Thursday, Nov. 12, 1964 University Daily Kansan
Page 9
Chinese Immigrants Blend With Malaysian Culture
The Chinese in Singapore, a part of the new democratic state of Malaysia, have proved their loyalty and ability to blend with the Malayasian culture. Dr. George Thompson said in a speech last night.
Thompson, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh and Oxford, is director of civil service training and of the Political Study Center of the government of Singapore. He is now a Malavesian citizen.
IN HIS TALK, sponsored by the East Asian studies program and the political science department, at the Kansas Union, he said one of the key problems of the world is the political adaptability of the Chinese. In discussing the Singapore Chinese's loyalty to Malaysia he said loyalities are the stuff of human life.
"Is there enough probability to have faith in this loyalty or not," he asked. "If you keep pulling up a plant to look at its roots, there is no surer way to kill the plant."
By looking at the Chinese of Malaysia, who are still able to express themselves freely, one can cut the Chinese away from their history and look at them in a new light, Thompson said.
THESE CHINESE came to Malaysia because of the turbulence in China after the Teiping rebellion. Peasants were driven to the southern cities. People have often forgotten the Chinese contributions made there and in other countries, Thompson said
"If they have been there so long, why in 1964 are we asking the question if they can be loyal?" Thompson said.
When the Chinese first went to Malaysia their hands and physical vigor were needed, not their political and cultural contributions, he answered. They remained Chinese so long because they were considered aliens until 1957.
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THE CHINESE MIGRATION differed from other migrations because it was purely male. Chinese law prevented migration of women. When one immigrant died he was not replaced by his son but by another immigrant who was equally Chinese, Thompson explained.
"The question would not have been relevant before." Thompson said. The situation changed because of two factors.
The first factor was an error of administration. After the depression hit Malaysia, people of all countries
went back to their homelands. When rubber prices went back up, Malaysia was afraid of a mass migration so she reduced her immigration quota to 500.
The first dominant attitude after the war was a new surge of self-confidence. The Chinese felt they were the leaders of the anti-colonial struggle. Their children spoke only Chinese so their language deficiency blocked some civic privileges.
"COMMUNISM HAS won victories, not on its own merits, but by default," Thompson said. This is because it has created a militant feeling around itself. Humanitarian policies of the United States do not allow this, he added.
"Once the force of nationalism got loose in South East Asia, the people wanted the Chinese to resource loyalty to Peiping and declare Malaysian loyalty," he said. "It was difficult to get them to see the necessity of the adaptation."
But this time Chinese women were sent. They spread throughout the country. New marriages were made and the pull to go back to families in China was reduced.
"The dominant force in Asia today is nationalism and the group who captures it will win the day," Thompson said.
The U.S. wanted to get rid of the Communist faction and to prove Communism is not the only way out, he said.
DURING JAPANESE occupation, Chinese immigration was frozen. "After the war the Chinese were permanent but still a colony, so the question of loyalty still did not come." Thompson said.
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"The most difficult thing in the world is to withdraw from an established position," Thompson said. This is true of the U.S. in Viet Nam today, and it was true of the British in Malaysia then.
"The Chinese had gotten hold of a city with the highest standard of life outside of Tokyo," Thompson said. "Why shouldn't they keep it."
SINGAPORE GAINED independence by democratic means and Chinese were the majority, Thompson said. The Chinese had never before had democracy in their history anywhere.
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With the coming of democracy, communism had no appeal except to the indoctrinated youth who had nostalgic feelings for Peining.
In 1957 the Malaysian government gave citizenship to the Chinese. Now Chinese could grant loyalty to Singapore and not to the British crown.
Therefore, the second point was for the British to withdraw and give the internal government to the Malaysians.
BUT THE CHINESE are essentially a realistic people. Singapore makes all its wealth from outside. If everything went to Chinese, these merchants wouldn't like it because they don't like the idea of a middle man.
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Chinese leaders persuaded the Chinese to again become a minority group so South East Asia could learn to trust them. They had to say they would accept Malaysia with all the consequences, Thompson said.
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"It is now for Malaysian leaders to decide whether they want the Chinese on equal terms," he said. "If
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Malaysia survives, with the normal luck all new countries depend on the Chinese will prove to be loyal.'
THOMPSON SAID the world must learn to look at Chinese as individuals wanting to satisfy their needs and not with fear as a solidified mass.
Earlier, Thompson participated in a panel discussion on the Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation. Stanley Spector, professor at Washington
University of St. Louis, and Frank King, professor of economics at KU, were also on the panel.
Edgar Wickberg, associate professor of history and the East Asian area, was moderator of the discussion.
Thompson is traveling in the U.S. to familiarize himself with this country and to acquaint university audiences with the Malaysian problem.
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