Credit to : FB The Ecletic Peranakans.
"Peranakan" is a Malay word that means "local-born" of mixed heritage between one migrant parent and another native parent (although by native, it's come to refer to all from maritime Southeast Asia). During the era of British Malaya, the term Straits-Chinese was used and came to be applied to all who were born in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore in the main. Less well known are the terms Straits-Malay, or numbers didn't translate into one for Straits-Arabs or Straits-Indians, with the former having been absorbed into the wider Malay community in now larger Malaysia.
Penang's historic Peranakan communities, main language groups, selected surnames and main religions only (not scientific, aggregated from articles) - historically, mostly traders and administrators
As it were, there were further inter-ethnic marriages between these communities over the last few centuries
Baba Nyonyas/Straits Chinese/Chinese Peranakans
* Hokkien/Teowchew/Cantonese (Taoist)
* Hakka (Catholic)
* intermarried with Ambonese, Balinese, Minangkabaus, Mandailings, other Malays
* Pashu - Tayoke Kabya, the Chinese Peranakans of Burma
* Baba Yaya, the Chinese Peranakans of Phuket, Ranong, Trang, Songkhla
Contrary to general perception, the Baba Nyonyas in Penang do speak a Malay-creole. Others may just be "buang tebek" only 😅 Penang Babas and Nyonyas are fluent in English. They also speak their own Penang Hokkien (interspersed with Malay loan words) with its unique sing-song intonation and accent, which has become a subject for researchers in Taiwan, Australia, America and in Malaysia (by UKM mainly)
Other early Chinese and Sinitic communities -
Guyana Chinese - Hoalim (Anglican)
Hui Chinese of Arabian & Middle Eastern heritage at the Koay Clan Jetty
The Chulias - Tamil-speaking Indian Muslims from the Malabar coastal region, progenitors of one branch of the Jawi Peranakans -
Tamil Muslims
* Mydin, Mohideen
Jawi Pekan, of mixed heritage with Kedah Malays and others
* Maricar/Merican (Muslim)
Arab Peranakans, mainly of Hadhrami descent (Hadramout was a sultanate in southern Arabia, in today's Yemen & Oman)
* Alattas, Al-Mashoor, Alhabshee (Muslim)
Mandailing Peranakan
* Nasution
Other mainly Muslim groups
Bugis Peranakan (as opposed to Bugis Jati)
Javanese
Acheens/Achehnese
Pattani & Siamese-Kedah Malays
(The Bataks - Mandailings, Minangs & Acheens were from Sumatra and are mainly Muslims. The Ambonese and those from the Moluccas are mainly Christians)
Mainly Buddhist groups
Burmese Peranakans
* Maung, Mong,
Burmese-Punjabis Peranakans
* Toolseram
Sino-Burmese
•Aw, Ow
Siamese Peranakans
* Aroomratana
Sinhalese of Ceylon/Sri Lanka
Other mainly Christian/Serani/Eurasian groups, mainly Catholics
French - Devries/de Vries, Boudville, Labrooy
Portuguese - Rozell, De Souza, Conceicao, Lopez, Fernandes, Carvalho
Dutch - Speldewinde, Bruyn, Spykerman
Dutch-Singhalese-Burghers of Ceylon
Scots - Brown, Scott, Mcguire, Watt
English - Peterson, Davidson
Irish - Daly, Boyle (Dr Sybil Kathigasu nee Daly)
Spaniards - Augustin
Filipino-Spanish - Geronimo
Germans - Danker
Many European pioneers embraced Catholicism after their own houses of worship closed down due to their small numbers eg the Armenians
There were visitors from places like Russia, Bohemia (now part of the Czech Republic) but they probably never settled in Penang, or their distinct identities had been lost through time and patrilineal naming convention as a result of inter-ethnic marriages
Armenians (very few remain, embracing Catholicism from Armenian Orthodox when their church was sold off early on due to their small congregation, like most other early Eurasians, even though articles usually describe them as historic)
- Sarkies, Arackell, Catchatoor, Galastaun, Anthony, Avetoom
* Aratoon Anthony of AA Anthony stockbroking firm
Circassians - from the Northwest Caucuses, displaced historically by Russia, now mainly in Turkey - in Malaysia, generally in Johor = Dato Onn Jaafar, Prof Ungku Aziz & Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz
Other notable communities (whose early settlers rarely, if ever, inter-marry)
Sindhis (Sind, now in Pakistan) - Bavani, Sadhwani (Hindu) (The Kashmir Restaurant at the junction of Penang Road and Chulia Street, textile shops)
Parsees of Bombay (now Mumbai), of Persian-Azerbaijani roots (Zoroastrianism)
Manecksha, Mehta
Bengalis generally (today West Bengal, Odisha & Bangladesh) (Dass) (Hindu/Christian)
•Telugus
•Punjabis (today Punjab & Kashmir) (Sarwar, Singhs & Kaurs). They may be Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims
•Rajahstanis
•The Malayalees of Kerala (Menon, Nair, Pillai) (Hindus/Muslims/Christians, etc)
- The Thomas Christians of South India/Kerala (eg Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Mar Thoma Church, etc) draw membership from Malayalees in the main: Varughese/Vargese/George - Orthodox Cathedral of the Theotokos West-Syriac Rite, Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur
•Kannadas
•Tamils of Tamil Nadu
•Jaffnese or Ceylonese, the Tamils of Ceylon/Sri Lanka
•Nattukottai Chettiars/Chettinad
•Gujaratis; there's a largely Muslim community from Surat in Gujarat called, Suratees. Otherwise, they are mainly Hindus
Jews (Sephardic, Mizrahi/Baghdadi, Malabarese, Ashkenazi) (historic, up to 2011) - Cohen, Manasseh, Sassoon, Marshall, Braut, Mordecai
