The Less Visible Chinese Poor - Koon Yew Yin

Koon Yew Yin

Publish date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014, 12:31 PM

Koon Yew Yin

Perkasa and other Malay right wing organizations are always complaining about how the Chinese have taken over the country's economy. They use this simplistic observation to frighten Malays to unite under a “ketuanan Melayu” and “ketuanan Islam” banner against so-called Chinese domination of the economy.

But how much of truth is there in this allegation? In earlier analysis, I pointed out that owing to the NEP, the Malays have made tremendous strides since the 1970s in the economic sphere. For example they control Bank Negara and all the major banks (except for Public Bank); all the GLCs; Petronas; as well as comprise the majority in the top professional and best paying occupations in the private sector. They, in fact, control what can be called “the commanding heights” of the economy.

What about the Chinese? Firstly, we should realize that not all Chinese are successful in business. In fact, only a tiny minority of Chinese belong to the class of super-rich of billionaires – perhaps no more than a hundred or even less throughout the country. There is a fairly large Chinese middle class though so that generally Chinese are on the average more well off compared to non-Chinese in terms of average household income.

But let's also not forget that income inequality is also highest among the Chinese. What this means is that much of Chinese wealth is concentrated in the hands of the Chinese super-rich and that we have a very large number of Chinese who either fall well below the urban poverty line or are only slightly above the poverty line. Unfortunately there are few recent studies on the Chinese poor. The Government's statistical department ignores the presence of this group and the academics in the public and private universities have avoided studying them.

Although I am not an academic and have not studied the group of Chinese poor, let me share these observations accumulated through the scholarship programme that I have run for the last five years during which I have received at least one or two applications every week – mostly from the children of poor Chinese. I offer scholarships to help the poor because I was from a poor family before and I know how difficult it is to be poor.

The Chinese poor mainly come from Chinese school backgrounds
Many are drop outs and work as unskilled or semi-skilled labour in poorly paid agricultural or urban jobs with little potential for upward mobility.
Chinese poor also come from self employed backgrounds with businesses such as hawking, food stalls, etc. unable to succeed or grow because of competition and other factors.
They are most vulnerable when they are unable to work due to ill health or old age as they do not have access to EPF savings or government pension safety net.
Because they are poor, they are unable to provide the proper environment for their children to do well in their studies. This often leads to the reproduction of poverty in the family rather than socio-economic advancement for the younger generation.
One of the biggest handicaps of the Chinese poor and their children is their inability to communicate effectively in other languages than their own dialect. This can be seen in the broken English or Bahasa Malaysia letters written to me.
The Chinese poor are almost completely excluded from all government schemes providing skills training, income generation or educational and housing support.

Chinese poor suffer from exploitation in several ways. Firstly, they are exploited by their employers especially in the small and medium scale enterprises and workshops where they work in dirty jobs for little pay. Secondly they are exploited by money lenders who many have to turn to in view of their frequent need for cash advances to meet emergencies, etc. Finally they are exploited by the government which fails to provide them and their children with equal opportunities and regards them as “pendatang”.

Many of the Chinese poor have been citizens of the country for more than one generation – in some cases, several generations. They have lived and contributed their blood and sweat to the country's development far longer than many newly arrived “pendatang” from Indonesia and other Muslim countries.

Malaysia is the only homeland they know but the Government continues to treat them as if they are second class citizens. Is it surprising that they are not loyal to the MCA and the Barisan Nasional when they are treated worse than newly arrived immigrants! Is it surprising that the attitude of the Chinese poor towards the Government is so different from that of the Chinese super and very rich!

Discussions

11 people like this. Showing 50 of 188 comments

nsk82

greater fools ! You will lose out if you close your mind.

I hope you live long to witness the greatness of China as next superpower

2014-04-24 23:13

pilindo

many chinese from Australia said, china is dirty place. and Chinese China does not respect other people. He said better send his dougtter to Japan for study. That is voice from Chinese Australia.

2014-04-24 23:14

pilindo

Dont too proud la. the more you proud about your self, the more people learning how to defeat you.

2014-04-24 23:15

iafx

don't mix up mainland Chinese with m'sia Chinese, while they share some degree of culture but today their mindset, believe and behavior r totally different.

2014-04-24 23:16

iafx

and pocket depth also huge gap... :D

2014-04-24 23:17

nsk82

have you been to china ? go there and witness yourself.

yes, china is a big country.

no country is perfect.

2014-04-24 23:17

henry123

Chineses used to be humble and hard working. Today chineses very arrogant and talk superior.

2014-04-24 23:22

pilindo

nsk82... It is ok for me if China can make competiton to western world.

Next generation have to accept the fact that, old China civilization learned tech from western.

2014-04-24 23:22

Icon8888

optimus you not malaysian ?

