Early Hakkas in Perak, Malaysia

["Dixie" <Dixie@singnet.com.sg>]

The pioneering Chinese Hakka miners numbered only twenty.Their leader was
the famous Chung Ah Qwee. Their arrival contributed to the needed labour
and hence the growth of the tin mining trade. By 1872, there were about 40
000 miners in Malaysia, mostly Cantonese and Hakka. Many of them organised
themselves into secret societies and rivalries between them led to frequent
fights. In Selangor, tin mining started as early as 1824. By 1866, there
were already about 10 000 Chinese in the state. The majority of these were
Hakka. Kuala Lumpur, like Selangor, was similarly developed by the
hardworking miners.

(from "From Guest People to Citizens" magazine, 1997)

- Dixie

Personal note: Although Selangor and Kuala Lumpur were dominated by the
Hakkas, it is now Cantonese-speaking. It is either that the Cantonese came
later and became the majority Chinese dialect group or that the Hakkas
chose to speak Cantonese for some reason. Any Malaysian care to comment?