* David Marshall, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore, had ancestors in Penang
They have migrated and are living overseas. There are expatriate Jews in Malaysia. Regional synagogues are situated in Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta, Bali and other places in Indonesia
Japanese Peranakans (from late 19th century) very few self-identify, more out of fear after WW2, so, many express their Straits Chinese heritage instead of amplifying their Japanese roots
Penang's foundation by the English in 1786 and the dominance of the English in Britain and Empire after the Act of Union 1801 mean that English was and is widely used in Penang and her territories
Of course, now we have new communities of the same ethnicities and more who have inter-married & resettled in Penang
We have Chindians now, where one parent is Chinese and the other, Indian, or having an ancestor who was one
Other Chinese groups:
•Foochow or Hockchew people settled mainly in Sitiawan, Perak and Sibu, Sarawak but some are also found in Penang and Singapore. The majority of their diaspora are in Indonesia. They are staunch Methodists
•Putian or Henghua people
•Sin Ning/Xinning/Sze Yup or better known as Taishanese people. The majority of their diaspora are in North America and Australia
•Leng-nga people (are these people from Longyan?)
Reaching back to the Song and Tang dynasties, many different groups were displaced and came to settle in southern China before migrating out
The historic population of Singapore reflected much of Penang's from where people initially migrated, as well as from Malacca
There are also Chinese Peranakans in Kelantan and Terengganu. Eyo Hock Seng is a master in wayang kulit in Kelantan. In Terengganu, a Baba is called Awang and a Nyonya, Mek
Malacca's historic Peranakan communities in general (may need help here)
Descendants of people from the old Srivijaya empire, then centred in Palembang, in present day Sumatra, from where Parameswara came, and then, started what became the ancient Malacca Sultanate in 1400
* his people was aided by the Orang Laut
During the height of the Sultanate era, circa 1450s, people from Ming China and Indians (Muslims and Hindus), and Arabs came to settle in Malacca and inter-married with the locals *However, there are records of Sino-Nusantara relations going back a thousand years before this period at least eg I-Tsing's writings, etc
Macau was generally the designated gateway for foreigners to Ming China. No one could go and see the emperor in Beijing unless being granted an audience. Therefore, all foreigners had to stay in Macau first, sometimes for a few years before they could go to the Forbidden City in Beijing
The Macanese-Portuguese descendants speak a Portuguese-creole called Patua, with words derivative from Portuguese, Malay, Cantonese, Marathi and some others. Macau, Hong Kong and the Greater Pearl River Delta are geographically part of Southeast Asia. Nowadays, people tend to limit it to only political ASEAN.
From Macau, the southern Hokkiens principally, who were from Fujian came to Malacca, and many of their descendants inter-married with the locals over centuries and came to form the Babas and Nyonyas today, speaking a Malay-creole called Baba Malay
The descendants of Indian traders became the Chettis, and they speak a Malay-creole and adopt many customs ostensibly associated with the Baba Chinese
Beside these, people from around maritime Southeast Asia like the Bugis and Javanese also came and settled and inter-married with locals
From the Portuguese conquest of Malacca in 1511 are descended the Kristang-speaking (Malayo-Portuguese-creole) people whose progenitors inter-married with the locals
When the Dutch supplanted the Portuguese in 1641 (with the aid of Old Johor, successor to the old Malacca Sultanate, and her people from the Riau Islands, including present day Singapore...as well as Acheh), the Dutch too inter-married with the locals and settled here
The Portuguese administrators ran to the Moluccas, and then Timor whilst the people either followed them or they ran to Phuket before the Siamese persecution forced them to finally settle in Penang. Many stayed put in Malacca though
As a result of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, Malacca was put in trust with the British in 1795, and the resulting Treatises of London (Anglo-Dutch Treaties) 1824 caused the Dutch to cede Malacca to the British, who ruled from Penang
By then, Malacca was much neglected as the Dutch concentrated its power in Batavia (now Jakarta) and the British, in Penang, and then, Singapore
Labuan was part of the Straits Settlements for a short while, between 1907 to 1912, as were the Dindings (now Manjung District) comprising Telok Anson/Teluk Intan, Sitiawan, Lumut and Pangkor Island from 1874 to 1937, administered from Penang
Chinese settlers in North Borneo inter-married with the KadazandusunMurut people in the 19th century and now form a subset of KDM, calling themselves Sino-Kadazans
There are Sino-Dayaks both in Sarawak and in the wider Dayak nation residing in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. They are descendants of Sino-Dayak unions since the 18th century. Over at Singkawang, Province of West Kalimantan, the Dayak-Tiongkok blend Iban ritual with CNY Chap Goh Meh celebrations. They are also called Tionghua Panthong
