Chinese, Indian or Anak Malaysia? I Ask, Does It Matter ?

With Fathers' Day just two days away, it might not seem as surprising that there is a growing sense of entitlement among fathers of the world, whether or not they are deserving of such accolades and gifts.

However, the recent story involving Subang Jaya assemblywoman Hannah Yeoh and her husband, who is of Indian descent, and their decision to register their newly born daughter as "Chinese", after failing to firstly register her as "anak Malaysia", and failing again in their attempt to leave the race column blank, which had some parties up in arms, reeks of the stench of dirty politics, racial and gender intolerance, and plain stupidity, rather than the warm father-daughter stories that fills the fourth estate during such festive times.

Stupidity No 1 - The Memorandum

"Earlier, scores of Indians from various non-governmental organisations in Petaling Jaya handed over a memorandum to Lim at the MCA complaints bureau here."

Who has so much spare time that they can draft and submit a memorandum on a personal decision made by parents for their own child? This is clearly a matter that should be decided by no one else but the child's parents, and anybody who tries to impose their values and beliefs on others often merely reveal themselves to be bigots (in this case, bigots who would rather waste their time on writing memorandums on things that do not concern them than on issues that do).

Maybe the Chinese community should also write a memorandum demanding that the courts annul the marriage, as her decision to marry outside her race has demeaned the Chinese.

While we are at it, I would gladly write a memorandum protesting her decision to marry a man, which demeans the womenfolk, and is clearly a political ploy to get support from the male voters.

To the Memorandum Writing Mobile!

Stupidity No 2 - The Sexist Card Played

"The group's spokesman P. Balakrishnan said Yeoh's husband Ramachandran Muniandy had demeaned the Indians by not standing up for his right to decide the race of his child.

He urged the NRD to cancel the baby's birth certificate and issue a fresh one identifying her race as “Indian”."

In case this point wasn't made clearly in the preceding paragraph, this matter should be resolved solely by a joint decision by both the father and mother of the child without coercion of influence of others (except maybe nosy mother-in-laws).

A joint-"decision" made by mutual agreement by the parents, and in this case, the mother has as much right as the father to "decide the race of the child". It is neither stated in any judicial precedent or constitution that the father has an inalienable right  to "decide" on matters such as this, and it is definitely not the right of any community or group to make this "decision" as well.

Stupid No 3 - "Deciding" On A Race Is An OxyMORON.

To be absolutely clear, race is not religion. One cannot choose your race, even if one is of mixed parentage. Children from mixed marriages may have documents that says so otherwise, but when your DNA and genes consist of more than one race, I am sorry, you are of mixed race. As an adult of sound mind, I cannot just decide one day to change my race from Chinese to the obviously much superior race, the Caucasians.

Unless one can scientifically prove that the child is more Indian than Chinese, that she will grow up to have darker skin rather than yellow, or have big and beautiful eyes rather than small ones, how can anyone say that registering her as one race and not the other is wrong?

Stupidity No 4 - The Politic Card Rears Its Ugly Snake Infested Head

"Selangor MCA has expressed its sympathy to the Indian community who are unhappy with Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh over the racial identity of her newborn baby girl.

“Her husband is an Indian and it is customary to name the child's ethnicity as Indian,” he said, adding the assemblyman's initial stance to define her baby as anak Malaysia (child of Malaysia) was politically motivated."

Of course if was politically motivated!

It was all part of a grand evil plan, right from the boring conception process till the painful and laborious process of, erm, labour, Hannah's intention of having a baby is to score valuable political points.

In fact, her whole marriage is a farce, a scam to make inroads into the Indian community amd gain political mileage and their precious votes come election time. By marrying one of their own, her depraved and despicable intention was to be accepted by the Indian voters.

Now that her insidious schemes have been uncovered by the obviously politically-neutral and heartbroken-over-plight-of-Indians Selangor MCA, and it's advisor, Datuk C.K. Lim, rumor has it that she intends to divorce her husband and abandon her daughter, lie low for a short period of time, then emerge with another evil plan to marry someone from the Malay race.

Stupidity No 5 - The Parents

Marriage in itself already presents an infinite amount of challenges. Factor in mixed race marriages, political ambitions and living your life under public scrutiny, and you have a fairly combustible combination.

Is it too unreasonable to expect that the topic of the resulting union's children be brought up for discussion much earlier in the marriage, or better still, the pre-I Do stage? A reasoned discussion held prior to the birth between the parents can then be shared with the public, in case a small group of busy bodies who purports to represent a community questions the parents' decision.

Is it also unreasonable to expect that an experienced elected politician to know that the moment you opt to register your child as "anak Malaysia", you will be stirring up the proverbial hornet's racial nest and have everything including the Federal Constitution thrown at the general direction of your face?

Furthermore, "anak Malaysia" was your first choice? How about "Indian-Chinese"? "Chinese-Indian"? Even "dan lain-lain" would have been less controversial than "anak Malaysia".

For full story on this non-issue, please refer to the article in The Star:
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/17/nation/8918687&sec=nation