The Star:Asia’s kung fu star puts foot in mouth

INSIGHT DOWN SOUTH
By SEAH CHIANG NEE

Jackie Chan’s assertion that the Chinese need to be controlled has not gone down well in this city state whose people want more freedom.

ASIA’S popular kung fu star Jackie Chan has touched on one of Singapore’s – and Asia’s – current pressing debates when he said in China: “I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not. We Chinese need to be controlled (or else) we’ll just do what we want.”

Read more>>

Early migrants, “Foreigners the bane of neighbours”

THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK?

 

EARLY MIGRANTS HATE THE NEW COMERS?

Foreigners the bane of neighbours

From ANOTHER WORRIED RESIDENT of Kuala Lumpur: I REFER to Worried Resident’s letter on “Disgusted by behaviour of foreign workers,” (The Star, Nov 9).

….Since then, we have had to put up with workers bathing, brushing teeth and washing their laundry in front of the house every day………..

Then both of you and the STAR editors who think it is fit to bash up poor foreign workers should all go back to INDIA, CHINA OR INDONESIA where your ancestors came. Because according to your logic and anti-foreigner concepts, your ancestors SHOULD ALSO SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO COME HERE, because all first generation migrants who are not professional migrants are dirty, doing dangerous and non-dignified low pay jobs that the locals shun.

ACTUALLY ALMOST THE WHOLE POPULATION OF SINGAPORE ARE MIGRANTS BUT THEY ALL ARE ARROGANT ON NEW COMERS. BUT MOST OF THEM ARE COWARDS/EUNUCHS AND DARE NOT EVEN SAY ANYTHING ABOUT THE LEE DYNASTY. BUT THEY WILL BULLY OTHERS EVERYWHERE, IN THE CYBERSPACE OR EVEN IN WIKI. 

Chinese; Are they too clever, selfish or cowards?

    Chinese avoid confrontation with authorities.

Are they too clever, selfish or cowards?

Burmese Chinese and Malaysian Chinese are the behaving the same way.

Before reading about Malaysian Chinese in the_THE CHINESE, THEIR HOUSES HAVE NO WINDOWS by a Malaysian banker, please  taste back some Burmese Chinese stories/comments.From Irrawady, By Shah Paung November 12, 2007

The junta’s top leader, Snr Gen Than Shwe, is known to despise Muslims and Chinese people who live in Burma. However, most Chinese in Burma are business people and were not directly involved in the September uprising. In Mandalay, home to thousands of Chinese immigrants, most doors remained closed during the protests, a sign that the ethnic Chinese were not in support of the demonstrators. The Muslim minority, on the other hand, played an active part in the pro-democracy demonstrations, just as they have throughout the country’s troubled recent history.

“We cannot say that the demonstrations were not related to Muslims just because they were led by Buddhist monks,” Pan Cha concludes. “We were all born and live in Burma and should not discriminate among each other. We must work together toward democracy.”

Ko Moe Thee Zone’s announcement regarding SPDC crony businessmen

Now, we see the Muslims and Indians participating in the monks led peoples protesting. However, the Chinese seem to be curiously missing – in shape or form – within the context of the current protests.

Are they against the current protests or in support of the protests? Or simply indifferent to any of this since they already have a stronghold over Burma’s economy and anything that takes attention away from them would be positive?

Either way, the bigger question here is not a question of why aren’t the Chinese involved in these protest rather when will the Chinese get involved. The bottom line is why do the minorities, specifically the Chinese and the so called Indians or Muslims, continue to feel disenfranchised?

For Malaysiakini readers :

THE CHINESE, THEIR HOUSES HAVE NO WINDOWS

Saturday, March 29, 2008 at 8:06 PM Posted by jatt

THE CHINESE, THEIR HOUSES HAVE NO WINDOWS

This is a story from a banker (name witheld).*

I looked out the window.
And I saw.

Thousands and thousands of Malays in the Bersih Rally. They were fighting their own kind for a cause they believed in. And they risk being ostracized by their Muslim brothers. And they risk much.

I looked out the window.
And I saw.