After WW2, along with ongoing decolonisation throughout the world, the retreating British put Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean under administration of Singapore, not outright political power or status from circa 1948 to 1955/8, reorganisations that later saw Singapore co-formed Malaysia with Malaya (West Malaysia), North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak. People there are mostly descendants of Malay and Chinese migrant workers from British Malaya, harvesting guano (bird droppings) to make into phosphate, a key ingredient to make fertilisers for the plantations throughout the old colonies. Wikipedia may give you a run down of administrations changing hands between British Ceylon, The Seychelles and the Straits Settlements starting 1886, but, in reality, all were not much more than administrators, as the Singapore government confirmed before transfer to Australia. The said islands are now part of Australia's Indian Ocean Territories. There's a Kampung Cocos in Lahad Datu, Sabah where some Cocos Malays resettled after WW2
The Peranakan communities in Indonesia, Siam/Thailand and the Philippines are quite assimilated by design, though a more peaceful environment now allow some of them to take pride, if not, find out more about their roots. Descendants of Javanese workers in Deli (Medan) are called Peranakan Jawa
There are 9 ascribed Chinese communitarian identities in Indonesia (this labelling is attempted coz Indonesia is so huge, we think)
1 Tionghua Totok/Cina Totok/Pure Chinese, immigrants who came during the 20th century and later (Sinkehs)
2 Kiau Seng/Peranakan Tionghua/Sino-Indonesians of mixed Chinese and native Indonesian ancestry
3 Cina Benteng/Benteng Chinese, descendants of refugees who escaped atrocities against the local Chinese in Batavia/Jakarta in 1740 and hid behind fortifications
4 Tionghua Medan/Medan Chinese, who were in trade and industry. Many of them came from Penang. They are now dispersed (from strife in 1960s and latterly, due to economic reasons), first to Padang (Minang country), now in Jakarta
5 Tionghua Bangka/Bangka Chinese
Early settlers were Hakka tin miners
6 Tionghua Jawa/Chinese Javanese
Early settlers were Hokkiens who have assimilated with the local populations in East and Central Jawa. The Kediri Chinese in East Jawa can trace their ancestry up to the 15th century; they're among the poorest now
7 Tionghua Jakarta/Jakarta Chinese
From traders who settled before the establishment of Jakarta in 1619. Jakarta is 400 years old this year (or earlier, if you count from even before the Demak conquest). First settled in the area east of the Ciliwung River, the Dutch colonials chased them out, and they settled in the Glodok area, for which they are now known (Indonesia's largest Chinatown, in West Jakarta)
8 Tionghua Panthong/Panthong Chinese
These are the Sino-Dayaks in West Kalimantan. We've talked about Sinkawang previously
9 Tionghua Udik/Udik Chinese
Farmers largely in Tanah Abang, outside Jakarta (where there was another fortification), and Tangerang and Surakarta, after the pogroms by the Dutch colonials in 1740 Batavia
Each group has its own vernacular Chinese Peranakan speech specific to each region eg Pasar Atom in Surabaya, a mixture of Bahasa Suroyoboyoan and Hokkien, etc. The same can be observed from Myanmar, Thailand and throughout the Malay Peninsula as well
Binondo in Manila is the world's oldest Chinatown established circa 1594. Chinese settlers who inter-married with the locals are generally called Tsinoy in the north, and Lannang in the south, in Mindanao and Sulu, though there are other epithets
Kediri in East Java has an old community of Chinese Peranakan that could trace their lineage from the 15th century. The Babas are now more concentrated in and around Medan
In the Old Jakarta neighbourhood of Kampung Tugu, the Mardijkers, who are descendants of Portuguese Malaccans who were forced into exile by Dutch colonials from the Spice Islands continue to preserve their Keroncong/Krontjong musical heritage, which has endeared itself to the Dutch and other communities in Indonesia
The Arab Peranakans in Indonesia have assimilated comfortably with the wider Indonesian society, bonded by a shared religion, as they are in Malaysia as well. They mark themselves by naming conventions between those who could trace their ancestry to the Prophet of Islam's tribe and those who couldn't, between Hadramis and Khojas or Suratees, etc
The Thai-Portuguese Settlement is in Kudichin, Thonburi (West Bangkok), but, you can see Portuguese influences in inner Bangkok as well, in buildings, churches and Thai desserts
As stated earlier, in the 19th century, the Baba Yayas of Phuket and surrounding areas, and the Pashus/Tayoke Kabyas or Burmese-Babas had close relationships with the Baba Nyonyas in Penang. At the 2019 George Town Heritage Celebrations, the representatives of the Baba Yayas of Phuket together with the Chief Minister of Penang held a tea ceremony, confirming the close ties of the two communities for over two centuries
Peranakan culture of all communities reached their most developed expressions in British Malaya before the Japanese Occupation during WW2
Quo vadis? Ubi imus? - Where are you going? Where are we going?
Copy and paste: 10 January 2020 : 7.23 pm
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