I believe that as long as you have read the Chinese name spelling of Malaysian Chinese, you will definitely find it strange: Why is the spelling of Chinese names different from that of Chinese people? It is not directly used in Chinese pinyin to transliterate into Chinese names; but use some spelling methods that you think are very strange: for example, the surname is Lin, but it is written as Lim? The surname Zhou is written as Chew?
In fact, this is because it has a deep relationship with their hometown.
First of all, the scheme of spelling names using Chinese pinyin was officially implemented after the establishment of China. However, Malaysian Chinese who implemented national registration after World War II did not have the opportunity to use this plan. At that time, many Chinese people in Malaysia did not know how to speak Mandarin . Therefore, the registrant at that time could only follow the pronunciation of the Chinese in Malaysia, and then relied on the spelling they understood to register the names of Chinese in Malaysia.
For example, if a Fujian man surnamed Chen pronounces tan (Chinese pinyin: dán), the registrant writes Tan.
Here I can show you some simple references to facilitate your understanding:
Even though Malaysian Chinese later were able to speak Mandarin, they still use their dialect of their hometown to register their Chinese names. Even now, many Malaysian Chinese still use this method to register their descendants.
This is because Malaysian Chinese want to keep their "root" , so they did such a move.
What is the "root" of Malaysian Chinese?
The "root" of Malaysian Chinese is that as the traditional national culture of Chinese people, it also has its own family and ancestors.
According to data from the Malaysian Bureau of Demographics in 2021, the proportion of Chinese in Malaysia accounts for 22.7%, the proportion of indigenous people is 69.7%, and the rest are the proportion of Indians and ethnic minorities.
It can be seen that the proportion of Malaysian Chinese in Malaysia is gradually declining; not to mention that this land is completely dominated by Malays . However, Malaysian Chinese have been making great efforts to preserve their "roots" from the past to the present. They are unwilling to be assimilated by Malays, especially in maintaining the spirit of national education.
Why have Malaysian Chinese been unable to achieve true peace with the Malays?
The editor thinks that the fundamental reason is that Malaysian Chinese have a strong identity and they want to protect their "roots". From Malaysia's independence in 1957 to the present day, Malaysian Chinese have made countless efforts and efforts to preserve their "roots": they raised funds to run Chinese independent middle schools themselves, they opposed the government's participation in Malay teaching staff in Chinese primary schools, and they opposed the government's participation in Jawi in Chinese primary schools' textbooks.
Compared with other Southeast Asian countries with Chinese origin, you will find that Malaysia's Chinese education system is the most perfect. The Chinese here can not only learn Chinese pinyin, but also classical Chinese, calligraphy, etc. This is also the best proof that Malaysian Chinese want to preserve their "roots".
Malaysian Chinese have strong identity and obsession with keeping their "roots", which has caused the Chinese and Malays to live in harmony.
Many Malaysian Chinese believe that if they do not have "roots", they will soon be assimilated by the Malays. In addition, they also believe that the Malaysian government wants to use some policies such as: adding Jawi to Chinese primary school textbooks, and use such a "boiling frogs in warm water" method to gradually disappear in Malaysia and assimilate Chinese people.
In a straightforward way, Malaysian Chinese think that the government wants to make Chinese people become "Malays", which will also cause grudges against the government, resulting in some scenes not being able to truly live in peace with the friendly races.
However, is it really a good thing for Malaysian Chinese to keep "root" ? It has to be said that the current social situation in Malaysia is that Chinese school graduates do not have good development opportunities locally, and they are not even recognized by their own country. Therefore, most graduates who go to independent Chinese high schools will choose to go to Australia or Singapore , and most of them will also choose to go to Taiwan and China to develop. According to statistics in 2018, the number of people staying in Taiwan in Malaysia is as high as 17,000, making it the country with the largest number of people in Southeast Asia. It is estimated that more than 20,000 people will be present in 2021.
In Malaysia, most Malaysian companies will require employees to know basic English and , Malay when recruiting employees. The company's documents are also mainly in English and Malay. Therefore, Chinese language almost lacks advantages in this environment. On the other hand, jobs that focus on Chinese are currently very rare in Malaysia; even if there is, the salary may not be too high if it is not well paid, which is why many Chinese graduates choose to develop their careers abroad.
Let go of prejudice and respect each other
Although there are still many conflicts in a situation where a diverse clan and religion jointly build a harmonious society, as long as you let go of prejudice and respect each other, you can resolve mutual hostility among various races. If Malaysia wants to diversify its characteristics, it must accept different cultures and differences, of course, including some ways to get along with each other.
Generally speaking, the editor feels that Malaysian Chinese have the desire to strongly retain their "roots", and the differences in religious beliefs, so in the current view, Chinese and Malays have not yet achieved a real peaceful effect on the psychological level; but in terms of life, Malaysian Chinese and Malays get along very well, and there are no extreme racial events. In addition, if there are any difficulties between the two major races, both sides will provide assistance to each other. We will support each other and overcome difficulties together. It is not difficult to see the spirit of mutual cooperation between friends from this epidemic, and to show the so-called real Malaysia.
