Shifted

Hey everyone!
I have already made a full scale shift to my new blog.
The address is:

http://changingmindsetschanginglives.blogspot.com/

Drop by from time to time to take a look ok?
Thanks for reading this blog!

Closing Down.....

hey Everyone.......
Being my 1st Post in a million years, I'd like to apologize if you've been expecting something from my blog.
I've been extremely preoccupied with studies and have been struggling to pass my papers.
Aside from that, my co-curricular activities have kept me away from blogging.
Nevertheless, I've decided that I will stop writing on "Thing That Truly Matter In Life".

I have decided to stop writing on this blog and make a full-scale shift to another blog which will tackle a larger range of issues (more than just Malaysian politics) and will be oriented towards a wider spectrum of people.

I will start the shift after my final exams(in 2 weeks time) and if you're interested, then check this blog for the new address.
Thanks to all that have been reading this blog and contributed comments!

Malaysia's pro-Malay affirmative action stokes tension

The following article goes to further prove that the NEP has only served to breed a small class of elite Malays in the past decade or so.

(Reuters) - University professor Azly Rahman has benefited from Malaysia's affirmative action policy which favours ethnic Malays in education, jobs and business.

But he thinks it's time the government abandoned the policy as he says few people have profited from such policies in the past decade and many Malays have been alienated by them.

"The policy is no longer serving the needs of a changing Malaysia," said the 45-year-old son of a taxi driver, who attended a school for bright, poor Malays on a government scholarship.

"The race-based paradigm of looking at restructuring society and alleviating poverty must be radically revised," said Azly, a Columbia University graduate who teaches history and world religions in the United States.

More than 30 years after it was launched, Malaysia's National Development Policy to promote Malays risks becoming a flashpoint that splits the politically dominant Malays, unsettles racial peace and weakens the economy.

Discontent is growing as years of affirmative action have left a trail of failed Malay tycoons and struggling Malay-managed conglomerates.

At the same time, Malays -- the policy's target group -- continue to constitute the poorest racial group in Malaysia.

The economic costs are mounting: foreign investment is falling as investors baulk at rules that keep strategic assets either in Malay or government hands.

Malaysia has also lost some of its best and brightest as non-Malays kept out of universities by racial quotas move to Singapore and other countries.

The state spent more than $3.1 billion in the past five years to rescue cash-strapped firms such as Malaysian Airlines, many of which were privatised to Malay businessmen.

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

Pressure is growing for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party to address the future of the race-based policy. But it will have to juggle Malay interests while keeping minority races happy.

"It's a thick minefield for UMNO to manoeuvre its way through," said political expert Ooi Kee Beng, of Singapore's Institute of South East Asian Studies.

Malaysian affirmative action began after bloody riots between affluent Chinese and impoverished Malays in 1969 killed hundreds.

Malays make up more than half of Malaysia's population of 26 million and are overwhelmingly Muslim, yet they own just 19 percent of the economy, well behind minority ethnic Chinese. The government wants Malays to own 30 percent of the economy by 2020.

The Chinese, whose ancestors came centuries ago as traders or mine workers shipped in by colonial rulers, make up 25 percent of the population, but hold about 40 percent of the nation's wealth.

In the past, affirmative action created a Malay middle-class and made millionaires out of Malay fishermen's sons.

But many Malays say that over the last few years, the policy has strayed from its original aim of fostering competition among the race and mainly enriched only a small elite, while many rural Malays still live hand to mouth in wooden huts.

Malays, also known as bumiputras (sons of the soil) gripe that well-connected businessmen -- rather than deserving candidates -- have been handed billions of dollars in state contracts.

"Bumiputra millionaires are not self-made," said Azly. "Many are proxies or "front-men and women" of the ruling party."

Historian Khoo Kay Kim said "the implementation (of the policy) falls short of the intention" as politicians practise political expediency to gain support.

"This policy is not just a policy intended to address major imbalances but it is also a political policy," Khoo said.

