The history of the Terengganu Hui Hui is the best recorded recent history of Chinese Muslims in Malaysia. Their descendants amount to hundreds and are scattered all over Malaysia. In his article ‘A Note on the Orang Yunnan in Terengganu’, Tan Chee Beng gives a detailed account of their cultural, educational, social background and their acculturation and assimilation into the majority Malay community.16 Interviews with some of the members from this family provided the more personal aspects of this research.
The 7 Hui Hui mentioned at the start of this article came to Terengganu at the beginning of this century. Between the 7 of them, they had 52 children and hundreds of grand and great-grand children. Today there are the 4th generation for all families, and 5th generation for some. For Ali Idris Zhang’s family, there are even the 6th generation, as the pioneers who first came to Terengganu were Ali’s parents-in-law, Haji Mohammed Ali and wife Hajjah Maryam. The Al-Yunani family, as they are called, collectively number around 800 to 900 today. Many of them still live in Terengganu, and others have settled in various states in Malaysia, and overseas.
From these seven Hui Muslim ancestors, today there is this large Al-Yunani Family, related by blood and / or marriage, who wish to retain a common bond of kinship. This clan association and the book with names and addresses of the family members could materialize probably because there still are 5 or 6 people (out of the 52) from the second generation who are alive, and at least two are still active. From the third generation, amounting to more than 200, only a few have passed away until today. There are not many pure Chinese Muslim intermarriage among this third generation, which means that most have intermarried with Malays. But they still hear Chinese (mainly Cantonese) spoken by relatives of their parents’ generation, and they remember the Chinese grandparents. This means that they still have some kind of firsthand Chinese connection. Therefore the forming of this association, and the publishing of the Al-Yunani Family book. Looking at many of the 4th and 5th generations today, the common Chinese Muslim heritage may not be a bonding factor anymore, mainly because the children are not told much about it.
A fact to notice is that, even though the 7 Hui forefathers were all Chinese, there is no mention of even one single name or surname in Chinese in this whole book. The Chinese names in the above writing were included by this writer who took them from other sources11, or found them after interviews with members of the Al-Yunani Family. One informant said that in his family, as well as his brothers’ families, children are all given Chinese names, but these names are not used. The preference is to use the Muslim name.
Was this assimilation designed or natural? It is hard to give a correct answer. Did these families try to quickly assimilate because they were such a minority among the Muslim Malays as well as the non-Muslim Chinese? Or did they think it was more important to remain in the Muslim community and much easier to preserve their Islamic way of life rather than their Chineseness, if and when the two did not go hand in hand.
There is no doubt that they needed to accommodate. Most of all, they needed to be acknowledged by Malays as Muslims, as true Muslims.17 In Tan Chee-Beng’s words: “Thus, the label ‘Yunnan’ has become a convenient label for the Hui Hui themselves whenever there is a need to explain their identity to both the Malays and the non-Muslim Chinese. The label ‘Yunani’ is used to stress to the Malays that the Hui Hui are ‘Islam asli’ which in Malay means ‘original Muslims’.
One interviewee explained in these words the source of the label ‘Yunnan’: “There used to be Chinese who went around to collect alms saying they were Muslim. So the Malays did not trust them and called them ‘Muallaf’, meaning convert. But they knew of Chinese people from Yunnan who were practicing Muslims, so they wished to call us ‘Orang Yunnan’ [people from Yunnan] to distinguish us from other Muslim Chinese. The Terengganu Malays believe their own people came from Yunnan, they used to say: ‘Orang Yunnan, orang kita’ [Yunnan people, our own people].”
These Hui families also needed to let the non-Muslim Chinese know, lest they be looked down upon, that their affiliation with Islam was a heredity from their ancestors, and not something newly acquired either by conversion or by close association with the Malays. Therefore, being recognized as people from Yunnan, a province in China known for its large Muslim Hui population, they obtained recognition and retained cordial relationships with both majority communities, the Malays and the non-Muslim Chinese.
