Hatchets Buried
With the August 19 federal elections only a month off, the Malayan Chinese Association and the United Malay National Organization last month buried their hatchets and reaffirmed their cooperation in the Alliance Party.
The compromise between Malaya's two biggest political organizations came at the eleventh hour, when a split appeared to be almost inevitable. But far-sighted leaders of MCA and UMNO, recognizing that the future of a free and united Malaya is at stake, saved the ruling Alliance Party from disintegration.
The dispute was largely prompted by two issues: the number of seats to be given Chinese candidates in the Malayan parliament and the teaching of the Chinese language in high schools. The MCA, a back-bone of the tripartite Alliance Party speaking for some 4% of the population in multi-racial Malaya, wanted 40 seats for Chinese candidates and an official recognition of the teaching of Chinese in schools.
These two conditions were handed to Tungku Abdul Rahman, president of the Alliance Party, by Dr. Lim Cheong Eu, chairman of the Malayan Chinese Association, in a memorandum on June 24,1959, and secret negotiations were started immediately. On July 9, the MCA central executive committee suddenly published the memorandum without consulting Dr. Lim. Taken by surprise, the ire UMNO considered this act a threat by the MCA and the negotiations were broken up.
Leaders of both UMNO and MCA hurried to the capital, Kuala Lumpur, for a series of emergency conferences. For a while, tension gripped both the Chinese and Malays. Perhaps never before in their seven-year cooperation had the UMNO and the MCA come so near the brink of a breach. And with the threat of Communist infiltration right outside its door step, never before has Malaya needed a firmer solidarity between the Chinese and Malays.
Finally, the UMNO made a partial retreat, promising 32 seats for the Chinese and some sort of an official recognition of the teaching of the Chinese language, not to be embodied in the Alliance Party's platform but to come through an administrative order in the near future.
A Compromise
The next move was up to the Chinese.
Dr. Lim, as chairman of the MCA, appealed for tolerance and cooperation. Radicals in the Malayan Chinese Association were still truculent, and voiced dissatisfaction with the offer of the UMNO. The majority of the MCA conferees, however, had the national interest of Malaya in mind and were ready for a compromise. The vote was 89-60 in favor of accepting the conditions of the UMNO and keeping the Alliance intact.
With the UMNO and MCA now united, the Alliance Party, which includes the National India Congress as a minority member, is virtually assured of a landslide victory in the August 19 federal elections. In state by state elections, so far the Alliance Party has lost two states only, Kelanta and Tregganer, both on the eastern coast where there are no Chinese residents to back the Alliance's candidates.
The Pan-Malayan Islamic Party, which preaches extreme nationalism, took these two states. The Alliance, on the contrary, advocates tolerance and racial harmony. Tunku Abdul Rahman said in a recent campaign speech: "Malays benefit from living with Chinese, Indians and others. They contribute toward the progress and development of the country. All they want is to live peacefully and make their home here." He warned that "poisonous and unhealthy politics of the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party and the stirring up of communal feelings might turn Malaya into another Cyprus."
He went on to tell his people: "The economy of Malaya is in the hands of the Chinese. If they refused to cooperate, there would be chaos. We have to accept the Chinese as one of us because they have lived in this country and fulfilled the requirements of the law. The Malay and Chinese populations of this country are almost equal. We do not want to divide Malaya. We must give the Chinese a place in the sun."
Seed of Disunity
However, the dispute between the Malayan Chinese Association and the United Malay National Organization, though amicably settled at last, has sown the seed of disunity among the Chinese themselves. A few radical leaders of the MCA have already withdrawn from the party, largely because of their dissatisfaction with the settlement. The vote of 89-60 by the MCA members in accepting, the compromise indicated the wide gap between the two factions inside the MCA.
The dispute was aggravated toward the end of July by the statement of Dr. Lim Cheong Eu that he had submitted his resignation as chairman of the Malayan Chinese Association. Although asserting that he was resigning for health reasons, the youthful MCA leader said his position as chairman had been rendered untenable by political events leading to the MCA's crisis early July.
It remains to be seen whether the quarrelling factions of the MCA could close the ranks and work for the best interest of their country as well as the teeming Chinese population in Malaya.
U.S.A.
Senator of Chinese Blood
A tall, stout industrialist, who rose to his present millionaire career from the slums, won a narrow victory in Hawaii's first elections since its statehood to become the first Senator of Chinese ancestry in the history of the United States.
