The Limits of Chinese Transnationalism: The Cultural Identity of Malaysian-Chinese Students in Guangzhou

Abstract

In November 2007, two street protests by Malay Indians in Kuala Lumpur revealed that the Malaysian government had failed to tackle the problem of ethnic marginalization in the eyes of ethnic Indians. It was a rare event to witness thousands of ethnic Indians marching down the street and confronting riot police. The ethnic Chinese did not join the protests and the leaders of the Chinese business communities discouraged their members from doing so. Yet the Chinese are also unhappy with the treatment they receive from bumiputra Malays. As Lim Kit Siang, the Chinese head of the opposition Democratic Action Party, remarked, “Now, everything is separate, and non-Malays feel like second-class citizens in their own country” (Beech, 2007: 31). Lim had served in the National Parliament since 1969, and he stated that the current ethnic tension was worse than that in the 1970s, even though the national economy had witnessed a steady growth over the past two decades (ibid.).

[D]ifferences between cultural styles of life and communication, despite a similar economic base, will remain large enough to require separate serving, and hence distinct cultural-political units, whether or not they will be wholly sovereign.

Ernest Gellner (1983: 119)