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


Carol Ng
Free Malaysia Today
August 6, 2013

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 Indians friend, 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 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 more 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 above 55th rank. 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.

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 demands 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 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 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 scared 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 we 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 kind 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 but 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.

  1. #1 by Noble House on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 5:02 am

    And as Lee Kuan Yew very succinctly put it: “Malaysia sacrifices talent for dominance of one race.” And although Malaysia has acknowledged the fact that they are losing these talents and is making an attempt to lure Malaysians back from overseas, such efforts may be too little too late, he said. This is putting the country at a disadvantage. It is voluntarily shrinking the talent pool needed to build the kind of society that makes use of talents from all races.

    He noted that in the last ten years, since the enactment of the New Economic Policy, the proportion of Malaysian Chinese and Indians of the total population has fallen dramatically. The Chinese made up 35.6 percent of the population in 1970. They were down to 24.6 percent at the last census in 2010. Over that same period, the Indian numbers fell from 10.8 percent to 7.3 percent,” he said…..

    The separation of Singapore and Malaysia in 1965 marked “the end of a different vision in Malaysia on the race issue”.
    Much of what has been achieved in Singapore could have been replicated throughout Malaysia. Both countries would have been better off.

  2. #2 by lbn on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 7:17 am

    The sentiments of Carol reflect most of us. I’m for one will stay put here being a warga mas. This is my home. But for those who’re starting new in life – starting to build a family even though they love Malaysia, they’ve to foresee their future. As of now the future is bleak with all the racial disparity and threats. Thus we need CHANGE to a better Malaysia.

  3. #3 by undertaker888 on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 7:31 am

    Cow dungs and cow heads running the country to the drain. And the cream of the crop is the people let them do it willingly bcos of race and religion.

  4. #4 by shakirinalikram on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 7:53 am

    NOBODY should lend this calls `for Balik sana/sini’ credence and space, period! This maulti-racial nation was built by all the three main races by our founding fathers, the all `Pendatangs’ Malays, Chinese and Indians – from Parameswara (Sultan later) and Indo-origin Malays, Yap aLoy and Indians for Kerala etc.
    No one can lay claim to origin and absolute right unless they are of Semai and Negritos origin. They are the Bumis (yet marginalised) just as the Indians of Americas when the Pilgrims and colonialists of Britain and Europe came and conquered – and corralled them to resevations.
    So please, send these crazy buffons Malays who think 1st on the soil, they are Masters of Tanah Melayu to Hell on Earth, `cause they are getting to be tiresome and repetitive like a broken record. They are equally fearful that they may have to go back to Indonesia or India or Yemen where from a good section of Malays hail from, depending on their racial mix. I will be hard put – I have Bugis, Aceh, Java strain with Yunan, Siamese and Indian mix, speaking none of their languages. Balik, my foot!
    Mahathir and his children are very easy to `balik’ Poonani, Kerala as he is the first generation Iskandar Kutty’s son. His mother is a Siamese Malay..
    Sick minds nothing intelligent coming forth from their minds – take the stupid way out when cornered or lost for ideas.
    Long ago Indons did that, send boatloads of Chinese (more because of their economic strength and clannish ways) back to China. My father used to say, they `balik tongsan! Or pulang ke tiongkok’!

  5. #5 by loongym on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 9:18 am

    In the other words, we Chinese are kiasu, that’s why we work hard for the future and not lose out without a fight.

  6. #6 by ENDANGERED HORNBILL on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 9:57 am

    2 books in a day flattens Mahathir.

    Pak Lah’s : Awakening- the pak lah years.
    Lee Kuan Yew’s – Worldview.

    Now wait for the never-say-die, never-can-lose, never-say-sorry Mahathir explode, implode and meletup.

  7. #7 by yhsiew on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 11:26 am

    Now the BN government is already cash-strapped with tax revenue and Najib even promised to broaden the tax base in order to tackle the negative national credit outlook. If the Chinese and Indians are asked to go back to China and India, who will contribute to the tax revenue?

