Those damn Chinese again

RPK wrote that the Chinese will never vote for UMNO again but the thrust in his post was that in contrast to Chinese supposedly united right behind the DAP - an assumption based on an article in The Ant Daily airing unhappy grouses from Chinese readers - the Malays are politically divided into several disunited groups.

But I rather think a la the title of a James Bond film in 1983: 'Never say never again'.

Chinese Malaysians are in the main politically pragmatic, well at least among the middle-age and elderly, meaning they will vote for the party which works for and benefits them best.

They have been politically pragmatic and indeed have to be such because they have inherited the DNA of a Diaspora-ed group whose instinct would primarily be to earn the traditional '3 bowls of rice', lie low and mind their own business including playing mahjong all day long on election day, wakakaka.

what heatwave? wakakaka 

'Lie low and mind their own business'?

Years ago in the UK and also more recently in Australia (in the last number of years), the Chinese migrants were compared favourably (in the eyes of local whites) to the Indian migrants in a number of ways:

• they didn't take away jobs, especially government jobs from the locals (which of course they now do, wakakaka) whilst by contrast the Indians, for example in Britain during my Uncle's days there, monopolised the London and other British city transport systems (by the by, my Unc related to me an English joke by Harry Secombe about Indians being bus drivers and conductors which I won't retell as it's quite racist, especially for today) and the fast food services in Australia
• they were generally quiet and significantly less vocal than the Indians - this was mentioned by the press during Unc's days in London and again in Melbourne a few years back when there was a spate of local anti-Indian anger and even bashing - the Chinese were also noticeably less likely to participate in union activities which the Indians seemed to thrive in
• they very rarely dated local (white) women (which they now do, wakakaka) - of course the last could possibly be because Indians were better looking than Chinamen and therefore more attractive to the white women, and it's well known white men love Indian sweeties.

Anyway, back on track - You'd also note, like what has been published by The Ant Daily (or for that matter in MKINI, MM Online and previously in TMI, in blogs like RPK's and mine, etc) that the unhappy Chinese lot would usually be the younger generation of Chinese Malaysians.

Now, before I return to RPK's theory on Chinese voting preference, why is that the younger set of Chinese Malaysians are not only unhappy but also very assertively or worse, aggressively vocal (very loud) in contrast to their elders?

Well, my theory is that The Young Ones do not have the Diaspora-DNA, instead considering themselves as 100% Malaysians with all the rights inherent for all Malaysian citizens.

They refuse to accept their minority status because they have been exposed to Western education and influenced by Western concepts of human rights values. They might also lack the teachings, mannerism and values of a Confucian society, or don't subscribe to those, and thus would be more loud, assertive even aggressive in their demands and perceived rights as 100% Malaysian citizens.

Needless to say, the conservative and elderly Malays probably dislike (some even hate) them and consider them as biadap, wakakaka.

Hmmm, I've used the word 'contrast' thrice already, which could be translated into me believing there isn't a 'one-size-fits-all' label to stick onto Chinese Malaysians, nor for that matter any other ethnic group, wakakaka. Thus my argument is that it's advisable to 'Never say never again', wakakaka.

Whatever, while the younger Chinese Malaysians may reject UMNO and BN, I reckon UMNO and BN still want their votes. And the cause for this is actually (thanks to) Mahathir, who during his time as PM, loved and enjoyed electoral constituencies in which the Chinese voters could play king-maker eg. 60:40 or 65:35 Malay:Chinese voter ratio.

And apparently there are some 60 plus such federal constituencies, yum yum, which the EC hasn't had a chance yet to 'update' (wakakaka) to today's changed Chinese attitudes, .....

...... except in Sarawak where we see 'sardinization' a la Kapar in some areas such as Stampin, Miri, Lanang etc .....

..... and Putrajaya-nization in others such as Sadong Jaya and Simunjan (in 2012 average voters per constituency 9876) becoming 3, namely, Sadong Jaya, Simunjan and Gedong (for this coming state election, average voters per constituency 6992), creating in just this example an extra state seat for Ah Jib Gor's 'fixed deposit', wakakaka.

In PM Mahathir's time, Chinese Malaysians in the main supported BN because Mahathir like all Malaysian PMs placed emphasis on the economy, and that's the principal driving force to galvanize or persuade Chinese Malaysians into voting for BN, wakakaka - well, most of them anyway, because some did fight for King & Country without considering economic benefits, some made the supreme sacrifice and perished, some survived to wear all sorts of medals including the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP) and Panglima Gagah Berani (PGB), while more than a few served quietly with dedication but without award nor honours nor reward.

For more, see my post Chinese Policemen or my letter to Malaysiakini titled Chinese M'sians, too, have died for one Malaysia.

SP

PGB

Yes, not all Chinese are economic animals but alas all Chinese are definitely not bumiputeras.

But time passes on and the composition and attitude of the Chinese voters have also changed. More and more of The Young Ones became eligible to vote; more and more Chinese, even those in their middle-age became disenchanted with Mahathir for his Machiavellian manoeuvres, eg. from Bangsa Malaysia to saying hurtful-to-Chinese stuff such as 'Najib wasted too much time and money in trying to win the Chinese vote when he should have spent all that time and money focusing on the Malays instead', from Vision 2020 to fundamentalist Islamic Malaysia, etc etc etc.