2014-04-24 23:34

jerome88

Post removed.Why?

2014-04-24 23:39

iafx

one of the "poor" producing machine is effectively the m'sia education system (till uni), a total disaster. and this impact the entire nation regardless of race. no wonder extremely rare (or totally non-exist?) to see any rich or even minister-minister kid there.

2014-04-24 23:40

jerome888

Told you Saturn will be back as gkheng

2014-04-24 23:55

malaysian

hello thanks to MR KOON , now we r all fighting as Chinese ,Malay, Indian Sabahan n Sarawakian....If you cannot deal with being a Malaysian with the understanding that we r accepting that some privileges are given to the bumiputera Malay, I believe you are better off not being a Malaysian. Pls go live in another country .

2014-04-24 23:56

gkheng

Told you pilindo will be back as jerome888

2014-04-24 23:56

jenabchen123

Super rich Chinese should do more than only giving away crumbs. Dare to do what warren buffet did?? Just take what you need to live comfortably and the rest plow back to this poor people who have help to make them become super rich!

2014-04-25 02:37

jenabchen123

Yeah! We are also poor too! Come put your money in companies we bought here, super rich!!

2014-04-25 02:41

heyhaha1

sorry for my broken english,hope the readers understand what i trying to say.These the reason why malaysia getting worst,all those people not open minded,jealous,greedy,we all are get used by politicians as they tools to get the votes,why so stupid?think rational and twice,the balance of two parties can make the country more peace,non of the party really think for the country,as the politicians,they more think about "how much in their pocket?".All other country goverments are the same,the only different is how greedy they are,so try to think about this,dont be so stupid get used by the politicians

2014-04-25 08:46

aatzer

Mr. Koon, I'm totally agreed with you. I used to work in GLC. Most of my colleagues are overseas graduated Malays with very good academic training and very well connected (with UMNO or VVIP from government). These Malays are smart and very competitive especially in Malaysia working environment. Chinese new generations will have "hard time" to compete with them in jobs market, even in private sectors. Life is getting tougher and tougher for Malaysian Chinese......

2014-04-25 10:34

vaentec

I believe what we need from our leaders are the same as what we need from a business. A management with integrity. Please read my article and comment if this is what integrity means http://www.savwee.com/3/post/2014/04/integrity.html

2014-04-25 10:46

necro

I 100% object what this article publish...although Malay ppl being all this while call as "anak emas","anak berlian" & "anak kerajaan" with various of government effort to bring them out of poverty we can see the severity of poor in urban and rural were rank first by Malay and not Chinese....and if you say that no government agencies help Chinese u wrong man...come to MCA offices ask them i believe they were more effecient helping than UMNO...example is why more Malay asking help from MCA YB in case of drug trafficking?....i think the major problem in our country with its society is(not only Malai but to Chinese & Indian) were SHY to asking for help...maybe if you go to India perhaps the meaning of shy in NO MORE EXISTs....

My suggestion is;

->Apply for Kolej Komuniti or other technicals college or school list to Education Ministry...you can get infos from those college too...

2014-04-25 12:52

DonnieYen

We need to get out of this dirt and reach for the skies. We must be cooperative and share our knowledge and expertise. We shall not falter in this harsh environment for the benefit of our future generations.

2014-04-25 12:56

aatzer

Necro, look at bigger picture, our Malay friends can go to overseas for study under MARA loan, If they are doing well (2nd class upper), they practically no need to pay back their study loan....For this, their family have saved more than RM400K for their child education.... Can MCA help?? MCA cant even help those top students with straight A to get PSD or government scholarship or loan... Right now, good tertiary education is basis requirements to be competitive in jobs market.

Nowdays, I see so many Chinese youngsters either not working or only work for temporary job.These youngsters will not register themselves in governmental employment agencies, thus it do not include in national unemployment rate...I'm sure our employment rate is very much higher than reported rate.

2014-04-25 15:30

iafx

tongkat ali, once kena, never let go... even at great shame.

2014-04-25 15:37

vaentec

Wouldn't it be nice if instead of providing scholarships, loan, etc. We teach the youngsters to invest. Invest in Malaysia, Singapore ,US. That way, we can have a high income generation. Given that everyone follow the correct method. Statistics have shown that when we reach a certain amount of income say 10k per month. We are already content with our financial health and thus the economic gap etc will not be a problem anymore. The problem is rich vs poor mindset. Not racial issue or whatever. An evidence of this is the economic advantage that the Malays have over the past 30 years or so over the other races. There are special loans and opportunities for them. However, have their wealth dramatically increased? Nope. This is because the policy maker do not understand the wealthy mindset. What they provide is handouts. Sweets. They do not teach the malays how to create wealth without help and thus now they depend on handouts and lubangs. Do you honestly believe Chinese are born clever or all Chinese have this money making gene? No. It is because Chinese understand that they are born with economic disadvantage and have to try harder than others. Educate people, don't give them temporary happiness. Most self made millionaires are trained by their economic hardship at their early lives.

