Stop the vendetta against Chinese

If the Sungai Limau results do indicate that the Chinese are going back to supporting BN, why is the BN government still harbouring a vindictive streak against the Chinese?

COMMENT

A cooking gas supplier mentioned that from this year onwards, new licences will not be issued to the Chinese to supply cooking gas. The old licence holders can still renew their license, though.

Commenting on this, PAS Pokok Sena MP, Mahfuz Omar said that “the government is obviously persecuting the Chinese for supporting Pakatan Rakyat in the 13th general election and at the same time denying it when questioned by the foreign correspondents.”

This means that the government’s vendetta is still ongoing even though MCA had claimed that the Chinese voters in Sungai Limau had returned to BN in droves in the recent by-election held on Nov 4.

By proclaiming that the Chinese had returned to BN, the government should stop sidelining the Chinese with immediate effect.

Although allocations were given to Chinese schools in Sungai Limau, the purpose of that is merely to woo the Chinese voters.

“Due to Umno leaders’ ‘dendam kesumat’ (endless vendetta), the Chinese are still being punished and will continue to be punished for supporting Pakatan,” added Mahfuz.

If the Sungai Limau results do indicate that the Chinese are going back to supporting BN, why is the BN government still harbouring a vindictive streak against the Chinese?

Shouldn’t the government start giving back to the Chinese the latter’s rightful fund allocations in an effort to woo the Chinese over before the next general election?

Therefore many Chinese had opined that the funds allocated to the Chinese schools in Sungai Limau is an eyewash and just a bait for votes. In actual fact, the government does not really have the heart to give the funds.

Is this sad and sorry state of affairs due to MCA abandoning its one-third power in BN?

Prior to Independence in 1957, negotiations were held between the British with Umno, MCA and MIC representing the three major races in the Federation of Malaya. All three races wanted Independence and were given one-third power each in this power-sharing agreement.

To sum up simply: no one had two-thirds and no race can lord it over another race. It was a good arrangement and the best under the circumstances.

But over the years, MCA began to lose their voice. They forgot about their one-third share in BN and acted as if Umno is the big brother.

By keeping quiet and being subservient to Umno, MCA contributed to the Chinese losing their grip on the economy.

Hopefully in their party polls next month, the MCA delegates realise that it is time to elect new and dynamic leaders who will not be subservient to Umno.

Stop the bullying

A good example is the sugar industry and the bread business wherein the Chinese are no longer in control.

As time goes by, there are increasingly less industries in the hands of the Chinese and that is how the cooking gas issue came about.

As the Chinese began to lose their stand in the nation’s economic sector, many young Chinese and also Chinese parents begin to realise that there will be less opportunities for the Chinese in this nation.

The nation’s demographics also play a huge factor in the migration of the Chinese to greener pastures overseas.

Take a look at the areas surrounding Central Market in KL. Old-style Chinese coffee shops have given way to shops run or owned by Bangladesh nationals, Myanmarese and Nepalese.

And when there are less Chinese businesses in the country, the government collects less taxes. In the end the government’s revenue is less and therefore there is a need to widen the tax base, hence the need for the GST (Goods & Services Tax) to be implemented.

This shows that bullying the Chinese is an unwise move because the Chinese diaspora are known to work hard and their efforts churn the economy.

For all the talk about 1Malaysia being inclusive, the implementation is a huge failure.

“It is high time the government wake up to the fact that they should be fair to the Chinese. On the other hand, the Chinese especially the MCA should also wake up to the fact that they have one-third share and therefore should be daring enough to speak up,” said Khalid Samad, the PAS Shah Alam MP.

Malaysia which aspires to be a First World democracy and is much touted by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak as a ‘moderate nation’ and a ‘model democracy’ must first practice the values that it is constantly preaching and proclaiming if it wants to be credible on the world stage.

And that includes acknowledging with respect the Chinese one-third share and according to them what is rightfully theirs.

For that matter, the one-third share is owned by every individual and each one who is oppressed can and should speak up.

From the Kelantanese Malay in Kota Bharu who has been denied oil royalty payments to the Indian factory worker who is waiting for his minimum wage to the Chinese fishermen in Kuala Sepetang, each one has one-third in the power-sharing agreement and thus should speak up when the need arises.

Selena Tay is a DAP member and a FMT columnist.