Homeland or hostland : the issue of diasporic and security threats - with Chinese community in Singapore and Malaya as the case study

Abstract

Cultural and religious differences, coupled with the hostland’s innate sense of uneasiness over the connection with the homeland, are some of the major challenges that diaspora/immigrant-based communities need to face. This issue is in no way a recent occurrence. The objective of this paper is to analyse these communities from a historical perspective, by looking at the Chinese community in Malaya and Singapore in the 1950s, specifically the “shinkek” or “xinke” (新客, literally “new-guest” in Chinese) community which was formed during the late 19th and early 20th century. To better understand the argument, newspaper reports have been used to analyse the identity of the Chinese community. The research will be based on two of the leading Chinese-language newspapers in Singapore and Malaya, Sin Chew Jit Poh and Nanyang Siang Pau. The paper will present the research findings in two ways: discourse analysis, as well as activities conducted by various Chinese-community associations.