You might be wondering why I’ve titled this post ‘I’m Chinese’.
The theme of ‘Aku Cina’ is part of the reason why this blog came into being. Partly it’s also my reaction against the Malaysian First posturing — both by the DAP sloganeers and online commentator(s) who employ the ‘Malaysian First’ handle.
I find the anonymous commentators who use ‘Malaysian’ in their pseudonyms, e.g. ‘Anak Bangsa Malaysia’ and variations of it to indicate their own Malaysian-ness par excellence as well as the thrust of their superior comments, to be a great turn-off.
Since my blog has been the subject of speculation and spurious allegations, it’s best that I answer them now.
The readers here
You may have noticed that this blog is bare bones.
The ‘About Me’ page has no other description except one word ‘me’. The photo on the page is to make my identity public so you can recognise me if you meet me on the street.
I’ve not put out any Mission or Vision statements nor provided any commenting guidelines or disclaimers. But even without any stated rules, we’ve done better than alright.
Excluding spam, this blog has so far received 1,202 comments over the last four months.
Out of this number only 3 comments have been disallowed because of personal attacks and foul, abusive language: two from a DAP supporter — same IP address, once using the monicker ‘Penangite’ and another time ‘Lim Ah Kow’ — and the third from an anti-DAP commentator. This puts my censorship at a mere fraction of one percent / 99.75 percent of readers’ comments have been approved.
My friends are astounded at how polite the people are who participate here, considering that it’s censorship-free albeit moderated.
Other comments — a very small handful — have been published with certain words asterisked or edited because I do not wish to get sued by allowing libel by third parties. I tag a note to published comments when this is done — sentences have been deleted only in a few cases.
Pro-Pakatan detracters
The above screenshot is from Free Malaysia Today which I’m not linking as the portal has temporarily suspended its Comment facility and readers’ responses are no longer visible. I believe FMT has taken the correct step as allowing comment was like giving flowers to a monkey the way some irresponsible readers had behaved.
Because I’ve been critical of DAP, it had become too tiring to write for the English new media as my articles drew not only the Mrs Smith kind of comments but a barrage of other allegations by the DAP crowd.
Those readers do not counter with facts but resort to character assassination. It was just taking up too much of my time and energy to monitor their defamation.
To answer the accusations.
Nobody’s paying me
By Mohd Maiyidin [Comment #10] who wrote: “Hidup Guan Eng! Kan baru-baru ni PM lantik 1000 bloger utk merepek dan ini adalah salah seorang dari mereka.”
No, I’ve never been appointed by Najib Razak to merepek and the PM doesn’t know me from Adam.
Nor have I ever been paid a single sen by Umno or MCA or any BN component party or the government or any vested interest to write this blog.
It’s purely my own thoughts.
Considering some of the quirky, personal interest stuff that have been uploaded like Top 5 Happiest Songs, Antara pemain drum terhebat dunia and quasi-crystals frying pan, it boggles the mind that some people think I’m receiving a helluva lot of money for operating this blog.
Journos amusing ourselves
I’ve taken to blogging possibly for the same reason as other journalists (former and practising), e.g. A. Kadir Jasin, Ahmad A. Talib (Pahit Manis), Ibrahim Yahaya (Dunia Tiger), Bujai and too many others to name. Writing is what we’ve been trained a lifetime to do and it’s in our blood.
Speaking for myself — I’m opinionated.
Content-wise, it’s not all that difficult to maintain a blog for those of us who have been professionals in the field.
Other than that, we just need a computer, Internet connection and to remember to pay our electricity bill. WordPress and Blogspot hosting is free; our time is money but we’re contributing that pro bono.
I’m no longer in journalism.
I have a day job. I’m a researcher. My boss would prefer to keep his organisation at a distance from what I do here. Like other bloggers, say SatD, I don’t talk about work.
While on the topic of SatD, he’s also been accused before of being an “Umno cybertrooper” because of his devastating critiques of the opposition. It’s not an accusation that I credit and this sort of knee-jerk kicking merely reflects the lack of maturity in our public discourse on politics.
Victim of smear campaign
While bloggers like me are targets of a politician’s hatchet men, look who’s got a large pool of press secretaries and a gargantuan media department (can we say media militia?)
