Jawi Peranakan

[2][3] Since Penang and Singapore's founding in 1786 and 1819, the number of South Asian immigrants to these colonies grew rapidly.

However, Jawi Peranakan ancestry does include a large number of other South Asians, from northern India and Pakistan.

More broadly, South Asian Muslims without mixed parentage but born in the Straits Settlements were sometimes also called Jawi Peranakan, as were children from Arab-Malay marriages.

The Jawi Peranakan chose their spouses carefully, screening prospective matches for wealth and status, rather than racial origins.

This enabled intermarriage between Jawi Peranakan and other prosperous local Muslim communities, like the Arabs, Indians and the Malay aristocrats.

Despite assimilating into the Malay culture, the Jawi Peranakan maintained a distinct identity which was captured in their architecture, clothing, jewelry and cuisine.

Also, the community placed a strong emphasis on getting an English education, especially since many Jawi Peranakans held Colonial Government jobs.

The Jawi Peranakan were enterprising and progressive and by the late 19th century, they had accumulated considerable wealth and status and contributed to the economy as merchants and landlords.

There are a few Jawi Peranakan families left in Singapore and Malaysia, especially Penang, which used to be their largest settlement.

The Great Depression led many Jawi Peranakan business empires to bankruptcy and a severe fall in rent collected by landlords.

Furthermore, the Jawi Peranakan tended to be reformist and they challenged the authority of Malay royalty in religious matters.

In colonial Singapore and British Malaya, the Jawi Peranakan remain a community held in high regard by the local Malays primarily due to the educational achievements and the wealth inherited.

Due to intermarriage with other Muslim communities, many of their descendants inherited Arab (Syed, Sayyid) or to some extent Malay titles (Tengku, Wan, Megat).