Republican Senator Hiram Fong, 52, was born in the islands to a Chinese family. Fong's father was a farmer. Fong defeated the Democratic standard bearer, Connecticut-born Frank A. Fasi, by a vote of 83,592 to 75,681.
Fong was the only Republican candidate who won support by Harry Bridge's powerful International Longshoremen's and Warehouse-men's Union. The rest of the Union's endorsement went to Democrats.
The first Chinese-American to sit in the United States Senate calls himself a "man of the Pacific." After his election, he said: "I believe I can be of considerable help in cementing the relations of our nation and all nations of the Pacific. I will be a living demonstration of what statehood means to the nation and the world. I feel that more will be demanded of me because of my ancestry. It is a great responsibility because everything I do will be scrutinized, everything I say will be dissected."
Fong worked to his present success the hard way. In his childhood he worked as a delivery boy, polished shoes, and ran errands to help buy food for the family. Formerly he was named Ah Leon Fong. When he went to the University of Hawaii he adopted the name Hiram. He worked his way through the college, graduated with honors, then went to Harvard where he studied law.
He returned to Hawaii in 1935 and opened a law office. Three years later he entered the public service and was elected to the Hawaiian territorial house. For fourteen years he sat in the Hawaii house of representatives, and held the speaker's seat for three terms. In post-war days he entered the finance business and was outstandingly successful.
The Chinese blood Senator visited Free China in April, 1957 together with a group of Chinese Americans. He was received by President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek and met Vice President Chen Cheng at a tea reception.
Senator Fong is married and the father of four children.
Both C.M. Chen, Chairman of the Overseas Affairs Commission, and Cheng Yin-fun, chief of the Kuomintang's overseas affairs section, cabled congratulations to Senator Fong on his election.
SOUTH VlETNAM
Citizenship Drive
To most of the million-odd Chinese people in South Vietnam, the country now ruled by President Ngo Dinh Diem is no longer just a place to live in. It is now the land to which they belong. It is the land to which they will dedicate their energies in its national reconstruction, because they are now Vietnamese citizens.
When President Ngo Dinh Diem announced the nationality law over two years ago, requiring all Chinese born in Vietnamese soil to take up native citizenship, the Chinese communities reacted with protests and demonstrations. The cordial relations between Free China and Vietnam were for a while stretched almost to a breaking point. The issue was later settled in the spirit of the traditional friendship between the two nations.
Now it is estimated that about 93% of all eligible Chinese residents in Vietnam have acquired their new certificates as citizens of the Republic of Vietnam. As one Chinese leader said: "Previously we were on-lookers, living in this country as aliens. But today we are insiders." As Vietnamese citizens, they will work for the Economic prosperity and national reconstruction of Vietnam.
Since the new nationality law went into effect, most Chinese organizations have ceased functioning. Only a few set-ups, like the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Kuomintang Office at Cholon, Saigon, and the Chinese Clans Organizations are still permitted to carryon their activities.
To replace the defunct organizations, a new body came into being under the title of Cholon Branch of the Vietnam National Revolutionary Movement Committee to work for the interest of citizens of Chinese descent. The committee itself was founded 26 years ago by President Ngo Dinh Diem to fight for Vietnam's independence.
Most members and all responsible officers of the committee's Cholon Branch are of Chinese stock. One of its purposes is to encourage the Chinese people to take up the Vietnamese citizenship and take part in legal political activities.
LAOS
Symbol of Cooperation
In mid-July, a lanky Laotian youth returned to his motherland after four years of college education in Free China, full of enthusiasm for developing the rural resources of his country.
Praised by Taipei newspapers as a "symbol of Sino-Laotian cooperation," tall, strong Bounnong Thiphavong is the only Laotian who has ever taken a college degree from a Chinese academic institute. He graduated with honors from the National Taiwan University.
The handsome Laotian youth, who speaks fluent Chinese, went home with his Chinese wife whom he married in Taiwan three years ago. They have two boys, both born on Chinese soil. Thiphavong received his high school education at a Chinese school in Cholon, Saigon. Four years ago he came to Taiwan with a group of overseas students for advanced learning.
