The Future of the Malaysian Chinese

The Chinese community in Malaysia has reached a crossroad - one that will determine its future role in the country. National elections, expected sometime in 2008, could well see the community coming out in full force to register their disapproval viz. the state of race relations in Malaysia. The altered political landscape of the post-Mahathir era as well as the liberal administrative style of the Abdullah Badawi government has spawned a renewed crusade to redefine the status of this immigrant community. More than ever, the older generation and the current generation of Chinese are intent to force a change in the way their country treats them. This agenda has not and will not be without great travail and strife.

Ominously, Feng Shui masters predict that the year of the pig will be a turbulent one as it is dominated by the conflicting elements of fire and water. The latest United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) General Assembly, which hosted allegedly seditious racial speeches and the brandishing of the ubiquitous Malay dagger or "keris" amid chants of bathing it in Chinese blood, punctured the perception of racial unity in Malaysia. The undercurrent of discontent is now so evident that the Merdeka Centre, an independent research outfit in the country predicted that two out of every three, or sixty percent of eligible Chinese voters would vote an opposition party.

The first casualty of such a scenario would almost certainly be the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the Chinese-based political party which is in alliance with the ruling Malay party, UMNO. The Chinese community is furious over the apparent silence of the MCA when faced with a barrage of accusations from UMNO over concerns of Chinese chauvinism. MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting defended his party, countering, "The MCA has its constraints because, on one hand, we have to safeguard the interests of the community, and on the other, we have to maintain racial harmony and national unity."

Thus, for the majority of Chinese, maintaining the delicate balance as citizens of Malaysia while submitting to policies that discriminate against non-Malays is becoming more of a political non-starter. As far as they are concerned, Malaysia is their home and for many of the younger Chinese, it is the only country they have ever known. The unfortunate reality of not only Malaysia, but other regional countries too, is that the race card is used by political friend and foe, for a variety of purposes. Frustrations of yesteryear continue to dominate as evidenced by Singapore Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's accusation last year against Malaysia and Indonesia of systematically marginalising their Chinese communities.

The reality on the ground is much more layered and revealing. In Malaysia, the Chinese community has always enjoyed a higher per capita income and possesses greater wealth when compared against their Malay-Muslim countrymen. The Chinese community continues to dominate various sectors of the economy. They are better educated by far, and more highly skilled when they apply for job vacancies that are open to all. In real terms, the Malaysian Chinese are not second-class citizens, as they enjoy a higher quality of life when compared with the majority of Malay-Muslims who are still lagging behind in many respects.

The issue of discrimination however has arisen, as after three decades of affirmative action in the form of the New Economic Policy (NEP), the anticipated transformation of Malaysian society has been fitful at best, and a dismal failure at worst.

Nevertheless, what the NEP has done is to create a strong middle class of Malay professionals. These professionals share the same concerns of the Chinese community with regard to the NEP. The dishing out of contracts to the same few elite businessmen, on the grounds of political patronage, angers the Malay middle class too. In that sense, the Chinese and Malays share common sentiments about the NEP. The fact that there are many Chinese who are poor and struggling to make ends meet, casts a different spotlight on the NEP - there have long been demands that the NEP take into account the poor, regardless of race, and provide disadvantaged and marginalized Malays, Chinese and Indians the all important leg-up. Malaysia can forget about fostering a national identity when generation after generation grows up with an entrenched notion of being either Malay or Chinese or Indian before even being considered Malaysian.

In this context, the issue of teaching subjects in vernacular languages, as championed by the Chinese-educated Dong Jiao Zong movement for example, further impedes progress towards dismantling institutionalised racist policies. The Chinese in Malaysia are among the most liberated in the region having preserved their identity and never been subject to an assimilation policy as evidenced in Indonesia or Thailand. How can any ruling government be expected to deal with groups like the Chinese-educated Dong Jiao Zong, when a chasm exists between the latter and the MCA, whose leaders are purportedly the English-educated Chinese? The unwillingness of not only the Chinese, but also the Malays to withdraw from demands that have chauvinism at their very core, make it easier for the nation's leaders to maintain the status quo along racial lines.

The Feng Shui faithful will tell you that according to Chinese astrology, people born in year of the pig are born lucky. Hence, many Chinese chose to have their babies this year. It is perhaps also for these children that their parents will fight for a better future. And if luck has anything to do with it, they will live in a nation that is at peace with its very diversity and secure from racial discrimination.

Imran Imtiaz Shah Yacob