Chinese Malaysian edit
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Chinese Malaysian edit
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| Ethnic Chinese of Malaysia
馬來西亞華人 马来西亚华人 |
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| Total population |
| Regions with significant populations |
 Malaysia |
| Languages |
| predominantly Malaysian Mandarin, various Min dialects (including Penang Hokkien), Cantonese, Hakka, Malaysian English/Manglish, Malay |
| Religion |
| Predominantly Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, and Taoism; significant minorities profess Christianity and Yi Guan Dao; relatively small numbers of Hui1 |
Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to this community.
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Most Chinese immigrants of Malaya came from southern China, mostly from the province of Fujian and Guangdong. In the nineteenth century, many came as indentured labourers, known as coolies (Chinese: 苦力). Others came freely to work, and were supported by Clan Associations. By 1911, the Chinese population in Malaya had reached 269,854, and around a million circa 1949.
Early Chinese settlers (from the fifteenth century in Malacca) form a sub-group called Peranakan or Straits Chinese, who adopted many Malay customs and to varying extents, but retained Chinese religious practices.
In contrast, the newer arrivals (nineteenth century and later) who retained Chinese customs and Culture of China (中华文化) were known as sinkheh (新客 - literally "new guests").
As of 2008, the majority of Chinese people are mainly concentrated in the west coast states of west Malaysia with significant percentage of chinese (30% and above) such as Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor.
The chinese majority areas (40% and above) for each state are
Kepong, Cheras, Bukit Bintang, Old Klang Road, Sri Petaling, Segambut.
Subang Jaya/USJ, Puchong Kinrara/Jaya/Puteri, SS2, Petaling Jaya, Damansara Jaya/Utama, Bandar Utama, Serdang, Port Klang.
Penang island, Bukit Mertajam
Ipoh, Taiping, Batu Gajah, Setiawan
Johor Baru, Batu Pahat, Segamat
These are states where the chinese are a minority (below 30%)
The chinese majority areas (40% and above) for each state are
Malacca City
Bentong, Raub
Kuching, Sibu, Miri
Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan
The ethnic Chinese in Malaysia belong to several Chinese dialect groups. There are three major dialect groups: Hokkien, Hakka and Cantonese. Other dialects include Teochiu, Hainanese, Hokchiu and Hinghwa. Hokkien, Hainanese, Teochiu, Hinghwa and Hokchiu are part of the Min language group. It is evident that people belonging to certain dialect groups are populated in different parts of communities in Malaysia.
The Hokkien is the largest group in Malaysia. It forms the largest language group in Penang, Malacca, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Selangor -- mostly in Klang and coastal region of Selangor and western Johor. Hokkien is also commonly spoken in Sarawak as the Hokkien are the largest group of Chinese ethnic while there formed smaller groups of them in Sabah.
The Hakka also form the most populous dialect group in East Malaysia (Sabah and Sarawak), parts of Johor notably Kulai, Selangor-Kuala Lumpur and Pahang. Hakkas are also found in large numbers in Johor Bahru and Perak, of which they possibly constitute the largest dialect group.
Cantonese constitutes the most populous Chinese dialect group in the state of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan and Perak where the Cantonese forms a large percentage of the population. The Cantonese also forms the largest dialect group in eastern Johor and Sandakan, Sabah. Sandakan used to be called "Little Hong Kong" since it was the second homeland for many settlers from Guangdong, where the sceneries resembles Hong Kong in the 1970s and the 1980s. Local Cantonese media is frequently broadcasted by Malaysian television channels, notably TV3, NTV7, and 8TV.
The Teochews are concentrated in parts of Penang, many islands of Sabah and Southern Johor, principally Johor Bahru and Pontian.
There are, in general, three sub-linguistic groups of Malaysian Chinese with three metropolitan centers. The Penang, Klang and Malacca groups are predominantly Hokkien-speaking and the Kuala Lumpur, Seremban & Ipoh group is predominantly Cantonese and Hakka-speaking. To the south of Peninsular Malaysia, in Johor, Mandarin is predominantly spoken among the Chinese communities there, which is a result of the Mandarin media influence from Singapore, and the use of Mandarin in formal education. This has resulted in many people, especially the younger generation, to discard and neglect the usage of Chinese dialects, especially Teochew and Cantonese. Whereas in East Malaysia (Malaysian Borneo), Hakka and Mandarin is widely spoken, except in Sibu, Fuzhou and in Sandakan, Cantonese.
Modern movements to unify and organize Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian Chinese communities introduced Standard Mandarin as the language of diaspora ethnic nationalism.
