Ms. Lau's (september)posting too late. I am as astonished to find a Malaysian poster on this subject as were some of the others on that thread, curious about her experiences, and frankly amazed at her awareness and honesty about this stuff since she's only in Form 3 (-/+15 years old. I am primarily writing to get her attention, to contrast my own experiences with hers and to find some comment upon what seems to me an increase in coporal punishment for girls in Malaysia since the Late 70s/early 80s up to the present.

I am also Malaysian -- I'm 30 years old -- I went to school in M'sia between 78 and 90 -- while not an active spanko, I am attracted.

I went to quite a different school than the kind described by Ms Lau. I attended a "convent school" (only one nun and a secular state-standardized curriculum) with only girls. Also the school was in Penang, probably the most liberal city in Western Malaysia (I guess there's a prejudice that East Malaysia is more "backwater" and probably more traditional -- but from Ms. Lau's candor, I might have to eat my biases.

Corporal punishment was never mentioned much less used! However, the tales from the MUCH STRICTER Chinese Language Medium schools (such as Ms. Lau's) abounded. I heard tales of public caning on the hands or backs of legs (for girls) and even public stripping/parading. Never heard anything about bottoms though. I don't know why exactly. My classmates and I talked occasionally about CP -- especially if someone came to school sporting cane marks on the back of legs or anywhere else visible. I talked about how it was given at home, at siblings' schools etc. I guess none of these were on the bottom. Somehow it never crossed my mind that punishments were impacted upon the behind until much later when I went to high school briefly in Australia. Even though our girls'school had a "brother school" and my best friend's brother occasionally mentioned getting the cane -- I'm sure on the behind.

Anyway -- A few years ago I spoke with a 11 year old daughter of of a friend who lives in Kuala Lumpur and she mentioned that at her state coed primary school canings were all too easily had for girls as well as boys.
And later when I worked as a teacher at a Junior college, one of my students mentioned girls and boys were frequently sent to the discipline master after school -- which only meant one thing.

So it seems to me that I had an unsually cp-fear free childhood? I'm curious if that I and my school were in an unusual bubble or if cp for girls has increased in incidence and use?
The new political decree in M'sia regarding cp will no doubt affect this development in the future

But of course this requires more Malaysian posters now doesn't it ... Lau Lee Sze --- enough with studying for the exams and come back already!!

Saro

Dear Saro,

Thank you so much for your interesting and informative message. It is always good to hear from people overseas.

I do hope you will continue to contribute to our forum and we would love to hear from Ms Lau again.

Gillian

It seems Malaysia is the new Fantasia.

Dear SARO,are you a girl or boy.?& By the way,what is the diffrent between caning on the back of the legs & on the buttocks.?I think caning on the buttocks is less painful than on the back of the legs BECAUSE there is more flesh & clothing on.!

Veron,

Saro (like Lau Lee Sze, your good self, and so many others) is a male pretending to be a female.

I couldn't very well have gone to a girl's school had I been a boy now could I. Silly people. What about my writing makes it seem like I'm male though? -- I'd be interested to know. I was in college accused by some fundemental christian boys and girls of being a dyke because in my thesis I kept referring to God as "she"...
In my own opinion, the only thing to be concluded by my wrting is that I'm long-winded.

Re: Fantasia -- haven't seen the flick for ages -- Mickey Mouse is in it -- but Mickey sure doesn't live in M'sia!! Although some public figures resemble
It did occur to me after posting that I am the biggest gullible idiot there is to take so literally Ms. LAu's post-- I guess. Perhaps she/he is simply an imaginitive spankophile, but...

Compared with her's, my experiences are boring.

Re: CAning on back of the legs : I mentioned I only HEARD of accounts of this happenning in schools. So I don't really know what the teacher had the student do.
At homes the back of the legs was just a convenience for a furious parent slashing away with a cane. Most M'sian
kids have an "at home uniform" of tee-shirts and shorts as its always so hot, so legs from mid thigh down are easy targets. Picture incensed parent hanging on to writhing child by arm and wildly hitting at those bare legs from the front and sides. My mum hit me once and it left a bloody welt in spite of my running from her as it happenned. I witnessed my best friend and her two sibling getting it countless times when I was staying over and it was always a little terrible. There'd be a awful lot of crying and begging and horrible welts across the shins and calves. I know of no parents that observed any formal rituals of bending over etc. I don't know the difference between getting the cane on the bottom or legs because I never got the cane on the behind. I imagine getting in on bare calves and shins is infinitely more painful. Also incensed parents don't count strokes -- they just whack away as long as they have energy and points to make.

Saro says "I'm 30 years old" but I'd be amazed if he can remember being 30.

Dear SARO,is this your real name.?Are you a chinese lady.?So when is it when your mom last caned you.?I can see your mom is quite cruel when she last caned you,any comments.?

Go boil your head, you w****r!!

The name Saro is short for Sarojini, and is the name of one of my aunts. My name also begins with S. Like the name, I am of Indian heritage.

Veron:
my mother only hit me once and that was the only time she ever did. So if the act was cruel, she wasn't a cruel person. Possibly she was as shocked by the result as I was offended by the act. My mum henceforth -- utilized "the old silent treatment" instead of punishment. She had her own issues.

The mother of my best friend -- the woman I described beating her children many times -- might perhaps have been described as cruel. I don't think that was ever her intention when beating her children -- to her that was simply what one did to "motivate", get results from children. She told us many stories of how difficult (poverty and canings) her life had been as she was growing up. She loved her children (and me when I was with their family) a great deal. We all feared her, but never questioned her intentions. In adult retrospect I suppose she simply perpetuated what she knew in terms of parental relationships with children -- she hit her kids because she was hit as a child. She never hit me.

