Source : Internet
In national schools, the Muslims will openly try to convert non-muslims to Muslims. They will emphasise the benefits of Islam. Imagine your 7 year old went to national school and came back wanting to convert to Islam.
Islamic scholars will be outraged if Muslim children come home and tell their parents they want to leave Islam.
Once religion is removed from national schools and focus on secular education, more non Muslims will be inclined to enrol in national schools.
BTW, this is not a Chinese malaysian experience. This is a general experience of all non Muslim in Malaysia including orang asli and indians.
One word answer?
Jobs.
The Chinese congregate in Malaysia because there are entire sectors of the economy largely fenced off to the non-bumi. Mncs are given specific racial quotas for every expat count. Even the profitable Chinese businesses have their profits muscled in for a cut, because guests must be gracious to their hosts.
The bigger problem is education. The Chinese who enter the public school system do not have the same tertiary opportunities due to discriminatory affirmative policies favoring the dominant race.
That is why vernacular and independent Chinese schools exist. The former, though part of the public school system, is severely underfunded.
It's the classic devil's bargain. The Chinese are effectively paying extra tax funding the children's education.
Chinese literacy allow these students to pursue education options in greater China. In addition, those with strong bilingual skills can consider Singapore and other Anglophone destinations, though these are premium options.
It's mainly livelihood considerations. The Chinese in Malaysia will make the same tradeoff as their Thai counterparts if they are given square economic deals.
I have had the privilege of knowing and making the acquaintance of many Malaysian Chinese. Several I consider to be close friends. I have never heard any of them make such a wild claim. Not once have any of them said they are better than indigenous Malay people.
What I have heard them say is that they wish to be treated equally, to be accepted to be as Malaysian as any of their other fellow countrymen, and there to be unity in a Malaysian Malaysia. I think these are reasonable desires.
You must be a bloody racist twat to put the demonym, Malaysian, in inverted commas. Are the Chinese Malaysians less Malaysian, you imbecile?
Thank the gods of Olympus that I am NOT Malaysian then, goblok.
The issue is not the vernacular schools. The issue is your contemptible racist system that privileges Malays over and against that of the other races. Now, tell me, what is this thing about bumiputeras? Why is there such a special category of Malaysians call the bumiputeras?
The BEST person gets the university places. The BEST person gets the top positions in government institutions. If it happens that the BEST people tend to be non-Malays, so be it. You don't want incompetent gobloks running Malaysia, right?
Oh well. You village idiots love your senang senang goyang kaki lifestyle, go ahead. Just don't blame Singapore or any other richer and more peaceful and more powerful country for the failures of your own country.
The world will continue to use English as the common language of science, technology, business and education. In a 100 years, maybe Mandarin will take over English's place. I don't know. If somehow Malaysians continue to be lagging behind because you rednecks cannot speak or write English passably, it is your own funeral. Don't retreat to your caves and then preach to the choir about the Malay language, blah blah blah.
Saya pun boleh cakap Bahasa Melayu. But I can speak and write English much better. It is my Bahasa Ibu.
Don't be a racist cave dweller, for goodness sake. Seek to improve yourself. If you are just not good enough, accept it. Allow the better person their rightful place. Race-based quotas for jobs and schools are contemptible.
First of all there seems to be a small misunderstanding. No Malaysian chinese identifies as being Chinese in the sense of being a citizen of China. We identify ourselves as Chinese as a type of race. Hence when we say we are Malaysian Chinese we are saying we are Malaysian by nationality and Chinese by race. We are not claiming any allegiance to China as a country.
One may ask why the need to differentiate why not just Malaysian. Again, as a nationality we do not claim dual allegiance China-Malaysia, we will plainly say we are Malaysian. But socially we use the term Malaysian Chinese to differentiate the difference from people of the Malay race. We need to do this because of the vast difference between the races - we speak different languages, we eat different food and at different restaurants, and we have different religion and cultures.