FRAGILE RACIAL TIES

Complaints by ethnic Chinese and Indians of being marginalised have become more strident as the economic pie has shrunk, with Malaysia's average growth having almost halved to around five percent from the rate seen in the 1990s.

This comes at a time of delicate race relations in Malaysia.

A tussle last month between state religious authorities and the non-Muslim family of a dead Muslim convert over his burial -- the second such incident in about a year -- has fuelled fears that the rights of minorities are slowly being eroded.

Going forward, Malaysia may have to forsake affirmative action or risk having its economy lag behind.

"Our competitors are forging ahead and we cannot afford policies that introduce distortions and inefficiencies on such a massive, and socially unjustifiable, scale," said Lim Teck Ghee, a former World Bank senior social scientist.

But few think Malaysia will abandon the policy just yet. Instead, affirmative action will likely return to its old aim of creating a Malay industrial community based on competition.

"The implementation of the policy now has to take into account all the mistakes of the past," said Shahrir Samad, an UMNO leader.

"It will have to avoid the concept of making individuals rich. They have to accept the fact that there's no free lunch."


I've already resigned myself to the fact that the NEP policies are here to stay and will not be lifted in the next 100 years or so.
So, if the NEP must be carried on, let us at least implement it's policies properly and allow more rural Malays and other Bumiputras to benefit from it as well.

Lets have Bumiputra rights, and not UMNOputra rights.

RE: The Malaysian Chinese Dilemma (Chapter 1: The False Perception of Superiority )

Haha! Wonderful, wonderful feedback.

For starters, I would like to re-clarify my stance on the issue of Chinese and Malays as a whole to those who did not read my previous posts.

I do not believe in the NEP at all at this time and moment. The NEP was a good thing back in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but now, the NEP has been hijacked by the UMNOputras (notice this term is used a lot now throughout internet blogging spheres) and the continuation of it will serve to further weaken Malaysia. I will highlight this more later as I have a few interesting articles to put up which shows Malaysia heading for an economic slump.

Let me try to reply a few of the comments I received in my previous post.

Now, regarding the Chinese Malaysians. I take it many people have been offended to an extent by my post. Ok..... I readily admit it might have been too blunt, a bit biased. But hey, I said I was generalizing; and is it not true that most Chinese think that their race is damn great and they do not hesitate to show others their greatness? A Chinese friend of mine once said to me before, “ Chinese people are like cockroaches. They can adapt wherever they go and prosper.”(credits to halori for the quote) I don’t see many old Malay uncles or aunties bragging about their past.

Why did the Chinese migrate out of China? The Qing Dynasty, and the subsequent KMT rule sucked and there were lack of opportunities. The Qing rulers discriminated the Han people. Why, in the first place, did the Manchurians, which were the clear minority succeed in taking over the Ming Dynasty and maintaining a reasonably strong rule over China for the few centuries after that? The Manchurian minority was strong. But the Han majority was also weak and divided.

China in the 1840’s did not want to open trade with Europe and the outside world. They at first only opened Guangzhou to the Europeans which led to the Europeans to try to force them to open more cities for trade. China did not really have significant trade with Europe (except Opium) at that time and it’s economy wasn’t really integrated with the rest of the world. How would an economic slowdown significantly affect China? And you don’t see mass migrations when there is an economic slowdown in the world today do you?

Indeed, the weakness lay mainly with the Qing based government which were slow to adopt modernity and suspicious of social and technological advances that they viewed as a threat to their absolute control over China. Besides, an economics friend of mine once told me that there were no Major economic depressions until after World War I.

Next, I had NO intention of portraying the impression that Chinese are very stupid, devils, etc. In fact, I do respect the Chinese people very much. They are smart and hardworking. But this is also why many people don’t like the Chinese. I’ve talked to one of my Indian friends who found Chinese to be a scary bunch. She said she observed that Chinese are always very driven and to a large extent profit minded. (credits to kva for the quote) Why do you think a sizable number of Caucasians hate Chinese? It’s because the Chinese immigrate to countries like Australia and become richer than the Caucasian’s themselves simply because they work harder.

