From Singapore, with love...
Last week, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi sought to find out why Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had made certain remarks recently about the state of ethnic Chinese in Malaysia. Yesterday, Mr Lee wrote back to Mr Abdullah, explaining both the context and the reasoning behind what he had said. The following is the text of his letter.
Excerpt - My neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful, they are hardworking and, therefore, they are systematically marginalised, even in education. There are quotas to prevent you.
I don't claim to be an expert in these matters but in my observation, I do not think MM Lee was half wrong in his statement.
What he said was already quite obvious for all to see just that it is a taboo subject.
However, what makes him so smug to believe that the opposite is not happening here?
Just look at the classifieds any day of the week. "Chinese-speaking preferred" almost automatically takes a non-Chinese out of the equation in the job-search process.
Just stating the obvious. There is nothing to hide when it is not hidden in the first place.
Is Singapore less guilty in this context?
posted by Goat Almighty @ Wednesday, October 04, 2006
3 comments
3 Comments:
The criticism that Malaysia discriminates against Chinese is valid. Look at the quotas set against the Chinese for entry into University.
Is there such a quota against Malays here? In fact the government forks out millions of taxpayers money to help mosques being built here. Other religious groups do not get such financial assistance.
Those Chinese in Malaysia who deny that discrimination against them is non-existent in Malaysia are either brain-dead or political opportunists who ingratiate themselves to their Bumi overlords.
You can't have respect for such people.
Disgusted.
like I said many times on many other blogs - the requirement for Chinese proficiency is more of a business decision than one of racial prejudice. If you try finding work in France you'd be expected to speak French - hell, if you find work in Malaysia you'd be required to speak Malay. Even though Chinese is not our only official language, it is naturally preferred and required in a predominantly Chinese country in terms of job relevance.
Companies are just catering to the demographics of their customers. Please don't be too quick to point fingers and draw the wrong conclusions.
"Meritocracy" is a word not to be found in the lexicon of Malaysian Malays.
Their idea of a level playing field is one which slopes in their favour.
This breeds a clutch mentality and in the longer term is detrimental to the psyche and performance of the Malay community. Such is the pity.
Singaporean Malays can and should hold their heads high because they know that when they succeed in Singapore it is through their OWN effort and not because they have been given nor helped by a handicap system like in Malaysia.
Well done Singapore Malays! You are a class act and way ahead of your kinfolks in Malaysia!
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