Language is a practical thing and Chinese are very pragmatic people.
let me give example of Malaysian Chinese doing a similar thing. They often refer to a cousin as ‘cousin brother’ or ‘cousin sister’. Being a native English speaker it puzzled why the need to add the brother or sister when they’re your cousin either way they told me so we know if the referred cousin is a male or female. Saying just ‘cousin’ to us is similar to just saying ‘Malaysian’, it is simply not giving enough description.
In short, yes.
We were childhood friends, we grew up together, we study and play together. We argue and forget. We are students/teacher, we are colleagues, we are neighbours. We banter together. We share our aspirations, our misfortunes, our hectic life. We share our favourite meals, cultural festivities and hobbies together.
Together we are a community.
On the street, the Chinese, Malay and Indians gets along pretty well. We often reciprocate amongst one another. We sure as hell are united whenever someone takes a piss at our local cuisines (like ‘crispy’ rendang).
On the news, it’s different. The country is increasingly divided between the far-right, and multi-racial coalition (a coalition that is losing grounds over time).
“the Chinese are stealing our jobs and opportunities”
“the Malay are lazy, always relies on tongkat”
Truth is, not every Malaysian gets to experience the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural, multi-religious experience. Not every neighbourhood have a good mix of different ethnic composition.
Sometimes we only realised what it means to be a Malaysian when we are abroad. Like how two Malaysian Chinese are so happy to be conversing in Bahasa, since no one else can understand. Or how sambal is a priceless commodity.
So, I do like the Malays, their dishes and baju Melayu, and most importantly, because they are a key component in the Malaysian experience.
It’s a fair tradeoff and intentional on the part of the Malays, who do not want Chinese to assimilate to become full Malaysians and likely take East Asian working culture into Malaysia.
Malays are a tropical people, while Chinese are a four season East Asian people. Four seasons East Asian people have a custom of working hard because there is a cultural awareness of a deep, cold winter. Tropical people do not have such an awareness.
Malay people are much more relaxed by comparison. Maybe they are a bit less productive compared to Chinese, but they are also happier people. It is not surprising that East Asian countries like China, Japan, and South Korea also have the highest suicide rates.
Chinese schools are a tradeoff that Malays tolerate for the next few years, but as Chinese birth rates decrease in Malaysia, the Malays will become a supermajority, by that time Chinese can then be fully assimilated or kicked out and the Chinese schools finally shut.
Malaysian Chinese are not only better in preserving Chinese dialects--they also speak better Mandarin, read/write Chinese better and understand Chinese culture more than their Singaporean counterparts. The reason is simple and clear: they go to Chinese schools, while LKY abolished Chinese schools in Singapore.
Mandarin, other colloquial Chinese languages (aka "dialects") and reading/writing formal Chinese are all interconnected and integral parts of Chinese culture. And preservation and development of such culture hinge on education.
I go to my neighbourhood ‘Chinese’ hawker center in Johor. There are several Malaysian-Indian or mamak stalls. One or two Malaysian-Thai stalls, a few Indonesian stalls selling soto and ayam penyet, and a few stalls selling local Chinese food manned by Vietnamese and East Malaysians. But there is no Johorean Malay food stall, and so there are all kinds of customers but probably no local Malays. That is quite typical for any Chinese or Indian food place here. On the other hand, you always see some Chinese and Indians eating at Malay shops.
I walk to the non-halal supermarket nearby. The staff are a mix of local Chinese and East Malaysians. They speak a mix of Mandarin and Malay. There are all kinds of customers, who speak even more languages.
I go to the local markets. There you’ll see Malays, Indians, Chinese, Indonesians, Vietnamese, Bangladeshis etc selling and buying things side by side.
I drive and I’ll see by the roadside Chinese selling mee siam and nasi lemak, and Malays selling char kway teow and tau fu far ‘extra kaw’.
When I first moved in to my current place of residence, I exchanged greetings with the Malay security guard. He then asked if I spoke Mandarin. I said yes. From then on we always spoke to each other in Mandarin and sometimes I buy him coffee.
