Malaysia Char Bor gets love song in reply

She's a "Malaysian woman", he's a "Singaporean guy" - and, make no mistake, they're both not Korean. A triculture mash-up has been playing out, of late, online, in song.

Last month, Malaysian teenager Joyce Chu's song Malaysia Cha Bor hit YouTube, its title cheekily using the Hokkien term for "woman" to strike a humorous note while staking out the boundaries of South-east Asian identity.

Composed by Malaysian singersongwriter Namewee, the song has the fair, doe-eyed and long-haired lass from Johor Baru singing about how she is often mistaken for a Korean girl.

"I come from JB, a place near Singapore I am a Malaysia cha bor (girl)," sings the 17-year-old while strumming the ukulele with a winsome smile. "I know kimchi tastes delicious, but I prefer having chendol and keropok."

The ditty soon went viral and has garnered more than five million views to date. The parodies that quickly sprung up included a Mat Salleh (Malay colloquialism for "Caucasian") version, a duet between a Malaysian and his expatriate counterpart on their respective girl-pulling woes; and a Singapore Cha Bor version, in which a young girl pleads not to be mistaken for a Japanese as she is "from the Lion City".

But, out of all these parodies, a Singapore Da Por's love song in reply to Chu's Malaysia Cha Bor has been pulling the most eyeballs.

YouTube user "Singapore da por" (da por is guy in Hokkien) sings in his parody, uploaded three weeks ago, that he "follows" Chu on Facebook and would love to profess his affection for her.

His rendition has since received more than 300,000 views, with encouraging comments from viewers who say they found the lyrics "sweet" and "creative".

Asked if he is smitten with Chu, Singapore da por - whose real name is Gary Chun - says his cover was done "just for fun".

"I feel that most Singaporean guys would wish to express their love for her, so I put that kind of feeling into the cover," says the 25-year-old recruitment consultant. "She looks sweet and cute, and she can play the ukulele. Which guy would not like that?"

He cobbled together the parody in two hours.

"I started to change some lyrics, and one verse led to another. Soon, I had rewritten the song and recorded it in my room," he says.

His girlfriend of 11/2 years, a 24-year-old human resource executive, is cool with it.

"It would have been nice to date Joyce if I'm 18 or 19 years old, but she's too young for me," Mr Chun says.

Still, if he had a chance to meet Chu, what would he say to her?

"I really don't know. I would probably greet her jokingly with the opening line from her song: 'I feel like saying Annyeong Annyeong Haseyo (hello in Korean)'," he says with a laugh.

In the Malaysia Cha Bor video, Chu sweetly breathes lines such as: "I only know English, Mandarin and Malay, so please stop saying I'm from Korea."

She also takes digs at South Korea's plastic-surgery culture: "Thank you for 'following' me every day and every night, although I know you are actually criticising me, saying that my face, nose, chin, eyes and dimples are all fake, including my ears."

"I'm not singing this song to criticise (South Korean culture) or humiliate (South Koreans)," Chu said in another YouTube video uploaded a week after the hit song was posted and went viral.

"It's just my story. People always misunderstand that I'm a Korean. Maybe it's because of my dressing and make-up."

She was unable to respond to SundayLife!'s queries by press time.

Lyricist ShiLi Yap, 27, who is part of local pop-jazz singing duo ShiLi & Adi, says the song went viral because it is catchy and Chu is "visually appealing".

Namewee also successfully managed to draw in a large audience through the song lyrics, she adds.

"Korean culture was referenced in the song, which would appeal to a huge audience of K-pop lovers. At the same time, he blended K-pop with local flavour so the whole song was culturally relevant," says Yap.

While the song has attracted many positive comments, there have also been a fair number of brickbats.

Some YouTube viewers felt she was "acting cute", while others blasted the song lyrics.

Others such as Goodh Lee posted that Chu is "just another singer singing a song to put herself in controversy to get attention. Maybe this chick is implying that she's naturally good-looking while Korean girls are pretty because they have plastic surgery".

Singer-songwriter Namewee joined in the online fray to say: "If you think the lyrics suck, at least the music sounds nice mah. If you think the music sucks, at least Joyce is cute mah."

Malaysian girls should not feel that they are not as "pretty" as Korean girls, says Chu.

"That's totally untrue. You can also do it. Malaysia cha bor boleh," she adds, using the upbeat term for "can do" in Malay.

This article was first published on June 29, 2014.
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