Their origins
Victor Purcell’s The Chinese in Malaya, published in 1948, did not say that the Babas and Nyonyas were from a mixed Chinese-Malay parentage. He said they would have Malay or half-caste mothers, but the children were almost always brought up in the ways of their fathers. (P 61).
In Eclectic Cultures for All (2019), Tan Sooi Beng suggested that the Babas and Nyonyas living in the Straits Settlements were locally born Chinese who had adopted Malay dress, culture, and music and spoke a type of Malay patois.
The men, i.e., the Babas, to differentiate themselves from the newcomers from China (called sinkeh), started to wear western attire and called themselves Straits Chinese or Straits-born Chinese. (P 8).
Tan Chee Beng asserts that the Peranakan Chinese were children of local women who were mainly non-Muslims; they did not have mixed Chinese-Malay parentage. His view is contrary to the view of Felix Chia, author of The Babas (1993).
In my view, the Peranakan (locally born) Chinese women most probably adopted the Malay form due to influence from the local Malay women. As for the men, the Babas, some may have married local Muslim women, but I doubt this is a sine qua non to be considered a Baba. More likely their dressing is to differentiate themselves from the sinkehs. To show they are in a higher class in Straits Settlements society.