The above screenshot is Penang Umno chairman Zainal Abidin Osman talking about Lim Guan Eng in Saturday’s FMT article ‘Stop blame game, Umno tells Guan Eng‘.
If someone is critical of his administration, he responds by trying to link the person to either Umno or BN,” said Zainal.
In a short 3-and-1/2 years, Guan Eng has gotten so cosy with the big property developers and the most recent flap is covered in the Malaysiakini story ‘Guan Eng defends Teluk Bahang theme park‘.
The screenshot below is a Malaysiakini reader’s comment on the condemnation by Consumer’s Association of Penang (CAP) of the proposed park as being a threat to the environment.
Malays got it wrong
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve been accused of being “a DAP Trojan horse”. The screenshot below is taken from the blog Pure Shiite where the readers there are happily Helen-bashing.
I am not anti-DAP.
My criticisms are in the same vein as how some Malay bloggers appeared critical of Umno when Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was in charge. They were and are not anti-Umno.
My position is that DAP needs a regime change because evangelists have hijacked the party leadership and do not represent the Chinese ethos. However, there’s little chance that the current DAP superstars will be ousted.
If you’ll look that the pie charts from the 2010 census, the stats show that Chinese make up 24.6% of the Malaysian population. Comparatively Buddhists, Taoists, Confucianists and agnostics make up 22.2% of the overall Malaysian population. Only a very few of the Chinese are Christian.
Yet Christians have a disproportionately powerful voice on the national stage through the DAP. Seekor kerbau berkubang, sekandang kena luluknya. Guan Eng, Tony Pua, Hannah Yeoh, Teresa Kok and David Nga Kor Ming are all evangelicals.
My involvement in journalism
SatD’s reader Road Runner (screenshot above) made another accusation that I “used to work in mKini and other opposition media”. That’s a lie.
For the record, I’ve never worked in Malaysiakini.
I contributed a column sometimes weekly but more usually fortnightly. A columnist is just that, like The Star‘s Azmi Sharom for instance who is a Universiti Malaya lecturer or Zainah Anwar who’s an activist.
Columnists just e-mail our article to the editor and we do not clock in at the media office.
I did my cadet training and started my career in NST and after that worked both full-time and later part-time in The Star. If Road Runner believes that both these papers are “opposition media” then I must congratulate him for successfully turning them over, if only in his mind.
I’ve never written for The Malaysian Insider.
My blog has been aggregated by The Mole.
I do not get any payment from The Mole. Below is a screenshot of Desiderata — Y.L. Chong’s blog — also saying the same (something that can easily be verified with a host of other bloggers).
Umno bloggers network
Aggregation of this blog by The Mole and Rocky’s Bru has led some detractors in Pakatan to hold me guilty by association.
It’s true that my blog is on the blogroll of some pro-Umno bloggers. You’ll have to ask them why they like my writing. Whatever their reasons, I appreciate their moral support.
I am particularly grateful to Dr Novandri Hasan Basri (who was given the honour of reading the 1Malaysia Social Media resolution recently) as well as to A Voice (Another Brick in the Wall) plus Rocky of course for the web traffic that they’ve been sending my way.
Even though these guys are pro-Umno, they give space and link opposing views. Unfortunately the pro-Pakatan bloggers (you know who they are) do not make the same allowance. I’m not on their blogroll with the exception of Crankshaft, a Hartal MSM member.
So much for the DAP ‘Trojan Horse’ conspiracy theory (roll my eyes).
Other things you should know
Thank you for reading this far.
Don’t blame me if at the moment my blog commentators seem predominantly Malay and skewed to the pro-establishment side.
It’s not my fault that the pro-opposition supporters don’t wish to read BM which is the main language of my postings. (This one is in English because I’m tired and having a slight headache and it’ll be too taxing for me to write in BM in this condition).
I do not have a Twitter account.
I do not operate or write in any other blog.
The scan of the Tamil paper front page (scroll to top) is a teaser. It’s quite easy to spot me in the photo as I’m the only non-Indian. I’ve put it up for the benefit of my (erstwhile?) reader OverseasBumi.
As for the other barb that I live in an ethnic enclave isolated from Malays, yup that’s right. I can speak BM with ease because I practice talking Malay to myself all the time.
