The Effect of Tranforming from a Colony to a Nation-State on Chinese Diaspora Identity in Southeast Asia : Case Study of the Chinese Emigration from the Malay Peninsula, 1945-1979

Abstract

During the period between 1945 and 1979, the Malay Peninsula was under a chaotic and turbulent social situation. Decolonization, ideological confrontation, and ethnic conflict all happened in this period. This research adopts the documentary research method to analyze how the turbulent social situation affected Chinese society in Malaya/Malaysia and how the problems that the ethnic Chinese of the Malay Peninsula faced affected the Chinese emigration from the Malay Peninsula. During the anti-colonial period, part of the ethnic Chinese of Malaya identified with China and sympathized with the Chinese Communist Party. Hence, China was the most important destination for them. Afterward, during the postcolonial period, some of the ethnic Chinese were unsatisfied with ethnic inequalities in various aspects of life in the Malaysian nation-state. Consequently, these ethnic Chinese tended to emigrate to foreign countries where they could acquire citizenship and equal protection under the law regardless of their ethnicity. This research finds that the notion of 'home' for the ethnic Chinese who migrated from the Malay Peninsula between 1945 and 1979 includes friendly political atmosphere, citizenship and equal opportunity and protection under the law regardless of ethnicity.