Former Minister of Transport, Dato’ Seri Wee Ka Siong recently spoke about his roots and said he’s proud to be a Malaysian Chinese.
In a recent interview with Lydia Liu, a content creator from China based in Kuala Lumpur, Wee was asked about his choice if he were to be reborn again.
“If I were to choose, I would choose to be born as a Malaysian Chinese again. After all, I am proud of the 5,000-year-old Chinese culture.”
In the interview, Wee was also asked about the Chinese culture that has been well preserved in Malaysia. To him, everything dials down to education, and how significant it is for Malaysian parents when it comes to their children’s education.
Wee also shared a brief story about his grandfather who was from China.
“My grandfather was not educated but the first thing the others and he did when they came to Malaysia was to build a school, brick by brick.”
“They knew that their children could have a good life only through education.”
He also said that Chinese education in Malaysia has been preserved since the British colonial era, and the formation of this culture has been greatly helpful in keeping the Chinese culture in Malaysia still relatively intact.
Lydia also asked for Wee’s take on the Malaysian Chinese and the Mainland Chinese, to which he said in terms of language, there is barely any difference. However, there is a convenience for Malaysian Chinese.
“We speak many dialects here. Hokkien, Cantonese, Fuzhou, and we can speak them everywhere without any problem, especially those who are running businesses. They can speak to more than 70% of people in the world.”
He also dubbed Malaysia a melting pot that illustrates the diversity in the country.
“We can speak English, Chinese, and other languages. We also have Muslims and Indians, and even the Middle Eastern Muslims are here.”
You can watch the full video on Wee’s Facebook post.
What do you think of his take on the Chinese culture in Malaysia?
