Stop using words like ‘celaka’ and ‘sial’, suggests councillor

THE culture of joking with crude idioms peculiar to Malacca – such as celaka and lahabau kau (which both carry connotations of ‘damn you’) – should be discarded as they have become outdated and not in sync with the noble values of Malay civilisation, Utusan Malaysia reported. 

Quoting state executive councillor Datuk Ramlah Abbas, the paper said though these words and others like hawau and sial are used in good humour they could be misunderstood by others.