Of Pak Chik and Mak Chik

When I got posted to a new school, I told the students to address me as "Pak Chik Din" instead of the customary "Cik Gu Din". In no time, I found students I met in hall ways and canteen greeting me by that name. It was a novelty. They never addressed a teacher that way before. One day a student came to the staff room and he asked for "Pak Chik Din". Unfortunately he was reprimanded by another teacher for being improper and disrespectful. Such was the prevailing perception. My reason for asking students to address me as ":Pak Chik Din" was to establish an informal student/ teacher relationship. Teaching would be a lot easier when this relationship is established

The problem of using this honorific form of endearment was also faced by the present prime minister.People have been calling him "Pak Lah" for so long even when he became prime minister. Rafidah Aziz thought that such address was improper and she asked everybody to find an alternative way. But "Pak Lah" stays. Why is this distaste for the word "Pak Chik" When I visited my friend's homes, they made their children address me as "Uncle". Why not "Pak Chik". It means the same. The truth of the matter "Pak Chik" is associated with villageness, and "Uncle" with cityness.

In the village, people hesitate to address my wife as "Mak Chik" for fear that they might offend her. So they , young and old chilren and adults, resort to calling her "Kak" which means "Sister"