馬英九向錢穆遺孀致歉

Qian Mu is my favorite Chinese History scholar cum writer. I had read most of his publications and developed an immense liking of his writing and analysis when I was in my 20s.

This apology is long overdued and I am very happy to see the leaders across the Strait like Wen and Ma who embody many fine aspects of the best Confucianist values - the respect for the scholars.

2010-08-31
(綜合報道)(星島日報報道)國學大師錢穆六十年代離開香港後，定居台北素書樓。一九九○年，錢穆病榻中，因被指控侵佔市府土地，被逼搬離故居，旋即病逝。馬英九(相關)昨日在錢穆逝世二十周年追思會上，以總統身分向錢穆遺孀胡美琦致歉，強調當局重視文人故居，不再做出「不公不義」的事。
一九六七年，錢穆夫婦應蔣介石邀請從香港遷往台北，在翠林幽谷的外雙溪建房，親手繪製圖樣，由當局代為施工。次年入住時，錢穆因紀念母親命名此樓為「素書樓」，在此長居二十三年。
一九九○年，當時的台北市議員周伯倫，指稱素書樓佔用市府土地，而時任立委的陳水扁(相關)也強烈要求台北市政府收回。當時錢穆雖高齡九十六歲，眼盲體衰，但不甘受辱，決定搬走，三個月後辭世。
馬英九昨日表示，他以飲水思源、追念大師的心情參加追思會，對事件一直耿耿於懷，一九九八年當上台北市長之後，開始整修名人故居。○二年素書樓整修完成，重開大門時，他即以台北市長身分，向錢穆遺孀胡美琦鞠躬，代表市政府致歉。
他昨日再次向錢夫人表達歉意，強調賓四先生（錢穆）沒有霸佔公產，那塊地是賓館用地，在錢穆返台前原作招待外賓之用，絕無侵佔公有財產之事。
「君子疾沒世而名不稱焉」，馬英九又引《論語‧衞靈公篇》來說明錢穆的委屈。他表示，台灣社會除自由民主外，也講求公平正義；對於不公不義的二二八事件、白色恐怖及錢穆故居風波等，他保證不再發生。
八十二歲的錢穆遺孀胡美琦昨日坐着輪椅致詞表示，四十三年前由於兩位蔣總統禮賢下士，讓他們夫妻住進素書樓，卻因政客的污衊而搬離。她說，世事無常，如同錢穆生前所寫「塵世無常，性命終將老去；天道好還，人文幸得綿延。」
錢夫人因長年住院，已很少回故居，昨日睹物思人，難掩傷感，不時拭淚。台北市文化局長謝小韞在追思會中，向錢夫人深情地說：「這裏永遠是您的家」。
為紀念錢穆學術貢獻，目前「素書樓」已改為紀念圖書館，委託東吳大學管理，並定名「錢穆故居」，定期舉辦書畫展、學術座談會等。

Impressions of Asia in 2010 - Malaysia

One of the more amazing changes in SE Asia for the past decade has been the growth of budget airlines.

Recently I had the opportunity to fly between KL and Brunei on Air Asia and between KL and Singapore on Tiger Airways. Imagine my return flight to Singapore from KL cost only S$27 all inclusive. It would cost more for my daughter and I to take a cab from KL to KLIA than for the flight itself. Although evident for sometime, may I say once more that air travel has experienced the quantum transformation that cars went through 30 years ago and mobile phones 15 years ago. As Air Asia says, "now everybody can fly".

Air Asia is clearly the major player that it deserved to be. One look at the KLIA budget terminal would suggest their domination of the sector accounting for more than 80% of flights. Interestingly, some of the flights technically belong to different entities like Air Asia Thailand or Air Asia Indonesia or the long haul Air Asia X, but they seem seamless in terms of branding and operations, flying people in-and-out of the KL hub to dozens of regional cities. I see them as a true Malaysian success story founded on creativity and actually adding-value.