At the National Taiwan University he selected agronomy, because he believed he could serve his country best in that field. His land-locked country, about six to seven times the size of Taiwan, offers big promises of rural development. When back home, Thiphavong said, he will work under Commissioner for Rural Affairs Keo Viphakone, who visited Free China in early July.
Thiphavong's academic achievements have won recognition among his home folks and his academic records are excellent," said Albert Fraleigh, an American aid official who accompanied Commissioner Keo Viphakone in his tour on Taiwan.
Fraleigh said Thiphavong is a born linguist. While in Vietnam, he learned French. He speaks the Cantonese dialect just like a Cantonese. At the Taiwan University, he spoke Mandarin. Thiphavong began to learn English in Taiwan and now he converses freely with his American friends. During his visits to villages on Taiwan, he quickly picked up the Taiwanese dialect, which is almost the same as the Amoy dialect. He also speaks the Thai language.
In appearance, Thiphavong could well pass as a Chinese. His Chinese wife, a graduate of the Taiwan Normal University, is an overseas Chinese from India. Thiphavong likes Chinese life and Chinese food. His college education in Taiwan, he said, has been a pleasant and rewarding experience. Few fellow students called him Mr. Thiphavong. Perhaps for convenience sake, they preferred to call him by his Chinese name, Mr. Huang Ming-hsuan.
JAPAN
Cultural Heritage
To many of the overseas Chinese who have resettled abroad, whether they are in the South African jungles or on an isolated Pacific island, the Chinese language is still their mother tongue. Wherever there are overseas Chinese resettlers, there is always some sort of a Chinese school to preserve their cultural heritage. Exemplary of this effort in keeping intact the traditional Chinese culture among the overseas Chinese is the Chinese Language College in Osaka.
The school is housed in a Chinese style two-story building in Osaka's business center. It was built after the war on the site where the Osaka Chinese Association was located before it was reduced to ashes by Allied bombing.
The college was established in 1957 by a group of overseas Chinese businessmen to promote Sino-Japanese cultural interflow and provide advanced studies in the Chinese language for Chinese students in Japan. Its chancellor, Professor Wu Shu, is a learned scholar who has taught in several of China's leading universities for over 30 years.
A total of 42 students including Chinese, Japanese and Koreans are studying the Chinese language in the school. Seven students are women. Their courses include Chinese phonetics, literature, history, literary criticism, rhetoric, composition and prose, business Chinese, oratory, and poetry. The school has a limited faculty of five instructors.
When the school was established two years ago, people thought it was just another extension class which would disappear in no time. But despite many difficulties, the school has been slowly but steadily growing up. Today the Osaka Chinese Language School has won recognition in Japanese educational circles as well as among the overseas Chinese themselves.
TAIPEI
Completion of Studies
In early July 655 overseas Chinese students returned to their homes abroad after completing four years of college education in Free China. These promising scholars, many of whom had distinguished themselves in academic studies, left with a pledge to work for the public communities of their respective countries of residence.
One noteworthy fact is that 207 students, or 31.60%, studied engineering in Free China.
Among the others, 32 studied medicine, 23 devoted themselves to science, while 20 concentrated on agriculture. They will no doubt make use of what they have learned in Taiwan for the economic reconstruction in the countries they are returning to.
Of the overseas Chinese students, 161 graduated from the Taiwan Normal University which equipped them with adequate knowledge for teaching jobs. A total of 119 scholars took bachelor of laws degrees, 79 graduated from departments of arts, 11 studied business, and three completed maritime training.
The bulk of the students, 465 in all, went back to Hongkong. Next were 42 students back to Macao. Down the list were 37 students back to Vietnam, 27 to South Korea, 27 to Indonesia, 20 to the Philippines, 17 to Malaya, six to Singapore, four to India, three to North Borneo, two to the United States, two to Burma, and one each back to Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos.
The National Taiwan University trained 289 students. The second biggest group were 161 students who graduated from the Taiwan Normal University. Of the other students, 98 took their degrees from the Provincial Chengkung University, 80 from the National Chengchi University, 14 from the National Defense Medical College, six from the Provincial Agricultural College, four from the Taipei College of Technology, and three from the Provincial Maritime College.
Capital of Overseas Bank
The cabinet cut the capital of the Overseas Chinese Bank down to NT$100,000,000 late June. The capital was formerly set at NT$200,000,000, but foreign exchange control in overseas areas has made it difficult to reach this goal.