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Cultural Chameleons: Portuguese Eurasian Strategies for Survival in Post-colonial Malaysia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 April 2011

Margaret Sarkissian
Margaret Sarkissian
Affiliation:
Smith College
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Abstract

This article documents the shifting identity over time of a single Malaysian ethnic minority, the Portuguese Eurasian community of Malacca. Through a close examination of three pivotal historical moments (1952, 1969, and 1995), it shows how cultural phenomena (in this case, music and dance) play key roles in the projection of new public images.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , September 1997 , pp. 249 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1997

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References

1 Kahn, Joel S., “Class, Ethnicity and Diversity: Some Remarks on Malay Culture in Malaysia”, in Fragmented Vision: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Malaysia, ed. Kahn, Joel S. and Wah, Francis Loh Kok (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1992), p. 162Google Scholar.

2 Clive S. Kessler, “Archaism and Modernity: Contemporary Malay Political Culture”, in Fragmented Vision, pp. 139–40.

3 Kessler, “Archaism and Modernity”, pp. 139–40. For a similar discussion of anomalous population elements with specific reference to Malacca, see Clammer, John R., “Ethnic Processes in Urban Melaka”, in Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Malaysia, ed. Lee, Raymond (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Center for Southeast Asian Studies, 1986), pp. 54–60Google Scholar.

4 Anderson, Benedict R. O'G., Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London: Verso, 1983)Google Scholar. However, as Clark Cunningham has pointed out (personal communication, 30 Jun. 1995), the notion of imagined political communities is somewhat more complex than Anderson makes it seem, and should involve consideration of the question “who is imagining what about where?” In the case to be discussed in this paper, we have two primary parties: the government and a minority group, the Portuguese Eurasian community. The former vacillates between an imagined community, “Malaysia”, and an imagined Malay community. Members of the latter shift — like chameleons, according to the needs of the moment — between notions of Malaysian-ness and their own imagined “Portuguese” community. I would further extend this to suggest that outsiders — whether Malays, fellow Malaysians, or even foreign tourists —hold yet other completely different images of the “imagined community”.

5 Raymond Lee, “Introduction”, in Ethnicity and Ethnic Relations in Malaysia, p. vi.

6 Ibid., p. vi.

7 Clammer, “Ethnic Processes in Urban Melaka”, pp. 54–60. Malacca was conquered in turn by the Portuguese (1511), the Dutch (1647), and the British (1824). Because of its significance as an international entrepot during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the city attracted traders from all over the world. Many of these merchants made the cosmopolitan city their home, some took local wives, and gradually new communities evolved. In this paper I use the English spelling, “Malacca”, rather than the current Malaysian spelling, “Melaka”. My reasons are twofold: first, to avoid unnecessary confusion as I move between pre- and post-colonial times; and second, because (as demonstrated in quotations from local newspapers), it is still the preferred spelling of English-language sources in Malaysia.

8 Turner, Victor W., “Dewey, Dilthey, and Drama: An Essay in the Anthropology of Experience”, in The Anthropology of Experience, ed. Turner, Victor W. and Bruner, Edward M. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), pp. 33–44Google Scholar.

9 Tan Sooi Beng, “Counterpoints in the Performing Arts of Malaysia”, in Fragmented Vision, p. 290.

10 To avoid confusion, I use the terms “Eurasian” or “Upper Tens” to describe educated upper-class people of mixed European and Asian descent prominent in Malacca before Independence. I use the term “Portuguese” to describe the low-class fishing people, also of mixed descent, some of whom were relocated to a village that became known as the Portuguese Settlement. Finally, I use “Portuguese Eurasian” or “Portuguese Settlement community” to describe members of the community that developed in the Portuguese Settlement after Independence and that eventually encompassed members of both the “Eurasian” and “Portuguese” groups.

11 “The Future of Malacca Eurasians”, Malacca Guardian, 9 May 1932.

12 “Malacca Girl's Sports Club. Excellent Organisation”, Malacca Guardian, 19 Nov. 1934.

