Glossary: Baba Chinese
DEFINITION:
Descendants of marriages between Chinese men and Malay women, many of whom moved to Singapore from Malacca in the early nineteenth century. Although mixed parentage gradually disappeared through marriage with Chinese immigrants, the Babas usually spoke Malay or English as their first language and identified more closely with Singapore and Malaya than with China. After establishment of Straits Settlements (q.v.) in 1826, their descendants also came to be known as Straits Chinese (q.v.).