So when you say ‘refuse to integrate’, have you considered the possibility that it is you yourself or your social group who has this problem and not other people?
There is no Malaysian culture as such. Malay culture predominates in Malaysia and is rightfully accepted as the de facto culture that represents our country. We don't reject it. But as it is closely tied to religion which is trigger hair sensitive in Malaysia, we tip toe around it. Non Malay elected parliamentarians wear the Malay headwear. We speak the language to various degrees of proficiency. We eat Malay food. When overseas, it is more natural to identify as Malaysians. People want to know the country of origin, not our cultural practices. If pressed for details, we can give a history lec
… (more)Nobody cares about those things. Overseas, I identify myself as Malaysian. Full stop, no Chinese. At home, everyone is a Malaysian and there is no need to identify myself as Malaysian.
This is because those who clamour to abolish Tamil and chinese school are worried that the educated malay voters have started sending their children to these schools and in time to come these kids will know the truth and will no longer vote to keep the ultra malays in power.
The educated malays send their children to Chinese schools and keep their poorer cousins ignorant by ranting about abolishing chinese and tamil schools.
Kids in chinese and tamil schools also score all As in Malay studies. Kids in Malay medium schools also fail the malay language.
Here you can see a Malay elite’s children graduating from University in China.
Yes, of course. The average Chinese and the average Malay get along well in daily life. They shop at the same markets, have food stalls beside one another, live as neighbors, and conduct business with each other. Many of their children attend school and grow up together.
They would get along even better if certain political parties and individuals weren’t hell bent on sowing discord and harping on the differences. A certain wiley Fox in his dotage is the biggest perpetrator of this ideology but after generations were raised on it, some have corrupted parties and caused them to focus on the diff
… (more)
No Malaysian has rejected Malaysian culture.
Malaysians in general adopt bits and parts of every culture present in the diverse racial mix of Malaysia, i.e Malay, Chinese, Indians, Dayak, etc. Malaysian culture thus includes the majority Malay culture and the cultures of the minorities.
In a country with such diversity, no one individual can be said to have all the aspects of Malaysian cultures present in the country. That is what diversity is. There is a common culture but each individual is slightly different.
This question is flawed and based on an incorrect statement,
Malaysia was ruled by UMNO, the United Malays national organisation for 60 years. This Malay nationalistic party has declared that Malays are the lords or masters of Malaysia. It's called "ketuanan Melayu" in Malay. All the important positions in the country are held by Malays. And not just any Malay, but Malays who subscribe to "ketuanan Melayu". Through gerrymandering, the political power of the rural Malays are guaranteed. Malaysians are resigned to this state of affairs. Those who are tired of the system migrate to other countries to seek greener pastures. Malaysia has a very serious probl
… (more)
Indonesia ALLOW private schools to use Mandarin as optional language of instructions. There are plenty of schools which utilizes Mandarin to deliver the lessons as the language of instructions.
The usage of Mandarin was restricted only during the “Orde Baru” era 1968–1998, but those restrictions has been lifted more than 20 years ago, since President Wahid Gus Dur (himself a Chinese-Indonesian descendant) revoked all discriminatory laws in 2000.
In fact Mandarin is very popular now, and even non-Chinese are learning it and enrolling to schools where Mandarin is the main language.
Some schools are giving options whether to enroll to classes where the language of instruction is Mandarin, English or Indonesian.
https://jny.sch.id/sekolah-dasar/Other schools also giving different language options, such as Indonesian-French-Mandarin.
Please, check out my previous article about the Suharto Military Regime era, where aspects of Chinese culture are formally restricted, but not without loopholes and exceptions.
The main reason is that Malaysia still has Chinese medium schools whereas Singapore only has English medium schools with ‘mother tongue language’ as a single subject. That’s just like taking French as a second language at UK schools.
Once you master the written language, it’s easier to learn the different Chinese languages.