Thousands and thousands of Indians holding the picture of Gandhi in the streets. All were teargassed and many beaten with batons. At Batu Caves , they were locked in, pumped with tear gas and sprayed with chemical water. 80 are awaiting trial. 31 are charged for attempted murder of a policeman that attacked them. All their leaders are under ISA. The one that got away fled the country.

I looked out the window.
And I saw.

Thousands and thousands of Chinese closing their doors. Minding their own business. Watching the soap operas. Playing mahjong. Going to the gym. Planning for holidays. Eating bah kuet teh. Enrolling their children in private schools. Going for line dancing. Changing to a bigger car. Perming their hair brown. Going to the movies. Shopping.

The Chinese. They don’t look out the window.
Their houses. Have no windows.
______________________

It is because of 3 generations of ‘keeping quiet’ that we are in a political quagmire of sorts today.

My story may not be the same for others, but it is no doubt a story of 3 generations of political oblivion -a saga of unremitting circumstances that has ‘trained’ us to look the other way – to economic wealth, education and religion. Politics because a ‘dirty word’ in our home; as a Chinese we should disengage ourselves completely from this ‘unproductive’ activity.

This is my story.

My grandfather took a ship to join the gold rush in

San Francisco
around the turn of the last century. Halfway on a Chinese junk, he got sea-sick, so he jumped ship at Singapore .. Traveling up the hinterland, he focused on survival. Hungry from famine in Southern China , he vowed never to be hungry again. Politics was the last thing on his mind. Keeping his belly filled was his only priority. It was an obsession that dictated everything he did.

My father worked for the British. One day, forced by the Japanese to do ‘national service’, he was selected to look after food supplies. The family was starving during the war, so he stole rice under his care and hid them in sweet potatoes when he cooked rice. Our neighbors always thought we were eating sweet potatoes we grew on the fringes of the jungle, when in actual fact, we always had rice.

(As a matter of fact, it is more nutritious to eat sweet potatoes than rice….sweet potatoes, the red variety, has carotenes-vitamin A precursors-other nutrients & fibre. Polished rice has mainly carbohydrate.)

My grandmother sews clothes for the women day and night to survive and got paid in Japanese currency.. When the war was over, these Japanese notes – which were unnumbered – became valueless. The family again struggled to bring food on the table. It was a litany of hunger and fear in our house.

When it came to my generation, my father thought education was the passport to economic freedom for us. He refused for us to be a contractor like him and forced us to study. In university, he forbade me to get involved in politics. He went as far as to refuse me to study law so that I would not get involved in politics. I was forced to study a course I did not like because he wanted me to be a banker.

Needless to say, I made the same mistake when it came to my children. I told them also the ‘passport to heaven’ was also to study. But I refused to dictate what they should study but instead asked them to study what they liked. I ensured they got the best education. I also reminded everyone that they do not talk about politics on the dinner table.

My story is not uncommon; such is the struggle and saga common to thousands of Malaysian homes.

We are cajoled by our parents to look at bread-and butter issues. We are told that politics are not for us. We are told that our ‘houses have no windows’, so mind your own business and close the door. We are told that if this country is not good enough, you must get a good education and emigrate.

The Chinese? We are told this is not our home. We have no home. We are the Jews of the East. When trouble starts, we ought to look the other way. If it gets worse, we emigrate. Money talks. So long we have money, some country will take us.

100 years of ignorance. Is it blissful? No. *It is tragic*.

Credit : Taken from http://groups.google.co.uk/group/sangkancil posted by Mei Joon Quek

Labels: Inside Malaysian Head, Malaysian Politics

1 comments:

  gnh

March 30, 2008 5:47 AM

While I agree with the writer that the political activism is not the strong point of the Chinese here, you will note that the election this year showed it is at an embryonic stage at least. We may not be waving placards and throwing rocks in the streets, but the act of voting for the Opposition does constitute political activism on a personal level. And the results are no less astounding.

There are reasons for this state of affairs. Two and an half millenia of Confucian teaching have taught us that us to value social harmony and eschew disorder. In our circumstances, the fires of May 13 have seared into our collective memory that sometimes political victories come at a high cost. So for 40 years, we have learned to get along; we get used to some political power and in return we were granted the right to pursue economic goals. And at every GE since that fateful date, we have marked our ballot papers against the sign of the Dacing, an almost Pavlovian act rather than one of reasoned judgment. And invariably, prior to each GE, we are our fears are stoked by the firebrands in UMNO Youth.

