Research & Article

Peranakan refers to people of mixed Chinese and Malay who settled in Malayan and costal area on Java and Sumatra islands in the early 15th century. In 19th century that was the period of British colonization, Peranakan immigrants came to the ports of Penang and Singapore as merchandisers. They succeeded and became professional traders Peranakan community is commonly as known as Straits Chinese or Baba-Yaya. This word is used among the ethnic  Chinese and Malay who were born and settled in Malay- Indonesia Peninsula; Malaka, Penang, Malaysia, Singapore, and Java islands in Indonesia. “Baba” is a Malay word borrowed from Persian which means honoring ancestors and is used to call male Peranakan, Female Peranakan is called as “Yaya”, a Java words borrowed from Italian which means married foreign woman or perhaps be based on Portuguese that mean “lady”. This article provided historical background, tradition and multicultural of Peranakan, Chinese-Malay descendants.