Chimbridge Singlish Dictionary

definitions

verb

1. to punish

... instead of having to top up about S$100,000, we have to top up about S$200,000. We feel like the Government is trying to "tekan" (punish) us.

— 2013 September 7, Cherie Sim. Today, "The elusive balance between clashing housing expectations". p.16

After Ken had had his sadistic fun making them do burpees until they dropped, it was Dom's turn to tekan the new specs, and he did so with gusto.

2. to bully; to treat harshly

It will expose us to different ways of thought ... like waking up at 4am and being tekan — okay, they don't tekan anymore — but you know what I mean.

— 2013 July 17, May Seah (quoting Paige Chua). Today, "Paige Chua wears the pants". p.60

We have also been through training and we all kena tekan ... but even if we were ill-treated, we didn't know that we were being ill-treated, because we did not know our rights.

— 2003 October 17, Lee Ching Wern (quoting Low Thia Khiang). Today (Afternoon Edition), "Questions thick and fast in Parliament". p.2

3. to pressure; to put pressure on

“The reason why we're having rats is because our management of food disposal has got problems. It's not enough to just go and 'tekan' (target) the individual stallholder or the individual shop.”

— 2015 February 11, Valerie Koh (quoting Vivian Balakrishnan). Today, "Building hygiene also landlords’ responsibility, says Balakrishnan". p.26

synonyms:

hammer

noun

1. punishment
2. bullying; harsh treatment
3. pressure