SCREAMING TO THEIR DEATH IN MANDARIN.

…THREE CHINESE STUDENTS DROWNED BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO SHOUT FOR HELP IN MELAYU.

By Mansor Puteh

…If the three Chinese students had screamed for help in Melayu, chances are they would be saved from drowning in the river like their ancestors who were saved by the charitable Melayu and Muslims one or two centuries ago when they first landed in Tanah Melayu.

The Chinese never learn; they will never accept reality. Many of them will continue to think they are still in China and Motherland China is still providing them, and if they are elsewhere, they expect to be treated like ‘emperors’ with everybody kow-towing to them.

However, many Chinese have left China for good and also to leave the Chinese race for good too; they have become Melayu and Muslims.

They or their ancestors had come to Tanah Melayu and to Islam on their own accord, so in time, they also lose their Chinese identity and become pure Melayu and good Muslims.

So no wonder we can see the many Melayu men and women today who have strong Chinese features.

This is a sad tale of the Chinese in Malaysia who insist on using Mandarin when it suits them, and then insist on using Melayu when they want to benefit and cheat the Melayu.

They will protest if they are not allowed to use Melayu to promote their companies and products and services aimed at the Melayu.

Even their ‘old newspaper’ collectors speak in Melayu as well as Mandarin.

But I would start with a sadder tale involving some Chinese students in Malaysia drown while on a picnic some years ago.

They faced difficulties and started to scream for help. But the problem is that they screamed – in MANDARIN!

The Melayu who were also picnicking at the same place, away from them heard the scream. But they did not do anything to offer help or assistance, because they did not know what the Chinese students were saying.

The Melayu thought they were excited and happy to be picnicking there as much as they were doing. So they just ignored the Chinese students.

And much later, they realized that the three Chinese students had drowned.

But, alas, it was already too late for them to do anything other than to see their dead bodies floating in the water.

Three dead Chinese students had died. But they had not died in vain; they had screamed their last words or word in MANDARIN.

These are Chinese with Chinese-medium school background. They were taught the importance of Mandarin in their lives, which could offer them a bright future.

Unfortunately, it is the same Mandarin used by their brethren which has also caused them to drown and die.

If the three Chinese students had screamed or shouted for help in Melayu, surely, they could attract some attention from the Melayu who were surrounding them, who could rush to their aid, and saved them from drowning.

Unfortunately, they still chose to scream for help in Mandarin and not in Melayu, knowing how Mandarin in such a situation was not of any use. They were being surrounded by the Melayu.

And no one can fault the Melayu for not jumping onto their feet to help the drowning Chinese students.

How many more Chinese students or members of the public will suffer the same fate in the near or distant future, using Mandarin in a Melayu area?

There must have been many Chinese in the earlier two centuries, who were saved by the Melayu when they first landed in the country with nothing except for the clothes on their back.

They were thin, frail and sicky and could die if not for the charitable Melayu who helped them find a safe place to stay and employment serving them, as coolies and servants.

If not for the charitable Melayu, most of the early Chinese immigrants would have died.

Many did. And many more did not make it to Tanah Melayu. They died while sailing from South China to Tanah Melayu, with some others committing suicide by jumping into the South China Sea.

The Qing Emperors treated them as traitors for fleeing from China and any of them were to return, they would be hanged. They could leave China but on the condition they did not return.

But many Chinese in Malaysia and other countries in the world did not know this and their own history. They expect their host countries to treat them like ‘emperors’, when they were mere ‘coolies’.

However, there are some other Chinese who are smarter than the drown Chinese; they willingly use Melayu in their stickers and other posters that they hang in public places and mostly on public properties, such as trees, walls and even street lamps.

They know if they were to write their advertisements in Mandarin, they can only attract the attention of their own brethren; and if they write it in Melayu, they can also attract the attention of not only the Chinese but also the Melayu and Indians in the country.

The Chinese know when to insist on using Mandarin and when to use Melayu.

They only use Melayu if it benefits them.

Even if they are forced not to use Melayu in their advertisements and stickers, they will cry foul.

The Tamils in Malaysia definitely cannot use Tamil that much, especially with the other races, who do not understand their language, even if there are some Melayu and Chinese who can speak in Tamil, but they are not able to read and write in it too.

So one hardly sees any advertisement in Tamil, unless if they are put up in certain areas where they are many Tamils and also for certain occasions celebrating Deepavali and other Hindu festivals, etc.