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Helen Ang 
[YouTube]
dear Helen..
Thank you for making the clarification. I admire your fluency in writing Bahasa Malaysia and praise your decision for choosing BM as the lingua francia of this blog.
Hesmel Faznee Faisal
Helen,i enjoy your posts even though i do not agree on some of your issues, i always think that your ideas are paeallel to that of shuzheng, another favouriteblog i read in order to pry into the mindset of the malaysian chinese psyche..i hope you continue blogging and engage other blogs like SatD which i enjoyed immensely..And ur BM put some of us Malays to shame..
Dear Helen,
Your story is almost the same as mine. Hope to meet you one day and become a real friend. Take care and cheers.
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You’re on for teh tarik :) when in KL. Pls leave your contact in Comment (I won’t publish). Salam — Helen
TEH TARiK… nak ikutttt!!!
hihihi…
^_^
well put artical,
Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions/postings, come on Helen, keep up the good work and fight the fight that needs fighting.
I like your style of writings even though some of the writings i kind of hate it.
aku cina – nothing to it. Aku org cina – still seems an ok title.
but if somebody else especially a malay guy put a title as
aku melayu dan aku org melayu this is what the malay will get and whack for it.
1. rasis
2. damn racist
3. no concept of being a malaysian
4. must be umno
5. extremist and probably terrorist.
therefore, all malays now are trying to be like namewee.
a true chinese malaysian that are not racist, not extremist but purely love by menteri at JPM, all melayu artist and DAP chinese.
somebody told me he is now going to be sunatted so that he have
more ‘malay’ appearance
I’m a Malay and DAP always call my people racist. I just don’t understand how silly are these people.
GO HELEN GO!
Sis after reading “Aku Cina”, I can confidently say that I have understood you more. Tq.
Helen Ang,
I love your articles. They are the true reflection and opinion of most of my non malays friend who grew up in the Sek Kebangsaan era. The opposing views reminds me of the group that did not bother to be friends with me during the school days and only mingled with their own ‘kind’
I am starting a blog soon and noboby is paying me to do it. I just have this thing against the DAP, purely because I have learnt to read faces and none of the leaders in DAP have faces that you can trust.
I have read and analysed most of the content in the blogs written by pro-Pakatan bloggers and sadly, 80 percent of them are merapu.
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Good on you. Please let us know the url when you do. — Helen
When people respect each other religion, belief, races and opnion then we’ll have people like Helen. Human tend to get emotional easy, and when people get together they’ll become rowdy. There’s nothing wrong with “Aku Cina”, “Aku India” or “Aku Melayu” and sometimes we do forget “Aku Iban”, “Aku Kadazan” or “Aku Orang Asli”. Politics in Malaysia is so immature, full of blaming games and bad mouthing and some are so self centered that Malaysia will be in trouble without “HIM”. There are no “Nation Love Interest” but more political gain nowadays. Sad but that’s the truth. If the method is good then use it for the benefits of the people for example “No Plastic Day”. If 1Malaysia is is to get all people with different ethnics and backgrounds together living in harmony, support it as it will do more good than harm rather than bad mouthing about it. The opposition is more on destructive side method rather than “The BN plan is good and I support it but I think we can do it better by etc etc etc”.Love the days during the legend Mokhtar Dahari, his teammates Spiderman (Arumugam), Soh Chin Aun,Santokh Singh and others who played with the spirit as one Malaysian.Cheers
my next project is to conduct kursus mudah asas pertuturan bahasa mandarin sebab pm kita sekarang memang menggalakkan rakyat malaysia menguasai bahasa cina.
Nothing wrong with aku cina or i’m chinese first. so when muhyidin said he’s malay first, i’m proud and i’m also proud of you helen to admit you are a chinese. nothing wrong with admitting our roots. I am Malay. so what? that doesnt mean that i’m racist. but i’m truly a malaysian like you too.some of us totally forgot that we are multicultural country.just be who we are and not pretending to be cool or malaysian first sgt la.
p/s: i wonder how our Tigers work as a team to beat Indonesian team in SEA games.
i sea…
ps: i pun suka dengar (dan TENGOK) lagu ‘Ke AKHiR Garisan’ nyanyian Shila tu…
Ong’s words just before the Sea Games final: “They don’t respect you, they don’t respect our flag, they don’t respect our king and they don’t respect your parents. If you allow this to happen, then you are cowards. You must teach them what being Malaysian is all about.”
this just brought tears in my eyes..
