COMMENT In my article on Monday , I said that the visit by the Chinese Ambassador Huang Huikang is well within his job description to promote goodwill between the countries and people of China and Malaysia.

Huang did not even mention Malay rights and privileges, but his visit to Petaling Street was sufficient for Perkasa to claim that the ethnic Chinese Malaysians are the “luckiest”, because they are “not discriminated and enjoy rights in a multicultural society, including in education, politics, social, economy, health and other spheres”.

While it may be true in some sense that the Chinese in this country have prospered and contributed directly to the prosperity of this nation, one can only guess what motivated the Malay rights group to make such remarks.

Indeed, the Chinese in Malaysia are not only the ‘luckiest’ but we are extremely hardworking, too. We simply do not idle about as rent-seekers or waiting with hands opened to see what we can get from the government.

Prepared to put in the extra hours

In business, we place importance of having a strong cashflow instead of expensive office renovations. In the workforce, we are prepared to put in the extra hours in order to get the job done.

Even on holidays, we sometimes carry with us our laptops in order to respond to customers’ requirements. In many ways, we have become workaholics.

As offspring of migrants who came to Malaya as coolies working in both the tin mines and ports, most of us understand the value of hard work and being ‘hands-on’.

From young, we have been taught that money does not fall from the sky. We are prepared to tighten our belts so that we can provide our children with a good education. All that we want is to help them get out of the cycle of poverty and become more successful than their parents.

For this reason, even Sir Francis Light had written a very positive report to the governor-general of India, in 1794, about our forefathers who had settled down in Penang.

“The Chinese,” Light wrote, “constitute the most valuable of our inhabitants. They are men, women and children... and they possessed the different trades of carpenters, masons and smiths, are traders, shopkeepers and planters. They employ small vessels... They are the only people from whom a revenue may be raised without expenses and extraordinary effort by the government... They are a valuable acquisition.”

No one can deny that we have contributed towards the economic success of this nation over the years. This is despite not having the special privileges, because we believe that hard-earned money will last longer compared to easy money that comes through donations, gifts and other forms of corruption.

We are prepared to stinge on ourselves so that we can provide the best for our children. This explains why our forefathers were living simple lifestyles, yet they were able to raise successful children who are today either professionals or businessmen.

Every sen that was earned was being reinvested into some form of property, either land or houses. Our forefathers had the foresight to see that when the prices of land shot up, their offspring would enjoy a good life.

A person of good values

With the exception of those who are involved in some vices, wealth to the hardworking Chinese do not come easy.

My family is a good example. My grandfather came from a poor family, and if not for his teacher who managed to get him some form of scholarship, he would not have been able to complete his Form Five education in the early part of the last century.

My grandfather had worked as the chief clerk of Seremban General Hospital. He died of a heart attack when he turned 50. It was my grandmother who had to singlehandedly raise seven sons and six daughters, and almost all turned out to be university graduates.

When he was alive, grandfather was well-respected by his colleagues. Although I have never met him in person, I was told that he was a trusted employee, who without fail, whether rain or shine, would cycle to the bank at the end of the month to withdraw money so that all the hospital staff members could be paid their salaries.

He spent a couple of hours each day to coach his children and grandchildren. In his spare hours, he would go to his favourite coffee shop to meet with the less educated contemporaries of his, and like local statesman Lee Lam Thye, he would help them write letters or guide them through government department procedures. I have picked up some of his good values.

It is these good values and cultural influence that has helped the Chinese community in Malaysia to make it in life. I am sure there are countless other examples, but I would like to leave you with this one video clip that was sent to me via WhatsApp.

Worth emulating

The video clip clearly portrays the psyche of the Malaysian Chinese community that life has not always been a bed of roses. There are a series of sacrifices that would have been made to achieve the success that you see today.

Unfortunately, not knowing who the producers are, I have made an attempt to make the video clip available on YouTube so that more people can view it.

If Perkasa, for example, still does not understand, they should seek out the Chinese mind with some earnestness.

They should then pass on the good values to their offspring, so that be it Chinese, Malays or Indians, we will be able to achieve greater success as a newly-developed nation in the context of globalisation.

The Chinese in the diaspora have earned their way up the social ladder through sheer hard work and a bit of luck, so to say.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.