Our Minister Mentor sang this song .... in his bath!

Source: Clipart Guide

Do you sing in your bath? Not many people will readily admit they do, down to the song name. Thus I was pleasantly surprised to read the confession by our Minister Mentor in his memoirs. He was candid about the episode and I thought it was even a little hilarious after I listened to the song online. Do you know the title of that song?


To frame the episode in its historical context, the story goes that our then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew was invited by Tunku Abdul Rahman to stay at his official residence in Kuala Lumpur. As Lee were to find out later (but not from the Tunku), Tunku's real intention was to assess him; his personality, habits and character. Our Prime Minister performed admirably, if you read the following narrative from his memoirs (abridged edition):

I sang in my bath and he approved of my songs, like the lilting Indonesian Burung Kakaktua (The Cockatoo), which was then a hit; I played golf and poker; and I drank beer, wine and even took whisky and a little brandy - Three Star Hennessy was the Tunku's favourite drink. He decided I was not a dangerous communist. Indeed I was very human and an agreeable companion - young, a little too smart for his liking, and always too full of ideas, but otherwise all right. I got on with him. One great advantage was that I could speak Malay and I was completely at home talking to his wife, Puan Sharifah Rodziah, an Arab-Malay woman affectionately called Engku Pah, who was also from Kedah, the Tunku's home state. To add to the impression that I was of sound background, Choo also spoke good Malay. This proved to him that we were Malayans at heart and not Chinese chauvinists.

In the end, the Tunku concluded our Prime Minister was "not a bad fellow".

Intrigued by what exactly is a "burung kakaktua" (cockatoo covers 21 species of birds), I googled "white cockatoo" to try my luck after reading the Chinese edition of the memoirs translate "The Cockatoo" to 白鹦鹉 (white cockatoo). I was lucky. This wiki entry shows white cockatoo is endemic to Indonesia Maluku/Moluccas. The fabled spice islands! I remember we were taught in our history lesson that Malaya was a meeting point for the trading of spices - nutmeg, cloves and pepper obtained from the spice islands.

White Cockatoo (source: Wikipedia). I found out the English "cockatoo" was actually derived from the Malay name for these birds - "kakatuwah". In fact the scientific name for White Cockatoo is Cacatua alba.

According to MM Lee, Burung Kakaktua was a lilting song. Intrigued by what made the song so singable in a bath, I searched for the lyrics:

Burung kakak tua
Hinggap di jendela
Nenek sudah tua
Giginya tinggal dua
Lechum lechum lechum ooh la la
Lechum lechum lechum ooh la la
Lechum lechum lechum ooh la la
Burung kakak tua

Translation for the first four lines:

Old sister bird
Perched on the window
Grandma already old
Her teeth only two left

It rhymes suspiciously like a Malay pantun (1st and 3rd line, 2nd and 4th line) and is presented as such (a pantun usually has a disconnect; note the disconnect between bird on a window and grandma with two teeth). I am not sure what "lechum" means. Could it be the sound made by a burung kakak tua?

Today the song is categorized as "lagu anak" (children song) and, for decades, taught by parent to child (in the case of Jerome, his maternal grandmother taught him).The first time I heard the song on YouTube, I had a good laugh. The song is like a nursery rhyme and you can tell the video is targeted at kids. Can you imagine a grown up singing the song in his bath?

Most of the YouTube videos have Burung Kakaktua sung by children. Here four little girls will sing it for you. The child singer is invariably female, how come? Is it because little girls are cuter? Videos like this one of a 7 years old boy giving live performance of Burung Kakaktua are rare.

The most famous adult to sing Burung Kakaktua is Anneke Gronloh who turned the song into a hit in the early 60s. If you are an oldie like Andy Lim, you probably know her very well. Few months back, I watched her sing Terang Bulan on YouTube. That was my first contact with her.

The Dutch singer is also known for her songs Surabaya and Asmara. I think Burning Sand remains her most popular song as she was named "Singer of the Century" in 2000 because of it.

For some reason, the title of her song is not Burung Kakaktua but Burung Kaka. I checked the lyrics for other differences. I found only one significant: hinggap is replaced by menclok on line two. According to this site, the two words are synonyms.

Our Minister Mentor told us in his memoirs the lilting song was then a hit. As he did not tell us exactly when he stayed with the Tunku, only that it was in mid-December, I had to check the archives. From a Straits Times article dated 14 December 1961, I confirmed the homestay took place during the preceeding four days.

Here comes a little problem. In December 1961, was Burung Kakaktua (or Burung Kaka) already a hit? Unfortunately Burung Kaka by Anneke Gronloh is dated 1962 and the hit did not happen until December 1962.

The Straits Times, 29 December 1962

International singing star Anneke Gronloh had a surprise today when she was told  that one of her hit records had created a record sale in Malaysia.

Since being introduced to the local market early this year, Boeroeng Kaka, sung by her in Malay, has had a sale of more than 100,000 copies.

I can think of three reasons to explain the "discrepancy": the song sung by Anneke Gronloh was broadcasted over the air before December 1961 and became a hit; the song was sung by another singer before December 1961 and became a hit; the nursery rhyme became a hit with adults. How can the third reason be true?

What do you think?

No Burung Kakaktua article is complete without its rendition by Anneke Gronloh. Enjoy Boeroeng Kaka (1962)!