Hitting Out @ My Own Kind

Yup, I am taking a snipe at the Chinese Malaysian's selfish mentality and behaviours. This was originally a study from Dr. Ee Lin Lee from the Western Washington University, USA who is a Malaysian born Chinese. Some of the information were taken from his China Media Research but has been added with a few flavour & observations of my own. We often hear the word "Kiasu" and immediately associating it with Singaporeans..but are we in fact the ones who are shouting that word in front of the wall and it echoes back.

As Dr. Lee puts it, a kiasu is an over-cautious person who behaves selfishly to the exclusion of others. There is no substitute for such a word in the English dictionary though it has been interpreted in many other ways and not limited to the list as below. If you can find others you could ask me to add in =)

• Afraid of losing
• Afraid to be worse than others
• If people has something we ought to have the same thing
• In more extreme cases we must be better than the other person.
• To risk as little as possible while maximizing whatever one can get
• Obtaining things that one does not deserve
• Self interests are prioritized even if it means jeopardizing others.

Before I drill down to the examples, give some thought about the next few sentences and think about this. Why do I say that Kiasu is more prevalent in Chinese Malaysians and Non-Chinese Malaysians as compared to the rest of the folks? We are an imperfect replica of the real 'Chinese culture' in China because we were exposed to the Brits of the Western values and we did not suffer the anti-intellectual Cultural Revolution of 1966 in China. Hence, we neither fit into Western-based collectivism-individualism or considered a mirror image of Confucianism. We are the by-product of our strength in the economy, the government's education policy and seeking to find our own identity. The stereotype of the selfish Chinese Malaysian comes in the form of the quest for and protection of self-interests.

Strength in Economy
The implementation of the NEP and various affirmative policies diffused many of us from out concentration of power in some sectors of the economy. Since the government's action do not favour us, we are forced to look out for ourselves. Being selfish in our hostile and over protective business environment has become so much critical for the Chinese Malaysian to survive.

Unfair & Competitive Education
Like the NEP, minorities are given extremely limited admission into public university or given grants. Given the intense competition for the limited space, we have no other option but to protect our individual academic interests at the expense of others at times to obtain decent tertiary education in Malaysia.

Seeking a New Identity
Many Chinese Malaysians view themselves as modernized Westernized Chinese and walk a fine line between traditional Chinese values. This effort to redefine themselves has lead to many to hold tight to their own ways of thinking or feeling. Most are focused on what they thought was right or what they wanted to do. Such attitude further solidifies the lack of consideration of others.

Singapore did not went through the first two and you need to consider that Chinese Malaysians make up nearly 20% of SG's population in year 2011. How can they even be given the title of the most "Kiasu" people on earth if you are look at the bigger pictures we outnumber then severely? Going back to Malaysia, here are some few good examples which are prevalent even among Non-Chinese Malaysians to some extend:

Fear of losing out to others: Pushed aside other passengers in our rush to claim our seats. We overtake vehicles whenever a chance presents itself so we can be one bumper ahead of the rest. We picked up this laughing at the poor or belittling them from Hong Kong's mass media. If you can show some wealth, people look up at you hence the quest for overpriced expensive cars. Go to KL and you can see folks with Camry's, Civics, BMWs but they live in nonequivalent house values. For What??

Prioritization of self and jeopardizing others: We go to great lengths to hide reference materials from other classmates. At work we try not share knowledge in order to guard the "rice bowl". Yet we simply justify this act by saying we are not spoon feeding you (I do agree with the spoon thing to a point) OR when I was your age I was in the same position as you BUT wait a minute...when you were my age it was a different decade. The world changes every god damn day. Is like saying when I was young I was given only a textbook to start with so my child has to do the same and not use laptops and etc. 

Maximizing whatever that one can get: Eat-all-you can buffet. If they paid RM30, they will eat at least RM30 worth of food even if it means bloating their stomach and not feeling very good while walking. This is also why these restaurants that charge people who waste only exists in Malaysia & Singapore!

If people has something we ought to have the same thing (in this case experience something): Often many try to go on a trip to do everything and see everything, packing the itinerary like a can of sardines as if the world is going to end in 2012. The justification: to save cost. WOW... if you are saving cost, why spend $250 on a ticket for Disneyland for a day's visit when you can use that for 2-3days. Does that sound like savings for you? Do you spend a day in Genting? No..but sorry I forgot to tell you that Disneyland is x10 bigger than Genting. 

And I could go on and on but it's getting late for me. So if you are a Malaysian, look at yourself, think of others and hear what others have to say with an open mind. We are blessed to have a fusion of both Western-based values and traditional Chinese values so please do not be selfish. You might learn something about yourself and change for the better good and most importantly for the sake of others!! And this applies to me too, just so happen I can see more compared to others hence why I am writing this.

*Unfortunately the context of the post is limited to the Chinese Malaysian in most cases. It was the main focus of this article and is not in any means to promote Chinese Malaysian inferiority to others. My sole objective is to hit out at my own kind but we are fundamentally still and will always be bangsa Malaysia.