Being half Hainanese (or colloquially referred to as Hailam), naturally, I am interested in anything to do with this clan in the Chinese community. Recently, my father asked me, “Do you know once upon a time, a lot of Hailam men were marrying Hakka women in Port Klang. Do you know why?” I thought that was a loaded question as my father himself did not marry to a Hailam lady but rather to a Foo Chow lady from Sibu who is my mother! My father then gave me an example, “Look at See Ping (a friend of the family), his father was Hailam and his mother was Hakka and they used to live in Bagan Hailam in Port Klang”. See Ping was an old family friend who used to work in an insurance company and then later became the face of a rather popular chilli sauce widely sold in the Klang Valley known as “Uncle Tan’s Chilli”. All this while, I thought See Ping was a 100% Hainanese as he spoke the language fluently but imagine my surprise when I heard of this new piece of information. Back to my father’s initial question, I replied I didn’t and so my father began his story which dated back to the Second World War in Malaya. Before the War, there were many Hainanese men living in a place called Bagan Hailam (Hailam Village) in Port Klang. Many of those living there were either fishermen or seafarers. Therefore, their income was slightly better than most immigrants from China. On the other hand, the Hakkas at that time were quite poor, therefore to seek a better life, many of the women married to Hailam men. I asked my father, “Didn’t these Hainanese men have wives and families back home?” My father replied, “Yes they did but it was common at that time to have a wife in a foreign country while still being married in China”. My father continued that many of them started having a “second family” in Malaya (as it was known then) while their “first family” was in China. See Ping was a product from one of those Hailam-Hakka relationships. Therefore, it is not surprising to find many of the descendants scattered all over Malaysia today that can speak both Hailam and Hakka fluently though the numbers are beginning to dwindle due to the increase in marriages beyond among the 2 clans.
Anyway, back to the story of Bagan Hailam - one day, during the Japanese occupation in Malaya, a trader from Bagan Hailam came to my grandfather’s house carrying a sack of rice. My grandfather was rather surprise to receive this precious gift. My grandfather thanked the trader profusely but the Hailam trader stopped him and said, “Don’t thank me. This is from your relative in Thailand”. My grandfather looked puzzled. We are in the midst of War and how on earth did a scarce commodity like a sack of rice landed in his doorstep, more so, when it came all the way from Thailand and on top of that, it was from a relative! The Hailam explained that as a trader and fisherman he was permitted by the Japanese to carry out his trade. He was allowed to move along the coast of Malaya all the way up to Thailand as Thailand being supposedly a neutral country during WWII was friendly towards the Japanese. When the traders were in southern Thailand, they came across a Thai merchant who was of Hainanese descent. The traders were glad to meet another Hailam in Thailand. The Thai merchant asked the traders which part of Malaya are they from. When they replied, “Klang”, the Thai merchant got excited and said, “I have a long lost relative who lives in Klang”. When the traders asked him “Where in Klang?”. He could not say as he lost touch with my grandfather. All he knew was that the relative lives in Klang. When they asked him for his name, he replied, “Tan Jin Ko”. The two traders looked as each other and nodded their heads. They told the Thai merchant, “We know this Tan Jin Ko. He is the President of the Klang Keng Chiu Hoi Kuan (Klang Hainanese Association)”. The Thai merchant was delighted to hear that. The Thai merchant asked a favour from the traders. He said to the traders, “I know there is a shortage of food supply in Malaya due to the War, can you do me a favour and deliver this sack of rice to Tan Jin Ko?” The Thai merchant knew this was a risky thing to ask as he only got to know the traders in such a short period of time and he wasn’t sure if they could be fully trusted. However, being bonded by mutual clan of being a fellow Hailam, he decided to risk it. The traders agreed and that was how the sack of rice landed on my grandfather’s doorstep. If you would like to read more about the story of my grandfather and WWII, you can visit here http://mediationskills.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-japanese-lady-who-saved-my.html
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