I believe that we ought to look back into our history to see how we lived without all this hypocrisy and shallow politics which seems to have blinded us today.
As I was thinking about a piece to write, I was on my way to the bank near where I have my little humble chambers. On the way to the bank, I usually pass a Chinese restaurant or ‘Chinese makan shop’ like what we are used to hearing.
In that restaurant one can see this simple makcik who sets up her stall in the corridor of this Chinese makan shop selling nasi lemak. It made me wonder as to why this simple lady chooses this restaurant to sell the food that she has prepared for the day. Couldn’t she have done it in a Malay restaurant or an Indian one perhaps?
She could have rented a stall or paid a small rent to the Malay restaurant owner or the Indian restaurant owner to allow her to set up her stall and sell the food that she has prepared.
It then dawned to me as it would to any rational thinking Malaysian irrespective of race that we have to accept reality here in this beloved nation of ours that it is not about race, religion or class, it is about the economics and survival.
That Malay makcik knows very well that there is a demand for her food amongst the Chinese patrons as opposed to the other races who frequent the Malay and Indian restaurants. The Malay makcik knows that she can sell her delicious nasi lemak which she has painstakingly prepared for the day if she sets up her stall at the Chinese makan shop like she does every day of the week.
The urging for a boycott of the Chinese traders so that it will make them reduce their prices is a very irresponsible one and which is void of the knowledge of the actual and real history of this land and of how it has evolved over the centuries since the meeting and melting of races and cultures of South Asia here.
There are many who have supported the urging for the boycott but have they realised that such a boycott can never see the light of day because of the realities on the ground? Comparatively, Chinese food is still the most economical to purchase and it terms of nutrition, at least the basics are there.
You can still get some chicken rice or the various types of ‘mees’ or noodles for between RM3.00 to RM5.00 depending on the area where one buys it and the quantity of the food. But can the same be said of Indian or Indian Muslim food? Even when it comes to Indian food, the stalls and open air restaurants that are open for 24 hours thrive because of the Chinese clientele.
If it were not for the commerce and trade activities which the Chinese pioneered in when Kuala Lumpur was founded, it would not be the city that it is today. But as Malaysians we forget or are encouraged to forget or are even taught to forget by those who rewrite history and allow politics to change the actual history of this nation.
Right smack between China and India
We have to accept the fact that Malaysia is right smack in between China in the East and India in the West. It can’t escape this, nature has intended it to be like that. If we are a nation that makes good use of this strategic location to enhance our competitiveness, it will eventually strengthen our economy.
When we talk about boycotting the Chinese traders, why don’t we ask ourselves about the investment that the mainland Chinese from China have made here? Have we asked ourselves why prime land in the Iskandar region in Johor was sold off to a Chinese concern when Malays are asked to boycott ethnic Chinese here?
Have we asked ourselves why have we allowed the Bank of China to operate again in our shores when we know that it is a banking corporation from Communist China whose descendants are our local ethnic Chinese? Have we forgotten the loans that the nation has taken from the Chinese Banks for infrastructural projects here? It is easy for the politicians to urge a boycott but can the common Malay masses ever afford such a move?
The Chinese traders and businessmen here will be able to survive even if the Malays boycott them because they will learn to adept to the new situation and re-structure their businesses accordingly. But will the common Malay be able to afford the boycott?
Let’s take a simple fact, every Hari Raya, it is a annual habit where you see many Malays either buy new cars to drive them back to their kampungs to show their kin of their progress, or if they are unable to do that they will at least spray paint their vehicles and don new sport rims for that annual trip back home.
As we urge this boycott, have we asked ourselves where do these folks go for a change of rims and tyres if not for the friendly Chinese tyre shop around the corner in almost every housing estate and town centre?
Even for a change of tyres and rims we all have to see our friendly Chinese tyre man to do the job for us because we all know that there is no one else who does it as well in Malaysia. One has not seen a Malay or Indian tyre shop only with exception of a few who only handle motorcycles as opposed to cars where the most money is made.
What we can decipher from this is that some consider changing tyres as a very demeaning and lowly enterprise but what we don’t realise is that though it is rough and dirty work, there is money to be made in it and the Chinese realize and see that which the Malays and Indians don’t.
Today after some opportunities being open, there are some Indians who know seem to have taken up the business of changing tyres of heavy vehicles laden with goods by the roadside, which require the tyreman to come to the scene with the necessary machinery and the spare tyre to do the job. Urging a boycott is easy in politics because it makes one an instant hero for the targeted audiences, but will the masses be able to do so?
The Chinese have been the builders of our nation, they had been doing the physical and manual labour to put up buildings and houses since they time they came in the thousands. They still dominate the field of building infrastructure although from behind the scenes, with elite Malays as figure heads of their companies. Even if that does not work, they know for a fact that almost all Malay companies who get infrastructural work will at some point of the way look out for Chinese expertise to complete the job for them.
Totally unacceptable
Therefore it will be totally unacceptable in the infrastructural and construction industry for a boycott to take place.
Ask any successful ‘goreng pisang’ vendor as to whom are his major customers and the answer will be very obvious. If they have picked the right spot and the fried bananas are crispy and tasty, the people whom we are asked to boycott will form the bulk of the customers who will pay the price put as long as they get value for money.
Imagine what the boycott will do for such a common vendor, who is not depending on any handouts but is making every effort to survive out on his own.
Just because the price of fuel is down does not mean that everything has to follow suit, have we ever questioned the strength of our ringgit in comparison with the US dollar? Have we asked ourselves how much it would now take for local businesses who will have to pay in US currency for goods purchased? Since our ringgit is weak, wouldn't our local businesses be forking out more to pay the supplier in US currency?
When our local businesses are forced to pay more, whom to they pass the ultimate cost to?
Recently we saw some preacher say that the Chinese are not the ones who are our coast guards, soldiers, firemen or policemen who are on duty 24/7 hence the Chinese should submit to Malay supremacy.
But little has the preacher realised that at one point of time in our 57 year history after independence, there were Chinese generals in our armed forces, there were Chinese chief police officers of a state in our police force, there were Chinese headmasters of national primary and secondary schools and the Chinese were very much involved in the civil service but as the years went on and policies of chosen leaders began to sink in, discrimination in the selection process began to take place very openly and promotion opportunities became very scars, they slowly became extinct.
So who now do we blame for the lack of Chinese in the civil service and the armed forces? Do promotions take place by merit? How on earth do we expect the Chinese youth of today to join the civil service when it is openly clear that no matter how good he is, the most he will be able to do is to play second fiddle to his Malay friend?
The non-Malay youth of today knows very well that there is a religious glass ceiling which he will eventually reach if he is lucky in his illustrious career in the civil service, the point beyond which he will not be able to move unless he is willing to give up everything and make a name change. When such are the realities on the ground, how on earth are the non-Malay youths especially the Chinese to be encouraged to join the civil service?
Therefore it is easy to urge a boycott but in event such a situation were ever to take place, the main victims will be the common Malays who depend on the vast array of opportunity which the Chinese helmed trade and commercial activity have opened for them.
We have to accept the fact that without Chinese commerce, the entire South-East Asia will not move. Let’s not be hypocrites, we have to learn to live and let live like what we have been doing for the past two thousand and fifteen years in South Asia as the Austronesian diaspora dispersed by the Yangtze delta and settled all over Asia.
