Is China still the ‘motherland’ for Chinese Malaysians?
By Zan Azlee

The Chinese can go back to China if they don’t like how things are in Malaysia. And the Indians can go back to India too if they are not happy.

It’s funny. I thought we had moved on from that particular issue and now we’re realising that Chinese Malaysians and Indian Malaysians are just as Malaysians as, well, Malaysians.

Then we have our good old Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor who still hasn’t seem to have gotten the memo that Malaysians are Malaysians.

Recently, he was reported to have publicly requested the Chinese government to advise Chinese Malaysians of all the contributions Putrajaya has made to the country for the past 57 years.

He made this comment during the opening ceremony of the China-Malaysia Friendship Garden and in attendance was China’s ambassador to Malaysia, Dr. Huang Huikang.

I wonder what is the logic for the minister to associate China with Chinese Malaysians? Okay, I can see that they have Chinese heritage, but that’s as far as it goes.

I remember my late grandmother telling me that when she was younger, a lot of Chinese Malaysians aspired to go back and visit the ‘motherland’.

They didn’t necessarily want to return and stay in China. All they wanted to do was to go back and visit it. They still saw Malaysia as their home country and where their family is.

I did ask my grandmother if she wanted to visit the ‘motherland’ (oh… did I forget to mention my grandmother is Chinese Malaysian and I am officially a Malay Malaysian?). She said no.

This was decades ago and now, none of my Chinese relatives or Chinese friends ever speaks of the ‘motherland’ anymore. Well, they never have spoken about it anyway.

Generations have gone by (even my grandmother was born in this country – Kuala Lumpur to be exact) and they all really have no connection with China.

But yes, they are all Malaysians. 100 percent pure Malaysians. You can check their identification cards if you don’t believe me and you would see that it is blue in colour.

I think it’s ridiculous for the minister to want to ask another government from another country to advise his own fellow citizens of his own contributions to the country. It’s sad actually.

And then there is me. I wonder who the minister would have to turn to if he wanted someone to explain to me how thankful I should be for what his political party has done for the country.

I’ve got a little bit of Chinese and a little bit of Malay in me, and since I don’t know much about the fidelity of my ancestors, I don’t know what other little bits are in me.

So good luck minister in your efforts to convince me.

[This article originally appeared at The Malaysian Insider]