Hakka People of Malaysia

About the Hakkas

Hakka is one of the Chinese dialect groups in Malaysia. They Hakkas come from the southern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi and Fujian. They arrived in Malaya and North Borneo in the 19th century to work as miners. As they were the relative latecomers, they are known to the other dialect groups as "Khek" or "guests"*.

I learned that the term "Khek" might not have originated in Malaysia, but rather, they have already been known as such in China. The Hakkas are said to have migrated south from their original homeland in central China around the 17th century. In order to safekeep themselves in a "foreign" land, they built circular homes called "tulou", which are now inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I documented the Tulou in Fujian Province here.

In Malaysia, significant numbers of Hakkas are found in Selangor, in the towns of Taiping and Ipoh in Perak, in Sarawak and Negri Sembilan. Kulai and Kluang in Johor also have significant numbers of Hakkas. Despite being the second largest dialect group in Malaysia, Hakka is not a main spoken Chinese dialect in the towns in Malaysia, which is more likely to be Hokkien or Cantonese.

Malaysia Hotel Room Price Checker

Before booking a hotel room, make sure you are getting the lowest price for it. Different hotel booking websites offers the same room at different prices. If you stick with one site all the time, you could be paying more for the same room. Now why pay more?

The form below is a Research Engine. It doesn't take bookings. Instead it lets you find the hotel booking website that offers the room you want at the lowest price. You can see and compare what different sites are offering, and then click to choose the one with the best price. Do this, and you're guaranteed to save a whole lot of money on your room reservations!

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Flight Checker

Flying somewhere? Say you're going to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Penang or Kuching to Singapore, which airline gives you the best rate for the date and time of your trip? Instead of visiting each airline website one by one, use our Flight Checker on the right to find out.

Just enter you trip details: where you will be flying to, your departure date and return date. Select the number of passengers, and then click search.

Our engine will return you a list of possible flights that you can take. You can compare the fare of different airlines for your trip. Click on your selected airline, and we transfer you to the airline website.

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Exploring Malaysia is researched and written by Timothy Tye. Content and articles in Exploring Malaysia are provided in goodwill and are believed to be correct at time of writing. While every reasonable care is taken to check and verify the information shared, Exploring Malaysia disclaims responsibility for its use. All pages may be printed out for your own personal, non-commercial use. Photographs appearing in Exploring Malaysia are available according to the licensing terms specified in its caption. Photographs not credited to a third party belong to Timothy Tye and may not be reused in any form unless you are first given permission. Write in to inquire if interested. Third party photographs are governed by their respective licenses.

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