Danny WONG Tze-Ken

Chinese Migration to Sabah Before the Second World War

Throughout its modern history, the state of Sabah in the Federation of Malaysia has never had a sizeable Chinese community. At no time since the beginning of mass entries of Chinese into the state did the number go beyond 30% of the state's total population. Yet, despite the numbers, the Chinese played a significant role in the development of the state.

While commonly accepted as being a part of the wider Chinese Diaspora, there are some characteristics that are peculiar only to the Chinese in Sabah. These include, the overwhelming position of the Hakka dialect group within the Chinese Community ; Sabah is one of the few places in Southeast Asia where the Hakka is the lingua franca of the Chinese community. Sabah is also one of the few states where there were systematic attempts on the part of the colonial government to bring in Chinese immigrants. Nowhere else in the region was there a northern Chinese community during the pre-Second World War days. Also the comparatively high percentage of Chinese in the state who are Christians (30 %) as compared to the whole of Malaysia (9 %), is among several distinctive features found among the Chinese in Sabah.

It is hoped that this study will help to explain some of the characteristics of the Chinese in Sabah mentioned earlier.

Early Migration

Even though a Chinese presence in Sabah is a phenomenon of the modern era, links between the territory of present day Sabah (Borneo) and China

Archipel 58, Paris, 1999, pp. 131-158