The term “Perek” as used by Indonesians in Singapore

Don’t hold your breath. The term I’ve just mentioned in the title today is not a vulgar word. It’s not even a euphemism.

Let me tell you my story.

The first time I heard of this term was from my senior who was about to sell me his used textbook. He lent me a sample of the textbook that belonged to his PRC friend.

He told me, “be careful with that book, it belongs to my Perek roommate”

I was flabbergasted. Why on earth would he call his own roommate a Perek? What has his roommate done to him to deserve such a naming?

Of course, I kept those questions to myself as I was reluctant to hear him using other curse words to describe that “darned roommate”.

Later onwards, I found that “Perek” is a corrupted term used by Indonesians to refer to people from the land of PRC (People’s Republic of China). I could safely presume however, that it was inherited from the early batches of Indonesian students in Singapore.

See the transformation?

PRC turns into PeReC, which in the Indonesian transliteration morphs into… what else…

Perek.

Untuk semua anak-anak Indo di Singapur, tenang aja, it’s not that I’m revealing an open secret here. No, of course not.

I’m simply sharing an experience of mine for other Indonesians who live outside Singapore to delight with. Just for a giggle.

And for those of you who don’t understand what the term “Perek” really means, then too bad, because I’m not going to tell you here. But you’re allowed to make your own assumptions though, deriving from the clues I’ve given above.

(^_^)