Development of a Hakka Settlement in Malaysia after World War II: A Case Study of Senai ; 二戰後馬國客家聚落的演變—以士乃新村為例

New Villages in Malaysia, also known as Chinese New Villages, are settlements created during the waning days of British rule over Malaysia in the mid-1950s. Malaysia achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaysia covers Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak. On 16 September 1963, ＂si＂ was added to rename the new country Malaysia. Later on 9 August 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation, and declared its independence. Since this study covers different political regimes, Malaysia refers to the whole country, while both the British colonial government and the Malaysian government refer to different political regimes. In 1948, the British Government declared that Malaya was in a State of Emergency in order to force villagers to migrate to the Chinese New Village to fight against the Communist Malayan. The British set up New Villages across Malaya to control the Chinese from communists before the end of the State of Emergency. Because the population in New Villages was mainly Chinese, a State of Emergency was crucial to the development and life of the Malaysian-Chinese. Development of New Villages can be seen as a history of life of the Malaysian-Chinese in Malaysia after World War II. Due to the dramatic changes in the global political and economic situations, Malaysia also witnessed rapid changes as one member of the Earth Villages after World War II. In this case, it impacted the lifestyles of the Malaysian-Chinese before and after resettling in a new village, since their lifestyles were quite different from their ancestors'. This paper aims to present the way Chinese living in the New Village in Malaysia reacted to the changes in the environment, and the way they rebuilt the Chinese society. In addition, Senai, a mainly Hakka community, has been an important issue for the Malaysian-Chinese and also for Hakka research that examines many aspects, including the way New Villagers continued their daily living habits, the way they organized the local associations, etc. ...