Why the Chinese are Great – a reply by Michael Chua

I believe I am not a racist but if I am one then it must have been due to being discriminated against for decades.

Dear RPK,

I hope you are doing well.

I refer to your refusal to make public my apology which I posted on your ‘Why The Chinese Are Great’ article comment section. I take that as your refusal to accept my apology. That is your right which is fine by me.

I am a nobody and consider myself not very successful in life but since you have written an entire article criticising and condemning my comments and how much you felt insulted by it, in the name of fair play, I hope you can give me some space on your blog, of which I am an avid reader, to publish this letter to clear my name.

I am not a highly educated person. I am equipped with only a SPM certificate from a Sekolah Kebangsaan. So do bear with me if the standard of my English language is not up to your level. I also tend to use wrong words to describe a situation because I misunderstood their meaning. Mind you, English is only my third language, and being a plumber, I really don’t have many opportunities to improve on it.

I have been patient and read many of your ‘cheong hei’ articles in the past. So this time its the other way round, I hope you can be patient with me and read this letter to the end however boring it might be.

I come from a poor family. My father who was a tailor passed away when I was in Standard 1. My mother tapped rubber in the morning and grew vegetables/reared livestock in the afternoon to bring my siblings and me (eight of us) up. I worked part time at a joss-sticks factory or construction sites near my house before or after school from standard 6 onwards to Form 4 to lessen her burden. Our wooden house didn’t have running water and electricity until after I completed my secondary education. In spite of the hardship, my mother never asked or received help from anybody. Instead, she was a proud and dignified person who refused to be looked down by others. To her, to ask for help or sympathy is a sign of weakness and a big no no. I am sure she would rather go hungry than to go begging. She inculcated in us (my siblings and me) the value of hard work and honesty and never to take anything that doesn’t belong to us.

Against all odds, I did well in my SPM examinations although it was not straight A’s; straight A’s were almost unheard of then. To make a long story short, I did not further my studies and ended up in the construction sector. I was dejected seeing my friends from a certain race being given scholarships to further their studies either locally or overseas even though their examination results were not as good as mine. I never envied the recipients other than feeling being treated unfairly by the authorities.

Now back to the comments which inspired you to write an article within a few hours. This must be a record of sorts for you because I have never seen such a swift response from you before. It was like you had been waiting for a fish to take the bait and suddenly the fish did and the fish was me.  To me, such a swift response can only mean 2 things. Either it’s bullshit or bulls eye. Tell me, do you think my comments are bullshit or did it hit the bull’s eye? You have twisted and misinterpreted my comments (either intentionally or unintentionally) to arouse your reader’s emotions to achieve your objectives, whatever it is. You also manipulated the comments section to publish only comments that suit your objectives. I believe there are many comments who are in favour of me which you refused to make public.

Firstly, I believe I am not a racist but if I am one then it must have been due to being discriminated against for decades. I am definitely not a radical or extremist which you accused me of. My comments were made in good faith. On hindsight, I admit I was wrong for over generalising but it was definitely not meant as an insult to the Malay race or anybody else for that matter. It could have been written in a more tasteful and less blunt manner but it wouldn’t have created an impact like has now. Throw the cat among the pigeons as you say.  It was only my opinion on how the Malays can be more successful, which doesn’t mean they are not successful now. For me, the Malays need to be successful for Malaysia to have a bright future and I want a bright future for my kids. I hope more Malays to be successful because my kids’ future is tied to them.

Day in and day out, we read and hear in the mass media that the Malays need to be protected from this and that and threatened by so and so. This is like an over-protective parent who refuse to let the children out of the house because they might get hurt or bullied. Invariably, after being repeatedly bombarded with such news, it is accepted as the truth which of course it is not. I have absolute confidence that they can be competitively successful if given the right training and exposure. They don’t need to be given fish, just give them the fishing rods.

I think I better stop here lest my opinions are interpreted as an insult by someone. I am not a politician who can twist words like munching vegetables. I call a spade a spade, not a big spoon.

Again, I would like to apologise to everybody out there who felt disturbed or insulted by my earlier comments. It was really not intentional. Together we pray for a better Malaysia where there is enough space for everyone.