獨立後的馬來(西)亞政府,延續並接受了英國殖民所留下來的文化政策與國家治理的種族意識形態,馬來多數族群為他們在殖民時期所失去的政治、經濟與文化權力,極力在獨立後重新建立其優越與獨尊的地位,以服膺這塊被稱為「馬來土地」的國家,因此,在教育和文化機構裡,體現馬來主權以及伊斯蘭主義特色的國族敘事,忽略少數族群歷史文化以及不利於主流論述的被殖民歷史、日據時代、共產黨抗爭等。本文在這樣的脈絡下探討作為少數族群的華人,透過民間結社的力量,聚族以捍衛自身的權益;同時通過成立文物館,以展現他們的歷史記憶,並將河婆性/中國性與華裔馬來西亞性雜糅在一起,形成一個獨特的華人身分認同。
After independence, the Malay(si)an government continued and adopted the cultural policies and racial ideologies left by the British colonialist. The Malay majority was in awe of the political, economic and cultural power they lost during the colonial period. Efforts were made to re-establish the superior and exclusive status of the Malays in the country known as "Tanah Melayu" (Malay land). Therefore, in educational and cultural institutions, the national narrative of Malay sovereignty or supremacy and Islamist characteristics are strongly guarded, at the expense of mar-ginalizing minority groups' history and culture as well as colonial history, the Japanese occupa-tion era, Communist struggles, etc. which are not conducive to mainstream discourse. In this con-text, this article explores how the Chinese Malaysian, as a minority group, use the formation of ethnic association to defend their own rights and interests; at the same time, through the estab-lishment of cultural museums, they display their historical memories and a hybridized Hoponess or Chineseness and Chinese-Malaysianness as a unique Chinese identity within Malaysian con-text.