Another clear thing about Chinese is that they seem to lack a sense of unity. One of the less significant reasons why Chinese in the past supported Communism was that they felt that Chinese were not a united bunch. As a Chinese Uncle (He used to be a Communist activist in the past) told me once about the Chinese race before, “There is only one head but everyone wants to be the head; no one wants to be the shoulders. That’s why democracy will never work in China.”(credits to uc for the quote) How many dynasties and wars did China have? I think China has one of the greatest war densities in the world. Look at Malaysia itself. MCA, Gerakan, DAP. 3 Chinese based parties. Why must have 3?

But despite all that, Chinese are very smart. They say the smartest race in the world are the Jews. The Chinese come next. Nevertheless, without clear unity, little can be achieved.

Next, is the Malays as a united race. It is true now that the Malays are no longer united as they were before. Now that profit has come in, they have started to think more for themselves now. I am more or less saying that UMNO has destroyed Malay Unity. (Badawi offering RM3 Million to each of the UMNO divisions seems very much like a bribe; RM3 Million to each division is almost RM600 Million for all the divisions, all from taxpayer's money.....)

The culture I was talking about was the traditional culture of past. From what my Malay friends have told and from what I can see and gather, the normal kampong Malay is always ready to help another Malay. Do you know why the Malays in Singapore not allowed to hold high positions in the army? It is because that if Singapore has to go to war with Malaysia, the government is afraid that the Malays in Singapore will side with the Malaysian army and leak information, because the Malays have this kind of Buddy policy. This is what a Singapore army officer told me. Besides, I notice many people here like Lee Kuan Yew so I'll quote him on this.

"If, for instance, you put in a Malay officer who's very religious and who has family ties in Malaysia in charge of a machine gun unit, that's a very tricky business. We've got to know his background I'm saying these things because they are real, and if I don't think that, and I think even if today the Prime Minister doesn't think carefully about this, we could have a tragedy." - SM Lee Kuan Yew(credits to hm for the quote)

Anyway, when you all comment, please keep to the topic. Many of you have digressed and started racial slamming. If you have to openly be racist, please criticize and evaluate your own race. Don’t go around slamming the Malay race just because of what UMNO has done to the country. It does not reflect the nature of many Malays whom are nice people.

I would appreciate open discussion like the comments of Bananalee, Samsung, Jpers and a few others. We can actually learn something from their comments rather than scolding the Malays for something UMNO has done. I don’t have much comments to reply to because only a few people brought up relevant topics that can be discussed.

Other than that, I want to also say that like what Samsung has said, certain comments on the Chinese Malaysians do not apply to all Chinese in Malaysia. Chinese in Malaysia are themselves a polarized bunch; where one group is Chinese educated and speak Chinese most of the time and another group which is English educated and speak English at home. The Chinese Educated is the stark majority today of course; but there is still a sizable quantity of English educated ones. Then, there are also the Chinese that support MCA, Chinese that support Gerakan and Chinese that support DAP. And there are the Chinese which are still driven to progress in Malaysia, Chinese that want to leave Malaysia and Chinese that have given up hope in Malaysia and do not bother pursuing a good education. All are different and they all have a dilemma but certain things apply more to different groups.

Chinese in Malaysia have always been against the government because of their rights. Isn’t it clear that demanding for rights will only make the Malays more angry? Look at the UMNO General Assembly. I look and I feel really worried. The comments made there were uncalled for.

Let me clarify finally that I am by NO MEANS saying that Chinese are to blame and they are bastards, etc. Chinese should be respected for their determination and grit, but not for their disunity, excessive pride and to a certain extent, greed for profit.

Do you think a Malaysian Malaysia can be achieved if Chinese continue to anger the Malays in this way?

