I first heard the word Kiasu (afraid of losing) & Kiasi (afraid of death / timid) while I was in the college in the mid 90's. I have couple of close Chinese friends who shared plenty of stuffs with me on these Chinese terms. I do not know for what reason, they told me that the twin K's terms were actually originated & referred to the Singaporean Chinese group. But nowadays, it has been widely use in the South East Asia countries.
It's quite interesting why these two terms are interchangebly use in particular to the Chinese community. I also wonder if the same terms appear in any other languages. With direct translation, those two words may seem to appear as negative or pessimistic. On the other hand, they also serve as the basis of attitudes to strive for excellence , never quite until you win & betterment of one social life standards.
Ironically, having raise in a semi-urban Malay family, these two principles do not seem to be awkward to me. My mother especially , had inculcated these two prionciples in our family. In fact, both of our parents were really paranoid about exam result. Since I was standard 1 until I graduated, my father had never missed a single review on my report card. There will always be an action plan after reviewing mine. This was one of the Kiasu in my family. My mother used to tell me that when all of us have grown up, she would not like to see large disparites amongst the siblings. I guess me, my brothers and sisters are considered moderate in our living, though one of my sister is filthy rich.
When it comes to Kiasi, I could deny that my parents were also paranoid of all of their children having involve in road accident, ended up non of us were allowed to apply for motorcycle licence. Even so, my brother, a law student, bought a motorbike (without my parents knowledge) while he was at the university, of course without a licence. A good start for a law student. On the other hand, my sister, who is practising law in Kuala Lumpur, has never drove a car to work. For more than 30 years, she used taxi. Her husband once joke that almost all the taxi drivers in Kuala Lumpur City know her. And my mother, the originator of the road and traffic "Kiasi", used to had her hand on the wheel but could not drive a car until now. Once, in the late 70's, when she was trying to reborn her driving skill, she had a duck murdered. A well bell -curved mark on that pity duck body.These two simple Kiasu & Kiasi had actually shaped up our family in certain ways or another. I am actually glad that these two are actually positive and preventive measures for our own betterment and safety. I am honoured to pass down these kiasu and kiasi to my kids. Nowadays or in the recent few years, I am seeing more than Kiasu & Kiasi people , which I categorize as "Kiawhatever". People can go mad and do crazy stuffs , afraid of many things. Afraid of losing credibility, ethnicity, trust , money , jobsecurity , status and stuffs like that. That should be elaborated in the next blogging session i guess.
