What the Chinese want

Transparency and fairness, and not handouts, says DAP’s Violet Yong

KUCHING: Although the answer should be obvious by now, those who walk along the corridors of Putrajaya and Petrajaya are still asking: “What do the Chinese really want?”

It is as if they were not listening when they were campaigning for one general election, a string of by-elections and a state election.

So, Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong has decided to spell out the answer. “They want the government to be transparent and fair,” she said.

Sharing lui cha, a Hakka tea-based gruel, with members of the Sarawak Hopoh Community Association on Sunday, Yong, who won her seat for DAP in the recent state election, said the Chinese were proud and hard working people and did not need handouts.

“The Chinese just want transparency and fairer policies put in place,” she said. “They believe that incomes will increase as a result.

“And when we all have a high income, we won’t need to wait for funds, we won’t need to depend on government allocations.”

The remark was a stinging reminder of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s infamous “you help me, I help you” offer to the Chinese community on the eve of the Sibu by-election last year.

‘We’re not beggars’

Even as Najib made his RM5 million offer, a Sibu resident was heard saying: “We are not beggars. Our money built these roads.”

Citing the Hopoh association and similar groups, she said CBOs (community based organisations) “do not want government allocations of RM3,000 to RM5,000”.

“What they want,” she repeated for the benefit Putrajaya and Petrajaya, “is a transparent and fair government.

“I believe if everyone enjoyed a good income, they will not mind contributing towards their community and looking after their own.”

In essence, she said, this was the message that voters tried to send out to BN in the 2008 general election, the by-elections that followed and the Sarawak election on April 16.

Transparency in policy making was essential in effective governance as the DAP-led Penang government had proven, she added.

Referring to a recent agreement between China and Penang to build three subways in the northern peninsula state, she said: “It shows that the Chinese government regards Penang as a state which observes and practises transparency.”

She dismissed claims that Pakatan states were unable to secure foreign investments, saying Penang and Selangor had been more successful than BN-ruled states.