My first thought after reading this article was how strenuous it must have been to maintain a blog like yours with the deep insults and taunts that you have to put up in the past. One would have thought that it gets easier and that by now you would have form a “shell” and it would have prepared you for more of the same type of insults.
I have read the article mentioned here and the titled was tongue in cheek which one can’t help laughing after seeing it. I have read a comment from one of your articles that yours was a ‘mediocre’ blog and I couldn’t help but wonder why the commentator was also reading your blog.
I read other blogs as well but it usually comes up with either a very anti or pro mode of the subject matter. The more you read, the more you can distinguish how the spin is going down. Sometimes you know the part where it starts to push the buttons. However it too makes one more aware of how convoluting some articles could become.
A reader who reads and make a comment in a blog or media does not necessarily means that they are partial to one side. It surprises me that if someone makes a comment in a blog that detractors of the blog suddenly jump in to see to if it is a new ‘player’ that they did not know of from the ‘competing’ blog. The blogs are there for everyone to access. It is not like it is playing to an audience of one. It also doesn’t mean that the commentator is one of their supporters who will defend or agrees with everything the blogger has written or the blogger will be more ‘powerful’.
Does it occur to any one that people read your blog and find that the people who put in a comment actually have something to say and are also a little knowledgeable in the subject and is good enough to share their views with other readers? If one who makes a comment have to ‘compete’ with other people who also comments would makes it a bit silly, doesn’t it ? However if someone tries to imitate by writing and sounding and ‘posing’ like another commenter (which is a highly unusual way of posting a comment ) than it is just pitting the readers against the original commentator that readers are aware of.
Obviously your commentators don’t only just read your blog but others as well and if they feel that your blog was pro or anti any one political party then they know the writer has their own views and they should be just commenting “to agree to disagree” or to agree on certain points, with both sides not to expect that everything must go one way or the highway. And it doesn’t mean that one has to reach fever pitch to make a comment either. Unless that is a pre-disposition that I haven’t heard of.
Some of the articles are better than others but when you read the comments you wonder why they bother to read it or continue to follow the blogger. It sounds more or less like the same views as the blogger and more like a blogger’s own obedient readers fan club.
I also read other online media for the same reason and it is not going to ‘brainwash’ me. If anything there is always something off the mark to know that its reporting has something lacking or ‘added’ and it applies to all the media that I come across. The only difference is how obvious it reads. I may be a discerning reader like many more others. We get that way when we read more and the idea is not how bad it was, it is how well written the article was ( from both sides).
I have also just read your latest posting. I agreed with one of your commentators, ‘Bad temper man’. However you never know these things, on you-tube it could be staged. However I thought it was unnecessary to lift the “indignant tweeters” in this article. It might encourage others to make those sort of comments sound alright. It is not; and it doesn’t matter “who” were making them.
One thing I do noticed is that there are always accusations that one is ‘paid’ to write (as you yourself has been subjected to in this article) BUT you don’t ‘pay’ people to have their own opinion.
Personally if your articles are anything to go by, I think they are many more who must be ‘paid’ to say that.
If by now, a would be genuine commentator or blogger doesn’t get it, the accusations of being ‘paid’ or ‘Trojan horse’ comments is nothing more than trying to keep you from blogging about them unless you have something ‘nice’ to write about them. Or more of the “Mrs Smith” comments which is part of their three prong attack. (I have also read Sun Tzu’s Art of War too. It is available at all good bookstores.) I guess I must be dumb for saying that but if it has been said, I don’t think you will get anymore of those comments.
Interesting expose but while you have the right to independent view, dont whack only DAP. Surely BN also deserves your tongue lashing.
