All can play the separatist game

Would u support American Chinese to secede from America If u support Tibetan minority to do so? A letter to NY Times. ================ March 31st, 2008 3:48 am Mr. Kristof: I am a 3rd generation ethnic-Chinese overseas, an American lawyer based in San Francisco, with my own private law firm engaged in transactional work between China/HKG/Taiwan and California. I am not known for being an apologist for the Chinese government, but as an ethnic Chinese in the overseas Diaspora, I am outraged at the "piling" and orchestrated China demonization and bashing on this lead-up to the '08 Olympics. That the West, from Europe, and the U.S., have exploited this year's Olympics to machinate, scheme, and execute this "Mau Mau" against China and its peoples, at this time, at this juncture,using the Dalai Lama and his secessionist movement, smacks of western powers "overreaching" and will be met with resistance and outrage from the ethnic Chinese Diasporic communities scattered throughout 135 countries around the world. In San Francisco, the only Olympics torch relay stop in the U.S., we ethnic Chinese in the San Francisco Bay Area have been completely muffled by your news media in America, and the biased reporting tilting towards the "Shangri-la" Lamaist farce of a pacifist Dalai Lama is outrageous and will not be allowed to pass without the appropriate response, in our own "assymetric" ways. China and its peoples are no longer the "sick men of Asia." Over a century and a half ago, opium was used by the Western imperialists to subjugate China and the Chinese people. Today, the drugs and drug addiction are reversed, with Western Europe and the U.S. sapped by its own domestic erosion of fundamental civility, economic decline, and implosion within its inner cities. Your financial systems are in chaos, characterized by greed, rampant looting and plundering in Wall Street. You are stuck in a quagmire in the Middle East which sees no end in sight. But for China, and its cheap imports, the U.S. economy will be in an even worse shape than it is today. As to Europe, who cares? Sarkozy and Merkel presides over two countries and economies which we Chinese really don't care much about, especially among the growing ethnic Chinese overseas Diaspora not just in Asia-Pacific, but now spreading onto Latin America and Africa. Big deal. The Europeans and Americans can boycott the Beijing Olympics come August, 2008. My family and I will proudly attend and participate in the Olympics "coming out" party in Beijing, willingly, with pride, and with our pocketbooks. In the meantime, let my white liberal/regressive neo-fascist San Franciscans wallow in their own perverted, constricted, narrow-minded little world. The world has passed San Francisco by. As a matter of fact, we ethnic Chinese in San Francisco are mobilizing and hoping that we can secede from white San Francisco. Why not ? Since it appears that you white Americans are so hyped up over "Shangri-La" Tibet as an Independent State, and support secession as a universalist right. Why now allow us Chinese in San Francisco to secede and form our own city, with our own governance. After all, we constitute 1/3 of your damn white supremacist city where the power is reposed in white people, and our city hall is controlled by white people. Free San Francisco. A free San Francisco East. Free Quebec. Free Louisiana. Free Hawaii. Free El Norte Aztlan, and return America's Southwest, a hugh swath of Texas, California back to Mexico. Didn't the U.S. illegally seize what used to be Mexican land and territority. As an ethnic Chinese in the overseas Diaspora, I and others will mobilize and we will fight back, as we mobilized in response to all the anti-Chinese pogroms in our overseas Diasporic experience. - Posted by Edward Liu

What can you say?

Abdullah Badawi added another feather on his hat. I reread what was reported in the Today paper. Yes, it is true, Syed Hamid said he has approved Anwar's party to print its own newspaper. He said, '...there was no reason the Keadilan party should not have its own newspaper since other political parties have theirs.' Now, would this be possible if Mahathir is still in power? Malaysia Boleh. This is another big step forward towards press freedom and a level playing field for all the political parties. Such maturity was unheard off and thought not possible. Yes, Malaysia is moving towards a more sensible political structure with more checks and balances. Good for Malaysia. It is something we can learn from. Are we more mature or the Malaysians?

Charity is popular business

Why is charity or setting up a charity is such a good business, or popular thing to do? Bankrupts are doing it, kids are doing it, jobless people are doing it, religious people are doing it, and officials are doing it? There must be something very attractive about doing charity. Good for the heart, good for the image. Or is there something more to it? Looking at the number of charity organisations or funds that are being set up every month, it has truly become a business, with many people being employed and working. Don't be surprise soon one of these entrepreneurs will be receiving the businessman of the year award.

The perceived fear of the internet

The internet is seen as a destructive or unfriendly force by most govt. They see internet as undermining whatever they set out to do. They see internet as critical, cynical and opposing whatever they say or whatever they want the people to believe. So internet is misinformation, biased information. Msm is genuine information and unbiased. What kind of tooth is this? Actually the internet is just a neutral tool, a new way of communication. The power of the day has been using and monopolising the msm to serve their own agenda all the time. With msm, they can say what they like without being challenged. Now they are uncomfortable with the internet for they no longer have control, they cannot say what they want to say and hear what they want to hear. This is the perceived fear of the internet. And in a way it is true. For only the contrarian views are expressed in the internet. The views of the authority or govt are seldom heard or expressed in the internet. But this is not the fault of the internet for having a skewed view. The internet is gaining this reputation by default. The govt and authority stay away, shun the internet as a matter of choice. The reasons is best left to themselves to explain, but pretty obvious. And the internet is branded as a misfit. Why blame the internet when the authority refuses to engage the cyber citizens? Internet is fair game to all. If you have a good point, it will be accepted by the logical and reasonable. And this is the group that the authority should be talking to. Not the cuckoos and the mentally disturbed. There are many in cyberspace but they should simply be ignored. The internet is there and everyone is invited to have his say, freely. Everyone can have a view.

Dialect teaching - Going forward or backward?

I was brought up as a dialect speaker. I still feel the same sense of intimacy when conversing in my dialect with another of the similar kind. In the name of culture and roots and connection with Ah Ma and Ah Kong, some want to bring back dialect officially. The idea is seductive. Mandarin is a little alien and a little uncomfortable to many. The key question is whether we should go back to dialects. We have come so far, after the initial resistance and pain, to have Mandarin fully established among the young. The days of the old hags are over, or numbered. I too will be over in no time. Any attempt at this stage to reverse the direction will be a big waste of effort. For before the dialect is acquired, the old generation of old hags will be gone and the new generation of old hags will be Mandarin or English speakers. There will no longer be any anguish for not being able to communicate with Ah Kong and Ah Ma. Mandarin and a standard Chinese script have done immeasurable good to a huge country like China, a country that is so diverse in culture and ethnicity. Imagine what would China be like without an official language. Maybe they will have to adopt English as the common language. Do not underestimate the power of language. English is the lingua franca of the West. It has slowly evolved and become a language of choice in science and technology, in trade and commerce, and in diplomacy. Most important, it allows the world to speak to one another. Do we want to dilute our effort in having one common language for a group of diverse Chinese just because we want to talk to a few old hags at home? Think very carefully. Think with the head and not the heart. My heart says yes to dialect. My head says no. OK, it is only for a few in schools. An elective subject for those who want. Can we afford the resources if every 3 person want to learn their mother tongue? If we are going ahead with this experiment, we must be prepared to give in to the request of all racial groups who are emotionally attached to their mother tongue. My personal choice, let's don't turn back and undo all the things that have been done. We will create a bigger mess. Talk cock sing song is ok. When talk cock and sing song are taken seriously and implemented as official policies that will affect the whole people and the future generation, let's be more careful.