What the Chinese want and why we wouldn’t ‘balik’ China

 

In Malaysia, even if we don’t get whatever rights we are supposed to get as a Malaysian citizen, we can still behave like how Chinese do in other countries where we are not citizens… just do our work or run our businesses quietly and carry out our traditions and beliefs and be ok with it. But some people just can’t leave us alone even to do that.

Carol Ng, letter to FMT 

What do the Chinese want? It’s pretty amazing after 55 years in the same country that our leaders still have no clue to the answer to this question. And even more amazing is the demand for Chinese to go back to China, and in the meantime, Indians go back to India too. I’m not sure what makes them think China or India would take us ‘back’ in the first place. Both countries are so populated, the governments there would not only deport us, they might ask us to take some of their own citizens back with us while we’re at it.

This is my attempt to answer this apparently very elusive question. I apologise if my views don’t represent those of all Malaysian Chinese, but I believe that for most of us, going ‘back’ to China, even if we legally could, is nowhere on the list. I’m also about to highlight some negative perceptions about the Chinese, which I’m not afraid to point out being a Chinese well, as I believe it’s important to be able to acknowledge when your own people are doing something wrong and not be afraid to criticise it…. Something that quite a few people in this country seem to be unable to do and would rather ignore the wrong others are doing just because they are of the same race or religion.

China may be making a name for itself as a technological powerhouse, but the country is run by a dictatorship. There is no freedom of speech, and there are heavy restrictions on use of the internet, the press, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly. There is a huge disparity between rich and poor in China, social injustices are high and people have become so indifferent to each other that people can walk pass an injured and dying toddler on the road and not be bothered to help. Basically, everything we don’t like about Malaysia, is a lot worse in China.

For my Indian friends, it’s pretty much a similar case in India. If we did leave the country, why go to a country where life would be more difficult? If we migrated anywhere, we’d rather go to Singapore, America, Australia, United Kingdom, which may not be perfect, but there is more equal opportunity, more freedom, higher pay and a good chance at a better livelihood. But for a lot of us, we’d rather stay in Malaysia, simply because most of our happy memories, friends and family are here. Plus the food here is just too good.

So if we don’t like China and we’d rather not run off to some developed country, why do we Chinese complain so much about Malaysia if it’s not that bad? I believe it can be summarised as follows:

• We want to show off how successful we are compared to others
• We want to have pride in what we earn, not receive money for nothing
• We want a secure future for our children
• And even if our government doesn’t give us what we want, then at the very least,
• We want to be left alone to do earn our livelihood and carry out our traditions and beliefs without others threatening our ways.

Every Chinese New Year, the typical Chinese parent will go round getting updates from family members asking what their kids are doing, then tell what their kids are doing, then compare which kid is doing better in life. It’s annoying for the children, but it encourages competitiveness. Same goes for Malaysia. We know it is a good country. But when we see other countries that are economically stronger and richer, we know it could be a better country.

Malaysia is rich in natural resources, which when managed well, would help Malaysia develop quickly. Yet when we visit our tiny neighbour down south, we have to pay double the price for the same thing. Singapore’s GDP ranks among the top 5 in the world, but Malaysia is all the way below, at 55th. How can this be? We are losing face to our tiny neighbour! So we complain because we want to be better than them.

The Chinese like taking pride in telling people whatever we earned was through our own hard work. But if a Chinese is not working and just receiving money from elsewhere, we may think they are lucky, but not someone very respectable as they are not contributing to society. This is partly why the Chinese do not favour monetary handouts like BR1M. There is no pride in receiving money for doing no work. This is why we hate corruption so much as corrupted people are essentially getting money for nothing. It’s especially annoying when we know that money was earned through our own hard work to begin with.

The Chinese win hands down

In fact, China’s Chinese hate it so much that corrupted officials get the death sentence. The other reason is because monetary handouts are not a sustainable form of income as the money is used up quickly and there is no guarantee it will be continuous, so what’s happens when such handouts stop? It is not a long term benefit for us and for our future generations. And for Chinese, ensuring a secure future for our children is very important. So much that some poor parents work all their life and stay frugal just to ensure their children get a good education and are successful in future.

So what would be better is to provide scholarships to our intelligent children.

You would never see the Chinese demand scholarships for poorly performing Chinese students to get scholarships, far as we are concerned, if you cannot study, you don’t deserve a scholarship. We only complain when a student has performed very well in his or her studies, but is still unable to get a scholarship in Malaysia just because they are not of a certain race. Security for future generations also includes ensuring costs of living remains low. Which is why we always complain that costs of living, housing, transportation and practically everything is skyrocketing but our salaries are not. This is not a sustainable future for our children. Not for any Malaysian children, for that matter.

The Chinese also really like money. We like it so much that in some Western countries, while the local shops all shut at 5 or 6pm or locals are going on strike to demand improved labour rights, who are the ones still having shops open until late at night? Those crazy Chinese. Similarly in Malaysia, even if we don’t get whatever rights we are supposed to get as a Malaysian citizen, we can still behave like how Chinese do in other countries where we are not citizens… just do our work or run our businesses quietly and carry out our traditions and beliefs and be ok with it.

But some people just can’t leave us alone even to do that. They want to burn our bibles, which we use to minister to our fellow Christians. And even for our Indian friends who also want to do their own thing quietly, they’re also not left alone by some jokers who had the gall to put the head of their most sacred animal in front of a Hindu temple. Why? Because we are perceived as a major threat to their race. The Chinese make up 23% of the Malaysian population and Indians even less at 7%. How logical is it that we would be a threat to a race that makes up well over half the country’s population?

While some extremists are busy lodging reports and protesting about anything and everything that they perceive to be a threat to their race or religion, we just continue doing our work. Even when the blogger Papagomo made an incredibly scary suggestion to “rise, riot and kill all Chinese bastards in Malaysia, and slaughter them like slaughtering pigs.”, the most Chinese do is complain online or among each other, and then back to doing our own thing.

We are so busy with our lives that the primary complainant, Jamilah Baharuddin, who lodged a report against the bigot Papagomo was ironically not even a Chinese! And instead of being appreciated, or at least left alone to focus on our work (which by the way, is how we improve the country’s economy), our beliefs are hijacked to demonstrate some misguided form of racial superiority, and we are told to go back to China. Which seems to show that some people are just way too free to do these kinds of things instead of doing actual work and contributing something to the development of our country.

The reality is Chinese make up the largest ethnic population in the world population, 20% to be exact. Together with Indians, who are also one of the largest, we could collectively take over the world if we want to. If anybody has rights to racial superiority, based on sheer numbers, the Chinese win hands down. But we don’t try to overthrow governments. We don’t proclaim supremacy over other races. We are perfectly ok spreading out all over the world and making ourselves minorities in other countries as long as there is freedom to practice our ways and good opportunity for economic success.

A lot of Malaysians have already left the country to find greener pastures elsewhere as they see better opportunity in other countries than here, which I personally find sad. As easy as it would be for me to leave too, I’d rather stay and continue to hope for Malaysia to truly become the racially harmonious and progressive country it proclaims itself to be instead of a divided people that have fallen to the tricks and lies of certain unscrupulous politicians.

Wishing my Malay friends a Selamat Hari Raya and hope that this helps create a better understanding and respect between all races and religions.