In Malaysia, Chinese dialects are not banned on TV media unlike in Singapore. Hong Kong Cantonese and Taiwanese Hokkien shows are shown everyday along with Mandarin shows from Taiwan, Singapore and China.
I'm from a Chinese medium primary school. I know plenty of Chinese from national schools. They're nifty and have a much better grasp of the Malay and English language than me. Possibly because they learn two languages in school whereas I had to focus on three.
Their better foundation in Malay and English helps them connect better with other ethnic groups, or so I feel.
The responses can vary though. I know Chinese from Chinese medium schools who see going to national schools as a sign of turning one's back to the Chinese community and who look down on Chinese who do so, since there is an added factor that not having the formal background, their grasp of Mandarin is simply not that good.
To each their own though. Am interested in reading other responses.
This is based on my perspective alone and subjected to bias.
I think you get the idea of “Malays dislike Chinese in Malaysia” through all the social media’s sharing. All the racial sentiment displayed on the social media were commited by minority few. As we continue to receive all this racial hatred content through our newsfeed and eventually imprint our mind to think as if it was the act of the majority. So be careful with the media, do thorough research before passing any judgement.
Second, I don’t think Malays dislike Chinese and vice versa. I believe we are just comfortable hanging-out with our own race, as we human incline toward things that we share similiarity with (culture, religion, language, skin color, etc, etc). And almost all races are like that. And as our thinking and education progress, it is just a matter of time before we fully learn to embrace each other’s differences.
The question is badly phrased or has an “implied intention” in the background.
Are we talking about Cultural Integration? This is when one group assumes the beliefs, practices and rituals of another without sacrificing its own culture.
Let me talk a little about ethnic Chinese in several countries:
- In Philippines, the ethnic Chinese were forced to choose from a government list of “approved surnames” - essentially wiping out the Chinese lineage identity.
- Some time between 75 and 87, Chinese vernacular schools were closed. This was in response by the Philippines government to recognize the PRC as th
Malaysian Chinese could express their opinion because of freedom of speech by the current government.
But freely? Definitely a big NO. It is because it is a sensitive issue here that could lead to affecting the racial harmony. Anything that discussing about special right of the Malay and religion should not be discussed openly. This is because it is a very effective political tools that can be used by certain political party that based on the very same thing.
Why those political parties could gather so many members and support when they are based on race and religion? This is because those party
… (more)
WHY not?
Each country has the right to choose, weigh pros and cons and has its own domestic consideration.
The Adopters - Singapore/ Malaysia
SINGAPORE - Example of Simplified script in Newspaper
To do that, firstly, the Government must see value to follow PRC for current and future benefits to align.
Education system. Next, is the BIG decision to change the education. Both Malaysia and Singapore did, so the students are taught in simplified Chinese. This will affect publications and also most media in the country.
Hence government publications and media / newspapers in both countries are in SIMPLIF
… (more)
I always and proudly identify myself as a Malaysian - not hyphenated-Malaysian - whenever am asked about my nationality and origins in all my travels abroad. The ethnicity / race part only pops up within Malaysia because everyone is so obsessed with race and distinguishes ourselves based on our racial and religious backgrounds.
What do Chinese Malaysians who go to national schools think of Chinese Malaysians who attend Chinese-medium schools?
- They have more Chinese friends among themselves, actually normally the whole class are Chinese save for one or two Malays or Indians vs. those in national schools who normally make up only between 10% to 40% Chinese depending on which state and town you're in.
- They listen to Chinese pop songs rather than Western songs.
- Their maths is better.
- They know much more about Chinese (China) history.
- Don't bother playing table tennis against them, they will beat you flat; badminton is fair g
What ARE the problems? How do we “ refuse to accept it “ ( the proper word is acknowledge ) when we don’t know what is the “ it “? Are those problems politicians find with us when they lose a chunk of our votes and say “ apa Cina lagi mahu ” ? Are those problems Chinese find with themselves when they lose life savings in a casino? Our problems are the problems of fellow citizens - high cost of living, poor local government services. We have few problems that are in common with other Chinese worldwide - being bashed on the street for being Chinese looking for example.
