YOURSAY | Big brother controversy – optics not good for Malaysia

 

YOURSAY | ‘The principle of sovereignty requires dealing with each other as equals.’

Anwar: Hisham's 'big brother' China an insult to our non-aligned stance

PKR MP states 5 reasons why Hishammuddin should apologise to M'sians

Hishammuddin says 'big brother' remark refers to Wang Yi, not China

Beman: From the video of the press conference, it is not absolutely clear whether Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein is referring to his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi or China as "big brother".

He may not be clear himself on what he was doing. Whatever the case is, the optics is not good for him. Maybe he intended to show respect to Wang by calling him "big brother" but his giggling had a negative effect. Wang was gracious enough to play along by saying, "We are brothers."

Also, in a press conference like this, the two foreign ministers are representing their respective countries, not themselves. It is fine for Hishammuddin to express gratitude or appreciation for the kind hospitality shown by the host.

It may also be fine to try to speak and mispronounce a few words of Chinese but as representative of Malaysia he must do so with dignity and decorum. The last thing he would want is to be seen as subservient or as trying to curry favour with someone or, worst, as silly.

MPJY: Hishammuddin has either been badly advised to use such a reference "big brother", or he himself is trying to please China the wrong way.

Malaysia should show dignity through our foreign minister, not belittle ourselves. There are many others way to show respect to other countries such as China.

JD Lovrenciear: Malaysia calling China "big brother" is a very serious matter. Where is Malaysia's sovereign status? Where is our sense of national pride? Is our beloved nation so weak and helpless that it needs to announce to the world that we have a "big brother" behind us?

What happened to our six decades of self-rule with the lead advantages of a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy? And now we need a communist country to be our "big brother"? Are we not ashamed? Does it not border on treason?

So, would it be wrong henceforth for Chinese Malaysian companies to display the communist country's national flag side by side with the Malaysian flag in their business premises? Would it be now okay for companies having direct dealings with their Chinese counterparts in trade to salute to "big brother"?

When you openly declare that China is a "big brother" it only means that you are subscribing to and soliciting some kind of protection. No democratic nation can come under the protection of a communist country or ideology. Period.

Hence our foreign minister has done great injustice to our nation. He must redress his foolish stance and apologise to all Malaysians. He should also be held accountable as the rest of the democratic block, especially the US, will have reason to eye our nation suspiciously.

Malaysians cannot be faulted for alleging all this while, and especially in recent times, that the country is leaning too favourably towards China. Some even questioned whether we are pawning the nation in the long haul.

In a highly sensitive geopolitical climate where the advancing naval presence of China and the counter-actions being taken by the rest of the democratic block, why did Malaysia's foreign minister stamp China as our nation's "big brother"?

At a time when the world is gravely concerned with the Myanmar military atrocities and China's stance, why this "big brother" affirmation from an Asean member country? The prime minister of Malaysia must speak.

Sinan Belawan: China became Malaysia's largest trading partner for the 11th consecutive year (in 2019), with trade valued at RM316.6 billion. But that doesn't mean Malaysia must embrace China as its big brother.

Malaysia and China have very significant issues to resolve, such as China's territorial claims in the South China Seas. Perhaps Malaysia and China are strange bedfellows.

For The Love Of Malaysia: Give Hishammuddin the benefit of the doubt. He is speaking in the context of trade and finance. China’s financial strength and world trade is definitely a “big brother”, a benchmark for nations to emulate.

There is nothing unbecoming. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim just wanted to create some ripples to be relevant as the talk of the town recently was Umno.

Dr Raman Letchumanan: Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim, you talk some sense. Yes, China is our biggest benefactor in terms of trade, investment, financing, export market, infrastructure development, etc, but they can be our biggest threat for all the reasons you have mentioned.

They don't have to go to war, in the traditional sense, they just need to turn off the economic tap at any time. And they have known to use that “soft weapon” to get what they want.

The case of the South China Sea is a prime example of how they divide and rule Asean. Malaysia, once a vociferous force against this issue, has now been cowed; so much so our foreign minister goes all the way to China during these pandemic times and calls them “big brother”. It reminds us of the good old days when the conquered pay their annual homage and offerings to their masters.

The issue is what else has Malaysia promised during this visit in these trying pandemic and economic times. We remember former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's desperate forced-invited trip to the US to ‘make America great again’.

I guess only the 15th general election (GE15) can reveal this, just like how GE14 smoked out 1MDB and China's infrastructure investments in Malaysia.

Umno was agitating to rewrite history due to their abhorrence of anything communism, even when communist heroes fought valiantly against British and Japanese rule to liberate the country.

China now poses a much greater threat if relations are not managed properly. Umno/Perikatan Nasional (PN), rather than rewrite history which is based on facts, why not plan and execute a proper defensive script for the future against this potential threat. Our country's destiny is at stake.

Malaysian1: The principle of sovereignty requires dealing with each other as equals. Sovereignty implies not only the recognition of each other’s territory but also all internal processes and independent decision-making.

“Big brother" has the implication of being subservient. The use of the description is contrary to the status of an independent sovereign state. That is why we find the use of the term so offensive.

Coward: As far as I can tell, this is another example of the government being out of touch and used the wrong word. Somebody probably googled for the translation of "abang" in Malay and that came out. They then went ahead with that without realising the connotation of using it.

Normally, one can interpret this as a carefully crafted message, perhaps aimed at America, to advance Malaysia's interest. However, everyone, including me, will dismiss this instead as the minister had misspoken because we don't think Wisma Putra is capable of conducting this type of diplomacy.

SHGC: Do you remember that a restaurant in Penang was raided just because of a complaint by Umno Youth of a caricature of Mao Zedong (being used as decoration)?

Perhaps Umno Youth should lodge a police report because an Umno minister called the communist party leader a big brother. Also, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said never to work tougher with the communist party… whatever that means.

MarioT: A communist country that persecutes its Muslim population is a big brother to Malaysia. While our Chinese minorities and other races in Malaysia are treated like second-class citizens. You cannot find any worst hypocrisy from the Malay-controlled government with its religious attachment.

Headhunter: How about asking ‘big brother’ to ship back ‘fat boy’ to Malaysia to face prosecution? - Mkini