The Peranakan Association Singapore is saddened by the passing of our former President, Baba Peter Wee.
A few days after the TPAS AGM on 27 May 2018, I called on Baba Peter Wee at Katong Antique House (KAH). He looked gaunt and was already getting weaker. When he saw me, he tried to pull himself up from the planter’s chair in his dining room, where he was resting, to greet me. I rushed to his side to tell him there was no need to get up.
My late mother used to say that you can tell the breeding of a man by the little courtesies he shows to others.
Babas and Nyonyas have a saying, “Orang tu di besair kan cukop sopan santon cara kita. Sikit pun tak boleh hiam.” (That person is well brought up according to our Peranakan ways. You cannot find fault in his manners.)
Human nature is so complex and full of contradictions. There is light and dark in us all. We try our best to be good, but without realising it, we may sometimes lose our way. Baba Peter’s later years were tinged with controversy, whether deserved or undeserved; but always, he worried about the state of our Peranakan culture and did his best to preserve it.
My wife Linda and I had many random conversations with Baba Peter from the time we bought our first antique mirror from him nearly forty years ago at KAH. We talked about life, God, Mother Mary, religion, collecting, raising families, the Catholic Church, sarongs, kebayas, food, nyonya kueh and people. But, always, we ended up talking about our culture and its relevance to younger generations.
“Our culture is dying,” he would usually say, shaking his head. And we would reassure him by saying, “Maybe it is the culture that our parents and grand-parents have known and traditionally practised which is dying. In itself, there is a renewed interest in Peranakan culture, especially since the hit TV series The Little Nyonya!”
That afternoon when I sat next to him lying in the planter’s chair, our conversation casually drifted back to this thread – how can we make our culture relevant to our young?
I assured him that the new General Committee is full of zeal and energy, and ready to engage our youth and keep our culture alive. He nodded slightly and smiled, then closed his eyes for a brief respite.
Rest in peace, Baba Peter Wee.
Colin Chee,
President
The Peranakan Association Singapore
Note: Baba Peter Wee was the past President of TPAS General Committee for 8 years from 2010 to 2018. He first got to know about TPAS in the 1960s. Based on our available records, he joined the GC as a committee member in 1994.