Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 09-10-04 06:19
The arrival of the Hakkas in Sabah Malaysia
In January 1864AD General Charles George Gordon, the commander-in-chief of the Ever Victorious Army (常勝軍), defeated the Taiping Army of Heavely Kingdom
(太平天國). In February, the Qing General, Zuo Zhong Tang (左宗棠) captured Hangzhou (杭州). Hong Xiu Quan (洪秀全), the Heavenly King, committed suicide by taking poison. Hong Fu Tian (洪福瑱), the 16-year-old son of Hong Xiu Quan succeeded him. In July the Qing Army under the command of Zeng Guo Quan (曾國荃), the younger brother of Zeng Guo Fan (曾國藩), captured the Heavenly capital, Tianjing (天京 present day Nanjing 南京), the capital of the Heavenly Kingdom. Not a single resident of about 300,000 in Tianjing surrendered to the Qing Army. Hong Fu Tian fled from the capital. In August, Hong Fu Tian was arrested and executed in Nanchang (南昌). That was the end of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom
Zuo Zhong Tang was ordered by the Qing Authority to go after the remnant of the Taipng Army who were retreating to the south. Within a short period the province of Fujian (福建省) was free from the Taiping Army.
In 1866AD the remnant of the Taiping Army retreated to the Hakka region in Jia Ying Zhou (嘉應州 Meixian 梅縣). In January, Zuo Zong Tang besieged the remnant of the Taiping Army in the hill in Jiayingzhou. The Taiping fought bravely and over ten thousand of them died in the subsequent battles. Eventually, about fifty thousand of them surrenered to Zuo Zhong Tang. Thousands fled to Nanyang (南洋Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia).
Dr Han Suyin writes in her book "The Crippled Tree":
"After the Taiping failed in 1864, the Manzhous (Qing Authority 清朝) put all men,
women and children named Hung (Hong) to the sword, to extirpate the breed;
many fled, or changed their names. Because of these massacres many Hakkas migrated to south-east Asia, or were inveigled by the boat-load to become
indentured labourers on railways and canals in the East Indies (Indonesia),
Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore), the United States, and as far as Panama,
Brazil and Africa."
According to the records on early pioneers in North Borneo (present day Sabah state in Malaysia), the first Hakkas to arrive in Sandakan, in the east coast of North Borneo, were those people with the surname of Hong. They were the followers of Hong Xiu Quan.
In 1881AD, the British North Borneo Chartered Company (also known as the North Borneo Company) officially ruled North Borneo. There were about 100,000 natives on the land that was very fertile, but covered with thick forest. Using the experience they had gained in Malaya, the North Borneo Company wanted to develop North Borneo the way they did in Malaya. However, there was a shortage of labour, so they planned to get a labour force from China.
In 1882AD, the North Borneo Company sent Sir Walter Medhurst to Hong Kong
to see Rev. Roldold Lechler, who was a priest. They had a meeting in the hall of Ying Pan Ba Se Hakka Association (營盤巴色客家公會的禮堂). The end result of the meeting was that they went to Long Chuan county (龍川縣) in Guangdong province (廣東省) to solicit labour force to develop North Borneo. Long Chuan county was a Hakka county. The North Borneo Company only wanted Hakka workers because
they knew the Hakkas were hard working, diligent and industrious.
The first batch of 96 Hakka workers from Long Chuan county, sponsored by
the Company and under the leadership of Luo Tai Feng (羅泰豐), arrived in
Kudat (古達) on the 4th of April, 1883AD. They cleared the land and
planted vegetables, fruit trees, coffee trees, coconut trees, rubber trees, etc.
The second batch of about 300 Hakka workers under the sponsorship of the
North Borneo Company arrived in Kudat in 1886AD. The third batch of about
700 Hakka workers sponsored by the Company arrived in Kudat in March 1913.
In addition to these three batches, sponsored by the North Borneo Company, there were many other Hakkas who migrated to Kudat. From Kudat these Hakkas
relocated themselves to other parts of North Borneo, especially the capital of Jesselton (present day Kota Kinabalu, the Hakkas called it Api or City of Fire) and Sandakan, where there were many ex-Taiping revolutionists. They opened up wasteland and jungles and developed their newly adopted homes into small towns and big towns.