The other transformation as far as I can see, especially in the Klang Valley, is the massive outbreak of tolled highways, which has spread like tentacles from a poison ivy to colonise existing public roads, cutting through remorselessly through whole neighbourhoods (the dicing-up of Pudu and Cheras comes to mind) and reaching through hitherto forested (for now) valleys to double-up on other existing highways. In my mind, they are no longer about infrastructure or connecting places or even good planning. I just feel they merely smack of greed where the logic seems to be for the well-connected to each find a way to sneak in their own highway so as to block off a slice of revenue or opening up opportunities to develop plantation/state-land for their own benefit.

Enough to say I was troubled by many of the things I saw in Malaysia.

In the smaller towns, prices and the standard of living are still low. Families still subsist on wages of a few hundred ringgit. Migrant labourers are brought in for less than RM500 - which is a lower wage than one find in many parts of China. Since when Malaysia want to - or rather need to - compete with China on labour costs? But migrant labour are increasingly a fact of life, that is increasingly keeping wages and quality of the workforce low, even when they are being suspected (rightly or - more likely, wrongly) for anything from increased crime, social problems to racial provocations. Even then a considerable portion of what pass for wages for foreign workers actually go to "agents" or the legal holder of their employment passes who tend to be handed about to division chiefs and other local politicians.

In the smaller towns, I had the feeling that they are slowly being abandoned by the world which is leaving them by. It used to be that smaller towns used to have a respectable core of middle class - successful planters, enterpreneurs, lawyers, doctors, educators - who form the heart and soul of the community. Nowadays, those who are left are well past their prime, retirees who has seen their children left for the brighter lights of KL, Singapore and any number of places beyond.
Among those who remain, the education level, career prospects and sources of legitimate income just seem to be stagnant or fallen. I just feel in smaller towns, the middle class has been hollowed out by migration, mal-distributions of wealth and opportunity and a type of inflation that is uniquely targeted at carving out the quality of life for middle-class Malaysians.

For example: Food and drink at the hawker centers typically go for RM3 and RM1 or less respectively. Single storey houses and stuff you find in the village shops are cheap although the quality is awful. On the otherhand, once you get beyond the "village-basics", anything more sophisticated (clothes, shampoos, consumer products, appliances etc.) and some services (restaurants etc) are more highly priced than even in the developed countries. I am sure for some products, import tax and duties may be to blame. But in most cases I was not talking about luxury products.

This phenomenon of illogically high prices for consumer goods and luxuries is even more pronounced once one gets to KL. The vast disparity suggested to me that there is a huge gulf between the ordinary people and a very small minority of the super wealthy. If there is one thing that seem amiss in Malaysia today, it would be that the system is engineered to feather the nest of the elite and at the cost of those who are trying to remain in the middle class. When one consider how much it would cost to live comfortably as a Malaysian urban middle class i.e., the costs and availability of property*, the car + toll, education, consumer items, eating out, satellite TV, communications, personal safety, etc. there just seem to be a considerable and deliberate range of financial burden - caused by a combination of taxes/duties, corporate collusion, corrupt money making schemes, or simply failures of public policy - just at that point when one try to make it from hardship to a comfortable life. May be there is nothing to be made from the poor, but unless Malaysia takes better care of its middle class, it can never make the next step to being a developed country.

And there is another observation that troubled me. I went to a few book shops and I began to see a growing segment of Malay books of all types - anything from romance novels, to fantasy stories set in the time of the Prophet, to personal development books written by this Ustaz and the other. While I was amazed at the growth of the world of Malay publishing, I was also getting concerned at the insularity of the world view of someone who only has access to those books. Usually just around the next corner, I could see a similar phenomenon of large numbers of interesting books in Chinese that originate from China. They appeal to different target audiences but the effects are the same: a world view that is limited and may not be very enlightened or relevant to a multi-cultural country. I wonder what society would be like if different segments read only their own books and newspapers, listen to their own music, watch their own TV channels and talk only to people within their own groups.

