Sui haak literally means "water guest". A sui haak was a Chinese former recruit who had substantial knowledge o f a country or region overseas. Sui haaks or courier-agents usually had a close working relation with the inn keepers at the ports in China, Hong Kong and around Southeast Asian region.48 Inns or lodging houses sold passage tickets they obtained from shipping brokers to the courier-agents for a profit o f three or four dollars on each ticket. They also debited rent for accommodation provided for new emigrants to the courier-agents. In return, the courier-agents sold the tickets and travelling accommoda tion to emigrants for a tidy profit which enabled them to settle their bills and accrued
^Notification No. 612 - The Aliens Ordinance, 1932, in the Straits Settlements Gazette No. 27 o f 23rd March, 1934 [No. 288/33],
48Recruiter-couner also refers to “sui haak” as in George L. Hicks (ed ), Overseas Chinese Remittances from Southeast Asia. 1910-1940, Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 31.
84
interests with the inns later, depending on the arrangements with the inns. Cantonese women who decided to emigrate on their own usually engaged the services o f courier- agents to assist them with their travelling arrangements, accommodation and financial loans on certain occasions.
The fact that courier-agents usually came from the same village or clan group as the potential migrants put them in a favourable and trusted role as migration brokers. For many o f these female emigrants who did not have the advantage o f established familial networks overseas, the sui haak represented a crucial link to the new country where they planned to go. In the words of a Cantonese female emigrant:
“I left my village at the age o f 26... People migrate when they are attracted by foreign
places, like nowadays many people want to go to Canada and Hong Kong. But very few
from my village did this. There must be a link before people will migrate... People do not
migrate without first knowing someone in the place where they go.”49
Apart from lone emigrants, women from the same village who wanted to emigrate together also sought the professional services o f sui haak. Lau Siew Yong, a Cantonese domestic amah in Singapore, recalled her migration experience as follows:
“I contacted a sui haak who came from my village and came [to Smgapore] with him and
other chi mui [sister] from my village. I paid him ten dollars. We first travelled from Canton
to Hong Kong and then proceeded from there to Singapore The passage fare was about
thirty dollars and it included food. The journey took about four to five days.”50
From the above accounts, it is difficult to gauge which migrants travelled in the company o f sui haak to Malaya. However, it is possible to establish some general rules regarding female migration passage and the engagement o f sui haak in travelling arrangements.
First, a lone female migrant was more likely to emigrate in the company o f a sw haak for convenience purposes. Another reason was that o f safety, since the sui haak usually came from the same village as the woman. This did not imply that all courier-agents were trustworthy but the illegal or criminal activities o f human trafficking had been signifi cantly reduced due to the enforcement o f stricter immigration regulations since 1930 with the abolition o f brothels and the introduction o f Mui Tsai Ordinance in 1933. Second,
49Quoted from interview conducted by Sankar with Jing Yih Sifu between 1975 and 1976 at a vegetarian hall m Hong Kong. Sankar, "Spinster Sisterhoods,” pp. 60-1.
women migrants who had no overseas contacts outside China were also more likely to engage the professional services of sui haaks. They usually found employment in a new country through recommendations made by the sui haak to the headman/foreman known as "kepala"51 of factories, plantations or other establishments. As for the job o f domestic servants, the courier-agents often knew o f existing vacancies and directed female migrants to those households. In many cases, the courier-agent acted as the "eyes and ears" for employers on the lookout for workers. Third, women who travelled in the company o f their husbands, family members or a female relative/friend were less inclined to enlist the services o f sui haaks.
The few exceptions to the rules were women who migrated on their own either as married women or widows without the company o f courier-agents. In most cases, these women had endured many hardships prior to migrating and the journey to new places did little to intimidate their self-reliant spirits. Sui haaks also served as couriers o f letters, remittances or goods to families o f overseas Chinese on their return trips to China. They also brought back Chinese goods and merchandise to sell to the immigrant community on their return trips from China. But most importantly were the professional services they rendered as a trusted guide, travelling compamon and job informant. They were indirectly responsible for bringing a great many single female migrants in search o f job opportunities to Malaya.
5.7 Conclusion
The liberal immigration policy governing Chinese female immigrants came to an end in January 1938 when the government extended its quota system to cover the number of female arrivals to Malaya as well. Initially 3,000 Chinese female immigrants were allowed entry into Malaya but by April 1938, that figure was reduced to only 500 a month. Immigration cut-backs were necessary in view o f the increasing tendency for women immigrants to seek factory and agricultural employment.52 The unexpected huge influx
51 "Kepala” is a Malay word that literally meant “head”. In this context, the colloquial usage o f “kepala” referred to a leader in a workplace.
'2 Joyce Ee, "Chinese Migration to Singapore, 1896-1941," Journal o f Southeast Asian History, March 1961, Vol. 2, No. 1, p. 44.
86 o f Chinese female immigrants in the 1920s and 1930s gave the government reasonable grounds to believe that the problem o f unemployment among women was certain to arise unless immediate measures were taken to control the female immigration intake as well. Thus concern over female unemployment was realized when the international restriction on rubber, which began in 1934, severely curtailed the production o f rubber and resulted in the closure of many resin factories that employed a large workforce o f Chinese female immigrants by the late 1930s. The Cantonese female emigrants affected by the rubber slump moved to other employment sectors. Female immigrants from Sanshui county who had previously worked in factories, went on to work in construction sites as earth carriers. Single women (mainly sworn spinsters) and the bridedaughters sought paid domestic employment in large cities such as Singapore, Penang, Ipoh and Kuala Lumpur.
87 A landing permit issued to a Chinese immigrant after the implementation o f the Aliens Ordinance, 1932. I - * ' - M * ’ STSH?* G f t t t f t ÖH-IRT-a —KJsTriffewrii'c?m u t-oLw» jh«*^ «Aiflifi ' ü«n^Ä«ftfa &»*« k £Kfetlt&S73 Mr *15 ■ * -AKK cli-Lö 1 d C 1 0 * / , ^ ° ; r " »-'3* ( I ) A . r ^ f r " 1 l3J1 '-*■. ’ £■*}> T i . , i j J , i ^ a C j j C - I L . I
,i>1“ e’’" ^— kS1 Jir*' a> <0 ;
J ■ • »-4— ^ <-C , i“* Jr 6-J ojy-^Cj (?) j 'A r * ' v f j ^ l 0>-T* ^3-?^ O j j - J i j c - t 1 , *. ^ ’:' •u- J’ ru j'>J £. cr.jj'« PT? i;. . c>C— ' pf •>•*•’ *>V^ °3>- j ' / •j'/A. ’ Ji w -JaU (J) I ». ' . .s.f£jCI &fS It; : •( fr ^>-u • j 'y ^ - ^ 'A*1 w in
h?%; 7lx>' r51“ *UA 'l;^A ii, a