Have a Meaningful Chinese New Year - ARE YOU FIRST A MALAYSIAN OR CHINESE?

 

ARE YOU FIRST A MALAYSIAN OR CHINESE?

This question is irrelevant, unknowing and oftentimes insidious.

Irrelevant because being Malaysian is about our citizenship. Being Chinese is about our ethnicity. Citizenship and ethnicity are not the same thing. And we can be proud of being both at the same time.

Unknowing because, unfortunately, many Malaysians do not know the difference and are easily drawn into a fruitless debate. Insidious because there are those who throw these questions for political games. While this manipulative and dangerous political strategy benefits them, it does not profit you and me.

What does it do? It hurts us. It divides us. It tears us apart. It makes us question each other’s loyalty.

When we were born, we took our first breath both as Malaysians and as Chinese. Both as Malaysians and as Malays. And both as Malaysians and as Indians, Kadazans, Ibans or Eurasians. Both at the same time.

When we are overseas, we refer to ourselves as Malaysians. Why? Because we are proud Malaysian Chinese who want to differentiate ourselves from Chinese elsewhere, such as in China or Singapore. Malays would do the same and differentiate themselves from Malays from South Thailand or Indonesia. Indians would distinguish themselves from those from India.

We need to stop pitting our citizenship against our ethnicity.

The next time someone asks us this question, let us answer: “It is an irrelevant question, because I am both, first!”

Have a meaningful Chinese New Year from all of us at Zubedy.

Peace, anas

Chen Man Hin

In a political culture that often rewards noise, Chen Man Hin (1924–2022) avoided emotional or provocative racial language and showed that steadiness, discipline, and constitutional conviction can shape a nation just as powerfully.