The Iraqi Quagmire

Yo! I guess most people that know me would also know that I strongly oppose the American occupation of Iraq. One of the fundamentals that come into question when discussing this is: "Did the Iraqis want an invasion in the first place and how do they view the invasion now?"
I just came accross an article on USAToday that polled the Iraqi people on how they feel. It further reinforces that the invasion shoud not have happened in the first place and certain things are now worse than before, if not unchanged.
A lot if Iraqis celebrated Saddam's death sentence; but the fact that some groups protested the death sentence of Saddam goes to show that some prefer it during his time.

This poll was done in 2004; and it's no doubt that things have worsened since then.

Poll: Iraqis out of patience

By Cesar G. Soriano and Steven Komarow,USA TODAY

BAGHDAD — Only a third of the Iraqi people now believe that the American-led occupation of their country is doing more good than harm, and a solid majority support an immediate military pullout even though they fear that could put them in greater danger, according to a new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll. (Graphic: Iraqis surveyed)

		U.S. soldiers man a checkpoint Wednesday in the center of Baghdad.
		By Khalid Mohammed, AP

The nationwide survey, the most comprehensive look at Iraqi attitudes toward the occupation, was conducted in late March and early April. It reached nearly 3,500 Iraqis of every religious and ethnic group.

The poll shows that most continue to say the hardships suffered to depose Saddam Hussein were worth it. Half say they and their families are better off than they were under Saddam. And a strong majority say they are more free to worship and to speak. (Related item: Key findings)

But while they acknowledge benefits from dumping Saddam a year ago, Iraqis no longer see the presence of the American-led military as a plus. Asked whether they view the U.S.-led coalition as "liberators" or "occupiers," 71% of all respondents say "occupiers."

That figure reaches 81% if the separatist, pro-U.S. Kurdish minority in northern Iraq is not included. The negative characterization is just as high among the Shiite Muslims who were oppressed for decades by Saddam as it is among the Sunni Muslims who embraced him.

The growing negative attitude toward the Americans is also reflected in two related survey questions: 53% say they would feel less secure without the coalition in Iraq, but 57% say the foreign troops should leave anyway. Those answers were given before the current showdowns in Fallujah and Najaf between U.S. troops and guerrilla fighters.

The findings come as the U.S. administration is struggling to quell the insurgency and turn over limited sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government by the end of June. Interviews this week in Baghdad underscored the findings.

"I'm not ungrateful that they took away Saddam Hussein," says Salam Ahmed, 30, a Shiite businessman. "But the job is done. Thank you very much. See you later. Bye-bye."

'I would shoot ... right now'

Bearing the brunt of Iraqis' ill feeling: U.S. troops. The most visible symbol of the occupation, they are viewed by many Iraqis as uncaring, dangerous and lacking in respect for the country's people, religion and traditions.

POLL METHODOLOGY The USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll of 3,444 Iraqis, the largest and most comprehensive poll in Iraq since last year’s invasion, was administered by the Pan Arab Research Center of Dubai. Interviews were conducted between March 22 and April 2, with the exception of the governate of Sulaymaniya where interviews ran through April 9. All interviews were conducted in person in the respondent’s home, with an average interview length of 70 minutes. The cooperation rate — the percentage of those contacted who agreed to be interviewed — was 98%. Two of the three governates in the predominantly Kurdish region, which has its own administrative agencies and has been largely independent from Baghdad for the past decade, did not participate in the poll. To have a full representation of Kurdish views in the poll, additional interviews in the third governate, Sulaymaniya, were conducted. The margin of sampling error for the poll is +/- two percentage points.

The insurgents, by contrast, seem to be gaining broad acceptance, if not outright support. If the Kurds, who make up about 13% of the poll, are taken out of the equation, more than half of Iraqis say killing U.S. troops can be justified in at least some cases. But attacks against Iraqi police officers, who are U.S.-trained, are strongly condemned by the Iraqi people.

The Bush administration has contended that the growing resistance, which has killed at least 115 Americans this month, is the work of isolated cells of former regime members or religious fanatics, often from outside Iraq.