The number of Chinese speakers has increased from 2,667,452 in 1957 to 5,365,846 in year 2000 2, comprising 26% of total population in Malaysia. The Chinese community in Malaysia can be divided into the following dialect groups 3:
| Dialect | Population4 |
|---|---|
| Hokkien | 1,848,211 |
| Hakka | 1,679,027 |
| Cantonese | 1,355,541 |
| Teochew | 974,573 |
| Mandarin | 958,467 |
| Hainanese | 380,781 |
| Min Bei | 373,337 |
| Foochow | 249,413 |
While public education remains free and accessible to all citizens of Malaysia, there are several types of schools available for Malaysians to choose from to be educated from primary levels up to tertiary levels. There are known to be three types of schools with their language of instructions where education is delivered: Malay, Mandarin (Chinese), and Tamil. Each of these medium of instructions signifies the three major races that exists in Malaysia and peculiar to the Western Malaysian communities. It is common for a Malaysian Chinese to be either Chinese, English or Malay educated.
The Malaysian Chinese communities, therefore, usually have a choice to send their children to either Chinese schools or Malay schools. Whichever schools they went to, the Malay language must be taught as a compulsory subject, if the language of instruction is not already in Malay.
The early use of the unofficial term "Chinese educated" was to refer to Chinese of Chinese school before 1960's (see Razak Report), the term has since gained sizable recognition particularly among the Chinese community in Malaysia.
(see Early Malay nationalism#Towards independence) Today most schools in Malaysia are national-type schools fully or partially funded by the government, however during early 1960s roughly 60 Chinese schools rejected the Razak Report5, they continue and insist on the use of Mandarin Chinese as teaching medium, these type of schools were to be later known as Chinese independent high school. The students of Chinese independent high school studies numerous ancient Chinese literature, Chinese calligraphy, the teaching of Confucius, Four Books and Five Classics, etc, and they also study Bahasa Malaysia and English. Students of these type of schools are Chinese educated.
Malaysia is the only country outside mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau to have a complete Chinese-medium education system. The secondary Chinese-medium school in Malaysia is not funded by the government of Malaysia, existing in the form of privately owned Chinese independent high schools (Chinese: 独立中学). However they represent only 5% of all Malaysia Chinese schools.6
There are roughly 1,300 national-type Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaaan (SRK, National Primary School) (Chinese) primary schools in Malaysia that are all partially government funded, where the wages of teachers are paid by the government while the up-keeping of school buildings is funded by local communities in forms of donations. The Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaaan (SMK, National Secondary School) (Chinese) national-type high school received less than 3% of total fundings for all primary schools, while Malay is the language of instruction in SMK (Chinese) national-type high school for all subjects except in Chinese language classes and English language classes.
During the 1960s (see Barnes Report), most of the Chinese secondary schools had received government funding and had been converted into national-type high schools (SMK - Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan), known as "National-type Secondary Schools (Chinese)" to date to indicate their previous statuses as Chinese schools. Today, only 60 Chinese independent high schools that are supported financially by the public remain throughout the country, where Mandarin is the main language of instruction in all subjects, except Bahasa Malaysia and English classes, but some schools use either Malay or English in selected subjects (see Chinese independent high school#History).
Educationist Goh Kean Seng pointed out that while about 90% of Chinese children in Malaysia enroll into Mandarin-medium primary schools, which are run by the Malaysian government, less than 5% go on to Mandarin-medium secondary schools (such as Chinese independent high schools) which are privately-run and fee-paying. Parents preferably send their children to government schools, where education is free but resulted in many dropouts as students are unable to cope with the difference in the medium of instruction. Goh claimed that the situation is worsened by the switch from Mandarin to Malay as the medium of instruction when the pupils go on to secondary school.6
The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) also pointed out an estimated 25% of Chinese students dropout before reaching the age of 18; the annual dropout rate is estimated to be over 100,000 and worsening. Certain dropouts become apprentices in workshops, picking up skills like plumbing or motor-repair. Others eager to make a quick buck find themselves involved in illicit trades, such as peddling pirated DVDs or collecting debts for loan sharks.6
A sizeable group of Malaysian Chinese speak English as a first language (something carried over from the British colonial days). They speak English at home, and make it a point to immerse and educate their children in the English language. Like their counterparts in Singapore, they are known as the "English-educated" although the term is something of an anachronism. Most of these "English-educated" Chinese are unable to read and write in Chinese.
Unlike in Singapore, English has not been used as a language of instruction in Malaysia (except in private institutions and urban schools) since it was phased out the 1970s and 1980s in favor of Malay. Although there are English medium schools in Malaysia that provide an education based on a British or US-based curriculum, these cater to expatriate children. However, as of 2002, the Malaysian government has reintroduced English as the language of instruction for Science and Mathematics in national secondary schools and universities.
