When talking about the earliest Chinese in Malaysia the other day, M asked, Wasn't it the British who brought them here? I was actually taken by surprise. M, by the way, was not the fictional character who heads the Secret Intelligence Service in Ian Fleming's James Bond book; rather, she's an American lass I got acquainted with.I was telling her about the Babas and Nyonyas in Malacca when she had quipped. I suppose the Chinese had been around in South East Asia long before the arrival of the British. In the early-15th century, the Ming admiral Zheng He had already established a base of operation in Malacca, helping to protect the city from the attack from Ayutthaya, the ancient Thai Kingdom. The British only arrived in the eighteen century. During the Industrial revolution in Britain, many job opportunities were created in Malaya, now Malaysia; causing more Chinese to immigrate here than ever. I'm not sure if it's right to say the British brought the Chinese to Malaysia.
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