Each of these families, however, had differing steps towards assimilation into the Malay community. In families where both parents (second generation) were Chinese, there was more resistance towards assimilation. One of Ali Idris Zhang’s sons, Mohd. Yusof, married Abdullah Dong’s daughter Zubaidah. Both were Chinese Muslim. They had 5 daughters and three sons. Three of the siblings married Chinese. One son married a Chinese Muslim from Taiwan, another son a Chinese Muslim whose father is from Hong Kong. One daughter’s husband is from Taiwan; another daughter married a Malay. They still retain their genealogy tree (jia pu) which traces their Hui roots for more than 300 years back in China. Haji Abdul Malik’s three grandchildren (6th generation down in Terengganu, but who live in Australia at the moment) are the latest additions to this family tree. Haji Abdul Malik adds that they are very proud of their Chinese Muslim ancestry.
However for most of the families, assimilation with the Malays started as early as in the second generation. In fact, out of the 7 pioneers, Pak Musa, Pak Lah, and Pak Hassan had already married Malay women as second wives or when their Chinese wife had passed away. Mohd. Yusoff’s Chinese Muslim wife Aminah (Daud Dong’s daughter) married a Malay husband after her husband passed away. Among the second generation, of course many married Malays, and in many of these mixed families, Chinese language and culture immediately took a back seat. Many of them still spoke some Cantonese, their home dialect; but it was Malay that became the foremost communication language. Some of the children were taught Mandarin at home in the evenings, while going to Arab religious schools in the morning, and at the same time learning Malay and English as well. There were also children from the Yunnan families who attended the Chinese Primary Schools.
Interviews with descendants of the Terengganu ‘Yunanis’ showed that most of them felt more comfortable to be known as Malay as they are almost totally in this community. The most senior in age among my informants is one of Abdullah Dong’s (or Pak Lah) sons. The 86 year old Haji Mohd. Yacob Tung Foo Piew was tending to his plants in his quiet home in Kota Terengganu when I went to visit him. He happily posed for photographs and answered questions. Still very clear in mind, Haji Mohd. Yacob recalled many details about their childhood in Terengganu. He is the 7th child of Pak Lah. He speaks perfect English, Malay, and Cantonese. His parents, both from Guangzhou, did not speak any Mandarin, so none of the children ever learnt Mandarin either. At that time, there was no Chinese school in town. All 5 boys (the oldest brother Noordin passed away at six years old in China) were sent to English schools, while the two older sisters were not sent to school at all. When Mohd. Yacob was 14 years old, his father asked Pak Musa to teach them Mandarin, but the lessons did not last long.
He remembered that his father, who already spoke fluent Malay, was very often away up country for mining or business; he only came home once a month.. His mother was alone at home with the children. She did not learn to speak Malay. She wore Chinese clothes and cooked Chinese food at home; but, apart from this, they did not observe any other Chinese culture, and did not celebrate the Chinese festivals. He used to help at his father’s bookstore. He said at that time they all lived very close to Malays, and naturally assimilation was fast because of the common religion. Their family was respected both by Malays and Chinese and they enjoyed a cordial relationship with both communities.
Haji Yacob brought out to show many items that were part of their history. He talked about the close friendship between the Sultan of Terengganu and his father and the other Al Yunani heads of families. He was proud to bring out the old, yellowed photographs, showing the Yunani head of families with the Sultan sitting in the middle. One was taken with the three members of a visiting Chinese Muslim delegation led by Haji Ibrahim Ma Tian Ying. When asked about the year the picture was taken, without the slightest hesitation, Haji Yacob replied “in 1940, before the Japanese invasion.” He also showed a well preserved piece of paper on which all the siblings’ Chinese names were written, but he could not read Chinese. He was happy to know which one was his name when it was pointed it out to him. Haji Yacob married a Malay wife, adopted two Chinese girls, and today lives with many of his grandchildren, all totally Malay in their everyday life, with little or no trace of Chineseness.
