By C C Pung
Justice of Peace
A good read of some serious history of the Chinese in Sabah.
Trust Prof Dr Danny Wong Tze Ken to piece together a narrative that helped me better understand and appreciate, for example, the early Chinese immigrants who had the foresight and put in so much in planting the seed of education since the early 20th century.
Danny is Professor of History at the Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Universiti Malaya.
I supposed the Chinese immigrants to Malaya probably did similar.
They combined in the last 100+ years to contribute so much to the foundation that enable education in Malaysia like what it is today.
Therefore, to know that there are groups who are aggressively pushing for the abolition of Chinese vernacular schools in Malaysia smells of ingratitude and ignorance.
We tend to measure growth and progress with tangible things like buildings and hard data, but I think that the century-plus efforts of the early Chinese immigrants in the soft and convenient-to-forget aspects of Malaysia’s growth simply can’t be ignored.
Yes, other communities have undeniably chipped into the process and helped our shared progress.
I wish there are more Danny Wongs to enlighten us..