Shalom
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For the sake of the party, you-know-who and his konco-konco should be reined in. DAP has much, much better people than the ones presently hogging the limelight. Cheers. — Helen
No matter how open-minded I try to be and no matter how much I detest BN, I know I will never be able to bring myself to vote DAP simply because of characters like norman fernandez (if he is the same one from DAP JB). His odious comments on Malaysian Insider reinforce the massive distrust Malay Muslims have for DAP. I would much rather abstain and help my country in other ways.
beautiful and succinct explanation of “helen, the cina”.
those who don’t get ‘you’ after this are either extremely thick or extremely blinded by political partisanship. short of brain-transplants, their numbers probably won’t decrease but at least this may make those few who are still capable of independent thoughts pause and recalibrate their prejudices.
thank you for not pandering to any side.
and above all thank you for the beautiful writing. i especially love the wit and sense of humour, both in bm and english.
you go, girl!
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:D
Kita adalah rakyat Malaysia =)
Funny how things go don’t they,
You’re a DAP trojan horse yet has never work for TMI, instead formerly working for NST and TheStar.
You’re an UMNO cybertrooper for having dissenting views with PR yet in reality never affiliated yourself to BN.
I on the other hand,
am an UMNO member, I go on campaigning for BN candidates in many By Elections and an active member of Pemuda BN.
Yet the only people who would ever gave me a space to voice out my opinions are The Malaysian Insider and now Free Malaysia Today.
Life’s like that I guess. But look at it this way, before they hate you they have to first read you.
I had my share of flaming comments on FMT and TMI, but in all honesty, I’d rather be hated by few than be ignored by the masses.
Love your stuff,
Cheers…..
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I like reading you too. Yamseng. — Helen
helen, alangkah moleknya bumi kita sekiranya semua bangsa cina berfikiran seperti awak.kita hidup penuh prasangka selama ini.inilah yang menjarakkan hubungan kaum di bumi bertuah ini.sesetengah orang lupa di mana bumi dipijak disitu langit dijunjung.
saya suka membaca artikel yang dikeluarkan diruangan ini dan berharap awak akan sentiasa berpihak pada yang benar.kadang-kadang teguran dan pandangan yang berlainan agak sukar diterima tetapi kita harus menegur walaupun tindakan kita itu menjadikan kita seorang yang tidak popular kelak.keep up the gud work helen.tentu suatu hari semua bangsa di malaysia ini dpt hidup dengan penuh keikhlasan antara satu sama lain.
Saya tiada masalah kerana dibesarkan dgn rakan2 india & cina; tapi yg menjadi masalahnya adalah apabila ada dikalangan mereka yg sgt chauvinist dan pandai bermuka2…
The Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM) is of the view that extra-curricular activities are a continuation of formal education.
Such activities allow students to explore the meaning of life, their interests and skills.
School authorities should encourage students to exercise their choice according to their interests and inclination. In no way should this freedom be deprived.
Recently, the school authorities of a secondary school in Malacca ordered the closure of the Buddhist Society because its Chinese students preferred to join the Buddhist Society and Chinese Language Society.
The unacceptable reason was that the school authorities hoped to encourage students to participate in other societies so as to reduce the students’ tendency to join only a few societies.
The freedom of religion and language has all the while been protected by the federal constitution since Independence.
It is the foundation of mutual respect of Malaysians. Earlier on, the Buddhist community strived hard and got the Ministry of Education to issue an order, delegating school principals the power to approve the establishment of religious societies.
That was to reduce the unnecessary phenomenon created by “little Napoleons” in the approval process.
But, now we face a situation where too many students choose the same society, resulting in school authorities wanting to reduce or close some societies in the name of promoting pluralism.
A plural nation is built upon the basis of harmony and non-destruction of social order where the people can choose according to their needs.
A democratic society is constructed upon the foundation of the majority respect the rights of the minority.
The various ethnic groups and followers of different religions all have the freedom to choose their language and faiths.
YBAM sees this issue prudently and hopes that in dealing with such matters, government officials should be more sensitive and accommodative in their approach.
terbaik Ms elen ang .. very wide opinion .. i like that .. keep it moving yeahhhh
Keep on writing Helen. :o) and Thank you.
Helen, thanks for the shout-out. Didn’t know you were following my posts. I would like to start a blog myself, but I fear the undue attention it would bring to my career. I wouldn’t want to offend the masters that control my industry. So, I don’t want to be associated or affliated with any party, for now.
Reading through some of your malay and english posts, I get the distinct impression that most of your posts focus on issues related to DAP, the idea of chinese identity and its bearing on Malaysian politics and society overall.