Iraqis interviewed in Baghdad say ordinary people have lost patience with the U.S. effort to crush the insurgency and rebuild Iraq.

"I would shoot at the Americans right now if I had the chance," says Abbas Kadhum Muia, 24, who owns a bicycle shop in Sadr City, a Shiite slum of 2 million people in Baghdad that was strongly anti-Saddam and once friendly to the Americans. "At the beginning ... there were no problems, but gradually they started to show disrespect (and) encroach on our rights, arresting people."

Sabah Yeldo, a Christian who owns a liquor store across town, says American failures have left the capital with higher crime and less-reliable services, including electricity. That is "making everybody look back and seriously consider having Saddam back again instead of the Americans."

In the multiethnic Baghdad area, where a Gallup Poll last summer of 1,178 residents permits a valid comparison, only 13% of the people now say the invasion of Iraq was morally justifiable. In the 2003 poll, more than twice that number saw it as the right thing to do.

Americans regard their men and women in uniform as liberators who are trying to help Iraq. But the Iraqis now see them as a threat and focus their anger on them.

"When they pass by on the street, we are curious, so we go out to look and they immediately point their gun at you," says Muia, the bicycle shop owner.

Except for the Kurds, such feelings are widely held. For example:

Two-thirds say soldiers in the U.S.-led coalition make no attempt to keep ordinary Iraqis from being killed or wounded during exchanges of gunfire.

58% say the soldiers conduct themselves badly or very badly.

60% say the troops show disrespect for Iraqi people in searches of their homes, and 42% say U.S. forces have shown disrespect toward mosques.

46% say the soldiers show a lack of respect for Iraqi women.

Only 11% of Iraqis say coalition forces are trying hard to restore basic services such as electricity and clean drinking water.

The Defense Department, which was shown the survey results Wednesday, said it doesn't respond to polls. But in a statement, it noted that Iraqis say their lives are getting better and said that the fact the poll could be taken indicated increased freedom in Iraq.

Secondhand information

That negative opinion of the behavior of the troops rarely is based on direct contact. Iraq is a country the size of California with a population of 25 million. Many areas are sparsely patrolled. Only 7% in the poll say they based their opinions on personal experience.

Instead, Iraqis get their information from others. For about a third, it's pan-Arabic television such as the Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya satellite news channels. The networks frequently show scenes of U.S. forces shooting into Iraqi neighborhoods in hot spots such as Fallujah, an anti-American stronghold in the center of the country. (Related poll results: Baghdad: Then and now)

Although most Iraqis watch the local, U.S.-sponsored broadcast television station, which doesn't require a satellite dish, Iraqis in the poll say the Arab satellite networks are the most trusted and break the hottest stories. Few Iraqis trust Western networks such as CNN and the BBC.

More news is spread through that oldest delivery system: marketplace chatter. In the rumor mill, interviews indicate, every confrontation between Americans and Iraqis is portrayed as an assault on the Iraqi people, not on just a few lawless insurgents.

Jalal Abbas, 20, a student in Baghdad, says it's widely believed "that when soldiers search houses, they steal gold and money. And in our houses, people are taking special (precautions) to hide their money and gold for fear of them being stolen by U.S. soldiers."

GROWING RESENTMENT "I'm not ungrateful they took away Saddam Hussein ... But the job is done." — Salam Ahmed, Shiite businessman

Najem Aboud Debib, 37, like many Shiites, says he feels deep disappointment now. The Shiites opposed Saddam, whose regime was dominated by Sunnis. A year ago, they welcomed the Americans and the freedom to exercise their brand of Islam without repression. Now, Aboud Debib says, "I'm sure they have no morals. ...They are something like Saddam Hussein. We are suffering under the same situation."

He'd welcome an American withdrawal but says he's sure U.S. troops will remain in Iraq for a long time. "The trouble is they (U.S. forces) cannot leave now and leave the job undone. They must go and complete the job and try to win the people again."

