Some Chinese Really Should Go Back to China

Before I am lambasted as racist, I am myself a Malaysian Chinese. So this is not about racism, but me pointing out when I think something is wrong about people in general and it does not matter if those I'm referring to are of the same race, religion, gender, etc, as I am.

My boy, Friendster
Let me start with a story. 3 years ago I was going through a depressing time. Back then, I lived at a condo near my office, and no one knew that I would sometimes go back at the office at night to meet a friend who helped me get through my sadness. This friend was a male stray dog who just appeared one day at my office (possibly dumped) and was very friendly. When it was time to go home, he’d be waiting outside to greet me and he enjoyed me hugging and playing with him. I wanted to keep him but I couldn’t because I was living at a condo and restricted by my family.

When my German boss, a dog lover, mentioned that he was thinking to give this dog to a friend. My heart dropped. Fortunately, I had the means to move out to a landed property, after which I took him with me. Since then, my boy, who I named Friendster, has enjoyed a pampered life with me, even getting to sleep in my bed. He was the first of 4 dogs I adopted until now, each having their own interesting story of how they came into my life. But Friendster will always be the most special as he helped me though that period.

At this point, I’m sure some scoffing and thinking “Oh no, another crazy dog lover who is going to rant about how much she’s against the dog culling”. In a way I will, but the culling is not the main point of this post. My post is about these kind of comments you have in your head right now, and the people who are making them.

When critics learned that the risk of dying from rabies was low, this was the response

In my previous post which came out on FMT, I gave information about rabies which shows that the risk of dying from rabies in a developed states like Penang is extremely low. Rabies kills primarily in rural areas, so I can accept that culling be done in Kedah and Perlis, which are relatively rural. But not Penang, where people mostly move around in vehicles, rarely come in contact with strays, and have ample time to get treatment if they have been bitten or suspect contact with a rabid animal due to the long incubation period of the virus, which is usually 1 - 3 months. Medical treatment is not expensive at a government hospital where contrary to what most think are better than private hospitals in this country. However, even when it is apparent that the risk of death from rabies in Penang is next to nothing, I still get comments like these

Essentially saying that even though the risk if dying is so little, the time spent on medical visits and anxiety is still much more important than the lives of 40,000 dogs. Of course, that is because in such a person's mind, dogs mean nothing. Since rats, cows, pigs and goats are killed on a regular basis, what is the difference for dogs, right?


When critics learned why dogs mean so much to dog lovers, this was the response

Well, I had also taken the time to explain why dogs are different to us in this post (also on FMT) on my responses to all the main arguments supporting culling. I had explained that dogs were not bred as food, but as companion animals. Many people have a deep connection with dogs, such as I had with Friendster who helped me through my depression. Our dogs bring us joy and we treat them like children. Hence, dog lovers see strays as the doggy equivalent of orphaned children who are the product of irresponsible dog owners and unfortunate to not be adopted. And just like orphaned children, we do not deem it fair or right to kill them just because no one adopted them. And just because they are not adopted, does not mean people are not visiting them or care about their well-being. I also shared a case of a man who committed suicide because his beloved dog was put down, to show how much dog lovers care about their dogs.

And yet even after explaining this, these are some of the comments I've seen.

Essentially saying that the bonds between dogs lovers and dogs is completely irrelevant. That we are delusional. That dogs have been beneficial to our emotional well being means noting.

Well, according to that logic and given the number of people protesting against the culling, Malaysia might be suffering from a bigger problem than rabies. We should be more concerned about all these delusional dog lovers who are ready to kill themselves. Funnily enough, this same people who told me to see a doctor if I'm suicidal also rant about the medical costs of getting rabies treatment (which from a government hospital, is essentially free. Free being a lot cheaper than seeing a psychiatrist).

While critics complained of cost of living being too high, they also critisized those who give it all for dogs

These people also rant about why dog lovers don't take in all the strays, if we love them so much. They complain about how poor they are, struggling to make ends meet, which is another reason why people chuck their dogs.

But  when photos of Barbara Janssen, founder of Penang Animal Welfare Society who cares for 360 strays, went viral showing her crying over the culling of the strays in Penang, did these people praise her? Nope, these same kind of people who complain about how they struggle to make ends meet heaped her with criticism instead.

I'm a banana that doesn't speak or read Chinese, but I don't doubt that it's true that Barbara was badly flamed.

And as can be seen from the sample comments above, most of this fire against Barbara and dog lovers came from the Malaysian Chinese. And the the two ladies above pretty much summarized what I was thinking but was afraid to say. But since I'm not the only one who thinks so, I'm going to say it.



Selfishness and lack of empathy - the Chinese disease that is worse than rabies

Are there people from other races supporting the culling? Of course there are, but at least even though they support it, they mostly still feel pity for the animals and for the people who care for them. But the comments of so many Chinese who simply don't give a sh*t about either is apparent.

Isn't it disappointing? Even though  they accept that the risk of dying is very low because getting treatment in Penang is easy and free... even though we explain that we consider dogs like kids.... even though I can answer all their questions why not all dog owners can keep dogs..... these kind of people can still say their time and anxiety involved is much more important than the lives of 40,000 dogs, including those strays that are healthy, friendly and loved even though they can't be taken home, like how I loved Friendster before I adopted him.