The election this year is a sea change. There are many factors that came into play. But from a personal point of view, the sight of our Minister of Education waving the keris was the straw that broke the came’s back. If the minister could elicit that response from me, the most placid and politically apathetic of people, then I suppose the vast majority of Chinese here would have felt mortally insulted. It made voting Opposition that much easier, something Anwar capitalised on and encouraged.

So while most of us of the older generation will retreat into out comfort zones after doing our duties as citizens, the younger generation will build upon what was achieved. In time, we hope to see them speaking out against injustice as Malaysians and not as members of a racial group. I look forward with optimism.

Please read my contribution in the Wikipedia enclyclopedia to know the basic spyche of Burmese Chinese which shaped the present mindset of Chinese in Myanmar.

In 1962, Ne Win led a coup d’état and declared himself head of state. Although a kabya himself, he banned Chinese-language education, and created other measures to compel the Chinese to leave. Ne Win’s government stoked up racial animosity and ethnic conflicts against the Chinese, who were terrorized by Burmese citizens, the most violent riots taking place at the time of the Cultural Revolution in China.^[1] When Ne Win implemented the “Burmese Way to Socialism“, a plan to nationalize all industries, the livelihoods of many entrepreneurial Chinese were destroyed and some 100,000 Chinese left the country.^[1] All schools were nationalized, including Chinese-language schools. Beginning in 1967 and continuing throughout the 1970s, anti-Chinese riots continued to flare up and many believed they were covertly supported by the government.^[2] Many Burmese Chinese left the country during Ne Win’s rule, largely because of a failing economy and widespread discrimination.

The first government-sponsored racial riots to take place in Burma was in 1967, during General Ne Win‘s rule. In the riots, the general populace went on a killing spree because of sedition and instigation against the Chinese by various government departments. The massacre lasted for about five consecutive days, during which thousands of Chinese died or were left dying in the streets of Rangoon. Some of the Chinese were thrown alive from the second and third floors of buildings in downtown Rangoon. The dead and wounded Chinese were hauled up unceremoniously and dumped onto army trucks and taken to ‘htauk kyan’ incinerators and the ‘carcasses’ were sent up in smoke. That showed the true bestial and cruel side of the character of the ruling Burma Military Junta. The only “crime” the Chinese committed was the wearing of Chairman Mao‘s badges on their shirts.^[3][4][5]

Latha Secondary School was torched by the henchmen of General Ne Win’s government, where school girls were burnt alive. Chinese shops were looted and set on fire. Public attention was successfully diverted by Ne Win from the uncontrollable inflation, scarcity of consumer items and rising prices of rice.

References_

^ ^{a b c d e} Martin Smith (1991). Burma – Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. London,New Jersey: Zed Books, 153-154,225-226,98,39. 
1. ^ Steinberg, David L. (2002). Burma: The State of Myanmar. Georgetown University Press. ISBN 0-87840-893-2. 
2. ^ Various Goernment Newspapers in Burma.
3. ^ Asia Week, Far Eastern Economic Review.
4. ^ Bertil Litner Bangkok Post Thailand

The rainbow of pluralism

I have edited and adapted to the Myanmar context from the original letter to Malaysiakini by Yeo Yang Poh

I hope Malaysiakini and  Yeo Yang Poh could understand and forgive for this. They should even be proud that they could contribute a very good letter for the fellow Myanmar/Burmese citizens.

YEO YANG POH is an advocate and solicitor, and the immediate past president of the Malaysian Bar.

Like birth, race is, for all of us, a matter of fact in which we have no choice.

This simple, neutral fact of nature, however, weaves such a painful web of complexity, once it passes through the maladjusted looms of the human eyes, hearts, and minds.

Far from being a distinction without a difference, race has provided the ugly excuse for_

• discrimination,
• prejudice,
• fear
• and hatred.
• In the worst circumstances, the boisterous looms of race churn out bales of cloth soaked with human blood.

