History and the indigenization of the Arabs in Kedah, Malaysia

Abstract

There exists quite a substantive body of literature on Arabs in Southeast Asia. Most of it focuses on Arab migration and the multifarious activities that early Arab migrants and their descendants undertook in the fields of religion, education, economy and politics in various parts of the region. Though quick to point out the remarkable ability of the Arabs to absorb local customs, these works do not indicate how exactly these foreigners engage in the important processes of accommodation, acculturation and the redefinition of particular aspects of those Southeast Asian societies into which they were lodged. One of the few works to focus on the attempts made by the Arabs to acculturate to Malay customs, norms and values while at the same time retaining their Arab identity is Omar Farouk Bajunid's "The Arab Networks in Southeast Asia: The Case of Penang".¹ This work discusses how the Arabs in Penang, Malaysia, have developed a symbiotic partnership with the Malays through Islam; how they are prepared to be identified as Malays but, on occasion, still emphasize their separateness from the Malays through the continued usage of clan names and the Arabic language, their preference for communal living; active involvement in the Arab association; and the ties that they still maintain with kinsmen in the Middle East. The significance of this work is that it shows how historical and political processes peculiar to Penang have influenced the manner and extent to which the Arabs living there have merged into the local culture, thereby, acquiring multiple identities.