• The Mandarin term “海峡殖民地” is a paraphrase of the English term “Straits Settlements”.
• The Straits Settlements were also known to the early Chinese residents as “三州府” (literally, “three state government”) and “叻屿呷”, a concatenation of the names of the three constituent settlements: “石叻坡” (Singapore), “槟榔屿” (Penang), and “吗六呷” (Melaka). The term “州府” is made up of the words “州” (state) and “府” (government), and can be traced back to the administrative system set up in Tang-dynasty China which was used to centralise regional administrative power within the central government.
• In 1824, with the signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the British East India Company took over the port of Melaka from the Dutch. With that, they came to control the strategic Straits of Melaka, having earlier established themselves at Penang (1786) and Singapore (1819).
• In 1826, in order to unify the administrative and financial processes of the three settlements, facilitate the flow of labour and capital, and ensure the safety of trade routes across the Strait, the British government integrated the three territories into a single administrative unit, the Straits Settlements. The capital of the Straits Settlements was originally established in Penang but moved to Singapore in 1832.
• Between 1826 and 1866, the Straits Settlements came under the control of the Governor-General of India. In 1867, it became a Crown Colony under the direct control of the Colonial Office in London.
• In 1946, the Malayan Union was formed, and the Straits Settlements were dissolved. Singapore remained a Crown Colony.

In the Hokkien Dictionary compiled by Carstairs Douglas, the term “Baba” is defined as referring to mixed-race Chinese from the Straits Settlements. However, in reality, the term was used in the Straits Settlements for all Chinese born locally, regardless of whether one was of mixed parentage. (Lianhe Zaobao, 5/3/2020)