On that slightly dismal note, I move next to Singapore....

Impressions of Asia in 2010 - Brunei

Another summer and that meant another long trip to Asia. This time, I managed to spend considerable time in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. On the way back, I also spent short whiles in the United Kingdom and Paris, France.

Each place told me a different story: some new and, for some, a variation on something we knew from before.

Part 1 Brunei.

Brunei is looking up. The is an energy about the place that has been missing since the bubble burst in 1997 from its extravagant binge of the early 1990s. The country has the feel of finally gaining some confidence and is, once again, willing to do things. In many ways, this new found momentum is the work of the BEDB - whose efforts are now beginning to show results (and among the cynics, stir envy and resentment). I also believe it has to do with the generational renewal in the upper ranks of Government, amongst those in charge of the day-to-day machinery of the country. Mind you, I am not talking about any major shifts in the ultimate decision-making or a change in the operational mentality of the system. But a palpable energy has returned.

Or may be it's the youth. I was struck by the sheer number of bright young things just within my family alone who are graduating with flying colours from top institutions overseas. Going to a family gathering I was greeted by news of one cousin-niece who just graduated from LSE with a First in Law and whose brother has just been accepted into Oxford. Their cousin also got a First in Economics from LSE. And that is everyone from that side of the family even old enough to graduate. I am sure that is not a representative sample.

Overall the place still retains its easy comfort and seductive quality of life (once one has mastered its idiosyncracies). The threshold to a good life is low here. Yes, it is cheap to live well. But not only that, it comes without many of the usual trade-offs in terms of security, social hygiene, convenience, personal freedom etc. Although the population is growing fast and in many ways it is no longer the sleepy over-grown village that it used to be; my impression is that it is still a very forgiving place where human relations and community plays a big role. And underneath it all, people still have a willingness to please and not cause trouble for other people.

Take for example when we had to renew both my children's bio-metric passports. All it took was a painless 15 minutes visit to the Immigration Department where after a short wait, the officer took the photographs and pinger prints, and we were asked to collect the passport the next day. No hassle, no grandstanding, no bribes. Just straight forward service. It did not escape me that dealing with the bureaucracy could actually be more pleasant and personable experience than an average visit to the bank these days.

However what impressed me most about Brunei these days is the state of the relations between the races. Admittedly, in my case, it helps having a mix of religion and races even within my own immediate family for me to appreciate this. But I really heartened to find myself at a pool-side party for my 8 year old niece (who is mixed Chinese/Malay and therefore Muslim), attended by her (mostly Chinese) classmates from the Chung Hwa School (and their parents), her mainly Malay cousins, and mixture of Malay and Chinese relatives; which rather poignantly began with a Do'a or Muslim prayer by the family's regular ustaz or religious teacher. I found it quite amusing but it was also a wonderful sight because no one really felt anything was out of the order.

(to be continued... next is Malaysia)

Mandarin and Cantonization - 500 words Reply to David Tang

As an overseas Chinese, I treasure the importance to preserve one’s identity and one’s language in a minority environment. I thus have great empathy for Sir David. (David Tang Wing-cheung’s Cantonese is a rich and subtle language that must be preserved”, August 23)

I want to relate the adoption of Mandarin in South East Asia. My parents, like the overwhelming majority of their generation, received Chinese education in Mandarin at about the turn of 1960s, still converse to each other in Mandarin, never mind that they are both Fujianese.

Many Indonesian Chinese who migrated to Hong Kong, most of whom left Indonesia between 1950s-1960s, still proudly speak Mandarin among them.

These show how readily the South East Asian Chinese accept Mandarin as their own common language despite their different vernacular.

After the Second World War, the South East Asian Chinese educationist and the community had the foresight to install Mandarin as the unifying language.

