4 - Between “Cina–Kampung” and “Cheng–Ho” Chinese: Terengganu's Peranakans

Summary

INTRODUCTION: GLIMPSES OF A FAST–DISAPPEARING HYBRID WORLD

Businessman Soh Teck Soon, 39, grew up in a mixed Malay–Chinese village, abstains from pork, is circumcised and speaks the local Malay dialect perfectly. “I also don't look typically Chinese, so when people meet me for the first time they assume I'm Terengganu Malay,” he says. (Interview, 18 March 2009). Koo Ong Jin, 60, a retired construction supervisor and leader of the Chinese in Kampung Tirok, a village located amidst Malay settlements outside the state capital Kuala Terengganu (KT), speaks the Terengganu Malay dialect fluently, enjoys Malay food with his fingers, and could easily pass off as Malay. His acculturation is a result of what sociologists refer to as “primary” links of friendship with Malays. “I have at least twenty very close Malay friends. We visit each other's homes and attend family weddings and funerals. They all attended my father's funeral. We are very close.” (Interview, 18–20 March 2009).

Both Soh and Koo are part of a long–settled but virtually unknown acculturated Chinese community in the east coast state of Terengganu. Unlike the better known west coast urban–based Peranakan Chinese of Malacca and Penang, little is known about this group. What is clear however, is that centuries of deep interaction with Malays via shared occupations, living spaces and schools shows itself in their adoption of Malay language, attire, cuisine, performing arts and Malay–style housing. Most of them live in rural pockets and small towns and are easily mistaken for Malays.

Terengganu Chinese like Soh and Koo are referred to as “Peranakantype” — despite Peranakan characteristics, they do not identify themselves as Peranakan but as Chinese, while making a cultural distinction between themselves and non–Peranakan Chinese (Tan 2002, pp. V, 1–3). This distinction is sometimes expressed through the use of the Malay term Cina Kampung (Village Chinese) to describe Chinese — particularly Peranakantypes — living in or near a Malay village. (Lua Yik Hor, Interviews, 2 and 5 April 2009).

The oldest acculturated Chinese settlement in Terengganu is the small village of Kampung Tirok, but the single largest concentration of Chinese, mostly non–Peranakans, is found in KT's Chinatown (Appendix 4.1).