Bengs 101: A masterclass by Desmond Tan

SINGAPORE - Having played two different ah beng characters this year – a “Hokkien beng” in the Channel U drama Second Chance and an “ang moh beng” in the Channel 5 sitcom Spouse For House – Desmond Tan is more or less an authority on the species. Here, he explains the theory of Bengness.

Q: How many breeds of Beng are there?

A: From what I know, there are three kinds: The ang moh beng, the Hokkien beng and the real ah beng. The ang moh beng speaks English but it’s a little broken, with the emphases on the wrong parts of the sentence. He’s rough; he’s not a gentleman; there’s a little bit of vulgarity; he’s very local. The Hokkien beng is not a gangster – it’s just that the way he expresses himself is very beng-ish. The real ah beng is the gangster – the one who will commit crimes and fight people.

Q: Which category do you fit into?

A: I still have a bit of beng-ness left over from playing one in Second Chance – sometimes I walk with my legs wide open. While filming, I’d squat to eat my lunch. I’m in-between the ang moh beng and the Hokkien beng. I think the army has trained me quite well to be a Hokkien beng. And when I was younger I lived in an old estate in the Commonwealth area called Tanglin Halt. There were a lot of gangsters there so I picked up a lot of their language. My ang moh beng phase was when I was in secondary school and junior college, where I got to know the hipster bengs.

Q: So, hipsters are the new Bengs, right?

A: Yeah. I think it’s just same sh*t, different smell. The way they walk, for example – they still spread their legs. They are the same, just that the branding is different. Now, they add a little bit of the drop – and they call themselves rappers. (Ooh, burn! Good one.)

For a video clip of Desmond delivering his theory of Bengness, as well as more photos, follow us @tdy_t on Instagram.