The Voice of a Nanyang Chinese

Malaysians

Often, i came across teachers who made headlines by provoking the students in class,
usually involves racial issues. "Kamu orang Cina balik ke negara China!" means you
Chinese go back to your home country, China. This is really regrettable, especially when
nation unity involving multi-racial and diverse cultural background is at stake.

Truely, majority of Chinese were immigrants during the rise of industrial age during late
19th and early 20th century, to fulfill the job vacancy such as miners, traders and manual
labours. Those jobs were regarded as unfavorable by the indigenous then. The influx of
Chinese and Indian were fueled by the ambition of our previous colonial rulers to gain
their foothold, making profits and the race to conquer South East Asia. Many of our
grandparents were from China, or their parents originated there. Many travelled south in
search of better future and hoping that one day will bring the hard-earned cash to feed the
hungry ones in China.

This trend took a major turn during the World War II, when the rising if the Communist
party, taking over the whole China. The motherland become a place of desolate. Many
Nanyang Chinese had forgone the idea of going back, had choose Malaya and Singapore
as their new settlement. They married and lay roots here since then.

What about those Chinese who migrates early (around 1500 a.d) during the time of the
rise of Malacca as the entreport? They had long been part of the society and blended in.
This is what you see in the Baba and Nyonya culture, distinctively in Malacca. Are they
considered as the indigenous people?

My story is about how my rgrandparents came about. My paternal side grandfather
originated from China, came to Malaysia as manual worker, to built houses. My
grandmother borne in Malaysia. Her father came from China, settled here early. My
maternal side is complicated. My grandfather is a mixture of Thai and Chinese. My
maternal grandmother is borne in Malaysia. Siamese people roamed the northern part
of Malaysia, blended in to the local people. It was used to be Thailand territory, until the
Britons made a deal with the King of Thailand, and the 4 northern states became part of
the Malaya. So can he (my maternal grandfather) be considered as the indigenous people,
or the most important question, can I be considered as indigenous?

It doesn't matter anymore. The newer generation already regards Malaysia as their home
land. They never get to know what happens in China or India that much now, all they care
is about the land they set foot on. Like me, I had never been to China yet, and my root is
deep in Malaysia. If you ask me to go back to China, I will be like an Indonesian coming to
Malaysia. This puzzle piece don't fit anymore.

This is what 1Malaysia means to me.