Thank you 1MDB Najib for consolidating national unity but …

Thank you 1MDB Najib for consolidating national unity but …

Is it too early or premature for Malaysians, especially ethnic Chinese, to start thanking Prime Minister Najib Razak for “indirectly, discreetly and sincerely” forging national unity, at last?

The 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Najib has been under constant direct and indirect attacks following international exposes of money laundering activities linked to the so called national sovereign fund.

Has anyone noticed the deafening silence of both racial and religious bigots who just love to stir hatred by calling Malaysian Chinese Cina Babi (Chinese Pigs), Balik Tongsan (Go Back To China), etc

They love to spew “poison” slurs that sow seeds of discord and hatred for non-Malays, thereby threatening national unity.

Of course to expect the Umno-led Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government to take stern and strong action against them is, really, really asking too much of any Umno leader. They have to round up their own supporters.

So, to save face, has 1MDB Najib now launched a discreet “Love China” campaign propaganda and told the bigots to lie low or shut up?

All peace-loving Malaysians, regardless of race or creed, do pray that the “campaign” is conducted with sincerity for the general well-being of Malaysians and Malaysia.

Why the rambling about the above matters?

The MCA-owned The Star newspaper, now considered a BN mouthpiece as well, on Aug 18, 2016, published a report titled “Malaysians give China the thumbs up”.

The report: "PETALING JAYA: At least 70% of Malaysians have a favourable impression of China, with 67% feeling that the Malaysia-China relationship is heading in the right direction, according to a public opinion survey commissioned by Universiti Malaya (UM).

The survey of 1,109 people aged 21 and above also shows that 57% of respondents have a better impression of China after visiting mainland China, with 63% Malay/Muslim bumiputra and 56% of non-Malays coming back feeling good about the country.

The survey, conducted from April 12 to 27, was commissioned by Dr Ngeow Chow Bing, deputy director of UM’s Institute of China Studies.

The results were released by him on Aug 17 at an international conference “Towards a diamond era of Asean-China relations”.

“The survey results generally show that Malaysians now are supportive of the Government’s policy to maintain close and good relations with China amid the latter’s rising international influence,” Ngeow told The Star.

“For our Government, this survey is important as it shows that the people are supporting its China po licies. It also shows why people are pro-China at this juncture.”

But he opined people’s reactions could change with time and deve lopments, and hence such surveys would have to be conducted more often.

While presenting results of the survey, Dr Ngeow said: “The survey results are consistent with previous surveys carried out by international research firms. Our survey shows there is not much racial divide in terms of pro-China stance among Malaysians.”

The single most important question in the survey posed to respon dents was: “How would you describe your overall impression of China as a country?”

From both Malays and Chinese, “favourable” reply hit 69%, while for Indians it was 81%, for Muslim bumiputra 73% and for non-Muslim bumiputra 60%.

Overall, the “favourable” impression of China averaged at 70% and “unfavourable” was 22%.

While 67% of respondents saw the relationship with China as heading in the right direction, 22% thought it was going the wrong way.

As an economic power, China was viewed by 45% of respondents as “an advantage” to Malaysia, while 15% saw it as “potential threat” and 6% as “a serious threat”. Those with neutral stand stood at 19%.

However, 79% of Malaysians had not heard of the Chinese government’s One Belt One Road initiative to promote regional economic cooperation, according to the survey. Only 19% had heard of this initiative.

The other significant question was: “How do you view China’s emergence as a military power: is it a serious threat to Malaysia, potential threat, neutral country or a potential ally of Malaysia?”

To this question, 28% of respondents viewed China as a potential ally, 22% as a neutral country, 20% as a potential threat and 7% as a serious threat.

But only 38% of the respondents were aware and knew about the conflicts and developments in the South China Sea. And those who were not aware totalled 56%.

But more (45%) viewed the territorial claims of China over South China Sea as a threat, while 33% saw no threat in it.

Among the respondents, more disagreed with the involvement of the United States and Japan in the South China Sea.

In terms of international image, China stood out better compared with the United States and India, but lost out to Japan in the survey.

The survey, conducted by Merdeka Center, covered all polling districts in Malaysia and respondents were selected through random sampling along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age and polling districts.

Along ethnic lines, 50% surveyed were Malays and another 50% non-Malays. And along gender lines, half were male and the other half female. While 50% of respondents were aged 21-40, the balance was above 41.

Respondents covered people in the private sector, business, at home, government and government-linked corporations, retirees, students and unemployed."

The above “glorifying China” report comes a day after China’s Ministry of Commerce released its latest trade data on Aug 17, 2016, showing signs of recovery despite a continued slide in exports.

According to the ministry, from January to July, China's total trade volume amounted to 13 trillion yuan, or two trillion US dollars. That was down by a slight 3% compared to the same period last year, with exports off 1.6%, and imports 4.8% lower.

“Despite the continued decline in exports, the pace of the decline has slowed for a consecutive five months since March. This is a positive sign that China's international trade is stabilising,” ministry spokesman Shen Danyang said.

A more noticeable fact is that exports from private companies are on the rise, increasing 3.6% from January to July, despite the overall decline.

Private companies contributed 46.8% of the exports, dominating the country’s exports over state-owned and foreign firms.

Meanwhile, in the first seven months of 2016, China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) totalled 673.24 billion yuan, or 101.5 billion USD, a rise of 61.8% from a year earlier. It surpassed that of the use of foreign investment as well.

During the period, the Chinese mainland invested over 497 billion yuan, or US$75 billion, to seven major economies, including Hong Kong, the ASEAN member states, the European Union, Australia, the US, Russia, and Japan.

That made up more than 73% of the total outbound investment volume in the period.

If you wish, read these two previous No News Is Bad News blogposts for context: http://victorlim2016.blogspot.my/2016/08/dont-forget-chinese-russian-combined.html and http://victorlim2016.blogspot.my/2016/08/malaysia-unusually-meek-over-spratly.html.

So, no more Cina Babi, Balik Tongsan anymore?