The Last Generation of ‘Bananas’? How Malaysian Chinese Identity Is Transforming

The English-educated Chinese in Malaysia are dying out, and that could be a good thing. I am what many Malaysians would call a banana: Chinese, but more proficient in English. To others, I’m not “banana” enough, because by some freak of geography and luck, I can converse badly in Mandarin and in a rare form of Hokkien, the northern version spoken in Penang. But that doesn’t mean I’m Chinese enough for the Chinese-educated, who still firmly consider me a banana because I can’t read well, nor have I read the Chinese classics. So I exist in a weird in-between place. But I think it’s a good thing. It has enabled me to see perspectives from both sides. And I really think it’s a privileged position to be highly educated in English and middling in Chinese education. The Divide Note: Malaysia’s education system is… complex. You can choose to go to vernacular schools where you are taught in either Chinese or Tamil, or you can choose to attend national schools (English and Malay) or…