Balik Pulau Hakka(浮罗山背的客家人)

(map credited to http://dbd.penang.gov.my)

Balik Pulau literally mean at the back of the island in Malay language. It was reported that Balik Pulau was derived from the Hakka dialect, Pu -lou-shan-pui(浮罗山背). The pioneer Hakka arrived in Balik Pulau by boat, at Sungei Pinang(west), Balik Pulau. Balik Pulau is located in South West Penang Island district(Daerah Barat Daya), with total area of about half of Penang island. The district included the town of Ginting(文丁), Pulau Betong(浮罗勿洞), Sungai Pinang(双溪槟榔), Kuala Sungai Pinang(双溪槟榔港口), Jalan Baru(新路头), Pantai Acheh(班底亚齐), Ayer Puteh(亚逸布爹), Getak Sanggul(美湖), Teluk Kumbar(公芭), and Bandar Balik Pulau (浮罗山背市区). It is a Malay dominated area(61.25%), Chinese(26.73%), the remaining are Indian and other races. The population of the district in 2005 was about 195,600. Out of 52,300 Chinese, Hakka people must be more than 26,000 if assuming more than half of the Chinese population is Hakka.

Most of the Chinese in Balik Pulau speak Hakka dialect, even non-Hakka Chinese speak Hakka in their daily communication,unlike the Chinese in Georgetown, their communication dialect is Hokkian. Balik Pulau is a Hakka town to Chinese. Hakka people was in Balik Pulau even before the establishment of the political administration in 1880(district office established). There were many tombstones of pioneer Hakka dated back to 1856,mostly Huichiew Hakka( 惠州客). Most of the Hakka are mainly Huichiew, and Chaozhou Hakka or pan-san-hak(半山客) which include Hailukfong(海豐，陸豐),hobo(河婆,現改成揭西縣）, and daipu( 大埔) Hakka .

The Hakka are mainly small business owners in the town,or rubber tappers, durian orchard owner,or farmers in the village.

Catholic Hakka
The Hakka Catholic in Balik Pulau are one of the early Catholic in Penang. The father of former Chief Minister, Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee, was from Balik Pulau, Tan Sri is a Hakka Catholic. The father later shifted to Bukit Mertajam. The Catholic Church in Balik Pulau, The Holy Name Of Jesus, was established in 1854 . However the church was started earlier in 1845, when the first parish priest, Rev Father Ducotey held the inaugural Eucharist at an attap hut. In 1897, Balik Pulau had 250-300 Catholic converts. The Catholic also started a Chinese primary school at the main road of the town in 1909, Sacred Heart Chinese Primary School (圣心小学) , now known as SJKC Sacred Heart. The SMK Sacred Heart was established later in 1950. In the early day, the medium of instruction for the Chinese primary school was Hakka dialect.

Taiping Rebellion & Balik Pulau Hakka

Balik Pulau has large concentration of Hakka Catholic,some said they are the descendants of the soldiers of Taiping Rebellion(1851-1868) in China, who escaped from China after their Taiping Heavenly Kingdom collapsed in 1868, when they were defeated by the Manchu. Most of the followers of Taiping Rebellion under Hong Xiuquan were Hakka from Kwangdong and Kwanxi province. They are attracted by the teaching of Hong Xiuquan on the promise of new heaven and earth under the teaching of Christian bible. Noted that the teaching of Hong Xiuquan has diverted from the true teaching of the Bible. It was reported that there were 100 followers came to Sungei Pinang, Balik Pulau, led by their leader Huan Ye Shen(黄叶生),but only 20 followers survived. In order to avoid the detection by the Manchu authority, which had consul in Penang, they kept very low profile and isolated themselves in Balik Pulau. They are easily converted to Catholic, as they already have basic knowledge of Christian teaching, this was the main factor that resulted in the Catholic in Balik Pulau are mainly Hakka, and who are mainly descendants of Taiping Rebellion. There were ancient coins of Taiping Rebellion reported found with the descendent of Huan Ye Shen(黄叶生),by the name of Huan Xin Zhong(黄信忠).

Balik Pulau and the Socialist influence

One of the local Hakka , Huan Yuan Mau(黄源茂) was the communist leader in the area during 1947-1957. He has the support of the locals , which had resulted in Balik Pulau classified by the British as the area with high communist supporters. Some of the residents were relocated to the new villages established in other places under Brigs Plan. The struggle ended after the communist leader Chin Peng ordered their followers to continue their struggle, in the jungle of the main land in 1957(after independence). Balik Pulau was also socialist inclined during early part of Malaysian history, especially during fifty and sixty. The Socialist Front was active in the area.

The Penang Hakka Association planned to build a Hakka Village (浮罗山背客家村)in Balik Pulau as their cultural project and also tourist attraction. The President, Dr Cheah See Kian of the association, who is a former journalist and authors of a few books. His blog s seekiancheah.blogspot.com, contained many articles on Balik Pulau Hakka. Readers who wish to understand further on the topic are strongly encouraged to read his blog. But it is in Chinese language. The following are extract and summary of the articles from his blog, which are in Chinese and provide the readers who understand Chinese , with better understanding of Balik Pulau Hakka:-

浮罗山背时位于槟岛的西南区（槟岛的行政区分成乔治市、东北区 和西南区），面积以高山丛林为多，平地有限（总面积超过100平方公里）。直到今天，它还得保留大自然的风景优美生态.

