Pak Yap’s story

Last year, I was introduced to the writer Yap Lim Seng, who wrote "The Chinese Dilemma". He wanted an editor-writer for his next book, but the project halted halfway.

I contacted him many times to plead and beg that he continue, but he kept saying he was tired and old, and what more could he say when the Malaysia he knew no longer existed? He was also  surprised by the ferociousness of this said website’s readers. “What happened to good old discussions among gentlemen?”

I told him that whatever he sent me to work on would be published in The Malaysian Insider. Pak Yap, as he was popularly known, is a hale and hearty 80-year-old. He smiled and said, do what is best.

He remains an enigma among many Malaysians. Was he a Mahathirist or an apologist for the NEP? Who was he to dare say the things he wrote about, when he was a billionaire?

Reactions to reading his book and having made his acquaintance have been mixed. A good friend who is Chinese and based in Singapore clapped his hands at the news. “He explains what the real Chinese-Malaysians are like.” Others have been downright derogatory. Some were clueless and joked, "So is there an Indian Dilemma book too"?

I hereby disclose some of his (new) work. I had asked, “Is The Chinese Dilemma an apologia for Chinese Malaysians, or a critical look at who they truly are from a Chinese point of view? I apologise if I am blunt, but your book came my way, and my friends, yes, even the Chinese oppositionists, say your book defines what being a Chinese Malaysian is.”

He answered:

I’m what you call a mature gentleman, though many may object to that description. I worked very hard, and these days, like many pensioners with some money, I travel. I like traveling – the opportunity to meet new people, old friends, and talk about life, wine, politics is a priceless one. I have visited and stayed in many exotic places – the older I get, the more adventurous I become!

However, I still come home. I am still passionate about my home. It has its moments, and can be fatal for old people, but Malaysia is home.

Nowadays, there are more angry voices. I am surprised by them, and in many ways, I understand why people are angry. This is a wonderful country, but we are tearing it apart.  How do we heal our country?

I think to myself, we need to grow richer to be able to pay our bills. We have to be more efficient, to reduce misspending and wastage. But how? A better civil service. Otherwise even good policies have no efficacy.

We need to get the races to work together more at the grass roots level – tradesmen, shop-keepers…

For the past 50 years the Malays have been encouraged to prove that they can do it on their own. Yes they have succeeded at the top, but at the bottom rung, it has been an abject failure, because it’s been a case of a football team confined to a single race, and novices at that, trying to play in the league. And it’s this bottom that has the numbers that really matter when it comes to racial harmony.

Race politics will remain until we can get rid of Chinese education or reform it, ie, more hours and subjects in Bahasa and English. Or when the Chinese become an insignificant minority. All of this will take at least two generations even if we were to start today. What should we do in the meanwhile? The names of our political parties say it all – MCA and MIC, not CMA or IMC.

Malaysia will remain as a nation of a salad rather than a potpourri because we have allowed Chinese schools to remain and they have flourished because government schools' standards have declined. The Chinese have yet to acknowledge the harm they have done and continue to do so in producing a significant number of students without adequate English, or Malays suited only to work in the Chinese business sector notorious for bad wages – this is the Chinese equivalent of the Malay job seekers without English. The numbers are big in both communities and they have reason to be angry. It is a huge problem. How do are we going to deal with it?

Pak Yap disclosed that he was more concerned with "heart drain" than "brain drain".

“In heart drain you are gone forever. If it's only brain drain you are part of the Malaysian diaspora, an asset to the country. As you would expect, this issue has been exploited by politicians and some disgruntled and many ignorant commentators,” he said.

“This heart-brain drain I mentioned. What a loaded concept. Malaysians have invested enormously in both public and private on tertiary education. Many families send their children away at a very young age.

"The kids form relationships abroad, some take jobs, some like the lifestyle and stay on. You could say this brain drain came about naturally. Then there are those who work in blue collar jobs in Malaysia, who upon migration would be lifted to the middle class, with house and car and tertiary education for their children... this group include nurses. chefs, teachers, tradesmen... should we discourage them or are they not regarded as brains?

"Then we have the common brain drain of those seeking jobs and career opportunities outside simply because our economy cannot absorb all the graduates coming into the market. AND a big factor not always mentioned is the low wages being paid to our graduates by the private sector. How do we de-politicize this issue?”

What do you think? – August 7, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.