Huatuan Politics

This chapter outlines how “traditional” Chinese voluntary organizations (the huatuan) became an arena of political competition as a result of the financial support provided by local Chinese politicians-cum-businessmen in Sibu. Their predecessors originated during the early migration period as community centers, welfare organizations, and platforms for solidarity, serving the migrant laborers who hailed from the same ancestral homeland as the wealthy merchants-cum-clan leaders who served as founders. Some such organizations were established in relatively recent years, but despite the institution of professional management systems, they continued to operate akin to their older counterparts. The “reciprocal” relationship between these ethnic organizations and their affluent patrons, who co-opted them as extensions of the Sarawak United People’s Party’s machinery, is examined in detail. Prominent organizations were often financially supported by these individuals, yet they were not a monolithic space: indeed, diverse ideological views could still be espoused within their walls. Three key case studies are discussed here, namely the Sibu Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the United Chinese Associations, and the United Association of Private Chinese Secondary Schools. As I argue, however, these organizations’ decline in social influence indirectly led to the fall of mass support for Chinese-based political parties in the twenty-first century.