Khairy is spot on

There is no doubt that non-bumiputera firms discriminate the Malays - the reality is we are playing ignorance.

COMMENT

What is the big deal if Khairy Jamaluddin says that the non-bumiputera firms discriminate Malays when it comes to employment especially in the private sector?

Why should anybody be irked by his statement or be hypersensitive and skew it into a racially inclined tone?

Well, Khairy is merely calling what a spade should be called. Let’s not be greyish on this matter.

Khairy has stated the truth and many non-bumiputera firms and politicians just cannot chew and digest the hard facts that everybody knows and yet play dumb.

There is no iota of doubt that the non-Malay firms in the private sector prefer to employ their own kind. Just walk into any Malaysian Chinese company; the facts will speak louder.

Majority of private companies in Malaysia are family owned; even the big public listed conglomerates. It is an open secret. Analyse the profiles of the companies and it will confirm what Khairy says.

If there is no discrimination, why do then some Chinese firms insist that for one to apply a job with them must be able to read, write and speak fluent Mandarin?

Some even further demand that one must speak the different dialects. If that is not discrimination, then what? When there are majority Chinese in a meeting, the primary language is their mother tongue. This is a typical scenario even in multinational companies.

Having attended many business meetings and dinners myself in the course of my life in the corporate world, it is disgusting to note that the Chinese have no or little respect to the other races when the majority seated are them and all conversations are in Chinese.

Why? They feel they are superior. And if your superior is Chinese, there is really no hope of getting any significant promotion or salaries at par.

In the commercial world, if you are not a Chinese, the chances that a Chinese run entity doing business with you is near nil. They believe that the economic wealth must be contained and rotated among their own community thus severing ties with other races is no issue.

The Chinese community in Malaysia has evolved into one that believes that they are self-sustainable no matter what comes. It has breached into the zone of arrogance; far more after the past two general elections.

The Chinese have for long discriminated other races in job opportunities though they are equally or better qualified just on the grounds of skin colour.

It is rather pathetic that even the so-called ‘highly western educated’ Chinese harbour the same sentiments when they are within the confines of their own.

It is sad that the handful of Chinese friends that I have who are not from the Chinese medium themselves feel as being outcast within their own community; as they are not as affluent in the language.

They are known within the Chinese community as ‘OCBC” – ‘orang cina bukan cina’. So one can just imagine when you are not even a Chinese.

The ‘kiasu’ attitude in the larger majority of the Chinese community is here to stay and there is no doubt about that. Accept it!

Narinder Singh is a FMT team member.