Chinese envoy proves ‘family’ ties cannot be broken
“As the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, I will continue to play the role as a friend of Chinese education.”
Lee Yuk Peng, The Ant Daily
“Allow me to love all of you, alright?”
These closing words were spoken by a distinguished foreigner and the silence was suddenly shattered as the entire floor packed with locals broke out in applause.
The foreigner’s last words were in support of Chinese education.
Those words uttered were part of the last sentence of Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, Huang Huikang, in his speech at the 7th Sim Mou Yu Award for teachers in Kajang on Oct 4.
Huang, who had just “got out of the woods” so to speak, from his Petaling Street visit which stirred quite a bit of controversy, seemed unperturbed by the incident.
At the awards ceremony for teachers named after the late Sim Mou Yu, an icon of Chinese education, Huang said China is willing to offer its assistance in promoting Chinese education in Malaysia.
This would encompass more Chinese teachers being sent to China for training and more Chinese teachers being sent to train Malaysian teachers.
More scholarships and study options would also be reserved for students from Chinese independent schools.
Both Sin Chew Daily and Kwong Hwa Daily quoted Huang praising the untiring efforts that have gone into ensuring Chinese education continued to exist in Malaysia, which was why, according to him, China has no reason to worry about the future of Malaysia.
“Malaysia and China are good neighbours, good friends, good partners who are in the same boat, going through thick and thin together.
“We all sincerely hope that Malaysians live in peace and harmony, moving towards its vision in a steady manner.”
He walked the talk by showing that the fiasco involving him being summoned by the Foreign Affairs Ministry did not affect the good ties between Malaysia and China which he further illustrated by promising to assist in Chinese education like always.
“As the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia, I will continue to play the role as a friend of Chinese education.”
Huang praised Malaysia’s Chinese education for having a continuous chain right from primary to university level which has groomed large numbers of Chinese elites and future leaders of the country.
For this, he said that Chinese education in Malaysia did not only rank top among Southeast Asian countries but the world.
It was also reported that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, when meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping during the latter’s visit to US recently, spoke in Chinese.
“Currently 30 million people throughout the world are learning Chinese. United States President Barack Obama just announced that he wants to encourage one million Americans to learn Chinese.
“While many leaders are proud of those who can speak a sentence or two in Chinese, our Chinese educationists in Malaysia here are far-sighted enough long time ago. I have full respect for their commitment. Isn’t this a precious treasure for Malaysia?”
If so many people worldwide are trying to catch up by learning Chinese, doesn’t Malaysia have a competitive edge and advantage by having an existing system with students being able to converse in not one, but three languages, including Chinese?
Is Huang going to weather another storm because of his latest remarks? I hope not.
He had earlier provided an apt description of Malaysian Chinese, when he said: “China remains ‘an extended family’ to the Malaysian Chinese. Malaysian Chinese are like a daughter who has left after marriage.
“Chinese tradition would expect the daughter to remain with the husband’s family although the daughter’s occasional visits to the extended family are allowed.”
But love knows no boundary.
And that in a nutshell, should be something we Malaysians should be proud of.
After all, who else can claim to have an economic super power that the world is focused on as “family”?
