LIM CHONG EU – FATHER OF INDUSTRIALIZATION OF PULAU PINANG – ONLY TO THE CHINESE.
…BUT TO THE MELAYU THERE, HE CAN BE DESCRIBED AS THE FATHER OF MELAYU BACKWARDNESS IN PULAU PINANG.
By Mansor Puteh
QUESTIONS WHICH LIM CHONG EU COULD NOT BE POSED ANYMORE ARE: DID HE SUPPORT THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY AND WAS HE A CHINESE CHAUVINST IN GUISE OF A TRUE LIBERAL MALAYSIAN?
HIS DEATH HAS SUDDENLY CAUSED SOME MELAYU TO WANT TO BRING UP THESE QUESTIONS AND ALSO WHY WAS HE ACCORDED A STATE FUNERAL LIKE HE WAS THE ‘SULTAN OF PULAU PINANG?’
THE REASON BEING HIS TRACK RECORD SEEMS TO SHOW HE DID NOT AND THE MELAYU IN THE STATE WERE IN A STATE OF CONFUSION AND INTELLECTUALLY BACKWARD, NOT KNOWING WHAT HE WAS DOING THEN.
Even the Melayu political and community leaders were also not smart enough to notice a slippery eel who could do untold damage to the position of the Melayu in Pulau Pinang, when they saw one.
The former Pulau Pinang Gerakan chief minister of Pulau Pinang died on 24 November after being ill for a while. He was ninety-one years.
He was given a state funeral like he was the ‘sultan of Pulau Pinang’ on Sunday, 29 November for having been chief minister of Pulau Pinang for twenty-one years and was unofficially declared ‘father of industrialization’ of the state.
It was noticeable how the Melayu on the island were not seen at his funeral and along the roads his cortege passed like it was also noticeable how so few Chinese and Indians were seen at the funeral of the sultans including those who were given titles by them when they were alive.
And for nothing Gerakan became a national political party when it was one based in Pulau Pinang when it joined Barisan Nasional together with PPP which was also a party based in Perak.
One wonders why some of the parties based in Sabah and Sarawak had not bothered to expand their influence throughout the country after they also joined Barisan.
Not many Melayu in Pulau Pinang had come to pay homage to him at his funeral. They had nothing to be grateful to him for, now that they are aware of what he had done in all those twenty-one years.
And after being sidelined after the last 2008 general election he emerged in less appealing state as an elder statesman or former chief minister of the state.
It was a negative climax for his party and personal career in politics. No one knows how he must have felt to see the state falling to the opposition.
He probably didn’t care since it was still in the firm control of the Chinese. He, and the other MCA and Gerakan leaders would probably did not like it if the state had been reverted to Umno rule because they thought the state is still a Chinese-majority one.
That was the past. Today Pulau Pinang is a Melayu-majority state.
Did Chong Eu die a bitter man? Or was he happy to have seen how Pulau Pinang which had been under Barisan rule for so long since Merdeka finally falling to the opposition Pakatan or more specifically DAP rule?
So there is nothing much that he and his supporters could be proud of because it was during his time that they lost the state to the opposition for the first time although it is just a temporary setback.
And I don’t think there is any Melayu in Pulau Pinang and the whole of Malaysia who will be happy with his personal achievements because it was at the expense of the well-being of the Melayu in the state.
For the whole time he was chief minister of Pulau Pinang what did he do for the well-being of the Melayu?
The state of the economy of the Melayu and the ownership of land of the Melayu were reduced until they became so critical at the present time.
Is this an achievement of his that the Melayu want to appreciate seeing how much land which used to be owned by the Melayu falling into the hands of the Chinese?
I feel sorry for the Melayu in Pulau Pinang for having trusted the MCA and then Gerakan with their future because they were said to be coalition parties in Barisan but whose existence in the state only caused the Melayu to be so displaced.
There is no state in the whole Federation where the Melayu are in such a backward state, other than in Kelantan which ironically has been under PAS rule for so long.
So now tribute and homage are being churned to highlight the deeds of this one man which some has described as the father of industrialization of Pulau Pinang.
This may be true for some, especially the Chinese who are still continuing to enjoy the fruits of his labor, despite the state being under the DAP and Pakatan spell since the last general election of March, 2008.
