Research - Definition of Malaysian Chinese

A Malaysian Chinese is an overseas Chinese who is a citizen or long-term resident of Malaysia. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the 15th and the mid-20th centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is less commonly used in Malaysia.
Early Chinese settlers (from the 15th century in Malacca; 18th century in Penang) form to a sub-group called Peranakan or Straits Chinese, who adopted many Malay customs and to varying extents (limited in Penang, almost complete in Malacca) the Malay language, but retained Chinese religious practices. In contrast, the newer arrivals (19th century and later) who retained Chinese customs were known as sinkheh (新客 - literally "new guests").
The Chinese in Malaysia maintain a distinct communal identity and rarely intermarry with native Malays for religious and cultural reasons. This is because most Malays are Muslim. Such a marriage in Malaysia requires the non-Muslim party to convert in order for the marriage to be legal. Most Malaysian Chinese consider their being "Chinese" at once an ethnic, cultural and political identity.
The Malaysian Chinese have traditionally dominated the Malaysian economy, but with the advent of racialist affirmative action policies by the Malaysian government to protect the interests of ethnic Malays, their share has eroded somewhat. On most counts however, they still make up the majority of the middle and upper income classes of Malaysia. As of 2004, the Chinese population in Malaysia is nearly 7 million people.......

url : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_Chinese