I think you should read up and keep abreast of political developments in the US. They’re very instructive . There are many similarities between DAP and Republican tactics and ideology.
-Evangelical movement. Belief that “God” wants them to ‘save’ THEIR country. They don’t really understand the concept of democracy and how majority rules (in most things). They think they hold a special place in society.
-Use of hyperbole – Republicans use terms like “Socialism” to describe economically redistributive policies enacted by Democrats. DAPpers use terms like “Apartheid” and “Racism” to describe UMNO politics. Unsurprisingly they don’t target MCA.
-Attack of companies ‘bailed out’ by government . See GM and Proton. They don’t care that the bail outs help save thousands of jobs — jobs their own family members would probably benefit from.
-Attempt to maintain social hierarchy ( White anglo protestant upper class and chinese business class). Hidden in their speech and their actions is their covert belief that their race is superior. Both Repubs and DAP hire ‘tokens’ to show they are ‘fair’. See herman cain and that malay dude who used to work for transparency international and is doing nothing visibly to represent DAP. Too lazy to google his name. He’s the very epitome of the token malay sitting on the board of directors to get his fee.
-Crafty use of media (MalaysianInsider/Mkini et al & Fox news) . They skew data and distort statistics to serve their interests. Nearly all reports spin the news against the ruling government. They NEVER criticize their own people. That’s a political faux pas, and you’re liable to be shunned and ostracised (see Helen Ang)
-They employ or encourage thousands of sockpuppets to flood comment sections on opposition websites and drown out any dissenting comments with insults. Sometimes they attack mainstream media website en masse.
-Their hatred of ‘mainstream media’. See again Fox news (though they are actually mainstream) and the opposition news websites. In Malaysia, they especially target Utusan , then NST. But they are not so critical of theStar, primarily because they know many Chinese work there.
-their belief in ‘consipracy’ by the government. The Repubs can say the ruling party has extensive government resources (CIA/FBI) at their disposal. But, does DAP really think that UMNO (ie Malays) are really organised and hard-working enough to enforce every decision made from fixing court rulings to making sure false-flag pig head and firecracker attacks are carried out at the right place and time? Doesn’t fit with their general stereotype that Malays/Bumis are lazy, ineffective and disorganized.
By the way, I see you consider yourself Han Chinese.
I think you shouldn’t write that. You are pigeonholing yourself. It shows you want to ‘assimilate’ into the “Borg Collective” that is the chinese diaspora. You don’t need to ‘describe’ your racial identity. Any person could tell you are chinese (most likely of the Han variety). Just a picture and a name on your website would suffice.
You are not Zairil Khir Johari. He looks chinese. He acts chinese (ie joins DAP). And he is anti UMNO. I consider him Chinese. He should write that he is Han Chinese, because the chinese get confused. They would so love to make him one of their own. It’s just his name; he should change it to Zack Kirk JoHarry . Chinese people can accept western sounding names, just not malay sounding ones.
Plus I think intelligent Bumis know Zairil’s not really Bumi. He is the true trojan horse in the Bumi community. He’s more Han than you are, Helen. And, that’s a compliment.
I just wish Zairil and people like him would publicly pay back any NEP benefit he received directly or indirectly over the years. I wish the malays who don’t think NEP benefits them can publicly opt out. I stress the word ‘publicly’. It would be interesting to see who those people are. Are they wealthy? Or just heavily principled? Or were they ‘peer-pressured’ by chinese friends?
You should do a piece to describe the diversity of the Chinese people and the sub-category you belong to. It would also be interesting if you could tell us of the stereotypes of each sub-group. I remember how amused i was when a chinese guy told me how the group from fujian were especially good at business. (aren’t you all good in business?)
Another time in my travels a singaporean chinese told me how wenzhou people were particularly crafty in a particular business. Again, was this his idea to divert attention from his own craftiness?
Also include something about the mainland chinese that look turk or the ones that have browner skin (near the Tibet Indian borders). These are the social outcasts ‘yearning to be free’ from Han assimilation?
