Rereading “Chinese Politics in Malaya”

(Malaysian Chinese News) – However, Wang Gungwu did not elaborate the fact that MCA had lost its representation in the 60s. This is also something MCA did not mention publicly until now.

Wang Gungwu is an authority in the field of overseas Chinese history. Many of his articles on the overseas Chinese society put forward the concept, analysis framework and observation, and are still valid.

In 1970, Wang Gungwu published an article “Chinese Politics in Malaya” in The China Quarterly published by the University of Cambridge. Although the article was fifty years old, some analytical frameworks and concepts in the text are still novel.

In that article, Wang Gungwu quoted the middle of the nineteenth Century to twentieth Century as an example, pointed out that the Chinese in accordance with their political orientation, could be divided into three groups. Group A’s political leaning is towards China, they felt that Malaysians were foreign immigrant, they cared about China politics but not politics in Malaya. At the end of the article Wang Gungwu had also pointed out that following the establishment of Malaysia, the number of people in Group A would be shrinking.

But Wang Gungwu did not expect the subsequent change, although Chinese in Peninsular Malaysia had almost dissociated with politics in China, the political development and factors of the three places on both sides of China still exert influence on Malaysian Chinese politics.

Group boundaries will alter

Group B has got the dominant number, they gave the impression of apolitical by focusing on their own economic and social status, and solving the relevant problems through Chinese organizations (or money). Basically, their involvement in politics were indirect, had no long-term objective on political development; they would support the existing political power who helped them in solving their problem. If we look at the modus operandi of the present Chinese societies around Peninsular Malaysia and their relationship with politics, we would be able to know that the modus operandi of Group B is still valid.

Group C care about domestic politics in Malaya and participated actively in politics. After World War II, as the number of settlers were increasing, their sense of belonging also enhanced and therefore, the group was expanding (especially the post independent era).

Although presently the number of people in Group B are still bigger than Group A and Group C, in future Group C may surpass Group B and Group A. Meanwhile, Wang Gungwu had also pointed out that the boundaries between the three groups are bound to change, for instance, people in Group A might cross over to Group B. If there’s a drastic change, people in Group A might also move over to Group C.

The most interesting part is the observation made by Wang Gungwu on the Chinese political development post-World War II. According to him, the formation and the rise of MCA was the combination of Group B and Group C. At that time, facing with the political development of Malaya’s independence, and also the political situation was becoming increasingly complex, Chinese in Group B were baffled. They preferred the independence of Chinese society, so they were inclined to support a political group that could represent the Chinese most.

Chinese organizations lead Chinese community

At that time, MCA was led by a group of Chinese belonged to Group C, they were on friendly term with the British colonial government and political elites of other ethnicities. At the beginning, they were merely helping the British colonial government to handle affairs regarding Chinese such as the new villages, but later evolved into political parties and participated in elections.

No doubt by helping the government in handling the Chinese affairs and also be friendly with the colonial government, was in line with the political psychology and position of many Chinese in Group B at that time. Therefore, MCA led by representatives from Group C had received support from majority of the Chinese in Group B, and it is also the reason why today MCA is still claiming itself to be representing Malaysian Chinese.

However, Wang Gungwu did not elaborate the fact that MCA had lost its representation in the 60s. This is also something MCA did not mention publicly until now. Owing to the failure of Merdeka University, and also the introduction of various assimilation education policies, Chinese in Group B were unhappy with MCA. In addition, growing local awareness within the Chinese pushed them further in safeguarding their political rights and disagree with MCA’s racial politics.

Therefore, at that time Chinese had two options, either to remain in MCA and let it be the racial political party, or to join other political parties, exercising the citizens’ rights to continue to participate in political appeal. This had resulted in the split of Group C–the formation of Parti Gerakan Malaysia, and also the strengthening of DAP, causing MCA to fail miserably in the 1969 general election (but not as serious as the landslide defeat in 2008 and 2013 general election).

Wang Gungwu’s article was released in 1970, it did not make prediction on the future of the development of MCA. But judging from the Chinese education movement as well as economics and cultural activities led by Chinese societies in the 70s and 80s, we can be sure that the social leadership of the Chinese community at that time was not with MCA but Chinese societies; MCA was no longer as representative as before.

The results in the recent last two general elections showed MCA has lost its representation in terms of Chinese politics.

This was what Wang Gungwu referred to at the end of the article, that is Group B and Group C were the pivot of Chinese politics in the future (here the future referred to the post 1969 era), while Group C would have to win the trust of majority of the people in Group B (regardless of whether it’s MCA, Gerakan or DAP), let them believe in democratic politics and safeguarding the rights of the people, only then they would be able to continue in marching forward. This sentence is still extremely elegant and valuable, while it’s prophecy for today’s Chinese politics is self-evident.