整个西南区面积，包括大山在内几占槟岛面积的一半，扣除山地外，应有70—80平方公里之大.把浮罗山背归纳到下列的十个城镇做为据点。这些地区计有, 文丁（Ginting）、浮罗勿洞（Pulau Betong）、双溪槟榔（Sungai Pinang）、双溪槟榔港口（Kuala Sungai Pinang）、新路头（Jalan Baru）、班底亚齐（Pantai Acheh）、亚逸布爹（Ayer Puteh）、美湖（Gertak Sanggul）、公芭（Teluk Kumbar）及浮罗山背市区（Bandar Balik Pulau）。

政府的人口数据显示，在2004年时，西南区总人口有十万人（浮罗山背国会选区有选民4万余人，符合40%是选民的标准），其中马来人占61%，华人占31%， 印度人及其他族群各占7%和1%。这意味着整个浮罗山背有华裔占了3万5千人，其中客家人约占一半, 超过了1万5千名.

其中大部分祖籍惠州，其次是海阵丰、再下来是河箩与大埔的客家人。在社区语言方面，大部份的浮罗山背华人居民皆使用客家话，就连非客家人（如福建人）也必须使用客家话作为社区语言。这个现象与槟城首府乔治市使用福建话为社区语言的惯例形成壁垒分明的状态。

浮罗山背的客家人有下列的差别，居住在市镇的从事小型的商业活动，如中药店、书店、餐饮业、电器行、家私业及杂货店；居住在山区的客家人则从事农业种植活动，如种榴莲、橡胶、豆蔻、丁香及其他蔬菜与水果等农产品，属于家庭性质的。浮罗山背的客家人是属于中下层的阶级。

当地客家人加入天主教会, 目前有华人教友2千余名，大部份是客家人，早年则用客家话传道.这里有一座在1854年成立的天主教堂，距今有155年，教堂内保留的布道经文是用客家话拼音的。这座教会也在1909年创办了圣心小学(SJKC Sacred Heart )和1950年创办圣心中学，桃李满天下。在圣心小学上课时，老师用客家话教书。

一座具有百年历史的宝天宫,早年也开办学校，但用客家话教学.

是客家人的温梓川（已故)指出：“客家人最初在槟榔屿登陆居留的地点，首推浮罗山背，而以惠州人占多数。在咸丰历任年间，即1856年时早有公冢之设。浮罗古代碑墓多属惠州人，足证客家人到槟榔屿，尚在开辟（指浮罗山背）之前。

太平天国

客家人之多是因为在太平天国（1851—1868）之后，来了一批逃难的客家人（太平天国是客家人洪秀全领导的革命，客家人也因此被清廷视为眼中钉），为避人耳目，住进浮罗山背。客家学者温梓川及另一学者黄尧皆认为客家人最先立足在浮罗山背，这也符合客家人“与市无争”的天性（在中国也是这样），择山区而居，务农为生（客家人的“耕读传家”美德在此最为具体展示出来）。自此而后，客家人连同其他籍贯华人都走进浮罗山背与当地马来人和睦生活。其中一位黄叶生系太平天国军官，在洪秀全失败后（1868年），结百余同伴来到马来亚，生存者仅20余人，居住在浮罗山背的双溪槟榔。学者黄尧补充黄叶生的曾孙名叫黄信忠。他们身上带来的太平天国的铜币也成为其中的一个“证据”，以证明他们是太平天国的逃难者。太平天国基本上是客家人带头的一场农民革命，曾在南京建立起与清廷相对峙的政权达17年之久（1851—1868）。在失败前已有居住在非太平天国控制的地区的客家人向海外移居；在失败后有更多的人向外避难。证实他们的先祖是在“太平天国”期间辗转来到浮罗山背定居。

浮罗山背客家人的左翼道路

浮罗山背的客家人与马共的关系十分密切, 当地客家人除了受太平天国的革命精神影响外，也在后来成为马共革命的大后方。这种政治形势的逆转，体现出中下层的客家人已与上层的客家先贤所走的右派道路背道而驰，他们走上革命的左翼道路。客家人在这方面扮演重要的角色，尤其是在浮罗山背。领导浮罗山背马共斗争的是一位地地道道的客家人黄源茂。他在1947年到1957年的10年间，在浮罗山背领导为数不多的马共在山林战斗，且数次死里逃生。他当年之所以能让红旗10年不倒，在美湖建立“小延安”是因为浮罗的客家人支持他所领导的抗英斗争。约莫估计一半以上的客家人成为他们的大靠山。如果没有客家人的支持，他的革命斗争不可能持续10年，后来因为马来西亚独立，在陈平的下令下，他们全数撤退。

(Ref: article derived from web site: seekiancheah.blogspot.com.)






「客家人靠山吃山，逢山必有客！」的古諺。

Related articles:

1. 客家人最先落脚浮罗山背 太平天国带来革命情怀, 10-3-2009, http://www.hctvnews.net/hc_web /php_hc_read.php?n=11371,the article is in Chinese
2. 浮罗山背马共领袖黄源茂的故事, 28-2-2009, http://seekiancheah.blogspot.com/2009/02/blog-post_8156.html , the article is in Chinese
3. 槟城是大马客家人的发祥地——浮罗山背“客家村”个案研究, 19-5-2009, http://seekiancheah.blogspot.com/2009/05/blog-post_5367.html
2. http://penanghakkavillage.blogspot.com/