These kind of people are essentially saying that their convenience matters more than anything, even if it means removing the things are that important and dear to others. Probably in their drive to make ends meet, or more likely the drive to accumulate more wealth, the lives of others become unimportant. They are willing to let 40,000 innocent animals die, simply because they do not want to be hassled. It does not matter to them that most of these strays would make a loyal and loving pets like my boy, Friendster, or that people are already caring for them. It does not matter to them that there are people who love these strays like children. It doesn't matter to them that the hearts of dog feeders, NGOs, rescuers and animal lovers will break. 

Selfishness and lack empathy. It is the disease of the Chinese, one which I thought primarily existed only in the people of China, and not so much here. And though it's still not as bad here as it is there. 

The China Chinese Mentality

Many were appalled to learn the China Chinese put toxic melamine in baby's formula to give the appearance of a higher protain content, or when they made fake eggs which were cheaper to manufacture than real ones. Many were appalled by the news that China's Chinese had dog eating festivals where some people resorted to stealing the beloved dogs belonging to others just to make money for the festival. Many were appalled about the death of Wang Yue on October 2011, the 2 year old girl in China who was run over 2 vehicles and 18 people went past her without bothering to help. 

Many of us Chinese here in Malaysia were probably ashamed to even be associated with these people of the same race. But this latest rabies issues, as well as previous issues, make me think that sadly, some of the Chinese here are becoming a lot like the China Chinese. 

Of course, those Malaysian Chinese reading this would now be ready to hurl insults at me. "We're not as heartless as those people lah! And we're are talking about culling a bunch of dogs. NOT putting people's health at risk, or stealing pets to make them into food, or letting a 2 year old in an accident die!"

Yes, true, you're not that bad. But doesn't this kind of behaviour among the China Chinese also stem from the drive to make ends meet and accumulate wealth? Doesn't it also stem from lack of regard for life? Doesn't it also stem from selfishness and lack of empathy towards others? Isn't that the same thing that you're doing here when even though you know that the risk of dying from rabies in a developed states is low, even those many people care for those 'bunch of dogs', you don't give a crap because you don't want to be inconvenienced?  

We may not be as bad as the China Chinese now, but the mentality of the China Chinese is there. Once it is there, it will grow to make us do even worse things, unless you do something about it. You can argue that we lack the logistics, the manpower, and the funding even though this can be easily settled by the authorities speeding up the entry process for WVS which has enough rabies vaccines for all the strays FREE. But the thing is, even if we already HAD all the resources, as long as people with this kind of mentality are around, they would still support culling, simply because you want to keep those resources to benefit yourself and not some 'worthless dogs'.

Don't believe me? Look at China. China holds the world record for the fastest developing country in the world with no sign of slowdown, have the longest and one of the fastest high-speed rail tracks in the world, they have the second largest shopping mall in the world, they have a number of architectural wonders, and even managed to build a 30 storey building in just 15 days! And yet with so much development, wealth and resources, the government can't seem to find the time to come up with any animal welfare legislation, resulting in all sorts of abuses, from cooking animals alive, tortured bile bears and using live animals as key rings. The 'Me-First' attitude there is also so apparent in the people where they feel they are entitled to get what they want as soon as possible. Compare that to other developing countries like India, where even with little resources, they managed to vaccinate 60,000 dogs against rabies in 30 days, and in Turkey, the government regularly spays, neuters and releases strays back into the streets, where they are loved by the locals.

It goes to show that the level of our wealth, development or resources is NOT the barrier to implementing humane methods in management of our strays! It is purely the mindset and lack of compassion. Without compassion, no matter what possessions you have, you will not feel the need to help anyone, whether human or animal, because you want to keep everything to yourself.  

You can say that I'm being ridiculous by justifying human lives matter more than dogs. But I've said it before it's really not about human lives as you claim, because if it were, then you same people would not have been yelling on social media telling the government to ignore the Rohingya when they came here for help months ago. Even though they were dying, diseased and had woman and children, there were so many people on social media calling them pariahs, unwanted low lifes and just not caring if they lived or died, as long as they weren't here. Many of these comments, unfortunately, coming from the Chinese. Again, regardless of logistics, even though we were truly not able to help them, is it too much to at least show compassion? 

If this is how we behave towards those that are less fortunate like the Rohingya and the innocent lives like the dogs being culled, I am really not surprised at this point when people of other races get offended at some of things said by the Chinese. Of course, it is racist of them to think all are the same, and it the Malaysian Chinese also get a lot of nonsense from others. But if even when presented with facts from WHO, with knowledge of that the risk of rabies death is low, and with the answer to why we care so much about dogs, we dog lovers can still get ridiculed from such unempathetic fellow Chinese... I have no qualms in saying that I would prefer not to live around such unempathetic and uncaring people. It's these kind of Chinese are the ones that really should go back to China. 

Dear Malaysian Chinese supporting the cull, I am of course not an asshole telling you to get out of the country. But my point is, we want the best for people as well as the dogs, so please show some empathy and understand all the facts of why we don't support culling before demanding the extermination of 40,000 lives that mean a lot to us dog lovers. Don't behave like a Chinese from China. 

Thank you.

Some Chinese Really Should Go Back to China