Just as_

• many sins are committed in the false name of God,
• much evil has been perpetrated under the mischievous pretence of championing a race.

Why has it come to be so?

It is rooted_

• in the perceived need for human beings to compete for limited resources, initially
• to meet one’s need
• and, later, one’s greed
• (or, more accurately, the greed of those in power).
• Banding together of persons increases their strength in the tussle for resources.
• Race became, and remains, one of the most convenient criteria to be used for rival groupings.

It takes little time for the leaders and the upper echelon of the pack, who have the most to gain in the economic and political game, to realise that the easiest way for them to retain support and control is to provide justification for discrimination

• (‘this is our land’),
• entrench prejudices (‘they are inferior’),
• instill fear in the followers (‘they will rob you of what you have’),
• and sublimely encourage hatred (‘their children will trample all over yours’).

So it snowballs.

• By painting other races as an ominous threat to the well-being of one’s own race,
• one can instantly become the champion of a cause,
• the hero who offers to save his race from humiliation.

This cunning but cowardly man in a superman suit_

• lights fires
• so that he can ride in each time for the staged rescue.
• As time goes by, this pattern is institutionalised, exploiting the weakness and vulnerability in the psyche of a mixed populace.

The fake angels

Such are some of the troubles of our multi-polar and terribly disturbed world, and of the difficulties faced by many pluralistic societies, MYANMAR/BURMA among them.

While we never celebrate our togetherness as Myanmar or Burmese, one of the most patriotic things we may usefully do is to examine our successes and failures, ask ourselves honestly how much of the ills described above have befallen our own society, and urgently seek better ways forward from now on. This must include a candid re-examination of our race-based system of Military Government Policies discriminating on MIXED BLOODED PEOPLE e.g. Burmese Muslims and Burmese Chinese.

How may we do that?

Racial differences_

• do not need to lead down the path of discord and conflict,
• notwithstanding the long periods of political propaganda that have duped a lot of us into thinking otherwise.
• Race may be a fact about which we have no choice,
• but what we would do with this fact is a matter very much of choice.
• We have suffered long and hard, because more often than not the wrong choices, urged on by power mongers, had been made.

We may begin by realising that_

• racial differences are never the real enemy.
• The culprit is the inequities in the distribution of resources within a society, regardless of race.

Harmonious race relations will be achieved by_

• building a fair and equitable society
• in which resources are applied and distributed in accordance with need, ability and effort;
• rather than for satisfaction of greed, manipulation or corruption.

The politics of race, and the fake angels who sing that lone tune, must be exposed for what they really are:

• persons too selfish
• or too incompetent to provide for all,
• and too weak to govern except by_
• o dividing
• o and ruling.

We must wake up to the fact that we belong to one race, the human race.

One much-touted approach to avoid racial prejudice and combat discrimination is_

• to build a culture of colour-blindness.
• See not the skin colours of persons,
• or see beyond their colours.
• requires one to ignore the obvious differences that one’s senses perceive,
• and to act as if those differences do not exist.
• acknowledges and accepts racial differences as a positive enrichment of the diversities of our world.
• No basis or excuse for discrimination,
• but for non-discrimination
• and mutual appreciation.

Unity forged, not forced

• Instead of being colour-blind,
• we should be colour-appreciative.

In other words, we learn, understand, accept and appreciate the differences that exist among various races; and know that the world is better and richer for it.

• A rainbow is beautiful precisely because it is not single-coloured.
• And none of its colours could, nor should, claim a larger share of its glory.

By the same token,

• integration, when not entirely voluntary, is not the best solution for a plural society.
• A better approach is to embrace plurality.
• Pluralism is the silver lining for the world’s future, as it is for Myanmar’s.
• Pluralism is_
• o not to be merely tolerated
• o or accepted.
• o It should be embraced.

Sixty years ago, Burmese of all races united to free themselves from colonialism.

• Sixty years hence, we face new challenges in a globalising world.
• Failure to adequately meet these challenges will enslave all of us, regardless of race, as much as colonialism would have.
• To meet these challenges, unity is essential.
• 1. But unity requires equality.
• 2. Unity cannot be coerced.
• It has to be forged, not forced.
• If people feel less than united, it does not help calling them unpatriotic or disruptive.
• It is usually due to the presence of inequity.
• Examine the causes, and effect change.