While you’re at it. Do a piece on Namewee. It’s best someone from the “Han community” expels him. He doesn’t look “Han” enough. Cast him out and call him “Han solo”. Or convert him– declare him as phenotypically malay acting like a chinese pretending to ally with Malays. If he sues you like a DAP chinese would, then ask him to submit a sample of his DNA so that government labs can screw up the test and declare him an illegitimate child of a chinese timber baroness and her malay chauffeur.
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Hi,
Namewee once said in an interview his grandmother’s Nyonya. The Babas have had a history of intermarrying with Malays.
I’ll try to write more about ordinary Chinese. I’ve been planning to actually but breaking events get in the way.
I don’t monitor PAS. And PKR is not as actively threatening to up-end the Chinese apple cart as DAP is doing, hence my focus on DAP.
They’re as capitalist as MCA, only more cunning in manipulating public perception to cover their tracks. People at the bottom of the social strata are becoming DAP victims like the Kg Buah Pala Indians, the Malay villagers evicted when their kampungs are forced to make way for Pg developers, and the traditional DAP support base of hawkers, petty traders etc are ignored for the churchgoers of Subang Jaya & Damansara Utama.
Helen
A bit late in the day or year for me to be commenting in this post that was written in late Nov last year, Helen. Me first timer here.
Just to say I like what you wrote that I’ve read so far. And many of the comments, including by OverseasBumi above. And of course there are points that I disagree with. Hope to write some in due course.
The fact that OverseasBumi commented on Feb 4 testifies to the fact that many of the issues you touch on months ago are still current to day and readers may continue writing in this post even months after this.
samalah saya pun dah tertiggal namun inilah teknologi kita bolih rujuk balik namun kalau apa yang diperkatakan semua dalam apa jua isu benar adalah bagus tapi yang menjadi kemusykilanya adalah kebenaran? Namun saja puji Helen,sepatutnya kita tulis “Aku Melayu Malaysia” dan sebaliknya kalau apa bangsa sekalipun,kerana sekop bangsa tu luas. ok
Tabik la dekat you Helen tulisan anda sangat padat.straight to the point..Jika kesemua (mustahil) berfikiran macam anda alangkah bagusnya..
gaya penulisan bahasa kebangsaan anda terbaik.dari seorang yang mengaku aku cina..Salute to you…
Nor have I ever been paid a single sen by Umno or MCA or any BN component party or the government or any vested interest to write this – End of quote
Looks like you are born with a bent towards the UMNO/BN government!
Who can blame you; they are the ones with their hands in the Treasury!
Your blog is quite substantial and required a lot of your time, so your job as a Researcher must be just a hobby now!
Is it?
Don’t be coy, how much is UMNO/BN paying you to burnish their corruption, cheating and lying?
And don’t try to deny that you were born yesterday and also don’t read the MSM because that much understanding of what they are can be gleaned from these government controled papers!
dear thong , why don’t you set up your blog at WordPress. i did its quite cheap, its free la gundu..
Iit takes me less than 20 min to set up. it my first ime at this , all i need is time and idea, to set up no money required.
Again don’t assume check your facts la . don’t be coy , pull out that stick out of your ass , typical Dapster only know how to accuse ,never use brain.
Check this out, Helen,
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/the-christian-mandate-vs-a-stolen-mandate-bob-teoh/
Perang salib indeed, eh? Tidak cukup dengan meniup sentimen perkauman, kini mereka tanpa segan silu cuba mengapi-apikan sentimen keagamaan dengan penuh ghairah.
What have we gotten ourselves into?
Helen you deserve every accolade and encouragement to keep writing. A sensible unpretentious blog is yours. I may not agree with every syllable you write but we are entitled to be different and to have different views in a democracy.
I too find the so called “anak bangsa Malaysia” a total turn off and a pretentious hollow cry. Cheers
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Thanks grkumar. I follow your blog avidly — in fact you’re on my Google reader – and I read the postings (sometimes necessarily twice) to process your critical output. You should write more often. Salam. — Helen
kumar, more output bro.
Just Keep it Honest Sis….!
Mulia untuk kita menjadi diri kita sendiri.
Selamat Maju Jaya, Helen
Nice to get to know your blog. Read through the introduction, I don’t think being Christian or any other religion should be a concern for anyone.
yoohoo, helen!
just stopping by to give you a heads-up abt this interesting article from BBC-POV. i’m leaving it here because i thought it might have relevance to this entry.
the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20083309
btw, you are so prolific, whipping entries so fast, i’m finding it hard to keep up given that i also read every comment and each one garners quite a number in short time. :)
Thanks for the interesting read.