Most of the Hakkas in North Borneo were originally from Long Chuan (龍川),
Wu Hua (五華), Zi Jin (紫金), He Liu (河流), Dong Guan (東莞), Qing Yuan (清遠), Hua Xian (花縣), etc.
In 1897, the famous pirate of North Borneo Mat (Mohammed) Salleh burned down the whole settlement in Pulai Gaya Island (葫蘆加耶島). The natives did not rebuild their houses on the island, but instead moved inland and established their new settlement which was named Api (亞庇). Api means =Fire in Malay. The Hakka Chinese followed the natives in calling the settlement Api. However, the British preferred the English name of Jesselton, naming it after Sir Charles Jessel, the vice-chairman of the Board of Directors of the Borneo Company. Hakkas in Api
were mostly relocated from Kudat after the new settlement was established.
The Hakkas established their homes in the areas near Inanam (下南南) and MacArthur? (孟加達) roads. They built their houses on stilts over still water. Later
it became a little village called Kampong Ayer or Water Village.
The British were very short of labour to develop North Borneo. In 1920, the British Authority changed the immigration policy and they encouraged Chinese, especially the Hakkas living in the coastal province of Guangdong in China, to come and settle in North Borneo. Thousands of Hakkas took this opportunity to escape the poverty in China. The British Authoruty also gave subsidies to the new settlers. This policy continued until the invasion of the Japanese in 1942. Within these 22 years, the British Authority attracted more 50,000 new settlers, most of them Hakkas. Many of these Hakkas settled in Api and Sandakan, where there were many ex-Taiping revolutionists. They opened up wasteland and jungles and developed their newly adopted homes into small towns and big towns.
According to the relation by a very old Hakka man, Li Tan Qiu (李譚秋), there were a few Hakkas first arrived in Tenom (丹南) in 1890s. After they had established themselves well in Tenom they sent for their families from Tang Shan (唐山 China). The first Hakka to settle in Tenom was Dai Fa (戴發) who was a worker in the employment of the North Borneo Company building the railway from Api to Tenom. Dai Fa saw the rich and fertile soil in Tenom very suitable for cultivation. So he deicided to settle dowm in Tenom.
After the completion of the railway, a British company, 文拉納, began to clear the land and started planting rubber trees. The company required labour and more Hakkas and Chinese of other dialects relocated to Tenom.
In 1912 a Ba Se (巴色) Catholic Church Association was established in Tenom. Chinese classes were conducted by the Association. As there were more and more Chinese settled in Tenom, a Chinese school, "華僑學校 or The Overseas Chinese School" was built. The student population was only about thirty. In 1935 another Chinese school , Zhong Wen Xue Xiao (中文學校) was built near the railway station. The medium instruction of the schools was Guo Yu (國語) or Mandarin. During the Japanese occupation the two schools were closed.
After the war, the Chinese in Tenom decided that the two schools should be merged into one school called Zhong Hua Xue Xiao (中華學校). A Hakka by the name Wang Liu Jiao (王留嬌) donated a large block of land for a new building for the merged schools. Shortly, the new building was completed. The educational standard of the school was only up to the 6th grade. In 1950 the school extendted to the high school level. Originally, high students had to go to West Malaysia to study. Now they studied at Zhong Hua Xue Xiao.
In 1963 North Borneo became part of the Federation of Malaysia. The Malaysian Government renamed it Sabah and the state capital Jesselton was renamed Kota Kinabula, but to the Chinese it is still Api, the fire city.
According to the 1991 census the total popuation in Sabah was about 1.86 million and the Chinese population was about 218,000 that was 11.7% of the state population. There were about 113,000 Hakkas in Sabah that was 57% of the Chinese population and there were about 28,000 Cantonese which was in second position. Almost all the Chinese in Sabah speak Hakka. You just go nowhere in the Chinese community if you do not speak Hakka.
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CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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