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.
History
The first wave of Chinese settlers came during the Malacca Empire in the early 15th century. The friendly diplomatic relations between China and Melaka culminated during the reign of Sultan Mansur Syah who married Hang Li Po from China. A senior minister of state and five hundred youth of noble births and handmaidens in waiting accompanied the princess to Malacca. The descendants of these people are called Baba(men) and Nyonya(women).
First Wave
The first wave of Chinese settlers came during the Malacca Empire in the early 15th century. The friendly diplomatic relations between China and Melaka culminated during the reign of Sultan Mansur Syah who married Hang Li Po from China. A senior minister of state and five hundred youth of noble births and handmaidens in waiting accompanied the princess to Malacca. The descendants of these people are called Baba(men) and Nyonya(women).
Second Wave
The second and much bigger wave of Chinese immigrants came during the 19th century and early 20th century as coolies. These immigrants were running away from China due to the fighting of the Opium War in 1840. Their immigration to Malaya was encouraged by the British who needed Chinese coolies to work on their rubber plantations and tin mines. The immigrants came as free labour or indentured labour on a credit ticket system. Free labour meant they financed their own journey with savings or loans from their kinsman. These groups of early Chinese coolies are not surprisingly the most exploited by their employers. They worked long hours to pay off the high interest rates on credit ticket system.
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.
Areas with significant Chinese populations(40% and above) for each state are:
Kuala Lumpur
Kepong, Cheras, Bukit Bintang, Old Klang Road, Sri Petaling, Pudu, Segambut.
Selangor
Subang Jaya/USJ, Puchong, SS2, Petaling Jaya, Damansara Jaya/Utama, Bandar Utama, Serdang, Port Klang.
Penang
Penang island, Bukit Mertajam
Perak
Ipoh, Taiping, Batu Gajah, Sitiawan
Johor
Johor Bahru, Kluang, Batu Pahat, Muar, Segamat
States with medium Chinese Population
These are states where the Chinese are a significant minority (10% - 29.9%) such as Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Sarawak and Sabah.
The major Chinese population areas (40% and above) for each state are
Malacca
Malacca City
Negeri Sembilan
Seremban, Rasah
Pahang
Bentong, Raub, Mentakab, Kuantan
Sarawak
Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Sarikei, Sri Aman, Marudi, Lawas, Mukah, Limbang, Kapit, Serian, Bau
Sabah
Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan. Tawau, Kudat and scattered regions in the south (most notably Beaufort and Keningau) also have small but significant Chinese communities
Education
Malaysian Chinese can be categorised to be educated in 3 different streams of education ie. English educated, Chinese educated and Malay educated. This is due to the different era and type of education offered mentioned below.
Public education in Malaysia is free. There are two types of pre-tertiary schools in Malaysia -- National schools (the medium of instruction is the National language Malay) and National-type schools (the medium of instruction is in either Chinese or Tamil). In all schools, the National language is a compulsory subject and English is taught as a second language.) Malaysian Chinese citizens can therefore choose to attend either Chinese or Malay medium schools.
Most Bachelor's degree courses offered at public universities are taught in the national language, that is, Bahasa Malaysia, while post-graduates studies are usually conducted in English. English is used as the primary medium of instruction at most private higher educational institutions.
About 90% of Malaysian Chinese children in Malaysia today go to Mandarin-medium primary schools, while only a small group of 10% or so attend Malay medium primary schools. However, most Malaysian Chinese (more than 95%) switch to Malay medium schools for their secondary education. The rationale behind this is because Malay-medium secondary schools are free while Mandarin-medium secondary schools are fee paying.
The switch from Mandarin medium primary school to Malay medium secondary school for the majority of Malaysian Chinese has resulted in many school dropouts as students are unable to cope with the difference in the medium of instruction. The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) 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.
An older group of Malaysian Chinese who attended school before the 1970s when Malaysia was still a British colony are English educated as national schools in Malaysia then used English as the medium of instruction. English-medium teaching was phased out of Malaysian schools by the 1970s and all national schools used Malay as the medium of instruction.
In 2003 to 2011, the Malaysian government introduced an experimental policy of using English as the language of instruction for Science and Mathematics. The policy did not turn out well as only 8% of teachers were using English exclusively in classes while the use of Bahasa Melayu was still common and schools could not find enough staff who could teach in English. In March 2009, 5,000 ethnic Malays who took to the streets to voice their opposition to the policy and in July, the education minister announced that the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics would revert back to Bahasa Melayu starting from 2012.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
