At War At Home 27 March 2009
Published in HK Magazine
The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.
But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.
As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.
Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.
Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher.
Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.
---------------------------------------------------
Wikipedia
To Kit (born August 17, 1958) is the pseudonym of Chip Tsao, a Hong Kong-based columnist-broadcaster and published books author. As a broadcaster, he is famous for his wry sense of humor and sarcasm. His writings abound with metaphors, and his best works are notable for their poetical quality.
8 comments:
Indeed, the international community and the Filipino people have met a grossly misinformed, unethical, blindly patriotic and irresponsible writer who have decorated himself with accolades from writing in another irresponsible HK Magazine and worked with BBC.
In case he does not know, there are also Chinese Domestic Helpers working abroad who are serving not only white foreign nationals but as well Filipinos. He must also have forgotten that there are quite a number of Chinese nationals living in this part of Asia who are making their livings out of the Philippine Economy.
He should also remember that maligning the good name of the Filipino race based on working with foreign masters is baseless, as these are done in sheer competence, dedication and hard work and that if his mind set is on the premise that Filipinos are servants in their own country, some Chinese nationals are notoriously known to be drug dealers in the Philippines and prostitutes in the middle east if not another low paying domestic helpers in Australia and some parts in Europe and North America.
It seems to me that Mr. Tsao is confined in a very narrow hallway of his very limited intellect. Is he aware that Hong Kong was once a colony of the mighty Brits who at one point became their masters? I have known stories of mighty Chinese businessmen in the Philippines who came over because of the poverty they were experiencing in mainland China and worked as lowly laborers.
This man surely lacks good and cautious foresight. Is he aware that by doing so, he collaterally dip his dirty and ignorant fingers to an internationally sensitive issue? He is blatantly character assassinating a whole nation who happened to be one of the claimants of an island in the Spratlys which issue is so sensitive and requires an international diplomatic expertise to deal with.
Had he even thought that by doing the same, he is also jeopardizing international foreign relations of his country whom he claimed patriotism.
Well, that is practically a pseudo patriotism in the real sense of the word.
Certainly, he cannot claim expertise in the area of foreign relations by touching the issue of Spratlys he is using it in a bad light. He should be too discreet to leave that issue to his government as obviously he lacks the right attitude and prospective to deal with that.
this is sad, coz this touches base in filipino sensitivity, not just the nation but the filipino as a people.
and the unbelievable gall of this man to jestly decribe how they shabily treat their servants which only show their poor character and judgement.
damn, iam starting to get peeved!
@Odette
Crap, fake, cheap and no standard. Trademarks of anything Made In China. Just like "Cheap Chow" (Tsip chao).
boy, check out the article i did on this topic....i goofed about it, again! hahaha.
Give me a break. If you ask me (which nobody did), I think all that B.S. about what he makes his maid do is just a lie. Either it feeds his ego, he has no life or, he has fantasies of his Filipino maid forceing him to strip to his socks, tieing him face down to his bed, and beating his ass with a bamboo cane untill he screams like a girl.
No wait! That's one of my of my fantasies. Never mind! 8)=
Sorry, I meant Filipina maid
@ Angery American
Either way, it is still correct. I prefer to use the word "Filipino" which is more gramatically correct. The Filipino language is quite "sexist". We owed it to the Spanish who were so particular with noun gender.
Many thanks for your nice posting , I like it.
Bathmate
Post a Comment