13 Eurasian Association Penang, “The Eurasian Volunteer Company, Malacca”, The Eurasian Review 1,2 (1934): 22Google Scholar.

14 Horace Sta. Maria, personal communication, 15 Jul. 1991.

15 Although the scheme was officially approved in 1926, the first residents did not move in to the Portuguese Settlement until the mid-1930s; it was only after the war that it began to expand and become a community as opposed to a random collection of relocated fisherfolk of Portuguese descent. Prior to the establishment of this homogeneous environment, residents lived in poor, ethnically mixed neighbourhoods, primarily in the Bandar Hilir area of Malacca. For a detailed discussion of the creation and subsequent development of the Portuguese Settlement, see Sarkissian, Margaret, “Music, Identity, and the Impact of Tourism in the Portuguese Setdement, Melaka, Malaysia” (Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1993)Google Scholar.

16 “Mirth and Merriment at Portuguese Settlement. Coronation Sports for Poor Eurasian Children”, Malacca Guardian, 17 May 1937.

17 Andaya, Barbara Watson and Andaya, Leonard Y., A History of Malaysia (London: Macmillan, 1982), p. 261Google Scholar.

18 Armstrong, Lucille, Dances of Portugal (London: Max Parrish and Co., 1948)Google Scholar.

19 Agência Geral do Ultramar, Relação da Primeira Viagem do Ministm do Ultramar às Províncias do Oriente no Ano de MCMLII, vol. 2 (Lisbon: Agênda Geral do Ultramar, Divisão de Publicações e Biblioteca, 1954), pp. 21–23Google Scholar.

20 Rêgo, Padre António Silva, “Apontamentos para o estudo do dialecto Português de Malaca”, Boletim Geral das Colónias 17, 198 (1941): 3–235Google Scholar. The branyo is a flirtatious popular social dance n i which couples advance and retreat, but never touch. It is indistinguishable from the popular Malay social dance known as “joget” or “ronggeng”. Not only are the dance steps and underlying three-against-two rhythm the same, but words and tunes may even be interchanged. For example, the branyo tune “Jinkly Nona” can be sung with Malay words, and popular joget melodies, such as “Selayang Pandang” and “Joget Pahang”, are often sung with local Malacca Portuguese lyrics. Popular fare at social events (weddings, festivals, etc.) of the “poor brethren” in the 1950s, it is still the favourite dance of the modern Portuguese Settlement. Silva Rêgo's transcription, however, is a pale imitation of the original. Not only are the words sanitized, but the three-against-two rhythm () is transformed into an even duple rhythm ().

The widely held local belief that there is a close connection between joget and Portuguese music is supported by James Chopyak, who notes that the “joget dance form was greatly influenced by Portuguese and Malaysian Portuguese dancers and musicians from the time of the Portuguese occupation of Melaka, 400 years ago, until the present”; Chopyak, James D., “Music in Modern Malaysia: A Survey of the Musics Affecting the Development of Malaysian Popular Music”, Asian Music 18, 1 (1986): 111-38CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also Sarkissian, Margaret, “‘Sinhalese Girl’ Meets ‘Auntie Annie’: Competing Expressions of Ethnic Identity in the Portuguese Settlement, Melaka, Malaysia”, Asian Music 27, 1 (1995–1996): 37–62CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 Andaya and Andaya, A History of Malaysia, p. 266.

22 For a fuller discussion of the formation and constituency of the Alliance coalition, see Andaya and Andaya, A History of Malaysia, pp. 266–70.

23 Even in the 1990s some tension remains between “real Settlement people” (the fishing community and their descendants) and those who came later and who consider themselves a class above. Initially the division was reinforced territorially: the relocated Portuguese fisherfolk moved into British-built low-rent houses on the east side of the Settlement, while the more affluent, downwardly mobile Upper Tens built their own homes on the west side of the Settlement. Divisions still exist: houses on the west side tend to be larger and more comfortable; residents are better off economically and have a larger proportion of white-collar jobs. Houses on the east side are smaller and more run down; residents include a larger percentage of manual labourers, fishermen, and single bread winners supporting larger families; lower educational achievements tend to perpetuate the status quo. This situation has changed somewhat since the mid-1990s as a number of houses on the east side have been knocked down and rebuilt.

