Political Participation And Multi-identity Of Straits Chinese: A Case Study On Tan Jiak Kim(1887-1917)

Since Singapore has opened the port, the Chinese Community gradually formed two major parties: Straits Chinese group and Chinese Immigrants group. The Straits Chinese are people who were born in the Straits Settlement and became the citizen of the British Empire. Their ancestors came from Malacca whoweredescendants of mixed blood of Baba. The majority of their ancestral home was Fujian. They spoke Hokkien, Malay and English, inherited from agnate the Chinese religion, belief and custom and identified themselves as ethnic Chinese. Because of their particular features, Straits Chinese revealed themselves and seized the power at early stage of Singaporean Chinese society.Tan Jiak Kim(1859-1917), who appeared in the latter half of 19 th century and the beginning of 20 th century, was a representative political eliteof Straits Chinese and a powerful leader at early stage of Singaporean Chinese society. He stepped into the political arena of Chinese society when he was 27 and passed way at the age of 59.During the time, he was always on behalf of interests of Chinese and Singapore that was trusted both by Chinese and the colonial British government. He has been considered as the pioneer and the excellent model of Chinese political participation in Straits Settlements.On the basis of historical background and early Singaporean Chinese and English newspapers and other associatedmaterial, the dissertation aims to discuss following issues: Firstly, elaborate on the development of Tan’s family and the process of the building his brilliant social status. Secondly, probe into Tan’s political participation and the interaction between him and the colonial British government based on its political system such as the Legislative Council, Municipal Council and Chinese Advisory Board, and his awareness of identity as being the representative of Straits Chinese observed by his political activities like political donations and holding public official positions. Thirdly, under the construction of the Singaporean Chinese “Bang” society, analyze the function of integrating “Bang” communities that Tan promoted by contributing to cultural, educational and charitable undertakings, carrying on the traditional Chinese etiquette and customer, and protecting the culture of the social group. Fourthly, evaluate the role of Tan in the history of Singapore and Malaya by looking into the relations between him and the colonial British government, the Qing government and Singapore, the mediating of conflicts on the multiplicity of his identity, the changes in the sense of belonging and the return of Singaporean local identity.Based on the case study of Tan’s political participation and analysis on his awareness of multi-identity, the dissertation tends to depictan image of the Straits Chinese, under the circumstance that the colonial British government and the Qing government were fighting for the political identity of Chinese, who saw himself as British citizen in political identity, ethnic Chinese in terms of cultural identity and fundamentally identified himself as a Singaporean and the political choices of this kind of political elites as well.