The chinese, their houses have no windows

This article below is one of the forwarded email in my mailbox:

I looked out the window.And I saw.

Thousands and thousands of Malays in the Bersih Rally. They werefighting their own kind for a cause they believed in. And they riskbeing ostracized by their Muslim brothers. And they risk much.

I looked out the window.And I saw.

Thousands and thousands of Indians holding the picture of Gandhi inthe streets. All were teargassed and many beaten with batons. At BatuCaves , they were locked in, pumped with tear gas and sprayed withchemical water. 80 are awaiting trial. 31 are charged for attemptedmurder of a policeman that attacked them. All their leaders are under ISA. The one that got away fled the country.

I looked out the window.And I saw.

Thousands and thousands of Chinese closing their doors. Minding theirown business. Watching the soap operas. Playing mahjong. Going to thegym. Planning for holidays. Eating bah kuet teh. Enrolling theirchildren in private schools. Going for line dancing. Changing to abigger car. Perming their hair brown. Going to the movies. Shopping.

The Chinese. They don't look out the window.Their houses. Have no windows.

It is because of 3 generations of 'keeping quiet' that we are in apolitical quagmire of sorts today.My story may not be the same for others, but it is no doubt a story of 3 generations of political oblivion -a saga of unremittingcircumstances that has 'trained' us to look the other way - toeconomic wealth, education and religion. Politics because a 'dirtyword' in our home; as a Chinese we should disengage ourselvescompletely from this 'unproductive' activity.

This is my story. My grandfather took a ship to join the gold rush in San Franciscoaround the turn of the last century. Halfway on a Chinese junk, he gotsea-sick, so he jumped ship at Singapore .Traveling up thehinterland, he focused on survival. Hungry from famine in SouthernChina , he vowed never to be hungry again. Politics was the last thingon his mind. Keeping his belly filled was his only priority. It was anobsession that dictated everything he did. My father worked for the British.

One day, forced by the Japanese todo 'national service', he was selected to look after food supplies. The family was starving during the war, so he stole rice under hiscare and hid them in sweet potatoes when he cooked rice. Our neighborsalways thought we were eating sweet potatoes we grew on the fringes ofthe jungle, when in actual fact, we always had rice. (As a matter of fact, it is more nutritious to eat sweet potatoes than rice….sweet potatoes, the red variety, has carotenes-vitamin A precursors-other nutrients & fibre. Polished rice has mainly carbohydrate.)My grandmother sews clothes for the women day and night to survive andgot paid in Japanese currency.

When the war was over, these Japanesenotes - which were unnumbered - became valueless. The family againstruggled to bring food on the table. It was a litany of hunger and fear in our house. When it came to my generation, my father thought education was thepassport to economic freedom for us. He refused for us to be acontractor like him and forced us to study. In university, he forbademe to get involved in politics. He went as far as to refuse me tostudy law so that I would not get involved in politics. I was forcedto study a course I did not like because he wanted me to be a banker.

Needless to say, I made the same mistake when it came to my children.I told them also the 'passport to heaven' was also to study. But Irefused to dictate what they should study but instead asked them tostudy what they liked. I ensured they got the best education. I alsoreminded everyone that they do not talk about politics on the dinnertable.My story is not uncommon; such is the struggle and saga common tothousands of Malaysian homes.We are cajoled by our parents to look at bread-and butter issues.

Weare told that politics are not for us. We are told that our 'houseshave no windows', so mind your own business and close the door. We aretold that if this country is not good enough, you must get a goodeducation and emigrate.The Chinese? We are told this is not our home. We have no home. We arethe Jews of the East. When trouble starts, we ought to look the otherway. If it gets worse, we emigrate. Money talks. So long we have money, some country will take us.

100 years of ignorance. Is it blissful? No. It is tragic