  8. #8 by carol.nst on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 12:12 pm

    Dear Mr. Lim Kit Siang,

    Thank you for reposting my article here, it is quite an honour. However, I have requested FMT to make an edit to the article which I must request as well to you, which is too remove the subheading “The Chinese Win Hands Down” in the middle of the article, which was added by FMT. It’s not about any race winning or losing, and that subheading sounds threatening to others when taken out of context, which is not what I intended at all. Thank you very much!

    – Carol

  9. #10 by yysktan on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 1:38 pm

    No Malaysian has right to ask another Malaysian to balik sini balik sana and instead should go take a hike and balik himself/herself to wherever origin his/her kind come from.

    • #11 by cemerlang on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 4:33 pm

      As of now, the 1balik is that of
      balik kampong
      menyambut raya

  10. #12 by tuahpekkong on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 3:21 pm

    Irrespective of whether China becomes an economic or military powerhouse, or both, over 90% of the ethnic Chinese here still prefer to live in Malaysia rather than China. The same thing goes for the Indians here. Those who tell the Chinese to go back to China are just plain racists. UMNO has played a major role in shaping up these racists with the likes of btn and its ketuanan Melayu ideology. Who is this imbecile using the pseudonym Papagomo? Why isn’t this dangerous racist arrested and charged? Do the police have any credibility?

  11. #13 by sotong on Wednesday, 7 August 2013 - 4:00 pm

    The aim by the misguided racist and extremist is to make you feel you do not belong here and bully and harrass you like illegal ‘ pendatang ‘.

    Do the same to them, these criminals would not hesitate to incite hatred and violence against you.

  12. #14 by waterfrontcoolie on Thursday, 8 August 2013 - 12:50 am

    When you have nothing to back up your reasoning, the easiest is to use emotion and anger. Chinese by nature is kiasu but once they have tried but failed to achieve it, they generally say well “I’ve tried but fate has decided!’ they will then do what they can”. They don’t cry over it. Just like the American anthropologist said of the Chinese people in China ” Oh! the only difference is, he has money!” I can make mine too! They seldom give in easily. I have not heard of a Chinese parent wanting his children clamor to do the Matriculation examination knowing its inferior standard! Whether we want it or dislike it, China is going to loom over every nation; come 2020. It is our business to take care of what is happening here! The nation is going the wrong direction there is no doubt but unless more rational Malays bother to voice their concern, this ‘balik’ business will continue to be used by those whose only ability is to use this as a political tool for their self interest! Just look at the latest receiver of Petronas hand-outs!

  13. #15 by riverman on Thursday, 8 August 2013 - 11:42 am

    My neighbor has three son and two adopted children. The adopted children worked hard and were instrumental in building his business empire – hardware business – His own son were so so. At the end of the day, his three son inherited the business while the adopted one still work for them – merely being employed. Do you think it is fair – may be yes. Same goes here.
    But at least the three son did not say if you don’t like it – go back to your biological parents whom they well know will not accept them.

    The river flows.

  14. #16 by Loh on Thursday, 8 August 2013 - 8:33 pm

    ///Najib: Pak Lah is right, it’s difficult to reform Umno
    Lee Long Hui | 4:57PM Aug 8, 2013 | 58
    UPDATED 7.05PM Najib Abdul Razak believes that this ‘gargantuan task’ may take more than a generation for it to happen.///–Malaysiakini

    AAB said if he had a chance to do it again, he would be firmer. Isn’t it too late to cry?

    Najib is just giving an excuse. It he waits, UMNO will only change when it is dissolved, after losing power.

    The moment the government practices good governance and stops corruption, racism will go away when politics is not the best paying profession. It is corruption that sustains racism, and Mamakthir made corruption legal so that racism and money sustained him for decades. For that he was happy to give up his ethnic root.

  15. #17 by carol.nst on Friday, 9 August 2013 - 1:52 am

    Dear readers,

    I have made a Malay version of my article here on blog, albeit with a few additional points since it’s targeted at a Malay audience. Feel free to share.

    http://read-in-red.blogspot.com/2013/08/apa-cina-mahu-dan-mengapa-kita-tidak.html

    Regards,

    Carol

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