But the Melayu can have other views on Chong Eu. They have the right to do so because under Gerakan rule in Pulau Pinang, the Melayu were displaced economically and physically.
They have the right to have their differing views on the personal achievements of this man whose actions might have contributed to the fall of the state to the opposition.
And they are in worse shape today under DAP and Pakatan rule than they were before during all the years they were under Barisan and Gerakan.
The state and position of the Melayu in Pulau Pinang today is deplorable. It was no so before. It is worse now.
It is a surprise that they did not see it that way as some of the more prominent Melayu and other wealthy ones were busy looking after their own personal interests, the Melayu in Pulau Pinang suffered in silence.
Worse, when they wanted to give the opposition a shot at governing the state, because they felt disowned by Barisan.
The unconscious and unintended or unannounced collaboration between MCA, DAP and Gerakan has caused it to fall to the DAP and Pakatan in the last 2008 general election.
They were aided by some Melayu who wanted to change their loyalty by not voting Barisan, and in the process they had to cross the box for Pakatan instead. Now some of them have regretted for their actions and are suffering from it.
Will this be repeated in the next, thirteenth general election?
Has the Melayu in Pulau Pinang and in the other states realized their own folly? Or are they still thinking Gerakan and MCA are with them, when they are not?
Do they also realize that Pulau Pinang is no more a Chinese-dominated state; as of this year, it has become a Melayu-dominated state.
So what this means is that Pulau Pinang is a Chinese minority rule, supported by the majority Melayu.
And what are they going to describe Chong Eu as – the Father of Industrialization of Pulau Pinang or the Father of Melayu Backwardness in the state?
If there are some smart Chinese who want to revise history concerning some Melayu actor surely the Melayu can also do the same and start to treat some other non-Melayu historical actors in the way they see them, and on what they had left behind, the legacy of Melayu backwardness.
What did Chong Eu do the state of the Melayu in Pulau Pinang when he was chief minister? Did he cause the Melayu to become more backward?
It is too late for the Melayu in Pulau Pinang to take another look at Chong Eu. And it is also too late now for them to regret their action to put in DAP in place at Komtar.
But it is not too late for them to realize their own folly and learn as much as they can from their debacle at not trusting Barisan and gave their votes to Pakatan in the last general election.
It was good that they had to experience this debacle.
By Mansor Puteh
QUESTIONS WHICH LIM CHONG EU COULD NOT BE POSED ANYMORE ARE: DID HE SUPPORT THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY AND WAS HE A CHINESE CHAUVINST IN GUISE OF A TRUE LIBERAL MALAYSIAN?
HIS DEATH HAS SUDDENLY CAUSED SOME MELAYU TO WANT TO BRING UP THESE QUESTIONS AND ALSO WHY WAS HE ACCORDED A STATE FUNERAL LIKE HE WAS THE ‘SULTAN OF PULAU PINANG?’
THE REASON BEING HIS TRACK RECORD SEEMS TO SHOW HE DID NOT AND THE MELAYU IN THE STATE WERE IN A STATE OF CONFUSION AND INTELLECTUALLY BACKWARD, NOT KNOWING WHAT HE WAS DOING THEN.
Even the Melayu political and community leaders were also not smart enough to notice a slippery eel who could do untold damage to the position of the Melayu in Pulau Pinang, when they saw one.
The former Pulau Pinang Gerakan chief minister of Pulau Pinang died on 24 November after being ill for a while. He was ninety-one years.
He was given a state funeral like he was the ‘sultan of Pulau Pinang’ on Sunday, 29 November for having been chief minister of Pulau Pinang for twenty-one years and was unofficially declared ‘father of industrialization’ of the state.
It was noticeable how the Melayu on the island were not seen at his funeral and along the roads his cortege passed like it was also noticeable how so few Chinese and Indians were seen at the funeral of the sultans including those who were given titles by them when they were alive.
And for nothing Gerakan became a national political party when it was one based in Pulau Pinang when it joined Barisan Nasional together with PPP which was also a party based in Perak.
One wonders why some of the parties based in Sabah and Sarawak had not bothered to expand their influence throughout the country after they also joined Barisan.
Not many Melayu in Pulau Pinang had come to pay homage to him at his funeral. They had nothing to be grateful to him for, now that they are aware of what he had done in all those twenty-one years.
