APPRECIATING THE CHINESE RESOLVE

And it would help if the Chinese can practice some humility and not keep saying that they are successful because they are smart and work hard whilst Malays are not because they are lazy and stupid.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

I was in Liverpool’s Chinatown around midnight two nights ago absorbing the serenity of the place. At that time of night the place was deserted when about 200 years ago it would have been bustling with activity. This is because Chinatown is now only a place of business and no one lives there any more.

Liverpool’s Chinatown is the oldest Chinese community in Europe. The Chinese first went to Liverpool in 1834 and migration of Chinese to Liverpool started in the 1850s, around the same time that Chinese first migrated to Malaya in large numbers.

As I looked at the ‘sleeping’ buildings I could not but wonder what made the Chinese leave the security of their home and risk the uncertainties of life in a foreign land so far from home. Most of those who migrated to Liverpool were seamen, like the Malays, too, who migrated there around WWII.

I personally know a number of those Liverpool Chinese who have been successful businessmen for many generations. In fact, one of them, a triad leader, is giving me ‘protection’, if you know what I mean, to ensure that no one from Malaysia attempts to kidnap me and smuggle me back to Malaysia.

I was told that his triad is the largest one outside China but my Long Fu Tong days are over so I am not a member, although the door is always open to me if I want to join.

Anyway, the triads no longer get involved in extortion and kidnapping. They now run legitimate and successful businesses. They also no longer indulge in gang wars (well, not often) but throw dinners, a couple of which I was honoured to have been invited to attend.

My problem with these Liverpool Chinese is language. No, I am not talking about the Chinese language. I am talking about Liverpudlian English. They speak English with a thick Liverpool accent, which I can’t quite understand. It is like someone from Kuala Kedah trying to speak Malay with someone from Tumpat.

Anyway, I am digressing. What I want to talk about is that these Chinese ventured far from home to make a better life for themselves at a time when racial discrimination was still very high. (That is probably why they lived in Chinatowns).

I am sure many did not make it and what we see today are the very few that did. And this is the same for Malaysia.

The first Chinese who came to Malaya in the 1850s suffered big time. Entire communities got wiped out by disease, clan wars, triad wars and civil wars that the Malay elite fought, which the Chinese invariably got dragged into.

The Chinese in Malaysia are not descendants of the early Chinese of the 1850s. All those Chinese died very young without leaving any heirs. And, as I said, many times entire communities died.

When these Chinese died (or were killed), replacements were brought in from China. And they, too, died in large numbers. Eventually some survived and married and had children.

I really do not have the statistics but if I were asked to make an educated guess I would say the Chinese in Malaysia are probably descendants of less than 10% of those who survived the disease and wars of the 1800s.

Today, the Chinese in Malaysia are an economic force to be reckoned with (like in the UK). Whether the Chinese really do pay 90% of the personal income tax that the government collects is debatable. But this is what Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

But what we must admire is not the fact that the Chinese have made it. What astounds me is the blood, sweat and tears that the Chinese had to endure to make it. For every one Chinese that made it, probably scores of others had to die and lie buried in unmarked graves.

The Malays only see the Chinese as what they are today. What the Malays have forgotten is the genocide that the Chinese had to suffer for 100 years before they finally made it (something the Malays did not have to suffer).

And the Chinese in Malaysia also need to understand this. The Chinese in Malaysia may be enjoying a good life. But they are enjoying a good life because many Chinese before them sacrificed their lives so that the Chinese of today can live a good life.

We tend to forget that we are where we are today because of the suffering and sacrifices of the people before us. We think we are where we are because we work hard and are smart. But then we would not even exist if people before us did not suffer and die for us.

And it would help if the Chinese can practice some humility and not keep saying that they are successful because they are smart and work hard whilst Malays are not because they are lazy and stupid.

Maybe you are smart and do work hard, that I do not deny, but you will not be here in the first place if not because so many Chinese before you suffered and died to give you a home in Malaysia.