There is such a lot to do, and so much to change within ourselves.

Let us reject race-based politics in Military Government, Ethnic Minorities and all the opposition Groups including NLD.

Let us_

• embrace equality amidst pluralism,
• and be colour-appreciative,

so that the next 60 years will be far better than the last.

Of course I love my country…

John Lee | Feb 6, 08 3:24pm

I refer to the Malaysiakini report Anwar: Bumi policies affect investments.

I consider myself lucky that I have traveled to almost all the Asean countries and have managed to observe, albeit shallowly, the socio-political structures of our neighbouring countries.

I identify myself as a Malaysian Chinese – the ‘Malaysian’ is an adjective and the ‘Chinese’ is the noun. This is inevitable in Malaysia because the country’s laws and policies are based on racial and religious lines.

I am part of the fourth generation of Hua Ren – the overseas Chinese. The Hua Ren are noticeable in every country – Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam and, of course, Singapore.

The Malaysian Chinese are unique in the sense that we continue to carry our ancestors’ name without alteration, unlike all of our neighbours, except for Singapore. We are also unique in that, unlike our neighbors, we choose to practice faiths – Buddhism, Taoism, and Christianity – different from the majority race.

None of our neighbours have decided to endorse apartheid, er sorry, affirmative action or bumiputera policies. They seem to be doing well, namely Thailand and Vietnam. In fact, there is a special term for overseas Vietnamese returning home after the war with their fortunes – the Viet Kieu.

I am counting the years before Vietnam overtakes Malaysia as an economic powerhouse. I should know a bit better because in my profession, I assist Malaysian businesses in setting up shop there.

I was born in Malaysia. My identification card says I am a citizen. However, I am classified as a non-bumiputera. My religion is kafir. My economic value is low in my own country because I am a non-bumiputera and a non-Muslim. Yet my economic value is high overseas.

Chinese Malaysian professionals are highly sought after. Malaysian accountants find success in China, London and Australia because they are multi-lingual and very hard working. Being cheaper and less arrogant than Singaporeans is another plus point. The ability to converse in English and Mandarin is highly prized by multinational corporations in China.

 

Heck, half of all Chinese Malaysian professionals are actually future Singaporean citizens.

Even in the Middle East, the Chinese Malaysians are sought after to support the Islamic banking industry because of their hard work and ability to assimilate easily. The Middle Eastern people in the finance industry don’t discriminate against you, but then your women had better wear the burqa and hide in their homes.

In then end, the Chinese Malaysian will continue to actively seek migration, just as their forefathers did. They will accumulate the necessary skills and talents, and then use their entrepreneurial mindset and willingness to work hard and move on once Malaysia becomes a barren place.

The oil will run dry here. The country will be carpeted with palm trees. Malays will overwhelmingly dominate the population. It will look like Indonesia. Then it will look like Pakistan. Finally, it will settle into an Afghanistan.

At last, the Malays will be able to proudly claim that they are no longer contesting for 30 percent of the economic pie. They will actually own 100 percent. I am not too sure of my personal future, as well as my children’s future, but I am not worried about the future of the Hua Ren.

In conclusion, do I love my country? Of course I do. I love my country as much as my country loves me.

Ko Moe Thee Zone’s announcement regarding SPDC crony businessmen

Ko Moe Thee Zone’s

Announcement regarding

SPDC crony businessmen

 

Now, we see the Muslims and Indians participating in the monks led peoples protesting. However, the Chinese seem to be curiously missing – in shape or form – within the context of the current protests.

Are they against the current protests or in support of the protests? Or simply indifferent to any of this since they already have a stronghold over Burma’s economy and anything that takes attention away from them would be positive?

Either way, the bigger question here is not a question of why aren’t the Chinese involved in these protest rather when will the Chinese get involved. The bottom line is why do the minorities, specifically the Chinese and the so called Indians or Muslims, continue to feel disenfranchised?

Read more at Ko Moe Thee Zone’s blog  .