Patriotism in Malaysia is a continuation of politics by other means. Jalur Gemilang, the moniker bestowed on what was previously simply the flag, has been co-opted by the Barisan Nasional into its 'Cemerlang, Gemilang, Terbilang' opiate.

If, corresponding to the outpouring of patriotism as represented by the flag, national anthem and Aug 31 celebrations, Malaysians had the same degree of political sensibility, then, we would surely examine the nature of our citizenship critically. This is best done vide the Rukunegara, a liturgy of our national aspirations whose second precept Loyalty to King and Country distils the creed.

Looking at the credo's five precepts as the fingers on a hand, we can see why the thumb as strongest digit is rightly assigned to Precept One Belief in God. Religion stirs the strongest passions, and the first and third precepts the Supremacy of the Constitution are currently the foci of debate on the character that this country is assuming. The locus of the debate if on semantics will be unproductive while reality remains unchecked.

Precept Four the Rule of Law is an integral aspect of several unfolding dramas presently engrossing the nation. Their thickening plots have led to an increasing perception of the Lady Justice as not blind but cockeyed and the scales in her hand heavily tilted.

The little finger of the five is Good Behaviour and Morality; this is the government's translation of 'Kesopanan dan Kesusilaan' to which I would add the nuances of 'mannered' and 'cultured, civilised'.

This fifth precept is the most abstract in the philosophy of responsible citizenship, and which I will reference with respect to Malaysian-Chinese. My question is: How well does 'the red, white and blue' (plus yellow) patriotic suit sit on this community?

Rude, crude criminals

The most charmingly picturesque description I've come across regarding Malaysian-Chinese is to be found in the blog of Dr Hsu Dar Ren, a malaysiakini contributor. It is contained in a comment posted by someone calling himself James McDougal.

Racial slurs can just as well be culled from the Hansard or press clippings both current and archived, uttered by well-known Malaysian personages. I confess that McDougal is unknown to me. Nonetheless, I will credit his bona fides he claims to be 'part Scottish and part English', and an old Malaya hand.

Since his impression of Malaysian-Chinese is stereotypical enough to be representative of cohorts aplenty, I feel McDougal's views are as good as any to kick-start our discussion. To read in context the full exchange between him and blogger, you can go to 'Dr Hsu's Forum'. For the purpose of my essay, the relevant quote is as below.

On June 29, 2007, McDougal posted: "If the Chinese are second class citizens in Malaysia, please make me one as well. I would not mind the second class status for the belligerence, the money-grubbing, the brothel-owning, drug-pushing and politician-bribing qualities you espouse as a virtue which other civilised beings eschew."

Belligerence, which he ascribes to Malaysian-Chinese or more accurately as a trait the Chinese consider a virtue, is antithetical to the Rukunegara's fifth precept. On top of incivility, McDougal imputes venality to Chinese in Malaysia.

And since he also implies a proclivity to engage in illegal means of livelihood or again more accurately to exalt illegal means of livelihood as a virtue (whichever), I should point out that he has neglected to mention loansharks and bookies besides the brothel-owners, drug-pushers and crooked businessmen who bribe politicians.

The young who grub

Money-grubbing is the quality which McDougal, and others who support his charge, attributes to those Malaysian-Chinese who are out of the loop of illicit activities. A grub is the larva of an insect. To grub is to dig for something, according to Oxford and the dictionary gives these sample sentences: 'a dog grubbing for a bone'; 'pigs grubbing around in the dirt'.

Who's to say Malaysian-Chinese are not belligerent because they've gone prematurely grey or bald through grubbing too diligently? Sympathy is not something that can be forced. McDougal and like-minded persons evince none for the second-class living conditions of Chinese in Malaysia. Trying to elicit any sympathy is pointless when the community has a bad rep as worshipping at the temple of Mammon.