Thanks but no thanks to this A2A!
Your question lack of historical background to the existence of Chinese school and Federation of Malaysia.
- First Chinese school can be traced back to as earlier as 1815 established in Malacca. That is well over 200 years of history.
- Federation of Malaysia was formed in 16 September 1963, that is merely 58 years as at 2021.
- So how do Malaysia which is not exist in 1815 allowed the Chinese to build Chinese schools? Please put some decent effort to study history so that you do not put forward “history-blinded" and illogical question!
- Historically, it is the master col
Because the alternatives aren’t that great.
It’s extremely difficult to immigrate back to their ethnic origin countries, because those countries are already overpopulated and the government does not want more people.
Singapore is also already overpopulated and does not want more people. Moreover, property,car prices and cost of living are ridiculously high , even by rich western country standards, let alone Asian standards.
All the Western countries only accept people that are highly-educated in STEM fields, which yes Asians are good at, but not every Asian is good at it and wants to do it for a
… (more)
This is the legacy of the divide and rule policy from the British colonial time. This policy has allowed Chinese and Indian migrants to resist assimilation and retain their distinct cultural and linguistic identity, in stark contrast to Thailand, Indonesia, Philippine, Vietnam and Myanmar where the early migrants were assimilated to the indigenous population to various degree.
The migrant culture from Southern coastal China embraces material wealth and prosperity against the Malay culture that embraces laid back lifestyle, instant gratification and emphasis on spirituality rather than material
… (more)Yes, they have migrated and will continue to migrate away from their beloved Malaysia. According to a World Bank study, in 2011, one million ethnic Chinese migrated away from Malaysia . Singapore received 57% of these immigrants. Without a doubt, they were driven away by the discriminatory policy instituted and enforced by the Malaysian Government against its own ethnic Chinese citizens. Who will want to remain in a country where one and one’s descendants are and will be treated as Second Class Citizens on the basis of not belonging to a privileged racial group (the bumiputra)?
As to “….why can
… (more)
“Within the Malaysian public education system, do Malay, Chinese and Indians study in different schools based on their ethnicity?”
No, we do not study in different schools based on our ethnicity.
Before going further, I would like you to know the different types of Malaysian public schools.
- Primary Education (Year 1 - Year 6)
→ National Schools (Sekolah Kebangsaan, SK)
-Medium of instruction : Bahasa Melayu
→ National-type Schools (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan, SJK)
i. National-type School (Chinese) (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina), SJK(C)) - Medium of instruction : Mandarin Chinese
ii.National-ty
To me, this is nonsensical, most people are content as to where they are born and grew up, they don’t consider it better or worse than anywhere else, your actually being racist in your question. Also which chinese are you talking about? The ones born there? Or the ones moved there, you see, the ones here in Australia, once they move live and work here they are Aussies, just like the rest of us. If they are born there they are NOT Chinese but Malay aren’t they? A lot of people from all over the world travel and live in other places, it does not mean one place is better than another, all it mean
… (more)
While I think that it is great that Malaysia has so many education options, it is my personal opinion that the government should not fund race/religious orientated schools.
Under public education there should only be ONE option and that option ought to be national school. With the focus funding on one kind of school, it will theoretically improve the quality of education as a whole as well as strengthen national unity.
With that said, existing Chinese/Tamil/tahfiz schools should be allowed to continue but instead under private school system rather than public. When gov funds are spent, it's only
… (more)
There is quite a long history of Chinese people living in Malaysia. It even extends back to the 1600s.
This is the Cheng Hoon Teng Temple. This was Malaysia’s first ever Chinese temple and it’s still around. It was built in 1645 in Malacca. The city was also known as a major trading hub with many different groups of people. Chinese people were no exception. This city is the reason on as to why Islam has also spread throughout the region, but not the point.
But we didn’t see a large load of them come in up until the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Many of them were brought in to work by the
… (more)
No comments:
Post a Comment