Chapter 1533: The second-class citizens of the Greater Malayan Chinese

'Malaysia was originally a British colony. During World War II, parts of the country were occupied by the island countries. After the war, Britain resumed colonial rule. In August 1957, the Federation of Malaya declared independence. In September 1963, the Federation of Malaya, together with the city of stars, Sarawak, and Sabah, merged to form Malaysia. Two years later, the city of stars was removed from the name and was forced to establish a country, which became the current territory.'

'Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy and federal state with its capital in Kuala Lumpur. The country has 13 states and 3 federal territories, with a total area of about 330,000 square kilometres. The country is separated into two parts by the South China Sea: the southern part of the Malay Peninsula and the northern part of Kalimantan Island, which is connected to Indonesia...'

'In terms of population, the current population is 16.03 million. Ranked by ethnic group, they are the newly defined Malays (Malay and indigenous) 9.489 million, accounting for 59.2%; the Chinese 4.857 million, accounting for 30.3%; the Indian 1.169 million, accounting for 7.3%; and other ethnic groups 515,000, accounting for 3.2%... '

'On political issues, the Malaysian government restricts Chinese people from visiting the mainland and visiting relatives...Because of an incident 18 years ago, and to avoid suspicion from other ethnic groups, Malaysian Chinese basically remain silent on matters involving the mainland.'

'In terms of social status, the Chinese are second-class citizens in Malaysia. The crux of the problem lies in the current Malaysian constitution, which stipulates in Article 153 that Malays enjoy privileges. This involves a racist creed called 'Malay supremacy', which holds that Malays are the masters or privileged people of Malaysia or Malaya. Malaysian Chinese and Indian Malaysians are considered to be people who have received favours from the Malays, and have obtained citizenship by recognising the privileges of the Malays as stipulated in Article 153 of the Malaysian constitution...'

'In terms of policy, the Malaysian government began implementing the New Economic Policy in 1971, which greatly benefited the Malays. The policy required that Malay privileges over the Chinese be enshrined in law, such as requiring that Malay ownership of businesses be at least 30%... The proportion of Malays in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and other departments must exceed 80%...'

'In terms of education, before the founding of Malaysia, the colonial government consciously suppressed Chinese education and stipulated that the teaching medium must be English and Malay...However, after a difficult struggle by intellectuals led by Sim Mong-Yuh and Lim Lian-Yok, who were known as the 'ethnic English' and 'ethnic soul', Chinese education was allowed, but the government did not did not provide any policy or financial subsidies, and all expenses were borne by the Chinese themselves...The Malaysian education sector still uses various means to restrict Chinese education, and it still favours Malays in college admissions, so that the proportion of Chinese students in Malaysian colleges and universities has dropped from 49% in 1970 to 21% in 1986...'

Although it was a concise introduction to some basic facts about Malaysia, the atmosphere in the meeting room was very heavy.

These descriptions and cold statistics vividly portrayed a bloody and cruel reality for everyone in the room.

The Chinese in Malaysia, who clearly have a 5,000-year-old ancient civilization as their motherland, are living a stifling and sad life in Malaysia. Even if they are born and raised here, they are only second-class citizens, subject to exploitation by the Malay people in every way!

Perhaps influenced by the atmosphere, Academician Li Xinyu paused for a long time after taking a sip of tea before speaking.

'Continue!' Xia Yu said with a solemn expression, and looked at Academician Li Xinyu.

Academician Li Xinyu nodded and once again focused on analysing the Malayan Chinese.

The most important thing is the population aspect. The most representative one is the population growth rate of the Malaysian Chinese, which is not only lower than that of the Indian people, but also much lower than that of the Malay people.

There are two reasons for the low population growth rate: a very low birth rate and a very high out-migration rate!

One important reason for the low population growth rate is that the birth rate of Chinese people is subject to discriminatory treatment, with no benefits and no government subsidies, which only adds to the financial pressure.

A very important reason for the outflow rate is the long-term suppression of education. The new generation of Chinese youth, even if they have excellent academic performance, are rarely admitted to local public universities in Malaysia and have to study abroad, which in turn leads to many people immigrating with their families.

In terms of demographics, there is another important division: Malaysia's nearly five million Chinese people can actually be divided into three types.

They are modern Chinese, newly emerged Chinese from the colonial era, and pre-colonial Chinese.

Modern Chinese are mainly those who arrived in Malaysia in modern times, such as Robert Kuok and Tan Kah Kee, who are excellent representatives of this group. This type of Chinese often speaks in a dialect and is attached to the motherland.

The newly emerged Chinese from the colonial era came to Malaysia even earlier. This type of Chinese learned English and a small number of them knew some Chinese, and they have already maintained a certain distance from the motherland.

