What happens to a community after migration? What happens fifty years or a hundred years after the initial event of migration? I spent a few weeks over the summer in Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia researching the heritage preservation of the Foochow community, and to learn about local community engagement efforts.

We live in a world where people migrate and immigrate all the time. Migration patterns can be very complex even within the same country. Sarawak is part of East Malaysia, separated from West (peninsular) Malaysia by the ocean. Both sides are culturally diverse and multiethnic. I learned about many indigenous groups within Sarawak, including Penan, Iban, Kenyah, Melanau, Kelabit, Bidayuh, Kayan, and Saban. In both Sarawak and the rest of Malaysia, the rest of the society is composed of Malays, Chinese, and South Asians. Within the Chinese there is Foochow, Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew, and a few others, just as within the South Asians there are Hindu, Tamil, Bangladeshi, Pakistani. I focused on the Foochow community as they are the biggest ethnic group in Sibu. 

Different from previous groups of Cornell students who visited the Penan village of Long Lamai or Iban communities at Bawang Assam and Machan, I stayed in Sibu to engage with the Foochow community there. The plane tickets to Bario (en route to Long Lamai) were fully booked, so Dr. Tariq Zaman (University College of Technology Sarawak, UCTS) and I went to Miri instead to chat with several Penans from Long Lamai. For the most part, I engaged with the Foochow community in Sibu.

Through home visits, conversations, and many Kampua (a staple, noodles without soup), I learned about the ways of living as a Foochow. My contact at UCTS, Dennis Cheng, helped me arrange conversations with several Foochows of various ages. The objective was to talk about topics related to culture, heritage, language retention, language acquisition, migration, and identity. Each person I met offered different answers, but there are many connections between conversations.

While I thought a lot about dialect groups, the standardization of mandarin, and regional identity versus national identity, what I learned on the ground was something different and unique (read: local) to Sibu and Sarawak. Perhaps similar to the case of many overseas/immigrant/diasporic communities, the Foochow community in Sarawak carries a cultural identity formed by a series of events. Most of the people I talked to have come to call Sibu home – many of them have never really known another home. They are rooted in Sibu. This later stage of (im)migration, now approaching the fourth and fifth generation, creates a contrast with the new Penan migrants who have gone to Miri to work. None of the Penans plan to live in Miri forever. They are, to a great extent, still deeply connected with Long Lamai.

Engagement with both these communities worked best with a contact person who introduced me. Through lunches, dinners and church meetings, I soon made friends with people who I had just interviewed, or friends of friends. But having a contact person, who sometimes doubled as an interpreter (in the case of the Penans) or driver (in the case of the Foochows), really helped build trust between community members and I. The Sibu locals treated me very well, and it was a pleasure to be in their company.

I identified the major narratives and events that may have shaped the way Foochows think about their identity, which proves to be primarily cultural and regional (as opposed to ethnic or national). This identity, however, is far from fixed, and proves to be different between the third generation (those born before 1985) and their younger counterparts. Those born after 1985 (under 40) tend to identify more with their own experience growing up rather than the ethics and values of their family. They are also introduced to a “newer,” more “modern” China, as opposed to the “old” China their parent generations are familiar with. Another factor is the rise of the internet age which saw Facebook, Youtube, Instagram and most recently TikTok gain widespread popularity. For many in Sarawak (and across the world), the internet is an important source of information and opinion.

A similar rift exists between the older and younger generation Penans, though the parameters of generational difference have more to do with education, a changing lifestyle and economic consideration. I am working on a report comprising all the interviews I conducted, eighteen in total. I will be uploading it to the Laidlaw Scholars Network.