I think we should ban the use of kencing manis to describe diabetes..it’s a gross misnomer and had indirectly led to many misunderstanding of this chronic systemic disease..and led to many misleading treatments too.Kencing Manis(sweet urine) in Malay sound so shallow and not to be taken seriously as a disease.
And I also oppose the use of Penyakit Kencing Tikus for describing Leptospirosis,popular after a comedian were alleged contracted and died from it,it was all over the news as if..it’s a news disease (it’s actually endemic in tropical country like Malaysia),politicians joined the bandwagon and some parks are declared as “Leptospirosis area” and public were banned to bath there.
My father is a diabetic and yesterday he told me a theory of how he got it,unlike my maternal side who has more than 5 diabetics with various complications,my paternal grandparents who both survived their 110 birthday were not.
My father(now in his early 70s) started working when our country were still young,and the last batches of our colonialist were still hanging around enjoying their good life in Malaysia.
At 26,he became the youngest FELDA manager working north of Malaysia,his bosses were mostly British but at the top was a Malay aristocrat related to royalties.
During weekends,the top tiers would throw parties till early morning entertaining the big boss,and would binge themselves with alcoholic drinks all the way..
Because he and another Malay doesn’t drink..the aristocrat would ask my father to hold on to his guns(he got two of them!) saying “Hang pegang pistol-pistol aku ni..nanti kalau aku mabuk takut aku pi tembak orang pulak!”
So there he was,holding his boss’s’ gun,drinking Coca Cola instead of wine until 2am in the morning…
It was his favourire drink and I still remembered how he brought home crates of Coca Cola each Hari Raya…at least drinking 2,3 bottles perday…
Only when he was diagnosed with diabetes that he stopped..and he has good discipline too,like smoking(he smoked because it was considered cool),once he thinks it’s stupid..he stopped at once,and never touched them again…
Until now he’s considered a model patient because of his compliance and discipline in diet control..
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