Lim Khat Siang swears so very loudly that he’s “Malaysian First”.
He and his DAP Firsters in Pakistan Harapan claim that they always put their prized Malaysian nationality ahead of those who prioritize their race (“Melayu First” Muhyiddin) or who prioritize their religion, e.g. Hadi Awang who insists that the ummah’s allegiance to fellow Muslims transcends national boundaries.
Nationality is the fact of belonging to or being a citizen of a particular nation state. Lim Khat Siang is a self-professed ‘Firster’ citizen of Malaysia — a tropical country.
His voter base though are celebrating festivals marking the four-seasons climate of China — a non-tropical country of origin of their forefathers.
BELOW: Big Chief Sitting Bull
Malaysian Chinese are celebrating Winter (see news report below) and at other appropriate times of the year, we celebrate Spring, Summer and Autumn festivals. Native Malaysians steeped in a tropical climate do not celebrate these four seasons nor today’s dong zhi solstice, obviously.
Some of us (me included) are celebrating it today – even though we no longer live in a tropical country – following cultural traditions that are handed down by our Chinese ancestors who used to live in a country where there was winter.
Lim Khat Siang‘s son Guan Eng also swears so very loudly that he is indeed “NOT (!!) Chinese” but a Malaysian just like his Firster father. So instead of eating tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) today, the Lims should be enjoying ‘viva tropicana’ eating Nasi Lemak all the year through.
Cognitive dissonance much? Bloody hypocrites.
[quote]
GEORGE TOWN: Some Malaysian Chinese families here believe that the Winter Solstice Festival (or Dong Zhi) is more important than the Chinese New Year.
The festival, which is celebrated today, is still observed with families calling on relatives and friends bearing food to warm their hearts during the day where daylight is at its shortest in the year.
It is the peak of winter and after the solstice, daylight hours become longer.
The Malaysian Chinese community celebrate the Winter Solstice Festival by making the delicacy synonymous to the festival – the tang yuan or glutinous rice balls.
Helen Ang 