馬來半島華人甲必丹制度的演變

The Evolution of Chinese Kapitan System in Malay Peninsula

甲必丹制度（ Kapitan System ），最初由西方殖民者在馬來半島對不同種族 （華人、印度人、阿拉伯人、馬來人等）實行的管理制度。此制度源自於葡萄牙佔領馬六甲後，在處理諸多繁雜的港貿事務時，因面對諸多問題，因而推行「甲必丹末」（ Capitao-Mor ）制度。之後，歷經荷蘭及英國殖民統治者繼續推行， 並透過甲必丹制度來維持當地治安。 1808 年與 1826 年，英國人先後在檳榔嶼與 馬六甲終止此制度。雖然此制度不再受到西方殖民者所用，但馬來統治者的土邦卻效仿西方殖民者，推行該制度。華人甲必丹為該制度中的族群領袖之一，經過葡萄牙、荷蘭及英國西方殖民統治時期及馬來半島各個馬來土邦的發展歷史，華人甲必丹都扮演著重要的角色。從前人研究成果觀之，馬來半島華人甲必丹的歷史，並沒有詳細的論述，而且研究都較專注在移居歷史較長的地方或著名的華人甲必丹，如馬六甲及吉隆坡的華人甲必丹。除此之外，前人多專注于論述華人甲必丹的生平事蹟，較少針對此制度在馬來半島的演變作研究。因此，本論文嘗試整理出馬來半島華人甲必丹制度的發展脈絡，以期填補此項研究的不足之處。

Kapitan System is originally developed by the Western colonialists in the MalayPeninsula to implement system of management on people of different races (Chinese,Indian, Arab, Malay etc.). This system was derived from the occupation of Portuguesein Malacca. Since many problems were faced in dealing with port matters, thus thisled to the implementation of Capitao Mor system. After that, the Kapitan System wascontinued to maintain the local security during the domination of Dutch and British.In 1808 and 1826, the British terminated the system respectively in Penang and Malacca. Although this system was no longer used by the Western colonialists, thestates of the Malay rulers followed the example of Western colonizers to implementthe system. Chinese Kapitan was one of the leaders in the system. The ChineseKapitan played an important role in the domination period of Western colonial rule ofPortugal, Dutch and British as well as the development of Malay states. From theobservation of previous studies, besides, the history of Chinese Kapitans in the MalayPeninsula does not attract enough attention from scholars, the preview studies alsofocus more on historical places or well-known Chinese Kapitans such as the ChineseKapitans in Malacca and Kuala Lumpur. In addition, the focus more on the discourseof Chinese Kapitan's life story, then scholars in the part on the evolution of ChineseKapitan System in the Malay Peninsula. Therefore, this paper attempts to examine thedevelopment of Malay Peninsula Chinese Kapitan system, in order to fill up theinadequacies of this field.