The Revival of Chineseness as a Cultural Identity in Malaysia
Malaysia Peninsula in British colonial power was a plural society (Furnivall, 1965, Giordano, 2015) due to the massive immigrants from the Southern part of China and the India. The plural society then has been formed into the multicultural society (Mustafa Ishak, 1999; Shamsul AB, 2001; Matondang, 2016) A Malaysian plural society is showing how the Chinese as the second largest ethnic group in Malaysia interact with and adopt some elements of Malaysian culture. Considering the Malaysian Chinese that have a long history, the revival of ethnic awareness in current global context, there is a need to explore the process of multiculturalism in Malaysian society from colonial past and ethno nationalism phases to the present situation. Chinese descendants or Peranakan in Malaysia have the making and remaking identity in an even process that creates the cultural identity of Malaysia.