Gerakan Party insults Chinese

Malaysiakini - DAP not behind senior citizens heckling Gerakan!

Kedah Gerakan secretary Tang Hing Lye accused Penang CM Lim Guan Eng for allegedly treating the Malay community better, obviously to char koay teow Chinese feelings with a naughty eye on their votes. He attempted sinisterly to show that Lim had set aside RM24 million for the bumiputera (Islamic affairs) welfare fund when the non-Muslims were given a smaller amount.

But the local Chinese would have no bar of his UMNO-Perkasa style of divisive populist propaganda. One of the senior citizens even threw a batu at this shameful batu api.

Indeed his racially pathetic provocative propaganda would have turned many of the Gerakan founding fathers in their graves.

And talking about 'graves' we note how a desperate and virtually decimated (in March 2008) Gerakan Party had balls-ed up any chances of political resurrection in Penang by saying a very hurtful comment against the Chinese.

Just a quick intro to what I have to say about Gerakan's hurtful words - The second most hurtful comment against a Chinese is ‘boe kar see’ or kurang ajar, because that reflects on the person’s parents for not bringing up the person correctly. And a typical Chinese most certainly doesn't want his/her parents criticised in that manner.

As Confucius instructed: The superior man, while his parents are alive, reverently nourishes them; and, when they are dead, reverently sacrifices to them. His thought to the end of his life is how not to disgrace them.

But the most hurtful comment against a Chinese is - as I have been informed; unfortunately the term is in Cantonese so I call on Cantonese readers to correct me if I have erred - the terrible term ‘harm kar ch’arn’, a curse meaning (words to the effect) that ‘may your family line be extinguished forever’.

Recently Gerakan’s condemned Penang State's RM100 senior citizen appreciation award as nothing more than phek khim* or 'funeral expenses'.

* I would write it differently from my matey sweetie Susan Loone as ‘peh kim’, literally meaning ‘white gold’ – ‘white’ implying something connected to death, hence ‘peh kim’ means a donation or gift of kim (money) contributing to funeral expense.

As a Chinese I couldn't but feel utterly horrified at Gerakan's unbelievable insult. I wonder whether such an insult would fall just a wee less hurtful than the ‘harm kar ch’arn’ curse, but I know it's certainly worse than that for a ‘boe kar see’ reprimand?

But if it is so in the latter case (worse than 'boe kar see') why then did I claim that 'boe kar see' is the second most hurtful comment that could be made against a Chinese? Shouldn't 'boe kar see' be the 3rd most hurtful?

No, because no Chinese had thought or would ever think of using the curse of giving someone who's still alive a 'peh kim'. No one, that is, until the incredibly insensitive Gerakan Party!

But as reported by Malaysiakini, Gerakan had done the unexpected and termed the senior citizen appreciation award as precisely that, ‘peh kim’.

No doubt Gerakan had wanted to badmouth or belittle the policy of the Penang Pakatan government, but in its moronic and uncouth utterance has instead unforgiveably insulted (not the DAP but) both the recipients and their families, implying that those senior citizens are about to die or have died, or worse as it could be so interpreted, the Gerakan Party curses them to die.

Now, hasn't that been insensitive and politically moronic for a Chinese-based party to say to a Chinese community? Wasn't the Gerakan Party once the party of Chinese intellectuals and scholars? So its 'peh kim' insult has been virtually (politically) suicidal if not ‘boe kar see’.

If the Chinese voters in Penang (and indeed elsewhere) are filial to their parents and ancestors, they must teach the Gerakan Party a severe lesson in ethics and etiquette in the coming general election for its 'boe kar see', even unto ‘harm kar ch’an’ for the party.