Do I owe you anything, Encik Awang?

In an article entitled The Malays are betrayed published on Utusan Malaysia recently, Awang Selamat said Chinese Malaysians were immigrants, and were indebted to the Malays.

By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily

I do not know who Awang Selamat is, but he keeps haunting me, claiming that I've owed him something!

Other than banks, I don't think I have owed anyone anything.

All the things I've had, from the birth certificate when I was born, to the car I bought at the age of 22, and my house at 30… have all been acquired in a clean way, including my self respect.

Moreover, because I do not know Awang Selamat at all, as I said earlier, how could I possibly owe him anything?

But in an article entitled The Malays are betrayed published on Utusan Malaysia recently, Awang Selamat said Chinese Malaysians were immigrants, and were indebted to the Malays.

I am a Chinese Malaysian, one in the six million. He said the Chinese owed this and owed that, and as a Chinese, I can't help but ask: "What have I owed you?"

Some more, I am not an immigrant. My birth cert and IC, along with all the documents of my assets point to the fact that I am a rightful Malaysian citizen.

The Constitution protects my status, my rights as well as my properties. If I've done anything against the laws, I will be bound by the Malaysian laws, like anyone else.

Of course, I can say proudly that I have paid my income tax and owes not a cent.

Moreover, I have never betrayed my Malay friends. We treat one another sincerely and fairly.

When my old friend Ghaffar buys me teh tarik, I'll get him nasi lemak in return, even though nasi lemak is twenty cents more expensive than teh tarik.

But that's not because I feel I'm indebted to him; neither do I think he's trying to take advantage of me!

Right, Awang said Chinese Malaysians were getting more and more demanding, and racist, after the general elections last March.

What demands, or should I say what excessive demands, have the Chinese voiced up?

Scholarships? Land titles? Chinese primary schools? Democracy? Equality?

All I know is that these are reasonable requests from each and every citizen. As long as they are eligible, they should possess them.

It has nothing to do with race.

If we are denied of these things because of skin colour, then we must fight for them. This is not racism either.

Although I have no idea who Awang is, I know he is hiding under the protective net of Utusan Malaysia.

He may be an individual, or a group of individuals. And he may have his own hidden agendas for his displeasure with Chinese Malaysians.

A lawyer friend told me, it was an act of sedition just to brand ethnic Chinese Malaysians as immigrants, and that the police should probe the incident.

Or perhaps there should be someone making a police report, in particular those who claim they represent the six million Chinese Malaysians.