老闆又叫我讀古籍了。
讀英語古籍的好處就是能讓我了解以前英國人如何看待東南亞的社會與現象。這些洋人老外不知是否已經串通，說來說去都差不多一樣的。他們眼中的馬來人都是懶惰的；華人都是視財如命的，嗜賭，愛分幫派的。
今天我又看了一本100年前的老遊記 - J. Johnston Abraham的《The Surgeon’s Log》。在泛黃且呈褐色斑點的紙張中我讀到一段令人莞爾的小段落：
Malay is the lingua franca of the Settlements. Every one speaks it - Chinese, British, Dutch, Indian. It is the simplest language in the world to learn, and one of the most beautiful to hear spoken. The Malay has wakened up to find his land taken from him, his country invaded by every nation on earth; he has shrugged his shoulders, and gone to sleep against but somehow or other he has imposed his language on the conquerors. When a Dutch planter from Sumatra comes over to Pinang on business, if he does not know English, he talks to the English clerks in the offices in Malay; when he trafficks with the wily Chinaman he does the same. The Malay is so lazy his language must be simple. If it were otherwise he wouldn’t trouble to speak. There is a “Pukka Malay” used in literature, and in addressing high native dignitaries. It is studied by learned pundits, and spoken in the presence of rajahs; but that does not concern the man in the street – he uses the vernacular.
有一點小驚訝：荷蘭人若不懂得英語，和英國人溝通時都用馬來話。