I think the Chinese in Malaysia are Chinese in outlook. That’s why the oh-so-fake business Firsting beggars belief in that the perpetrators are doing it with a straight face and forked tongue and the Kool Aid drinkers lapping it up.
that’s what i thought too. but besides that, some of those evangelists are also such matsalleh wannabes, they may be in denial abt their chineseness. :)
Yup, look at this tweet by Mr Hannah Yeoh:
they are such a complementary pair!
so u prefer us to move toward chineseness or the opposite? (toward malayness is improbable due to our consti).
helen reply is obviously an irrelevant diatribe to the article you link, but the hilarious part is you seem to agree by responding “that’s what i thought too”, i have an idea of what type of opponent you both are arguing against, but what this have to do with martin jacques writing is beyond me.
btw, martin jacques said that han identity held china together have much to do with china one writing system i guess, this is the major difference between china and europe. cheers.
hello HY,
cut the insinuation, please. where do you see any indication of my preference in the few things i’ve said above? if you must know, as far as i’m concerned, everyone shd celebrate [and be allowed to celebrate] her/his ethnicity, regardless what nationality s/he is.
if you are unable to see the connection of the article to my extended exchange with helen, what is it that you found so hilarious? surely not your own inability?
let’s see if i can clear the cobwebs for you.
martin jacques’ opinion is that chinese in general are very comfortable with their chineseness. like him, i applaud that because i am very comfortable with my malayness and malaysianness in spite of being an expatriate for three-fourths of my life. helen too professes to being comfortable with her chineseness [that’s the relevance of the article to this entry, in case you fail to see the connection there too]. from reading helen so far, i also believe her comfort with her ethnicity does not in any way affect her comfort in being malaysian.
based on what jacques posited in his article abt chinese pride in their hanness, i found myself wondering if the chinese evangelistic firsters in malaysia are just delusional and in denial or are truly being devious hypocrites as some suspect. helen, who never made a secret of what she thinks of them, seems to come to the same conclusion.
now how was that a diatribe? and what opponents are you coyly referring to? hannah yeoh and her husband? dapsters?
politicswise, i’m non-partisan because i actually have no vested interest in who comes to power in malaysia. i want the best for her, naturally. however, having followed malaysian politics for a while now, i do think hannah yeoh and her ilks quite ridiculous, dapsters thuggish and uncouth, and DAP the party has become big-headed and has lost the plot since tasting a bit of victory.
p.s. i find arguments tiresome, especially political arguments. but i do bristle when people make assumptions based on their own preconceptions and/or prejudices. i’m a regular at helen’s blog because i admire her command of malay – language and communication being my field. i wld have appreciated your comment better if you had wanted to discuss written mandarin as the cohesion of chinese identity.
mekyem,
Did you actually read the article you cited? MJ talked about Chinese in China, not diaspora like me and Helen, or any American born Chinese, in fact most ABC cannot speak or write Hanyu and Hanzi so pray tell what pride of Hanness are you talking about and how Helen reply and your response are relevant to MJ article? Reading your reply only lead me to further convinced that you are one that preconceived with certain judgment, and that is why you cannot escape from talking DAP and Hannah
PS/ there is no insinuation, and I am not talking politics, my comment is solely about Chinese. However should your interest is firsters / evangelist / DAP / Hannah, then sorry I misconstrue you.
aisay, i tersilap type my nick. terkasi nama tubuh sekali. redundant giler. ;)
dear helen,
i’ve been reading your blog for these couple of days and it’s hard to believe that i shared a lot of your common thoughts…i’ve linked your blog to the sites that i’ve regularly visit…i hope there will be increasing numbers on your blog soon…take care and voice up my friend…
Thank you.
I am based at ISEAS in Singapore and am doing some research on blogging in Malaysia and am interested in interviewing some bloggers. Is there any chance of doing one with you in the second week of February or early March? Would also appreciate if you can introduce me to some other bloggers who may be open to be interviewed. This is for academic research.
Thanks
Loong Wong