The major resistance to Mandarin is among the Cantonese peoples in pockets of area where they form the majority. The often cited evidence of Cantonese sophistication is that the Tang Dynasty's poem is best read out in Cantonese.

What is ironic is that there is very sizable number of non-Cantonese in Hong Kong and their second generations are all converted into Cantonese speaking. Isn't Cantonese imposed on these non-Cantonese?

Understandably, this was a deliberate British colonial “divide and rule” policy to promote Cantonese primacy in the school.

It didn’t help that, the former Chief Executive, Mr. C.W Tung introduced the disastrous mother tongue policy by assuming that the mother tongue was Cantonese and worst by promoting Cantonese in post-handover as keeping the "2 systems" in the "one country".

What I find most amusing is that even the recent arrivals from the Mainland are rushing to be Cantonized. When applying for their identity card, they happily swap their name from Pinyin to Cantonese spelling. Abandoning Pinyin spelling supposedly makes them Hong Kongers. Maybe they are not aware that the local are adopting English names such as David as their own.Many locals, with memory of constant turmoil and persecution in the Mainland, have their own skepticism of anything Mainland and these include Mandarin that is seen as imposed top-down.

However, it is still either very clannish or very colonial for Sir David to claim that Hong Kong would fare better politically if we continue to use a language which the northerners did not understand.

The word "northerner" is very segregationist last heard in the era of American Confederacy but I could find myself amused with the word as yet another Sir David's demonstration of caricature with great sense of humor.

Our children started to learn Mandarin half-heartedly only after the handover; and our shopkeepers half-competently only after the SARs.

We should promote Mandarin as the main medium of instruction whilst teaching Chinese in school. This is a historical decision Hong Kong cannot wait.

Cantonese as a vernacular, like the Taiwanese, will always be around, alive and kicking.

Mandarin and Cantonization - Unedited Reply to David Tang

Being a member of Overseas Chinese Diaspora, I treasure how important to preserve one’s identity and one’s mother tongue in a minority environment. I thus have great empathy for Sir David. (David Tang Wing-cheung’s Cantonese is a rich and subtle language that must be preserved”, August 23)

Let me be clear, I am not in favor of suppressing Cantonese but I do take the stance to promote the use of Mandarin for the Chinese anywhere anytime.

I want to discuss about the spread of Mandarin usage outside the Mainland China by relating my family experience in the South East Asia. My parents received Chinese education in Mandarin at about the turn of 1960s, they still converse to each other in Mandarin, never mind that they are both Fukienise (Fujianese in Pinyin) by descent.

As a young child growing up in repressive environment in the 1980s, my generation was constantly reminded to speak more Mandarin and less vernacular when we went to school. This was true for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, the three former British colony in South east Asia.

Even the Indonesian Chinese who migrated to Hong Kong, most of whom left Indonesia between 1950s-1960s, Mandarin is still proudly spoken among them perhaps with an accent Sir David would perhaps regard as insufficiently good.

These show how readily the South East Asian Chinese accept Mandarin as their own common language. A big credit to all the pioneers and successive generation of Chinese educationist who have the foresight to install Mandarin as the unifying spoken language for the Chinese Diaspora. It was done without any political pressure from Beijing at all and with the consensus of all the major tribes of Chinese.The major resistance to Mandarin are perhaps among the Cantonese peoples. I am increasingly affirmed of my view that there is a sort of Cantonese-centrism in pocket where the Cantonese descent forms the majority. It is also very ironic that many prominent Cantonese would rather speak English than Mandarin.

I know this may be controversial. My own experience has been that the Cantonese speaking peoples tend to impose their own as the "lingua franca". This is true from Vancouver to Kuala Lumpur, not to mention Hong Kong.Cantonese speaking peoples instinctively regard Cantonese as more sophisticated than Mandarin or other vernacular which may be true. The often cited evidence is that the Tang Dynasty's poem is best read out in Cantonese than in Mandarin. The Cantonization phenomena in Kuala Lumpur, I believe, is largely attributed to the rise of Hong Kong pop music and TVB popular dramas from the late 1970s. The reasons are rooted in the perceived Cantonese superiority and the popularity of its pop culture.