2014-04-25 15:53

vaentec

And I'm not saying that the Chinese nowadays are better than the malays. I'm a youngster, I can see this for myself. Most Chinese youngsters look hopeless. Playing games and chasing k-pop news everyday. These are the new generation of Chinese. The over pampered ones. I'm lucky I was not born wealthy or else I would have been one of them. I don't know what will happen to our economyIin the future and I'm terrified to imagine it.

2014-04-25 15:56

iafx

free stuff will not last, regardless of race.

2014-04-25 16:00

vaentec

Yes. Rather than giving them fish, teach them how to fish.

2014-04-25 16:06

Koon Yew Yin

vaentec, I read your article on 'integrity' on your website SAVVY. You should post it to teach people and also gain some publicity which essential for your business.

I would like to meet with to discuss how I can spend my money to help people to gain knowledge which is most important as you said.

2014-04-25 16:12

vaentec

Oh yes, just an opinion from a youngster in his 20's. I feel that the education system is a failure. If you want to see the proof, check out the comments above. How many of the people who comment above use their brains before they post something? I feel it is stupid to invoke racial issue. Everywhere in the Internet, on any topic , some joker will always bring out religious or racial issue. I'm so fed up at this. What era are we in..Please move out from your cave. In this global world, everyone is equal. No one is born superior or inferior. No religion is stupid. You don't judge people's religion before truly understand it. If you don't like it, shut your mouth..no one ask for your opinion.

2014-04-25 16:14

lyk888

Oversea chinese every where in the world have no choice but to work hard to survive simply because oversea chinese is the minority outside China.Even in Singapore, Chinese from different part of the world are treated differently there.
Facing with so many ever increasing disadvantages here, Malaysian chinese should change their mindset and take the bull by the horn. Dont be so sentimental about mother tongue, mother tongue can come later when one is successful. Exploit whatever opportunities that are available here.
Yes education and education in the most competitive medium of instruction and be confident to compete with the best in the world and not in Malaysia only. Malaysian Chinese shall prevail with the right attitude,sacrifice and hard work, and forever prepare to compete under the most disavantaged situation.

2014-04-25 16:18

vaentec

Mr.koon. I will send an email to your Gmail for us to discuss further . :)

2014-04-25 16:21

iafx

free fish? hahahaa... becareful of bones.

2014-04-25 17:15

vaentec

pilido:I totally agree with you. Frankly, I'm trying to teach my siblings how to fish. But they're not taking any actions. But I believe I have found the problem,they do not understand why they need to fish and why they need to fish now. They have enough fish at the moment. What we can do is to sell them the idea of why they need to fish and why they need to fish NOW. Then only,you can teach them how to fish.

2014-04-25 17:16

iafx

there r many poor ppl cannot earn enough to pay medical fee needed urgently. y not u teach them how to fish, or generously give them a hand? many chinese charity org does that, they need yr support.

2014-04-25 17:25

vaentec

Show him the magic of compounding interest. You can review my blog on it here. http://www.savwee.com/3/post/2014/04/paper-folding-compounding-interest.html . Show him how he could retire on dividend alone when he has compound his money long enough.

2014-04-25 17:45

Adamlambert

Oh no Lee Kuan Yew look so weak. I respect him very very muchy. Wishing him good health and take care

http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=270342:extremely-thin-gaunt-pic-of-lee-kuan-yew-meeting-brunei-sultan-sparks-shock-concern&Itemid=2#axzz2ztygtICF

2014-04-25 21:18

Koon Yew Yin

SOP and others, studies have shown that if you are not a professional chartist, you should not trade frequently because of the high trading cost such as the commission, stamp duty etc for buying is about 1% and for selling is another 1% totalling 2%. If you buy and sell once a week the total cost would be 52 weeks X 2% = 104%. Are you so clever to pick stocks to recover the trading cost before you can make profit?

It is better to buy undervalued shares with good profit growth prospect and keep the shares for long term. You will made more money for just waiting and doing nothing

2014-04-28 19:36

Icon8888

Buy the share, go away for holiday

Don't watch the price everyday, because it makes you scare

Ha ha it rhymes

2014-04-28 19:47

Adamlambert

Post removed.Why?

2014-04-28 19:49

kheng

Is there any brokerage fee comparison amongst the bourses in South East Asia? Is our brokerage charge too steep for small investors?