One of my interviewees from Kuala Lumpur (third generation) said that all her 8 siblings, and all her cousins married Malays. When asked about her Chinese origin, she said her father was one of Abdullah Dong’s sons, and her mother is Chinese, adopted and raised as Malay. With two Chinese parents, she certainly has very Chinese features, but always dresses in Malay costumes, cooks and eats Malay food, is very well versed in Malay customs, and observes them meticulously. She speaks fluent Malay, and converses at home in both Malay and English with her family. She does not speak any Chinese dialect, but calls her relatives by their Chinese titles in the family, such as ‘Er Sao, San Jie, Ye Ye (Second sister-in-law, third sister, grandfather) etc…
She admitted not knowing much about her Chinese origin, but added that her late father used to tell them : “We all live among Malays, so we have to behave like Malays. But when you think, think the Chinese way. ….. Do not ‘mewah mewah, boros boros, (do not go for luxury, and do not squander money away). Be like Chinese business minded in an honest way, be thrifty, and pay attention to cleanliness, etc…” Her Malay husband’s mother is also Chinese, adopted and raised by a Muslim Malay family. She says her two sons actually have ¾ Chinese blood; but because even the Chinese grandmothers were raised in Malay families, these boys identify comfortably with Malays. Even though they usually have Malay attitudes, she says she has also inculcated in them her Chinese family values. Combining the two, they are polite and humble, caring and respectful, and diligent and successful in their studies The younger son, a college student now, is proud of his Chinese heritage and wishes to know more about it. The older son took a Malay bride who is very interested to know more about Chinese Muslims. Her husband is very supportive about keeping his wife’s Chinese heritage. He has even come up with a genealogy tree of his wife’s Hui family.
Another interviewee who lives in Kota Terengganu said she feels very much Chinese and Malay. She says she feels Chinese because : “I look Chinese (she is a third generation Hui, no Malay blood), my grandfather is Chinese from China. But I also feel very much Malay, I speak Malay like the Malays, I live the Malay life, I have many Malay friends. I blend very well.” She feels comfortable in both shoes, even though she does not speak any Chinese at all. Her father spoke fluent Cantonese, but she and her siblings grew up speaking Malay and English. They lived like the other Malay children, and she received her education in a residential Malay school. So she never had the opportunity to learn any Chinese. Sensing the benefit her children would get from the knowledge of Chinese language, she sent her children to Chinese primary schools, and her Malay husband approved of it. They all excelled, and later went on to further studies overseas on government scholarships. She says since their very young age, she instilled in her children the merit of hard work and honesty as taught by her parents: “Even though they are eligible for scholarships reserved for Bumiputras, I wish them to obtain these on merit, and based on their achievements, so that they can be proud of it. I wish my children to know more about their Chinese heritage , but, I don’t know much myself, how can I teach them?”
Her daughter, a newly qualified undergraduate, expressed much interest in her Chinese background, yet feels ‘very Malay’. She is also convinced that, even though she has many Chinese friends, she will eventually marry a Malay, because ‘it makes things easier, it’s the same religion and culture.” Her older brothers all married Malay wives; and their children, fifth generation down from the pioneer Pak Lah, probably will not even know that they are descendants of Chinese Muslims.
This lady, in her late sixties now, remembers how her grandparents and parents were all respected by both the Malays and Chinese; by the Malays, because their families were original and practicing Muslims, and by the Chinese because they were well off. When she was young, the grandparents still practiced some of the Chinese customs, such as eating special birthday long life noodles, burning incense on Friday nights; and among relatives they used to address each other in Chinese titles. Their family ‘kubur’ (graveyard) had Chinese characteristics. Many of these customs are not being practiced anymore.
She took me around to see the old Kampung Cina in Kota Terengganu. Today it is just one street. At one end there was a Chinese temple, at the other end a mosque. On this street there used to be all the 4 Chinese Muslim shops, selling books, medicine, and other miscellaneous goods. Her grandmother operated a laundry shop and sold rice. Her grandfather had a bookshop. Kedai Buku Al-Yunani. After her grandfather passed away, the sons operated it, and it became the most famous shop for religious books. After her father passed away her uncle took over, and later passed it on to his Malay son-in-law. She regrets that the shop, under the new owner, has done away now with its famous name, and with it, its Hui identity. Today it still stands there but the name is Alam Akademik Sdn. Bhd. So the last vestige of the Chinese Muslim heritage in Terengganu has thus come to an end.