By the way, where are you from and is English your first language?

Hi,I am from S'pore,English is common here,BUT soon replaced by "SINGLISH",[S'pore style English],by the way,you can forget Miss LAU LEE SZE,i also lost contact with her since NOV,E-MAIL also no reply....!

It would be most interesting to see some examples of ‘Singlish’. Could you possibly oblige, Veronica?

Singlish is more or less grammatical English -- more like Veron's than mine though -- I use too many words and too-long sentences when I write/talk. The speech style is common to both English speakers from Singapore and Malaysia -- its just that Singpore actually has English as its official first language -- hence the name.

But the defining characteristics are that the Singlish speech rhythm is almost trochaic, which alters the sound of many words,(teaCHER) it's spoken fast, staccato, liberally peppered with Malay/chinese words, and the use of "lah" appears as an intensifier in every third sentence.

The stooopid teacher gave me six cuts one lah -- six you know... And shouting at me to stop crying.. Like how can she expect... wait lah, I'll get her. You know her new Kanchil -- no shiok for her after someone accidentally kena accident...


Ok I used some Malay references which SIngaporeans might not use .. but can't help it lah! Seriously its the sound of the whole thing that is spectacular -- Veron do you know how to post an audio link? I can't post beause i've lived overseas too long and do not sound authentic.

cheers
Saro

Thank you very much for taking so much trouble with you explanation of ‘Singlish’, Saro.

It sounds as if the word ‘lah’ is the equivalent of ‘you know’, which many people in England use all too often.

Saro is reluctant to post an audio link for fear of not sounding authentic.

That's understandable.

Indeed, I'm sure 99.999% of spanking-site 'females' are similarly reluctant.

Your SINGLISH is better than mine.!!!!

Dear SARO,P/s DO NOT USE FOUL WORDS in the forum.!!Its hard to believe a 30 years old lady using words like ***.......very UGLY.!!!!Furthermore you are a TEACHER,Right.????

Is it not obvious to everyone that Lotta N. has been begging for a caning for a while now? Please is there not a Top out there that needs to practice strokes on his bum...

Veron, sorry for the use of profanity I couldn't resist -- I have almost no contact with Singaporeans and Malaysians for a long time now -- also I haven't been a teacher for 4 years now -- although all the teachers I know swear beautifully when they have a pile of essays waiting to be marked. I work in Performing Arts in New York -- so the more profanity the better!

And yes, Lotta, I know what you're going to say about "Performing Arts"...
I'll let you know know when you can hear me next in the UK and how much tickets will be.

Simon,

I think I was incorrect about the speech rhythm. Malay is trochaic, but not always Singlish -- what does happen is that the usual accent on English words is often reversed/changed in Singlish. For Ex: I say ACCent (American) singlish speaker might say accENT or AC-CENT.

Also there is usually an extra-wide-open quality to vowel sounds -- For Ex: stomach. Chap from Leeds might prounouce whole word with closed, mouth and dark, closed vowels so it sounds like "stomouch", American might say "stawmich" , Singlish might sound like "stahmahch" with bright Italianate AH sounds. Equal Accent on both syllables.

I promise to say no more on this
Saro

Hi there,

My mum attended convent school last time too, it was pretty strict from what I heard. The nuns will spank you on your bottom for small things, like wrong grammar when speaking to a nun. For eg. You can't ask if you can borrow the phone, many primary school children will surely make this mistake. You have to say, "May I use the phone?"

And by the way, the punishments in Chinese schools nowadays aren't as bad. In my secondary school there are many of my friends who were from Chinese schools, they say it isn't as strict as some people make it out to be. Whereas some people have gotten the wrong impressions of National schools, they think that teachers are very lenient and don't use the cane at all. My friend was shocked to hear that my primary school used the cane too, she thought only Chinese schools were strict. Most of these speculations which are wrong come from Chinese school students. As for us National school students, we think that the Chinese schools students are being caned and that the Chinese schools are very strict. Of course, when I made friends with many Chinese school students in secondary school we both found out that we'd been wrong the whole time.

Best regards,
Joanne Lim

At last someone from Singapore with a balanced view; someone who is not making up fictitious stories about the use of the cane on girls (with or without bicycle shorts).

And on a slightly different note, in China they tend to use jigger, jigger, where we would use erm, when speaking. "What do you think of Geaorge Bush?" "I think, jigger jigger, he is jigger jigger, what you might call, a jigger jigger a difficult man to understand." This must be the equivalent of lah.

But Chinglish is more than that. It is the way in whcih the Chinese use chinese phraseology when speaking English. (A typical example is, "Long time no see. You good?")

In Chinese schools the use of the cane is forbidden nowadays but that does not stop an angry teacher from grabbing a bamboo sweeping brush and beating naughty pupils on any part of the body the child cannot escape from. It is just lashing out, not a formal bend over, whack, style of beating.

I know I am pesky, but if you are referring to Joanne Lim Ee Wei as being from Singapore, she isn't, she's from East Malaysia. (See the CP in Malaysia thread)

Also, "lah" is not used as "erm" or "Um". Its an intensifier and always used at the end of the phrase. "Sit lah" is more like "please sit for goodness sake!" "Go lah" is like "why don't you go, please, go." "Ya lah" is like 'yes of course (you twit" "No, lah" is said by someone who "protests too much"

One does not say "I lah forgot to bring my homework". One could say "I forgot to bring my homework lah" -- the lah could add a variety of emotion to the sentence depending of the intent of the speaker in the case -- regret, rue, apprehension, anger...

Many thanks, Saro. I stand corrected, and I am grateful to you for the info.