Kelantanese Chinese of peranakan-descent on the brink of extinction

I always lament the future of a small group of Kelantanese chinese, whose forefathers landed in this country more than 250 years ago - much longer than many current crop of so-called Malaysians.

They attended English or Malay schools instead of the chinese schools. They speak perfect bahasa Kelate instead of Mandarin, Hakka or Cantonese. The only Chinese dialect they speak is Hokkien - though smuttering Hokkien.
Through the process of assimilation, they have lost their identity. They are not Malays; and naturally would not be accepted as bumiputras. Since they don't speak Mandarin, Hakka or Cantonese, they feel out of place among the "real" or more "genuine" Chinese. Compounded by their tanned skin, they look every inch like the Malays. Though their Chinese surnames are maintained, many have taken the Malay names or are being called by the Malay names.

But this unfortunate group of people will perish in history - in 30 - 40 years to come. Why 30 - 40 years? Because I am the last generation of the so-called Cina peranakan Kelantan. Being 50 this year, how much longer can I live? 20, 25 or 30 years. Maybe I will live another 25 years until age 75, i.e. 8 year longer than the world's average life span of 67. I still have my younger brothers and sisters. They are also same like me. Or may be a smaller group - 10 - 15 years younger than me to carry on the legacy. After they are gone, the Cina peranakan Kelantan will go down in history. The whole wide world would not even know of their existence.

I have 3 factors to back my extinction theory. First, they are being marginalized. Though Chinese, they live exactly like Malays - using hand to eat, eat budu and ulam, wear kain lepas (headgear), rear lifestocks, do farming and mingled with the Malays in the Malay community. One would be forgiven to pass them off as Malays. But the sad thing is that they are not Malays. They don't enjoy the special privileges reserved for Malays. To the Government, they are Chinese; and Chinese don't get to enjoy all those. To the Government, Chinese are rich. And they (chinese peranakan) don't get to enjoy the special privileges. Poor Cina peranakan Kelantan. They can't get to enjoy the special privileges of the Malays; and they don't have the riches of the Chinese.

2nd factor: They are being marginalized again. To rid themselves of the no-win situation, the younger generations realized that they had to become more "Chinese" than their fathers or grandfathershow to get out of the doldrums. They realized they could not enjoy the special privileges of the Malays. They realized that they had to become more Chinese to enjoy more of the riches of the Chinese. How? Education. Yes, Chinese education. They sent their children to Chinese schools, though distance and transportation were big obstacles. Nowadays, the generations younger than mine are ashamed if associated with Cina perakanan Kelantan. To them, it is not cool to be a cina peranakan Kelantan.

3rd factor: They are being marginalized again and again. To them, being a cina perakanan Kelantan brings no gains but more pains. The Malays, or rather the kampong Malays did not really accept them. Like the popular saying, manis di mulut, busuk di perut. In front, the Malays proclaimed them as brothers, but behind these Malays taught their children to call these cina peranakan Kelantan by derogatory names such as kapir, apek, cino. To these children, all chinese are kapir, apek or cino without they realizing the meanings. Naturally, these children - who were not well-taught by their parents to respect mankind, did not do well in schools. They did not score good grades. As nature would have it, the Chinese students outshone the Malays year-in year-out. But who cares. Chinese students with Grade 1 in MCE could proceed to do sixth form. (MCE is now known as SPM) Those with Grade 2 got to look for jobs or forked out their parents' hard-earned money to attend either TAR College in KL or sixth form in private school. Better still Malay students with Grades 1 and 2 and some of the better Grade 3 went to form six; and get paid a scholarship. Chinese students, not only denied of a scholarship, were made to pay the school fee. And even better. Malay students with Grade 3 were all accepted into ITM. Now many of them are Professors and Associate Professors.

So, can anybody tell me why aren't the Kelantanese Chinese of the peranakan-descent on the right track to extinction?.