And after being sidelined after the last 2008 general election he emerged in less appealing state as an elder statesman or former chief minister of the state.
It was a negative climax for his party and personal career in politics. No one knows how he must have felt to see the state falling to the opposition.
He probably didn’t care since it was still in the firm control of the Chinese. He, and the other MCA and Gerakan leaders would probably did not like it if the state had been reverted to Umno rule because they thought the state is still a Chinese-majority one.
That was the past. Today Pulau Pinang is a Melayu-majority state.
Did Chong Eu die a bitter man? Or was he happy to have seen how Pulau Pinang which had been under Barisan rule for so long since Merdeka finally falling to the opposition Pakatan or more specifically DAP rule?
So there is nothing much that he and his supporters could be proud of because it was during his time that they lost the state to the opposition for the first time although it is just a temporary setback.
And I don’t think there is any Melayu in Pulau Pinang and the whole of Malaysia who will be happy with his personal achievements because it was at the expense of the well-being of the Melayu in the state.
For the whole time he was chief minister of Pulau Pinang what did he do for the well-being of the Melayu?
The state of the economy of the Melayu and the ownership of land of the Melayu were reduced until they became so critical at the present time.
Is this an achievement of his that the Melayu want to appreciate seeing how much land which used to be owned by the Melayu falling into the hands of the Chinese?
I feel sorry for the Melayu in Pulau Pinang for having trusted the MCA and then Gerakan with their future because they were said to be coalition parties in Barisan but whose existence in the state only caused the Melayu to be so displaced.
There is no state in the whole Federation where the Melayu are in such a backward state, other than in Kelantan which ironically has been under PAS rule for so long.
So now tribute and homage are being churned to highlight the deeds of this one man which some has described as the father of industrialization of Pulau Pinang.
This may be true for some, especially the Chinese who are still continuing to enjoy the fruits of his labor, despite the state being under the DAP and Pakatan spell since the last general election of March, 2008.
But the Melayu can have other views on Chong Eu. They have the right to do so because under Gerakan rule in Pulau Pinang, the Melayu were displaced economically and physically.
They have the right to have their differing views on the personal achievements of this man whose actions might have contributed to the fall of the state to the opposition.
And they are in worse shape today under DAP and Pakatan rule than they were before during all the years they were under Barisan and Gerakan.
The state and position of the Melayu in Pulau Pinang today is deplorable. It was no so before. It is worse now.
It is a surprise that they did not see it that way as some of the more prominent Melayu and other wealthy ones were busy looking after their own personal interests, the Melayu in Pulau Pinang suffered in silence.
Worse, when they wanted to give the opposition a shot at governing the state, because they felt disowned by Barisan.
The unconscious and unintended or unannounced collaboration between MCA, DAP and Gerakan has caused it to fall to the DAP and Pakatan in the last 2008 general election.
They were aided by some Melayu who wanted to change their loyalty by not voting Barisan, and in the process they had to cross the box for Pakatan instead. Now some of them have regretted for their actions and are suffering from it.
Will this be repeated in the next, thirteenth general election?
Has the Melayu in Pulau Pinang and in the other states realized their own folly? Or are they still thinking Gerakan and MCA are with them, when they are not?
Do they also realize that Pulau Pinang is no more a Chinese-dominated state; as of this year, it has become a Melayu-dominated state.
So what this means is that Pulau Pinang is a Chinese minority rule, supported by the majority Melayu.
And what are they going to describe Chong Eu as – the Father of Industrialization of Pulau Pinang or the Father of Melayu Backwardness in the state?
If there are some smart Chinese who want to revise history concerning some Melayu actor surely the Melayu can also do the same and start to treat some other non-Melayu historical actors in the way they see them, and on what they had left behind, the legacy of Melayu backwardness.
What did Chong Eu do the state of the Melayu in Pulau Pinang when he was chief minister? Did he cause the Melayu to become more backward?
It is too late for the Melayu in Pulau Pinang to take another look at Chong Eu. And it is also too late now for them to regret their action to put in DAP in place at Komtar.
But it is not too late for them to realize their own folly and learn as much as they can from their debacle at not trusting Barisan and gave their votes to Pakatan in the last general election.
It was good that they had to experience this debacle.
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