Vicious Chinese, precious Chinese

The description 'split personality' immediately comes to mind. From being 'vicious' to 'precious', the government-controlled media have had problems painting the Chinese in the country and abroad.

The attack on the Chinese community has never been louder than after the obvious loss of support from among the Chinese for BN in the Sarawak state election.

Leading the battle is none other than right wing group Perkasa's mouthpiece, the UMNO-owned daily Utusan Malaysia, using such terms as "disloyal" and "hypocrite" to describe Chinese swing of support to Pakatan Rakyat and other opposition parties.

DAP, the Opposition's biggest winner in Sarawak, has been a favourite punching bag for UMNO leaders, not least by its former strongman Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who accused the party of removing Chinese representation from the ruling state government.

Meantime, Utusan Malaysia's senior editor Zaini Hassan even called for a movement he dubbed "1Melayu, 1Bumi", the clearest snub yet to prime minister Najib Razak's 1Malaysia slogan. The paper said the move counter the DAP's growing influence in uniting Malaysian Chinese under the opposition.

Predictably, UMNO's right-wing offshoot Perkasa declared immediate support for the move.

Ironically, its critic turned out to be its mentor Dr Mahathir, who cautioned that it could be disastrous.

“I hope it doesn’t happen. It would be very bad... people should think about this, we are going into disaster if this happens,” Mahathir was quoted as saying by online portal The Malaysian Insider.

Najib had quickly distanced himself, saying its was the paper's own idea and had nothing to do with the ruling party.

“That is the personal opinion of the writer. In terms of the government, we already have a concept that is very clear and we will continue our efforts,” he said.

Like in the past, however, he stopped short of stating whether UMNO, who owns the paper, had actually endorsed such a stance.

On the international plain, however, the government has been engaging Chinese businessmen and industrialists from abroad to invest in the country.

Only recently, a delegation led deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin - no friend of Najib's 1Malaysia and one Perkasa's closet supporters - was currently in Shanghai to aggressively woo Chinese companies into Malaysia.

"Malaysia will continue to welcome Chinese investments, both in the manufacturing and services sectors, particularly in high technology, value-added and knowledge-based activities.

"To us this is a great opportunity with great potential. China has the same interest to invest in solar power and renewable energy projects," Muhyiddin said.

These are words directed at 'precious' Chinese of China. Never mind about their descendants who have for centuries invested both their money and their lives in this country. They are just 'vicious' and out to get the 'Malays' - as defined by UMNO.

Some may say it is international diplomacy, others may call it realpolitik. The truth is that this Jekyll and Hyde syndrome when it comes to the 'Chinaman' looks set to linger, even solidified, especially after the coming general election.

- Harakahdaily