Please don't blame the 'Cina bukit'

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The problem is an arrogant attitude, not 'Chineseness'.

Blogger Helen Ang said today that tension between Chinese and other groups (in the case of the recent Damansara Utama Methodist Church raid, for example) should not be blamed on 'Chineseness', and that Chinese people who involve themselves in such controversies should not be called 'Cina bukit', a term often used to describe village people who are poor and often uneducated.

Writing in her blog, Reboot Your Thinking, Ang said, "Christians who attend the DUMC, the Methodist Church in Damansara Utama, an upper-middle-class area, are from that area. They’re ‘Cina Bangsar’, not ‘Cina bukit’. Not many ‘Cina bukit’ are Christian evangelists. ‘Cina bukit’ don’t bother or pick fights with Malays.

She added that "what brings about disputes is having an arrogant attitude, not being Chinese."

She said that there is nothing wrong with being Chineseness, and pointed out that poor, rural Chinese who are well-mannered and "were brought up right" shouldn't be ridiculed for taking an interest in Chinese language, literature, history, and culture.

"Students who take degrees in Malay Studies at UKM aren’t accused of being racists just because of their strong ‘Malayness’," she said, adding, "And whenever someone studies French or Japanese at UM, no one accuses them of being ‘chauvinists’ or says that they love other languages more than our national language."

She then criticised Bishop Paul Tan and several other "Christian evangelists" -- including several high-ranking members of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) -- who she said do not really represent Chinese people.

They make up a very small percentage of Chinese in Malaysia, she noted, so when their behaviour is perceived as negative it shouldn't be blamed on the fact that they are Chinese.