24 Maria, Bernard Sta., My People, My Country: The Story of the Malacca Portuguese Community (Malacca: The Malacca Portuguese Development Centre, 1982), p. 194Google Scholar.

25 “Move with the Times Call to Malacca Portuguese”, Malay Mail, 29 Dec. 1968.

26 Harold Crouch, “Authoritarian Trends, the UMNO Split and the Limits to State Power”, in Fragmented Vision, p. 23.

27 Ibid.

28 Kebudayaan, Kementerian, Belia, dan Sukan Malaysia, Asas-Kebudayaan Kebangsaan (Kuala Lumpur: KKBS, 1973), p. viiGoogle Scholar. Some of the wider national implications of these principles are discussed in my article “Tradition, Tourism, and the Cultural Show: Malaysia's Diversity on Display”, Journal of Musicological Research 17,2 (1997)Google Scholar.

29 Bernard Sta. Maria, My People, My Country, p. 194.

30 Mata kantiga is an improvised male-female song duel in which quatrains, or pantuns in Malay, are exchanged. It is similar to the Malay tradition of song duelling called dondang sayang, which is particularly associated with the Malacca region and commonly held to have been influenced by Portuguese traditions; see Thomas, Philip L., Like Tigers around a Piece of Meat: The Baba Style of Dondang Sayang (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Margaret Sarkissian, ”‘Sinhalese Girl’ Meets ‘Auntie Annie’”.

31 “Portuguese Dances and Songs at K.L. Concert”, Malay Mail, 6 Dec. 1968.

32 “Malaysians with 500 Years of History,” Straits Times, 9 Dec. 1968. A pantun is a popular four-line Malay verse form. According to Philip Thomas, a good pantun has a surface level direct meaning, a middle level metaphorical meaning, and a deep level abstract meaning. “Achieving the level of deep-meaning pantun requires the creation of a poem which resides within subjects at all three levels. Plain-language poems act at only one or two levels. Accordingly, it is possible to sing a simple scorning poem at one's opponent, but the result does not create deep meaning; and however great the humour, the poem would rate poorly”; Philip L. Thomas, Like Tigers around a Piece of Meat, p. 15 (emphasis in original). He adds that there can also be an even deeper, private, esoteric level in which meaning is shared only by the singers. Ibid. “Christoa” is a misspelling of the Portuguese Christao, the name of the local Portuguese Creole. I prefer to use the spelling “Kristang”, following Alan Baxter's orthography, which reflects the close connection between this particular Portuguese Creole and Bahasa Malaysia, see Baxter, Alan, A Grammar of Kristang (Malacca Creole Portuguese) (Canberra: Department of Linguistics, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, 1988)Google Scholar.

33 “Rosil is Still Dancing at 71”, Singapore Herald, 12 Apr. 1971.

34 Murray Hiebert, “A Sea Change”, Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 Aug. 1995, p. 50.

35 Ibid.

36 Michael Gerard Singho, “Malacca Seafront is Vital”, The Star, 3 Mar. 1994.

37 Singho, Michael Gerard, “Reclamation and the Portuguese Settlement” (Paper presented at the “Save Our Portuguese Heritage” Conference, Malacca, Malaysia, 1995), p. 4Google Scholar.

38 Baudrillard, Jean, Simulations (New York: Semiotext(e), 1983)Google Scholar.

39 Interestingly, the government savings bond scheme has reinforced the centrality of the Portuguese Settlement. Regardless of their place of origin, Portuguese Eurasians can be considered for “honorary” bumiputra status if they have their application certified by the Regedor (headman) of the Portuguese Settlement. Thus in this particular (and highly lucrative) context, the Regedor is now the effective head of the entire Malaysian Portuguese Eurasian community; the Settlement has become its mythic “homeland”.