Arab Hadramis in Malaysia: a study of their origins and their assimilation in the Malay society

Abstract

The process of assimilation used in this paper is only a matter of generalization. This term here is loosely applied to the process of integration of one particular community of immigrant origins into local society. It refers to the integration of the Arab community of foreign origins That is from Hadhramaut referred as Arab Hadhrami, into the Malay society in Malaysia. In the existing writings, the process of integration of the Arab Hadhrami is also refered as the process of indigenization because they absorbed Malay customs. 157 Nevertheless, the study of the Arabs in Malaysia also proved that they were the result of the process of miscegenation. They were the product from the intermarriage of Arab male and the Malay women. The case of the integration of the Arab Hadhrami into the Malay society must be regarded as an exclusive one in the Malaysian context because of its significance in historical, social and political perspectives. Historically, they were the alien community simply due to their foreign ancestral origins from Arab land. Socially, they retained their identity as Arabs but were well accepted by the local society and were even given high status of royalty which was not enjoyed by other Muslim immigrant communities. Politically, as a result to their high social status, they became one of the significant groups to dominate the Malay politics and hold the posts from low ranking chiefs of village headmen to the paramount ruler at the apex in the Malay kingdom or kerajaan.

These paper discuses the origins of the Arab Hadhrami community in Malaysia and the process of their assimilation in the Malay society. It begins by observing their origins as an alien community from their first generations when they came to Malaysia.