Until our remarkable EC can get its claws and paws into Peninsula constituencies, the Chinese voters remain attractive, so attractive that:

• Ahmad Zahid has recently urged the Chinese to return to BN
• Adenan Satem wants the Chinese in Sarawak to support his party come September - he wants to win at least one or two seats from the DAP's current 12
• Pak Haji Hadi Awang also wants Chinese votes so much so his PAS rolled out his Chinese daughter-in-law (sim-poo).

Ah Jib Gor had much much earlier tried to woo the Chinese hence his adoption of his Chinese moniker, his 1Malaysia (which many Chinese aunties praised because they received his 'angpow' bonuses from time to time),and I suspect his aborted attempt to work in cooperation with the DAP when he sent his hatchetman, Nazri Aziz to Penang to kamcheng with LGE, I think sometime in 2014.

Recall, when Najib initiated his 1Malaysia policy, very much to Mahathir's unhappiness and also to Muhyiddin's out-of-sync declaration that he was a 'Malay first' rather than a 'Malaysian first', Nazri wrote a letter to Utusan's Awang Selamat stating his famous "And yes, I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?”

At that point in time, Mahathir was very unhappy with Najib's 1Malaysia, because as I suspected, he couldn't bear the thought that under Najib's 1Malaysia, the Chinese might be given too much as they were accused of during Tunku's time, and that thought must have greatly churned Mahathir's tummy.

On 15 August 2014, FMT reported Nazri takes friendly fire which reads (extracts):

Nazri Aziz’s support for Lim Guan Eng’s proposal to ban foreign labour from cooking Penang street fare is one such case to highlight. More recently, there was an attempt by a pro-Umno blogger to link Nazri to a video of a group of people frolicking in their birthday suits on the beach in Teluk Bahang, Penang.

Wakakaka.

The blogger zeroed in on Nazri and attacked him for his cordial relations with the DAP Chief Minister of Penang, seeing some connection in Nazri’s presence in Penang at the time the video on nude frolicking on the beach was taken. Nazri, in his usual frankness, called the blogger “stupid” and “sub-standard”.

Three days later, on 18 August 2014, TMI reported Dr Mahathir withdraws support for Najib government.

As Nazri is known as a PM's man and thus also as a harbinger of the PM's inclination, and with Nazri seen to be super chummy with Lim GE, I suspected Mahathir was alarmed by the Nazri-Harbinger of Najib's wooing of Lim (and the DAP).

I had then speculated the following:

• Najib wants to progress Malaysia onward and out of a likely coming slump - obviously he doesn't want to be known or seen as the PM of Malaysia who had allowed his country to become a failed state.

• Unlike UMNO's hardliners, he has assessed he needed the nons to support him in his development plans. I was informed he put his good matey, a Chinese Muslim, on the board of Petronas which greatly upset a certain someone, wakakaka.

• The MCA, MIC and Gerakan have been monumental failures in their inability to gather support from the nons, so to Najib they're f**king useless. Sorry for my blunt words but I am bluntly truthful.

• PKR is automatically persona non grata because of Manmanlai, wakakaka, and PAS is in general, thanks to the ulama (wakakaka) and their desperate need for UMNO to make up the necessary 2/3 to support the Hudud push, is already in the Malay Muslim Unity bag.

By simple elimination, there remains only the DAP which coincidentally has enormous Chinese and to a lesser extent Indian support. Najib wants to harness those support (remember Hindraf, not so much for its failure but for the fact that Najib wanted its claimed Indian support, wakakaka).

Hence Nazri would be seen as Najib's Head-kicking Heretic Harbinger (in his pally-buddy chummy relationship with DAP's Lim GE) because for UMNO to cooperate with the DAP would be considered by its hardliners as an act of political heresy. But that's precisely why Nazri had that vanguard role, to test the DAP water with his toes and to also take the flak (friendly fire) from the anti-DAP UMNO-ites.

Najib of course doesn't necessarily require the DAP to join the BN, but to cooperate in bipartisanship on a number of development fronts.

But Mahathir's withdrawal of support for the Najib government, as reported by TMI on 18 August, sure as hell put a stop to the suspected coziness with DAP. And that was only one of numerous spanners the old man threw into Najib's machine in the latter's attempt to kamcheng with the Chinese.

Mahathir seemed most determined to ensure that Najib or for that matter, any UMNO leader except presumably himself and his cronies, will never ever enjoy rapprochement and trust (kamcheng) with the Chinese Malaysian community.

Aiyoyo, these Chinese are real trouble-makers lah, wakakaka. Instead of sticking to selling pirated DVDs they have become political king-makers.

But nonetheless, 'never say never again' in regards to wooing them to vote for UMNO-BN, PAS-Ikatan (wakakaka) and PBB (Sarawak).

Tell you a secret, Chinese Malaysians love the 3-E's, namely Education, Economy and Equality, in that order.

One never knows, one might succeed, as I suspect Adenan probably will in Sarawak. He pandai pandai approved recognition in Sarawak of the UEC (Senior Middle Three Unified Examination Certificate, offered through the Malaysian Independent Chinese Secondary Schools and recognized by many universities in the world, except ironically in universities in its own country, Malaysia).

Ah Jib Gor should consider this seriously if he wants to win Chinese support for the BN

See also my One myth about Chinese Malaysians.