While proper English is generally spoken and understood among Malaysian Chinese, a common form used is a patois called Manglish (Malaysian English). Manglish is very similar to Singlish (Singaporean English). Manglish speakers typically understand 80-90% of Singlish and vice versa. See British and Malaysian English differences. Unless specifically Manglish or Singlish terms are used in a conversation, it can be difficult even for native speakers to differentiate the two as the intonation and most terms (especially the infamous lah) are common. Singaporean television sitcoms such as Phua Chu Kang and Under One Roof that make use of Singlish are popular in Malaysia. The Singapore government has tried to reduce the use of Singlish in these serials, with visible success.
The new immigrants who have not learned the colonial trading language of English were often jealous of the older immigrants who have integrated into an English-speaking colonial system. As such, the majority of Chinese-speaking immigrants often attacked the older immigrants in British Civil Service using derogatory cultural remarks, a typical intra-racial infighting that explained the weak national identifications and identities that gave foreign colonization under British power an upper-hand. The derogatory term "banana" 7 (Chinese: 香蕉人; pinyin: Xiāng jiāo rén), "white on the inside, yellow on the outside" was invented. The ungrammatical construction of the term reflects its linguistic origin and basis - from various dialects. However, with development of Greater China's economy, this intra-racial infighting has reduced because many of the English-educated families sent their children to learn Chinese language.
The Chinese in Malaysia maintain a distinct communal identity and rarely intermarry with native Muslim Malays for religious and cultural reasons. Most Malaysian Chinese consider their being "Chinese" at once an ethnic, cultural and political identity. However, there are many who have intermarried with Malaysian Indians, who are predominantly Hindu. The children of such marriages are known as Chindians.8
The Malaysian Chinese have traditionally dominated the Malaysian economy, but with the advent of affirmative action policies by the Malaysian government to protect the rights of ethnic Malays, their shares has eroded somewhat. On most counts, however, they still make up the majority of the middle and upper income classes. As of 2007, they constitute about a quarter of the Malaysian population.
Ye Lin-Sheng, the author of The Chinese Dilemma, said that the winners from former prime minister Mahathir Mohammad's New Economic Policy benefits Malays, who receive preferential treatment in education and business, while leaving the Chinese with the feeling that they have been victimised by the policy.9
The Malaysian Chinese community was intricately linked to the Singaporean Chinese community because of a shared history and culture. Singapore was a part of the Federation of Malaysia before it became independent in 1965. Many Singaporean Chinese have relatives in Malaysia and vice-versa. There are also a significant number of Malaysian Chinese residing and working in Singapore. Some families in nearby Johor send their children (around 5,000 of them) to school in Singapore, commuting back and forth between the two countries every day.
On that same note, the Malaysian Chinese are culturally much more distant from the Indonesian Chinese, Filipino Chinese and Thai Chinese. This is attributable to the fact that these countries did not have a shared history with Malaysia like Singapore did.
The entire Southeast Asian Chinese diaspora is characterized by their considerable economic fortunes and their susceptibility to discrimination or political exploitation by politicians. This diaspora is commonly referred to as the Nanyang Chinese, 'Nanyang' (南洋) being the Mandarin term for Southeast Asia.
A majority of the Chinese in Malaysia claim to be Buddhist or Taoist, though the lines between them are often blurred and, typically, a syncretic Chinese religion incorporating elements of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism and traditional ancestor-worship is practised, with the fact that each individual follows it in varying degrees. About 9.6% are Christian (Mainstream Protestants, Catholics and other denominations including a fast-growing number of Evangelicals and Charismatics) and a small number (0.7%) profess Islam as their faith.
Since there are three main ethnic groups in Malaysia, there are also inherently three distinct cuisines unique to only these ethnic groups. Most, if not all, of Malaysian Chinese enjoy all types of food not limiting to their own, which is commonly known as Malaysian Chinese food. There can be, however, some limitations as to what certain Malaysian Chinese can eat owing to their beliefs and/or religion. A very significant amount of Malaysian Chinese do not consume beef, these people are either god-children of the Goddess Of Mercy (Guan Yin) or they are faithful followers of the Religious figure.
There exist some degrees of differences in the Malaysian Chinese culture compared to that of China. Some traditional festivals celebrated by the Chinese community in Malaysia are no longer celebrated in China after the Chinese Cultural Revolution. This is especially true of regional rites and rituals that are still celebrated by the Malaysian descendants of the peasant migrants from China. Some have attributed the traditional practices of Malaysian Chinese to "a little backwater of Chinese culture as it was in China 80 years ago" 10.
There are also significant differences in the way the Chinese language is spoken among the Chinese community in Malaysia. One notable example is how the Minnan or Hokkien dialect is spoken in Penang and even in parts of Indonesia like Medan. The variant spoken is influenced by Malay and English vocabulary and forms and is commonly referred to as Penang Hokkien.
Malaysian Chinese Culture is limited to the "1971 National Culture Policy" of Malaysia. 11 It defines 3 principles as guidelines for 'national culture':
The population of Chinese is shrinking in Malaysia due to birth rate. It is expected to drop until 13% in 2070.
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