Why are there so many Chinese in Malaysia?

Malaysian Chinese are mainly descendants of China people who migrated from China, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Hainan during the hundreds of years from the Ming Dynasty to the Republic of China.

Of Malaysia's total population of 310.7 million, there are 6.64 million Chinese, which is the second largest ethnic group in Malaysia, with more than10.65 million Hakkas. Chinese in Malaysia are mainly distributed in Kuala Lumpur (capital), Georgetown (Penang), Ipoh (Perak), Johor Bahru, Kuching (Sarawak), Kota Kinabalu (Sabah) and Malacca (Malacca).

Malaysian Chinese are used to calling themselves Tang people and China people. After the founding of the Republic of China, they began to call themselves China people, Chinese and overseas Chinese. After Malaysia's independence, they began to call themselves China people and China people and became Malaysian nationals. Few people in China call themselves "China people" and "overseas Chinese".

Malaysia is a multi-ethnic country. Malays, Chinese and Indians (the three major ethnic groups in Malaysia) all arrived in Malaysia at the same time. The aborigines in Malaysia are not Malays. In fact, Malays entered Malaysia from Indonesia, but from the first Prime Minister, they began to call themselves aborigines, which led many people to think that Malays meant Malays.

Chinese in Malaysia belong to non-indigenous status, including Indians. Malays are the indigenous people in Malaysia, and Chinese in Malaysia can obtain the privileged status of indigenous people through assimilation, which requires marrying Malays or Malaysian aborigines, changing their belief in Islam and changing their original names to Malay Islamic names. After assimilation, their descendants will have indigenous privileges in Malaysia.

According to Malaysia's new economic policy, because Malaysia has a belief that Malays are supreme and racist, this belief is intended to belittle the identity of non-Malays and prevent them from enjoying Malaysia's indigenous privileges. Other countries have similar hierarchical systems, and this belief has reduced the status of Chinese and other non-Malays in Malaysia to "second-class citizens".

Baidu Encyclopedia-Malaysian Chinese