The negative opinion of the occupation does not mean most Iraqis want to see Saddam back in power. He is in U.S. custody, and four out of five Iraqis view him negatively, according to the poll. A little more than half have a negative view of President Bush.

Marines patrolling around Fallujah this week say they can feel the Iraqi anger every day, even when the two sides aren't shooting.

Marine Lance Cpl. Wes Monks, 23, of Springfield, Ore., says that as he drives around the restive, mostly Sunni city, he sees Iraqis with a knowing, "sarcastic smile. You see it every day. ... We're always the last one to find out when we run over a mine."

"I can see their point of view," says Marine Lance Cpl. Mathew Leifi, 20, of Orange, Calif. "If anyone rolled up on my street, I'd be pissed, too."

Kurds, the ethnic minority most closely allied with the United States, show strong support for Americans in the poll. About 97% say the invasion did more good than harm. And their pro-U.S. stance is obvious on other issues.

Everywhere else in Iraq, it's a different story. Not surprisingly, the Sunni strongholds that benefited most from Saddam's regime are the most negative in their opinion of the new Iraq. Fewer than 20% of people in those areas call the war's outcome positive.

Iraqis expected huge improvements in all aspects of their economy within weeks of Saddam's overthrow, and most say there have been at least some improvements. But a year after Bush declared major hostilities in Iraq over, the poll shows:

Nearly half of Iraqis still report long, frequent power blackouts.

Nearly a third lack clean drinking water much of the time.

Almost everywhere except in the Kurdish north, most people are afraid to leave their homes at night.

'You can't buy love'

In Baghdad, which has seen the most change — good and bad — since the war, residents say they can feel the boost to the economy that has come from foreign aid and the opening of the country's borders. While many say that they are earning far more than they did before the invasion, they yearn for the safety and stability of the past.

"The freedoms they gave us are satellite television, Thurayas (satellite telephones) and mobile telephones. And you can drive a car without a license," says Resha Namir, 20, a computer science major at Baghdad University. But "I can't even go out because I'm afraid that any minute we will die. The war was not worth it."

Some are more positive. Lauran Waliyah, 46, a restaurant manager and Christian who supported Saddam, says her experience with the Americans has been good. Once, when a madman with a knife entered her business, soldiers came to help, she says.

"It is unfair to ask for the departure of the U.S. troops," she says.

But the hostility reflected in the poll is a message that the troops understand, says Monks, the Marine lance corporal. "They don't want us here," he says. "They want to rebuild their own country. We're trying to Americanize their life. You can't buy love."

Soriano reported from Baghdad, Komarow from Washington.

Contributing: Jim Michaels in Fallujah

I believe that if the USA really wanted to help liberate people and to improve their lives, they should have invaded North Korea or Myanmar where things as bad, if not much worse than Saddam's reign in Iraq. What do you think?

The Malaysian Chinese Dilemma (Chapter 1: The False Perception of Superiority )

Hey everyone! Sorry for leaving this blog dead for so long!
Extremely busy now! Exams are just around the corner and I'm really trying very hard to catch up with studies. This is the chapter I promised. Feedback is always welcome.
Have a nice read!

Chapter 1: The False Perception of Superiority

“We are very hardworking! My grandfather ah, come from China you know! Greatest civilization in the world. One of the oldest. We Chinese ah, very pro one…. That’s why we always excel. Our culture damn good ah! We can trash all the white people also. We invent gunpowder and paper you know! British bring us to Malaysia to develop Malaysia!”

Yada, yada, yada…..

The rambling of a typical Malaysian Chinese ever so proud of his ‘great’ culture and civilization. As a note, this is more typical of older Chinese uncles who like to talk a lot.

Nevertheless, he forgot why his grandfather came to Malaysia in the first place. China was failing. Under the corrupt and senseless regimes of the Ching Dynasty and then the inefficient Kuomintang, China was far from great at that time with poverty rates as high as 90%. It’s time of glory was over. Why? It was simply because the rulers of China did not realize that their position was becoming more and more precarious day by day. They simply did not care about the people or how strong China was.

