Chinese Associations under The Power Structure of Pang: Taking the Bendong Chinese Town Hall in Malaysia as an example

Southeast Asian Chinese society is based on “Pang”, which can be simply understood as various geo-based ethnic/dialect communities. “The Power Structure of Pang Politics” is the internal organization structure of each community and the relationships between various “Pangs” consist of both competition and cooperation. Same with the Malaysian Chinese society as a whole, the Malaysian Bentong Chinese society is also a “Pang” co-existing society, with Cantonese (Guangdong) community, Hokkien (Fujian) community, Hakka community, Kwangsi (Guangxi) community and Hailam (Hainan) community. Even now, this “Pang” phenomenon still exists. The five comuunities (the Chinese called them “Wu Pang”) set up various associations with different ties between one and others. The Bentong Chinese Town Hall (Huatang in short form) was established by the five comuunities with the support of the British colonial government. The initial purpose was to reduce “Pang” fighting and maintain order and stability in the Chinese community. It is the highest leading organization of Bentong Chinese associations, and it is also the most typical “inter-Pang” organization. In this organization, the competition and cooperation between various communities was most directly presented, which is a typical case for the study of the power structure of “Pang”. Huatang was established a century ago under the background of competing and fighting between “Pangs”in Bentong, and the need to forge cooperation. Since then, based on the size of the communities, as well as the strength of their political and economic impacts, the various “Pangs” took their turn respectively to lead the Huatang during different periods of history, including the aiding China and resistance against Japanese aggression, Post World War II recovery, Emergency Period and independence of Malaysia until today, made the Huatang played different social functions in different time periods.