I went to the Government yEnglish School in Alor Setar way back in the 1930s. My classmates were of different races. There were Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians and Sikhs.
I developed friendship with them. One in particular was a close friend. He was a Chinese.
He was the son of the Kedah State Treasurer, Mr Lee Ewe Boon at that time. The State Treasurer not only spoke Malay but he could write and read the Jawi script.
In those days most Chinese spoke Malay as their mother tongue.
Their way of life also changed. Their women wore sarong and kebaya labuh. They no longer had small feet. The men no longer had pigtails (tocang). They were called Babas and Nyonyas.
When the British colonised Singapore and Penang there was an influx of Indians and Chinese migrants. They outnumbered the Babas and Nyonyas. They did not see any need to adopt the Baba/Nyonya culture.
They remained very Chinese, speaking Chinese dialects, staying largely within their own communities. They went into business aggressively and they prospered.
Their politics were about China. They supported the movement to overthrow the Manchu dynasty in China by Sun Yat-sen. They raised lots of money for this struggle. Unfortunately they also persuaded the Babas and Nyonyas to become Chinese again, to speak Chinese.
Imagine what Malaysia would look like if all the people of Chinese descent speak Malay as their home language and retain some of the culture of the Babas and Nyonyas of old. And they all go to national schools.
Like in Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, the United of States and Australia they would be identified solely with their adopted country.
They would be Indonesians, Thais, Filipinos, Americans and Australians. They are not identified as Indonesian Chinese, Filipino Chinese, Thai Chinese, American Chinese or Australian Chinese.
They would go to national schools and mix with Malays and Bumiputeras.