Notice anything similar with the rulers of China in the past and the typical Malaysian Chinese today? Both only think about themselves and not others. More importantly, both do not realize their positions are becoming more and more precarious as time passes by. What they do anger many people and it won’t be long before a retaliation like what the Communists in China did.

OK, maybe I exaggerated things a little but seriously, the Chinese don’t seem to realize their position in the country. While it’s true that many Chinese helped to developed Malaysia, they do not realize that it is a thing of the past. Chinese have to face the fact that this country does not belong to them simply because they do not form the majority race in Malaysia. It doesn’t matter what you have done or how great you’ve been in the past, because you do not form the majority and this makes you second class. Seriously, the decision for a fair and equal society does not lie in the hands of the Chinese. The Malay’s monopolizes this.

Another problem that arises from thinking you are so great is a superiority complex where you start to look down on others. Since many Chinese like to polarize themselves according to race and language, they start to band together and unilaterally whack other races. Most don’t do it openly of course; but hey, they do do it. What happens when you do this? You start to influence the minds of other Chinese. Even those Chinese that don’t think badly of other races will start to do so. This then extends to families and so on and so forth. And Chinese still dare to ask for equal rights as Malaysians when they themselves have an open dislike for Malaysians of other races?

This kind of complex also produces counter-productive effects. Once Chinese polarize themselves, they tend to form self containing groups. What would other races think when they see this? Some get scared. Some get angry. Either way, they will start to form their own cliques based on race. I have to say though, that this type of segregation tends to happen in most conditions anyway, meaning that racial groups will tend to form regardless of reason. But, the Chinese tend to make this worse by thinking that they are in a class of their own which further serve to heighten tension among racial groups. If Chinese want equal rights, they will have to start viewing other racial groups as equals and as humans.

Chinese Malaysians must stop basking in the past glories of their race if they want to make progress in Malaysia. They have to realize that Malaysia is no longer under British control which recognizes and propagates pure meritocracy. We are all under the rule of Umno now and Chinese must look at things from another point of view.

I am not asking Chinese to forget their culture just yet. I am saying that they must stop criticizing blindly and instead of just talking and complaining, do something about it. Start to view other races as equals and look out for their strengths and learn from them.

For example, the Malay race has always been a united race. Malays tend to look out for each other and form a brother-like relationship among themselves even though they barely know each other. They will help each other in times of need and rarely expect something in return. Compare this to the “illustrious” Chinese people who have warred among themselves for centuries. Chinese have never been a united race and fighting for top positions are clearly in Chinese nature. Chinese are traditionally ‘kiasu’ (scared to lose) and tend to look out only for themselves. Most believe in self benefit and have little regard for others. That’s why we call Singapore kiasu. It isn’t really Singaporeans that are kiasu but it’s actually the Chinese in Singapore that make up most of the population that are kiasu.

The above example is of course, a broad generalization but it does reflect how many Malays and Chinese act as a whole. I know that the rights accorded to the Bumiputras may seem unfair to the Chinese people; but to those Chinese (and Indians for that matter) that are reading this, ask yourself this: “Will openly shouting and crying for my rights without proper reasoning actually cause the Bumiputras to surrender their rights and pave the road to an equal Malaysia?” OR “Will it cause Umno to exploit the situation to blame the Chinese and make the Malays so angry that they will demand more rights, paving the road to a Malaysia where non-Bumiputras can no longer live in as proper citizens?”

The Jewish race is actually the smartest race of all mankind, but look at them. They were hated like crazy in Pre-World War II Germany and throughout the last millennium; many of them were persecuted and killed. The Jewish race cannot even have their own county today without stealing someone’s land. Could the Malaysian Chinese end up like them?

I haven't really decided what to write about next. But I'm very eager to talk about Chinese culture and Chinese education. But I want to write it as a complete thing, so I guess I have to touch on Politics, Economy and Nationalism too. Not forgetting the social status of Chinese. But that's been covered pretty much over here.
I probably won't have much time to write till exams are over in December, so I'll try to fill my blog with articles I think are interesting in the meantime as fillers. Feedback is always welcome!

