There were several reasons for this
a) extreme poverty of the family
b) need for boys to carry on the surname
c) too many children during the time when no contraception was available
d) the grandparents just wanted to keep the boys in the family
e) irresponsible fathers who deliberately sold the baby girls for cash
This photo shows Regina Ranti, my friend from Kapit who told me the story of how her Chinese Grandmother was sent across the Batang Ai to Indonesia just before the Japanese came to the Second Division to be adopted by the Iban family. Today she is still looking for her Chinese relatives.
f) during the Japanese occupation many girls were given to the Malay and Iban families to protect them from dangers because the Chinese knew that they would be protected. Boatloads of Chinese girls were sent across Batang Ai for example when the Chinese heard that the Japanese were coming. These girls were given to Indonesian Dayaks. Today many of them are still alive to tell the story.
g) Some girls were given away because they were very sickly and those parents who were superstitious would go to the mediums who advised them to give them away so that they could survive some health threatening issues.
Giving the girls away to other races was thus a very acceptable practice.
When I was in Form One, there were four Malay girls in my class who admitted that they were Chinese girls given to Malay families. They did well in school and did not have any emotional problems. In fact one was so loved by the family that she went to her pilgrimage when she was in Form Two and we had to call her Hajjah, an honourable religious status name.
There were tales of discrimination too
a) girls were married off early at age even 16,
b) girls who had to stop studying at Form 3
c) girls who had to earn a living as maids in wealthy homes
d) girls who had to tap rubber
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