Telling it as it is: Chinese is marginalised. If not, why Chinatown not spared?

Former MCA president Ong Tee Keat today confirmed telling US diplomats that ethnic Chinese in the country were marginalised but reiterated that he was merely conveying the sentiments of the minority community.

Tee Keat said, "It is worth reiterating that the comments purportedly made by me was largely my observation and assessment of the Chinese community's sentiment and perception pursuant to the statement of marginalisation by (Minister Mentor) Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore."

At the sidelines of a World Bank-International Monetary Fund meeting in Singapore in September 2006, Lee (left) told journalists that ethnic Chinese in both Malaysia and Indonesia were marginalised - a provocative statement that resonated with a significant segment of the Chinese populace across the causeway.

Lee was quoted as saying, "Our neighbours both have problems with their Chinese. They are successful. They are hardworking and, therefore, they are systematically marginalised."

'Leftovers', 'crumbs' are metaphoric descriptions

In a statement to Malaysiakini today, Ong denied that his description of "leftovers" and "crumbs" referred to government projects, explaining that they were something that was expressed by the Chinese business community. Ong said, "The metaphoric descriptions of 'leftovers' and 'crumbs' were the exact words I quoted from certain corporate personalities that were coincidentally shared by the petty traders in my own constituency over the issue in September 2006."

His comments come after Malaysiakini reported a confidential cable that quoted Ong as saying that "there was once a day in Malaysia when MCA would get the leftovers, but now we are just hoping to get some crumbs from the Umno table".

Kudos to Tee Keat for telling it as it is.

Slowly but surely, Chinese is being marginalised, like how one of the Chinatown traders put it, saying:

“We feel that parts of Chinatown will be taken away from us in stages. They’ve done it at UDA (Ocean) here, they’re going to do it here, they’re going to move further up.”