By T K Chua

Chinese-Malaysians have attracted lots of attention lately. They are labelled as loud, rude and assertive. They are being called “cronies”, “schemers” and “corrupters”. We are told they like to use money to settle problems, cut queue and gain favours.

It could be true many cronies are Chinese tycoons. They exploit and capitalise on our poor governance system to gain enormous wealth. They then flaunt their wealth to the envy of others.

With money, they buy everything, including influence and favour. They don’t just bribe public officials to circumvent regulations or to overcome violations; they bribe parking jockeys, hotel chamberlains, teachers, hospital attendants and even restaurant waitresses. They want the highest priority and the best service to be given.

More recently, Chinese-Malaysians are also being branded as anti BN and anti-Federal Government. They are accused of being parochial, chauvinistic and disloyal. They are even accused of stealing lucrative jobs in Government-linked companies.

I think this is where generalisation and stereotyping are carried to the ridiculous level. The intention is to hurt and to belittle the self-esteem of the community.

I was thinking, if indeed Chinese-Malaysians are self-serving cronies, our governance system must have allowed it. The cronies, by definition, can’t make the final decision. They only influence, conspire and manipulate decisions to their favour. It is simple, when there is a powerful crony, there must be a corresponding hapless politician or authority.

Similarly if Chinese-Malaysians love to bribe, others must enjoy being bribed. Otherwise how does bribery happen? Those who advocate going after givers alone are probably the most corrupted takers. Between a taker and a giver, even a nincompoop knows the former has more power than the latter.

Here comes the contradiction — if Chinese-Malaysians love cronyism and bribery as claimed, then why are they being accused of championing Bersih and other activist movements? By the way, did any ordinary Chinese support the biggest crony and schemer in the 1MDB fiasco? Did any one of them help this crony to roam free till today?

Similarly, how do Chinese-Malaysians become labelled chauvinistic and parochial, when all they desire is their mother tongue education and their yearning for higher income, better living and more comfort in life? They don’t sit around all day talking about their religions or cultures being greater or more superior to others.

They do not ask for more rights than what are accorded to others. They do not ask for more privileges than what others are enjoying. In fact, they concede that certain communities have more privileges than them, given the nation’s history and constitution. So what is the problem here really?

Let’s not divert the issues to somewhere else. Chinese-Malaysians should not to be blamed for corruption, cronyism, disloyalty and parochialism now pervasively taking roots in this country.

They only want a government that is competent in providing the people with good education, state-of-the art infrastructure, efficient transportation, health care, good environment, sound macroeconomics, solid ringgit, safety and security, and genuine respect for Malaysia’s constitution and the rule of law. Are these too much to ask or expect as tax-paying citizens?

They are not asking for Chinese-Malaysians to be in control. They are asking that those in control must be clean and smart enough to handle bigots, holier-than-thou artistes, cronies, schemers and corrupters. Is this too much to ask?

TK Chua is an FMT reader.

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