UNDERSTANDING THE THINKING, MENTALITY AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE CHINESE…PART I.

By Mansor Puteh

I have to say here that I do not read people's comments since they are too scared to reveal what their level of intelligence and standing in society is. If they do not have an identity, they do not have any views worthy of anyone considering. Worse, one cannot use these comments in one’s research on the subject.
Yes, I am brave enough to sign my name on this article.

INTRODUCTION and DISCLAIMER:
This is an attempt at studying the thinking, mentality and philosophy of the Chinese in the world especially those who live outside of the Chinese world.
When will someone conduct a more serious research on this following the wake of the earlier doctoral thesis a Chinese scholar had done which was later published in a book called, ‘History of Chinese Immigration to Nanyang’ which tells the sorry tales of how the Chinese had to flee from South China to go to Southeast Asia with barely anything on them except for the clothes they were wearing?
The then President of Taiwan, Lee Teng-Hui, called the Chinese in Singapore uncultured as they are descended from the people of South China. This was when he had a spat with the Minister Mentor of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew. Yet, Kuan Yew didn’t bother to challenge the other Lee, almost as though Kuan Yew knew he didn’t have anything to contradict.
But I am going to be charitable and not describe the Chinese in Singapore as what the President of Taiwan had said.

‘MALAYSIAN CHINESE ARE STUPID! – MICHAEL CHICK:
It is unlike Michael Chick, who has an English name, who has written another article with a weirder title - ‘MALAYSIAN CHINESE ARE STUPID!’ which was published in Malaysia-Today. Yet, he was not condemned.
Shockingly, there were many Chinese commentators who agreed with him. The reason being the writer is English. If he was Malay, he would have been condemned.
Many Chinese and other non-Malays have tried unsuccessfully to define what and who the Malays are but all of them fail because their thinking was clouded by their own prejudices and biases.
So Michael is lucky because he is English and his views are considered by the commentators to be superior.
Yes, I do mix more with the non-Malays. I went to a Catholic missionary school where I was the only Malay student in class in most of the eleven years I was there in primary and secondary school.
And yes, I have many close relatives who were former Chinese and Indian Hindus.
In fact, most of the ancestors of the Malays, including the members of the royal families were also Hindus, including Parameswara who became a Muslim in 1414 of the Common Era (CE).
And as I am writing this, I had just seen in the papers of how Michael Jackson who was said to have converted to Islam and now calling himself Mikaeed. He followed in the footsteps of his elder brother, Germaine who became a Muslim in 1989.
Is Michael’s conversion to Islam one strange reaction to Barack Hussein Obama’s becoming president of the United States? It cannot be just a coincidence.

THERE ARE CHINESE EVERYWHERE:
There are Chinese everywhere – in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore and almost all the countries in the world and in different numbers ranging from a few hundred to a few million.
The way the Chinese behave and try to exert themselves differ according to which country they are in and how many of them.
The only difference is in what numbers and percentages and the way the Chinese behave is according to these factors.
If they become larger than the local native population such as in Singapore, they will demand and get the ultimate power to control the whole island and in the process cause the extinction of the Sultanate of Singapura.
Yes, Stamford Raffles called it Singapura, while his successor who could not speak much Malay, mispronounced it as Singapore.

CHINESE IN INDONESIA, THAILAND AND THE PHILIPPINES:
In Indonesia, where the number is smaller and comprising only three percent of the total population of the country, they accept everything including being ‘forced’ to study in Indonesian schools and not make any unnecessary demands on the government, lest they will get it in strange ways.
They even had no choice but to use Indonesian names and speak in the local language.
Only lately, however, are they allowed to have their own television programs in Mandarin and you can now hear the Indonesian Chinese speaking in Chinese – Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien mostly, publicly without being chastised. Only a small percentage of them convert to Islam, and speak the language of the majority there.
In the Philippines, the number of the Chinese is even smaller. And because of that they have no choice but to assimilate with the local population comprising of the Filipinos, even calling themselves Filipinos and speaking in Tagalog and English. They do not speak Chinese or clamor to have their own schools.
And because of that they are able to get some of their own kind appointed as President of the country starting with Corazon Aquino. She does not call herself Chinese and only rarely does so and on any of her visits to China, she would visit her ancestral village in south China.
The same with Thaksin and Samak who are prime ministers of Thailand. Both of them are Chinese, but they do not have Chinese names or are able to speak Chinese. They also have Thai names and do not wish to be referred to as Chinese.
The reason being the number of the Chinese in Thailand is very small. And despite controlling the economy and politics, they cannot exert their Chinese-ness that much, lest they would lose support of the average Thais who are comfortable accepting them for who and what they are.
CHINESE IN AMERICA:
In America, the number of Chinese is also small; they restrict themselves to Chinatowns and find their own entertainment watching movies from Hong Kong and listening to music from this country. They do not have any ambition of forming their own political parties because they know they can never go anywhere.
If there are Chinese who have been appointed to office, they have to run on the Democratic or Republican Party tickets.
In short, the Chinese in America have to assimilate, just as the Chinese in Canada and England. They are too small and insignificant to make any impact.
Yet, they can and are allowed to build their own schools and temples, but they do not want to waste their time doing so; they are more interested to save whatever money they have on their companies and themselves.