The Malaysian Chinese Dilemma (Prolouge)

As I have said before, I will now begin writing what I perceive to be the Malaysian Chinese Dilemma faced by most of the Chinese residing in Malaysia. Why do I suddenly want to touch on this issue? Well, first things first, I believe in the vision of a Malaysian Malaysia; A Malaysia where we will no longer identify ourselves by race, skin colour, language or religion.

So why am I writing this post in such a racially slanted way as the title implies? Simple. It is because up to this day and time we Malaysians still identify ourselves by our race. I perceive this as dilemma and hence, the title: ‘The Malaysian Chinese Dilemma’ which in a way implies the identification of a Malaysian by race is a dilemma. Why I am not writing the ‘Malay Dilemma’ or ‘Indian Dilemma’ instead? Well, Tun Dr Mahathir himself has already written the ‘Malay Dilemma’ long ago in the 1970’s and he has even written the ‘New Malay Dilemma’ that he says Malays face today. As for Indians, it can be done another time. My target here are the Malaysian Chinese, because throughout their stay in Malaysia, they have played a significant part in contributing to the high racial polarization and the deadlock of communal parties we now see today.

Don’t get me wrong though. I’m not totally blaming the Chinese for the predicament many Malaysians are facing today. In fact, I personally think that the Umno led Malaysian government is the main source of the numerous problems Malaysia faces. I am just saying that the Chinese have also significantly contributed to the problems that many Malaysians face today.

Malaysian Chinese like to complain and whine about their lack of rights. They always say the government is unfair for not giving them equal rights. Some say they have been marginalized in many sectors of the economy and even in education. They say they want to fight for a Malaysian Malaysia. They say all Malaysians should be treated equally and be accepted as Malaysians.

Yet, despite all these claims and qualms for equal rights, they constantly contradict themselves by polarizing themselves in terms of education, culture and economy. They call for a Malaysian Malaysia but they constantly identify themselves as Chinese Malaysians. Their arguments and claims are in many ways, selfish and centered on the development of only their own race while they leave other races behind. So much for being Malaysian.

Being Malaysian means we have to take into consideration the state and condition of other Malaysians in the country regardless of race. I have rarely heard Chinese Malaysians talking about how neglected races like the Indians in Malaysia have been faring or how the Orang Asli are being cheated of their land. Many of them complain about the New Economic Policy (NEP) but they do not realize how little share of the economy the Malays had back then, in 1970 (It was extremely low then).

All their demands are more for the benefit of themselves and less for the benefit of Malaysia as a whole. I rarely hear Chinese arguing along the lines that NEP will weaken Malaysia as a country due to the increasing rate of globalization. Most of them argue along the lines that it is unfair to them.

In a nutshell, while the Chinese are fighting for a Malaysia that recognizes everyone equally, they do not see themselves as equals to others and only fight for themselves instead of all Malaysians.

My following posts about the ‘Malaysian Chinese Dilemma’ over the next few weeks will analyze more closely why the Malaysian Chinese are killing themselves by fighting for their rights in such a crude, selfish way. This is a concern for all Malaysians and not only to the Chinese, for as the second most significant racial group in Malaysia, they will play a large part in determining the direction the country heads. Their willingness to compromise, accept and to sort out things logically will determine how they will survive in Malaysia, and how Malaysia will turn out to be in the future.

Of course, when I talk about Malaysian Chinese, I am generalizing things and refer to the majority of Malaysian Chinese. There do exist Malaysian Chinese today that have shed their old mindsets and see themselves as Malaysian Malaysians instead of Malaysian Chinese. Nevertheless, these people are rare and hard to come by now in this age of communal politics and distinct racial polarization. As for the rest, stay tuned for my first chapter of the ‘Malaysian Chinese Dilemma (Chapter 1: The False Perception of Superiority)'