~Life~

Tuesday, 29 March 2011

Where Am I Heading To?

Been busy for the past two months

On things with no contentment

On things with no responsibility of mine

On things which never bring me a better future

I wanna run

Far away from where I am now

No more grieving

No more disruption

Thanks God for showing me the opportunities

What I need now is

Determination

Wisdom

Hard work

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Which Ethnic Group Do I Belong To?

Have been always curious about my own ethnic group.

I am half Chinese and half Peranakan (or known as Baba-Nyonya) to be precise.

Who exactly are these Peranakan? Been told different version about Peranakan.

Some said Peranakan = Chinese + Portugese.

Some said Peranakan = Chinese + Malay.

What I knew is Peranakan = Chinese who adopted some of the Malay customs such as language and food.

This is what I found in Wikipedia:

Peranakan is term used for the descendants of late 15th and 16th century Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara (an Indonesian word for island) region during the Colonial era. Nyonya is the term for the ladies and Baba for the gentlemen. It applies especially to the ethnic Chinese populations of the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java and other locations, who have adopted partially or in full Nusantara customs to be somewhat assimilated into the local communities.

Most have lived for generations along the straits of Malacca and not all intermarried with the local Malays. In later generations, some lost the ability to speak Chinese as they became assimilated to the Malay Peninsula's culture and started to speak Malay fluently as a first or second language.

Currently, Peranakan culture is disappearing in Malaysia and Singapore. Without colonial British support for their perceived racial neutrality, government policies in both countries following independence from the British have resulted in the assimilation of Peranakans back into mainstream Chinese culture. Pernakans are now classified as ethnically Chinese. In Malaysia, the standardization of Malay as Bahasa Melayu - required for all ethnic groups - has led to a disappearance of the unique characteristics of Baba Malay.