EVER CONSIDERED MIGRATING TO CHINA?

So do take a trip to China and check the place out. Then discuss the possibility of citizenship. China is now the richest country in the world while, according to the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan, Malaysia is almost bankrupt. So why would you still want to live in a bankrupt country like Malaysia, where everything cannot say and cannot do, when you can be free in the richest country in the world?

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Surprisingly, many Malaysians, in particular those of Chinese ethnicity, have never been to China. And I am not talking about just Hong Kong, Shanghai or Canton. I made ten trips to China during the 1990s just as it was ‘waking up’. Pudong and what at that time was the tallest tower in the world (is it still the tallest?) was still under construction.

I remember telling my wife, Marina, that in about 20 years or so China is going to be the new world economic power. And most likely because of its wealth it is going to be the new military power in Asia or South East Asia as well. China would give new meaning to the name ‘South China Sea’ because China is really going to own that sea (which was why the British never called it the North Malaya Sea).

It is not that I was clairvoyant. I was making trips to China every three months and each time I could not recognise the place. In just three months everything changed so much that I got lost. Last trip there was no flyover and next trip it was a bustling highway, in just three months. It was fascinating.

Anyway, my 1990s ‘prediction’ came true. Today we see young and rich Chinese everywhere, all over the world, when just 20 years ago all I needed to do was to bring a carton of cigarettes or a fistful of United States Dollars and they treated me like royalty (not that I am not, mind you).

Boxing Day sales in the UK are dominated by Chinese. Posh restaurants are full of Chinese. Designer shops are crowded with Chinese. Name a place where the white skins cannot afford to patronise and you will find Chinese everywhere. The Chinese have come a long way since the days of the 1990s when all I needed was a carton of American cigarettes to get treated like a VIP.

When Britain was a great economic power more than 100 years ago Malaysia looked to Europe to do business with. Then America took over and Malaysians sailed to the United States and invited the Americans to do business in Malaysia.

By the 1960s Japan emerged as the new economic power, followed by South Korea and then Taiwan. That was when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad launched his ‘Look East Policy’ and told us to learn Japanese and asked Malaysians to have five children so that Malaysia’s population can grow to 70 million, just like in Japan (which was 90 million in 1960).

It was very natural that Malaysia would want to do business with successful countries and countries with loads of cash. We would even want to learn their language and send our children to those countries for their education. Mahathir did that as well. What used to be Europe became America and then became Japan/Korea/Taiwan. And now that new economic power is China.

So you would be silly to come to Manchester to try to attract investors from here to pour US$100 billion into Malaysia. In fact, even Manchester is begging the Chinese to come put their money in this city. And guess who owns Manchester United and Manchester City football clubs? All bloody foreigners!

When the Chinese President visited Manchester they laid out the red carpet for him. Chinatown was in Mardi Gras mode. It was basically ‘I love China’ euphoria. Manchester knows they need Chinese money if they want the third-largest city in the UK to continue to prosper.

My neighbourhood has more than 20 Chinese families and we are a very close-knit community. We socialise and mingle and visit each other’s homes. ‘We Chinese’ get along with each other perfectly, and when someone needs to go somewhere and has no transport we carpool. It is a great Chinese community that we have set up in what used to be the home of the Manchester United football club before it moved to Old Trafford.

No doubt Mahathir and his DAP-led Pakatan Harapan are up in arms about Malaysia doing business with China. The truth is, if Mahathir were still the Prime Minister he would be falling at the feet of the Chinese as well. The whole world is falling at the feet of the Chinese. Mahathir is just buat perangai because his “Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak stole RM42 billion of 1MDB’s money” song-and-dance has failed so he needs a new issue to attack Najib.

Actually, China is not so bad. If you have not visited that country yet I suggest you do so one day soon. There are many good things in China that you will not find in Malaysia. In fact, if you can get Chinese citizenship, I would suggest you migrate to China.

The good thing about China is there are no Sultans who you need to be careful to not insult or else you will get arrested. They do not have any official religion such as Islam, which you have to be careful to not insult. Their education system is Chinese, so you need not quarrel with the government to ask for Chinese schools and Chinese education.

There are no Sharia laws or Hudud in China. In fact, non-Muslims and Muslims can live together without the need to get married — so when you ‘divorce’ it is not messy like in Malaysia. You just stay together and bonk every night and when you get tired of bonking each other you just call it a day and move on.

China is actually very ideal for liberals and moderates and those who hate Islam and Sharia laws and those who despise Bahasa Malaysia, the New Economic Policy, Bumiputera rights, Sultans and so on. And those who hate corruption would also love China because they execute those convicted of corruption, while even under Sharia laws they do not put a bullet in the head of corrupt people.

So do take a trip to China and check the place out. Then discuss the possibility of citizenship. China is now the richest country in the world while, according to the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan, Malaysia is almost bankrupt. So why would you still want to live in a bankrupt country like Malaysia, where everything cannot say and cannot do, when you can be free in the richest country in the world?

Tony Pua would love China where they shoot corrupt people instead of just jailing them like in Malaysia