2014-04-28 19:59

kiasutrader1

Further to SOP and Mr Koon's comments

Understanding when to buy and when to sell are important skills that one must develop in the stock market or any market for that matter. There are many Buy and Hold investors out there that only know how to buy but never know how to sell because they fear they lose out on the uptrend. You can see what we advocate, ie buy at support and sell at resistance at our website, www.kiasutrader.com

One should have a strong understanding of technical as well as fundamental analysis and on top of that, be market savvy in the sense that one should check the background of who the shareholders are before investing.

As an example, look at what happened to Solution Engineering today. When I first looked at the price chart last month, it looked like a possible buy at 0.25 levels technically. On checking, I also saw that it is a cash rich company with a great liquidity ratio of 5.90 and low debt to equity ratio of 5.32% as at 31 Dec 13. But when I looked at the revenue growth, it was a negative 7.43% for 5 years, which is a bit disconcerting. Its revenue had been jumping up and down for the last 5 years with operating expenses to revenue of nearly 94% meaning that it is hardly getting any money back for all its work! A check was also made on the company background and who the major shareholders are as I do not really know what this company does and who is behind it.

Today the company share price "tanked" 52% to 0.13 from 0.275 last friday, going below the support of 0.255 which was tested on 7 Mar and 13 Mar and both times it rebounded strongly from there. Whoever that bought at support today, thinking it will hold surely got exposed on the downside this time.

Hence a word of advice when one want to invest in the markets is, know what you are doing. Examine the company's background, etc and if you do not have a lot of money, better to buy the strong companies as even if their share price drop, it will recover as the fundamentals are always there to support it and overcome short term market aberrations.

2014-04-28 20:04

sunztzhe

The core investment decision ultimately is strictly based on fundamental analysis which leads to the conclusion that EPS growth of the company will increase positively over time. TA indicators may be a useful tool and guide for price entry but it may not be absolutely necessary condition for entry if one is convinced that the EPS will be phenomenal. Once one had taken a position , one must be very vigilant to monitor the company's strategic management of its business and its financial performance over time.

TA will be an excellent tool and guide for exit when the price had exceeded the fair value of the company.

2014-04-28 22:24

sunztzhe

It appears that there had been some digression off the subject matter raised by Mr Koon on the Less Visible Chinese Poor. The subject matter raised by Mr Koon in its every essence is related to FA(Fundamental analysis) on Leadership in any society and country.

The ultimate challenge and responsibility for any leader in any society or country is to Bring people together rather than drive them apart. This is the core measurement of Leadership competency in any society or country.

It is the paramount responsibility of Leaders in any society and country to ensure that Opportunities must be given to all irrespective of ethnicity, cultural background, food preferences, religious orientation, colour, creed, etc with the ultimate objective of openly inviting willing participation, creating an environment for a society that respects the principles of justice, rule of law, democracy , civil liberties, empowers its citizens with knowledge and linguistic skills and getting the best and brightest talents to come forth, be entrepreneurial, working as a team to create employment opportunities , assume leadership roles, take charge, manage and influence the process which creates better opportunities for every generation living in the society/country.

Societies and countries in this globalized world that practised the "Divide and Rule Policy" had regressed where the general economic wellbeing of the society, quality of life, employment opportunities deteriorates over time for societies/countries that practised such policies that eventually resulted in sub optimal results for that particular society/country and its people.

It is imperative that the citizens of any society and country perform their fundamental analysis of its Leaders/Aspiring Leaders and ask themselves honestly whether any candidate that offers themselves for office in any society and country has the mandatory competent skills to "Bring people together rather than Drive them apart".

2014-04-28 23:01

kk123

There are many invisible poor Chinese but no help is extended to them .. Not surprising the current regime did not get the Chinese votes they hope for ..

2014-04-29 08:29

dominiclim

It does not matter. we chineses didn't vote for current regime. we are now marginalize. no more projects for mca. no more minsters for mca. no more funds for schools. don't you get it. you don't support, you don't get.

2014-04-29 11:15

Kukuman

When stock market up, everyone forget about politic. When stock market down, everyone talks about politic.

2014-04-29 11:32

eftee

How many extra land set for playground were built for supposely community purpose were then rented out to some businesses. All housing land should be gazetted before they are stolen. There is one strip of land for playground (a portion of it) was built over by Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur in Kuchai Lama as office or something else. Now it is rented to some shops. There is a place set for market in Seri Petaling. Market portion only 40%. 20% goes to an area called Glass City and the rest car wash and Thai restaurant and other shops. Sorry, I am not patronising any of them. Those area should be FREE parking.

2014-04-29 11:36

kk123

Poor Chinese population usually they survived through without any form of help & they also don't complain much
But dr mahathir - despite his sons being billionaire complain the most

2014-04-30 11:27

iafx

hahaahaa... well said.

2014-04-30 11:50

Peter Lee

mr koon,tq for yr kind help,the chinnese poor are in bad condition,wish our pm know abt it,and do something,tq

2014-11-07 15:02

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