Just as Jews have been demonised as Shylocks so that whatever was inflicted on them the Holocaust, pogroms and dhimmi status they were subjected to by both Muslims and Christians would not bother anyone's conscience overmuch.

If money-grubbing is placed on an altar, it's because assets are the insurance policy for Malaysian-Chinese and a passport for their children. It allows them to be self-sufficient.

Self-reliance is imperative for a community, some of whom have zero expectations of the regime that rules over them. They know that should they falter or fall by the wayside, they're on their own.

Money trees also, alas, do not flourish in Malaysian-Chinese gardens. Malays monopolise the civil service in the markedly dichotomous employment sector. Chinese have no option but to grub as best they can for themselves. I've seen children who look to be seven or eight manning stalls at the wet market, helping out their parents. Poor little grubs, they start 'em young.

The world according to Warp

There is a similar dichotomy in the education sector. I'm only bringing up this all-too-familiar refrain to explain why, in order to finance FaMa (father-mother) scholarships Malaysian-Chinese are money grubbers.

The dual track for public university admittance, roundabout cap and block on Chinese intake, and pronounced bias in schooling opportunities have all meant that a tidy sum needs to be set aside to put the kids through college.

But Chinese youth are enterprising, a lack of the government's paper stamp of approval notwithstanding. The bunch hawking pirated DVDs is part of the support structure for syndicates stealing intellectual property rights. So McDougal might possibly be on target; just as their elders have a predisposition or propensity for vile, criminal activities (as he avers) all for the sake of the almighty ringgit, so too have the Malaysian-Chinese young.

These DVD vendors are organised, resourceful and nimble, playing a game of cat-and-mouse with police and council enforcement. If Mat Rempit can be redeemed, isn't too bad that these Chinese youths trading on the streets haven't been given half a stab at professional training (like the unemployed graduates retraining scheme) where qualities such as they possess could be turned to more 'good behaviour and moral' use?

Another one of McDougal's nuggets and I'm sure he's not alone in this, goes: "[God] in his wisdom also made Malaysia with Malays as the dominant race with entitlements and benefits given any majority anywhere".

If I read him correctly, he fears that if Chinese were to be more prolific in numbers, Malaysia would soon be awash in grubby trades, drugs, bribes and brothels, not to mention belligerent road hogs.

Isn't it a blessing that Malaysian-Chinese have been persuaded to transfer themselves and their evil habits out of the country with emigration?

The patriotic Malay sees his special place in Tanah Melayu as his birthright. There is no reason for him to want to reside as a stranger in a strange land where his neighbours speak an alien tongue and practise non-Syariah compliant customs; where halal food is difficult to obtain and there might not be a mosque within a 20km radius.

The Malaysian-Chinese sees the birthplace of his forefathers I'm fourth generation on the maternal side, by the way becoming a protean land which he's finding more and more difficult by the day to recognise. It's where religiously-tinged strictures are imposed on him; where haram food and dog licence are getting harder to obtain and there might not be a church or temple left to stand within a 20km radius.

Truly Malaysian

Earlier in this forum, Manjit Bhatia trenchantly delineated the Malaysian-Chinese's political and moral apathy. It's a defeatist lethargy or parochial pragmatism (depending on your point of view) which has its roots in insecurity and fatalism.

What's interesting is that McDougal levelled his allegations specifically at Malaysian-Chinese. I'm curious whether he extends his laudatory estimation to Chinese elsewhere, for example in his presumably native England, or to American-Chinese or Australian-Chinese. If not, we as Malaysian-Chinese should be asking ourselves a whopping 'why not'?

Is it Malaysia's political climate that has affected the Chinese make-up to shape us differently from the rest of our cousins of the Diaspora? Could it be that Malaysian-Chinese have succumbed to the home-grown internal logic which fails to align with 'virtues espoused by other civilised beings'?

It is this unique and internalised Boleh standards by which Selangor declared itself a 'developed state' and its ex-chief minister declared himself unable to comprehend simple English. So when other civilised beings use their external yardstick to take the measure of a man, Malaysian-Chinese are found wanting.

The Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research last year found that 71 percent of Malays it surveyed agreed to the statement 'in general, most Chinese are greedy'. The money-grubbing ethos that is embraced as a security blanket and lifebuoy is viewed as avarice and acquisitiveness by outsiders who have no inkling as to how second-class shoes pinch.

To those whom the words "I'm American" (or Australian or Canadian and so forth) come as easy and as right as rain haven't a clue to the Malaysian-Chinese's sense of unbelonging after constantly being told to shut up and ship out, or otherwise to be prepared for riots and bloodletting. If the Malaysian-Chinese is not politically apathetic, then he ought to beware that an R&R in jail awaits the activist.

My question is: Would Malaysian-Chinese have a different mindset if they did not hug the security blanket so closely to their chest? If they did not harbour the 'adrift at sea' mentality, would they display this parsimony in clinging to the lifebuoy?

In other words, is it nature or nurture? Is the Malaysian-Chinese the creature that he is presumed to be, one that so offends McDougal and the rest of the virtuous 'civilised' world because of hereditary or due to environmental factors?

Citizenship 101

Precept One: Belief in God. The 'dominant race' is encouraged to wear their religiosity on their sleeve. Question: Where and when are Chinese encouraged to publicly express their spirituality? Does the once-a-year photo-op when Ong Ka Ting tosses yee sang with the Prime Minister count as an epiphany?

Is it even thought that belligerent, money-grubbing Chinese have any spiritual needs at all? Or is it the other way around? Because their spiritual expression is deliberately suppressed, stultified and derided that they're walking further along the path of belligerence and money-grubbing as the apotheosis of life?

Precept Two: Loyalty to King and Country. The government which is in effect Umno waves the stick with impunity, and is waving it even now when the country is looking forward to the big birthday we're supposed to greet together. Question: When was the last time a carrot was offered the marginalised?

Precept Three: The Supremacy of the Constitution. After being many times tweaked, the 'social contract' appears to now be written in invisible ink. The powers-that-be can elect to interpret the clauses any which way they see fit.

Question: If Malaysians of Thai, Portuguese, Pakistani, Turkish and Arab descent are bumiputera, what criterion is it exactly pray tell that excludes Chinese and Indian-Hindus?

Precept Four: The Rule of Law. Here the Chinese must be thankful for the small mercy that he's the more fortunate; in this department, it's his Indian brethren who are the unfortunate demographic. They number the most custodial deaths in lock-up and the most numerous cases of police abuse. Question: Who will protect us from the preventive detention laws and from the benevolence of our government?

Precept Five: Good Behaviour and Morality. When Chinese are threatened by badly behaved 'first among equals' brandishing sharp, pointy objects, what does the self-appointed representative of the community do? They offer a half-hearted bluster and a faint-hearted "Yessir, No sir, three bags full, sir".

Question: Are the MCA mice or men? Oops, irrelevant thing to ask. I should more properly say: Can mousy genes be 'made-over' in time to convince an electorate going to the poll?

Fifty years is a long time with which to think on for the value of our citizenship and whether you take pride in being Malaysian.

In all the official forms that you are required to fill, do you (in the blank space for coding on 'Bangsa') write 'Malaysia' or do you write 'Cina'/'India'?

If you're proud to be Malaysian, do you possess an equal dignity in being Chinese (or Indian) living here? Are you able to bequeath a legacy of dignity (please allow me to use this word with a capital letter Dignity), drawing on civilisations 5,000 years old, to your fifth, sixth, seventh generation hyphenated children?

Turning 50 is a significant milestone in life. At this venerable age if a man is unable to suggest cogent answers to a few hard questions, or if he is in denial precluding even asking any questions, or if he is a punkahwallah apologist intent on deflecting all questions, then he is doomed to 50 more years of the same. Deservedly.