How swift was this transformation? From the second generation, the first acculturation began with the language. As they grew up among Malay peers, the second generation children were already fluent in the Malay language, at the expense of Mandarin or their Guangzhou dialect. Most of the boys were sent to English schools while the girls were in Malay residential schools. There was also preference for religious schools. Then as they intermarried with Malays, no more Chinese names were given to the children. This new generation (third) grew up almost like Malays. By the time the fourth generation came along, and with the demise of the first generation, there were almost no Chinese trait left. Here it must be remembered that even though this happened for most families, there also are a few who preserved to varying degrees different aspects of Chinese heritage, such as language (Cantonese or Mandarin), Chinese names (registered at birth but not commonly used) and Chinese Muslim traditions like food, and festive days.
Tan Chee Beng describes the assimilation of these Hui Hui in these following steps:“Identification with the Malays is not merely because of the small size of the community. The absence of religious boundary ensures their greater interaction and eventual identification with the Malays who are Muslim too.” So, if at first “Islam and acculturation have pushed them toward identification with the Malays, yet they still know their Chinese origin.” Later, with “the loss of Chinese language, and not giving Chinese names to younger generation, by the fourth generation, assimilation is almost complete.”18 If at first there were still some kind of acknowledgement that there is a common bond between these people resulting from a common origin different from the Malays, with each passing generation, “the increasing assimilation by the Malays is fast breaking the boundary.”
Today, the formation of the ‘family association’ Keluarga Al-Yunani still points to the recognition of a certain kinship and common history. However, for many of the fourth and fifth generation descendants, this may not mean anymore that they recognize their Chinese Hui origin. In fact, many of them do not even understand the meaning of Hui. One interviewee (third generation) asked me: “I remember they used to call us ‘Wei Wei’ (in her pronounciation), what does it actually mean?” She was surprised to learn that it just means ‘Muslim’ in Chinese. Many also did not know the origin of their clan name ‘Al-Yunani’. Some actually believed that their ancestors must have originated from Yunnan. When it was explained to them that this was a name taken by their forefathers to be better accepted by the Malay Muslim community who recognized that Yunnan is a province of China with a big population of Muslim, they were a little lost. Living in a Malay community as a Malay today, they have no idea about some difficulties a Chinese Muslim may encounter, if he does not let his Malay peers know that he is a ‘Muslim asli’, or original Muslim.
The last pages of the recent booklet on the Yunani families show 109 families’ names, telephone numbers and addresses. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the descendants. There are 19 families descended from Pak Musa Li, 30 from Haji Ali Idris Chang, 27 from Abdullah Sulaiman Dong, 9 from his brother Duad Sulaiman Dong, 10 from Hassan Salleh Liu, 5 from Yusoff Salleh Xiao, and 9 from Ibrahim Fu. Among these, 64 families still live in Kuala Terengganu. The others are dispersed in various states, with the biggest number (20 families) living in Selangor, and eight families in Kuala Lumpur. However, for people who come across this book, apart from the foreword in Malay which tells the story of the Hui forefathers, nothing else notifies them of a Chinese heritage. There does not figure even one single Chinese surname or name, and the pictures of these Hui ancestors can be easily confounded with Malay features. Probably, a few decades later, except for a few families only, the Hui Hui of Terengganu will have left no trail in Malaysian history, similar to the Chinese Muslims from Zheng He’s time, and those reported in the 1908 census.
This is a perfect, most recent example of a Chinese Muslim community living in Malaysia who almost totally assimilated into the Malay Muslim community within a few generations, in just a little more than half a century, mainly though intermarriage, and because of the overwhelming Malay Muslim environment. Below is an example of the opposite. How a clan of Chinese Muslims remained Chinese by alienating themselves from their religion.