The pre-colonial Chinese were those who came to Malaysia during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Many of these Chinese only retained their Chinese surnames and spoke English and Malay. They no longer identified with Chinese culture. A typical representative was Tan Cheng Lock, the first president of the Malayan Chinese Association.

Secondly, in terms of political power, the focus was on the Malayan Chinese Association, which was ostensibly a political party made up of Chinese people.

After World War II, Britain gradually withdrew from the colonies. The average Chinese in Malaysia either relied on the thousands of traditional overseas Chinese organisations or joined the Malayan Communist Party. The middle class was divided, while the traditional wealthy merchants had intermarried for hundreds of years, with intertwined relationships. They had always acted as compradors and lackeys and were highly respected in society.

Therefore, with the support of the British, the Malayan Chinese Association established in 1949 was naturally led by traditional wealthy businessmen. The first president was the representative Chen Zhenlu, a man who always identified himself as a Malayan and possessed a pure Malayan consciousness!

Before Malaya gained independence, representatives of various ethnic parties had to negotiate with the British government. Although Tan Cheng Lock represented the Chinese community, he desperately supported UMNO and supported UMNO's Malay-first policy. He even removed the clause on Chinese language education from the memorandum, which had been specifically included for the Chinese community, and drove Chinese language education out of the formal system.

At that time, the total number of Chinese in Malaya accounted for more than 40% of the total population, only slightly lower than the Malay population, and the economic strength of the Chinese far exceeded that of the Malay population. The Chinese controlled 80% of the country's economy, but were constantly being marginalised and suffered from discrimination in politics, the economy and culture. Apart from the British arrangement to guard against the Chinese, an important reason was that the Malayan Chinese Association needed racial division more than the British.

It can be said that the Malayan Chinese Association was firmly controlled by a group of people who were used to being lackeys of the compradors. The traditional wealthy merchants behind the Malayan Chinese Association were also the opponents of modern Chinese wealthy merchants.

Next is education. The main strength of the Chinese community lies in the establishment of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in August 1954 and the establishment of the Federation of Chinese Independent Schools in December 1951.

The full names are the Federation of Chinese Independent Schools Directors' Associations of Malaysia and the Federation of Chinese Independent Schools Teachers' Associations of Malaysia.

The Chinese school directors' associations or the Chinese school teachers' associations in each state are the de facto nannies of Chinese schools. Their aim is to liaise with Chinese school directors in Malaysia to promote the development of Chinese schools. Their vision is to lead the sustainable development of Chinese education in Malaysia, and their mission is to maintain and develop Chinese education, insist on and fight for equal status. The current chairman of the association is Mr Lin Huangsheng.

The Federation of Chinese Associations is an alliance of Chinese teachers' associations from all over Malaysia, and since its establishment, it has been responsible for pursuing the welfare of its members, promoting Chinese culture, and especially fighting for the equal status of Chinese education and Chinese nationals in Malaysia, with "reasonable demands, legal steps, and a determined attitude". The current president of the Federation is the elderly Mr Shen Muyu, who is known as the "national hero".

The Federation of Chinese Associations and the Federation of Chinese Teachers' Associations not only have to withstand pressure from UMNO, but also have to fight against the Malaysian Chinese Association.

Of course, in order to fight against MCA, the Chinese people, who are good at fighting, naturally would not sit back and do nothing. They also established some parties, which is a very complicated matter...

When it comes to education, we have to mention the three pillars and arms of the Chinese community, namely the Chinese community, Chinese education and Chinese newspapers, which are considered by the Chinese community to be important tools for passing on Chinese culture and uniting the Chinese people.

There are thousands of Chinese associations in Malaysia (not just one), covering all walks of life, while Chinese education is led by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor (CCCI) and the Chinese Teachers' Union (CTU).

As for the remaining Chinese newspapers, the main force currently lies in the hands of Xia Yu's Jiuding Press.

However, since 1969, the Malaysian government has long suppressed media freedom on the grounds of national interest, and Chinese newspapers have naturally been subject to severe suppression.

At present, the newspapers affiliated with Jiuding Press are undoubtedly the least pressured.

Especially in recent years, Xia Yu's Jiuding Consortium has developed rapidly. The stronger Jiuding Consortium becomes, the more the Malaysian government fears it and dares not provoke it lightly.

In particular, it is obvious that the Jiuding consortium, in alliance with the British Bright Consortium, has strongly defeated the old European consortium led by the Rothschild family in Hong Kong, and after blatantly stirring up trouble in Europe, it has given Malaysia a great shock, and the latter has become more cautious.