SINGAPORE: “Are you Chinese or Malay?” people often ask me. For many years, as a Peranakan growing up in Kampong Potong Pasir, I was…
SINGAPORE: “Are you Chinese or Malay?” people often ask me.
For many years, as a Peranakan growing up in Kampong Potong Pasir, I was caught in an identity crisis. I was taunted with the acronym, OCBC, Orang China Bukan China translated as Chinese person not Chinese.
My skin was more brown than other Chinese folks. I didn’t speak Chinese; only Malay. I didn’t even have a Chinese name. The only Chinese thing about me was my surname.
Peranakans fall in between the cracks of our traditional notions of race. Many of us in Singapore dress and talk like the Malays, and we struggle to identify with the Chinese. But we eat pork and celebrate the Lunar New Year so we don’t belong to the Malay or Muslim camp either.
Unfortunately, for me, my Identity Card (IC) says I am Chinese. But I personally would rejoice if my IC says Peranakan, not Chinese.
STRAITS-BORN NOT CHINESE
It is true; except for our long-ago heritage of ancestors who hail from provinces in China, no Singaporean Chinese in the Pioneer and Merdeka Generations see China as home. Most of us in Singapore see ourselves as Singaporeans first and foremost, and Peranakans are no different.
But wrapped up in the heritage of the Peranakans is a legacy that expands beyond Singapore; us Peranakans are proud to be Straits-born.
Peranakans share a link with the Chinese culture, but the imported customs, cuisine and even the decoration of our beautiful crockery have been customised and adapted to suit our life in Southeast Asia.
STRAITS SETTLEMENTS, STRAITS-BORN
The Straits Settlements were British East India Company-controlled territories that comprised Penang, Malacca and Singapore, the three main areas where Peranakans resided.
In a broad way, any Chinese born in this region was called a Straits-born. However, on a stricter usage, Straits-born referred specifically to those who adopted the regional mores and customs of the local Malays and Indonesians, like the Peranakans did.
From this, the term, Straits Chinese was coined to differentiate those born in these parts to the Chinese who migrated here but retained their Chinese-ness through their language, religion, mode of dressing and food. They and their offsprings remained true to the concept of being Chinese.
IDENTITIES CHELOP
To chelop, is the Peranakan patois for being dunked. For example, a piece of roti prata can be chelop -ed into a bowl of curry sauce. Thus, the piece of bread will take on the constituents of the curry.
So, in terms of being chelop -ed in a racial context, has a Peranakan taken on other racial and cultural characteristics than that of just being Chinese? I would most certainly say yes.
A Peranakan is not the same as someone who hails from a Singaporean Chinese family, since many of the older Peranakan generation can’t really speak Chinese nor do many follow strict Chinese customs.
