戰後馬來亞華人公民權與權益之爭議（1946-1948）

Controversies Regarding the Citizenship and Privileges of Malayan Chinese, 1946-1948

1945年日本戰敗，大英帝國重拾對馬來亞的控制。1946年出現的馬來亞聯盟（或名聯邦）計畫（Malayan Union），擴大了馬來亞境內公民權的取得資格，並且中國與英國於1943年簽訂的中英新約，中國與英國互為平等國家。此舉是否侵犯了馬來亞華人擁有的各種權益，立場不同的各界展開了一場激烈的論戰。1948年大英帝國毅然實施與馬來亞聯盟計畫迥然不同的馬來亞聯合邦（Federation of Malaya），短縮了公民權的取得，並且以馬來人的利益至上。面對此一變局，馬來亞華人團體各自採取了不同的管道來應變：有從政治層面下手的溫和手段，也有馬來亞共產黨的武裝暴動。在戰後初期，1940年代末的馬來亞地區經歷了種種巨大變革，華人就在這種劇烈變幻的世局中試圖力挽狂瀾，從公民權到通商權益的爭議，今日馬來西亞華人的處境漸漸在那時成形。本文擬從戰後英國對馬來亞的處理方式開始，公民權的爭議如何出現，以及中英新約帶給馬來亞華人的衝擊，最後馬來亞聯合邦出現，華人如何在這些爭議當中，定位自己。

After Japan surrendered in 1945, the British Empire took back its control over Malaya again. Malayan Union Proposal in 1946 loosened the restriction of the qualification of being a citizen of Malaya. Together with the consequence of the Sino-British Treaty for the Abolition of Extraterritoriality and Related Rights in China in 1943, Malayan Chinese needed to know whether this new stage of Chinese diplomacy would do Malayan Chinese harm and cause them to lose business privileges. Different groups of Malayan Chinese had a serious debate on this issue. 1948, the British Empire changed their policy and the Federation of Malaya was created, which was very different from the Malayan Union Proposal, reduced the qualification of citizenship, and the British considered the Malays’ interests as their biggest interest. Facing this variation, different groups of Malayan Chinese chose different ways to deal with that. Some chose to go through political process, while some chose to be armed and to fight for their ideals. Soon after Second World Wars, Malayan Chinese faced these challenges and tried to fight for their rights. Through the controversies of citizenship and privilege, the status of Malaysian Chinese had evolved during that period. Moreover, it was not only controversies which brought the issues of citizenship and privilege, but also a process of how Malayan Chinese positioned themselves.