Many of the Chinese who lived in Hong Kong today are not originally Cantonese. According to the local Fukien (Fujian in Pinyin) organization, there is more than a million Fujianese in Hong Kong. If we add up the more frequently encountered waves of immigrants or refugees from Chiu-chow (Chaozhou in Pinyin), Shanghainese and Hakka (many of whom are actually native in the New Territory), the non-Cantonese number is definitely very substantial in Hong Kong.However, their second generation are all converted into Cantonese speaking. This in large part is due to the British colonial policy in teaching the Chinese in Cantonese. There is only one school that teaches Mandarin uninterrupted from the 1950s until today. Such is the miserable state of Mandarin in Hong Kong.Upon the handover, the former Chief Executive, Mr. C.W Tung advocated and implemented the mother tongue language policy which was right but he got it wrong in that the mother tongue was presumed to be Cantonese. Mr Tung hails from Zhejiang.That's ironic and unfortunate for Hong Kong.

There were indeed many great scholars such as Professor Qian Mu (钱穆) who came to Hong Kong and set up the predecessor of what is now the Chinese University during those difficult years in 1950s . Yet Mandarin didn't stay as the mainstream.What I find most amusing is that even the latest arrivals from the Mainland are rushing to be Cantonized, at least in their name. When applying for their identity card, they happily swap their name from Pinyin to Cantonese spelling. Abandoning Pinyin spelling supposedly make them Hong Kongers. Maybe they are not aware that the local Hong Konger are adopting English names such as David as their own.Of course the social political backdrop between Hong Kong and Overseas Chinese Diaspora are very different. Retaining Cantonese in post-handover is seen as keeping the "2 systems" in the "one country". Prior to the handover, the local Hong Kongers with memory of constant turmoil and persecution in the Mainland from the Great Leap Forward to the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen Incident, have their own reservation of anything Mainland and these surely include Mandarin that is seen as imposed top-down.

What is the state of Mandarin today?

Only after the handover that the children are beginning to learn Mandarin; and only after the SARs that the shopkeepers are beginning to speak Mandarin of an acceptable standard to the Mainland visitors.

I think it is either very clannish or very colonial for Sir David to claim that Hong Kong would fare better politically if we continue to use a language which the northerners did not understand. The word "northerner" is very segregationist last heard in the era of American Confederacy but I could find myself amused with the word as yet another Sir David's demonstration of caricature with great sense of humor.

The promotion of Mandarin in Hong Kong at least in the school as the main medium of instruction whilst teaching Chinese doesn’t deprive the cultural value of Cantonese. Cantonese as a vernacular like the Taiwanese will always be around, alive and kicking.

Unfair Attack on Singapore

I am not a Singaporean but I would like to take issue with David Tang Wing-cheung, a knighted Anglo-Chinese, who asserts that Singaporean residents speaks three languages badly. (Öfffensive views on Cantonese condescending", August 10)

His inappropriate remark was made in the context of the recent saga between over the use of Putonghua and Cantonese.

I don't see why Sir David had to drag the four million Singaporean into this debate. Neither could I find any passable justification or compelling evidence that the seven million Hong Konger have a better command of language when we speak than the Singaporeans.

We expect the majority Putonghua speakers to respect our right to speak Cantonese in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, we should also respect Singaporean's language preference.

Appeared in SCMP August 12, 2010

SCREAM Out What We Say

Before I scream out what we say, let me confess that nothing I am about to say is original but everything I am about to tell you, I first heard it here.

On how to say it the first rule and arguably the most important rule, and some says the only rule - is say it in simple and correct English.

Andrew, our advanced Toastmaster, is a strong advocate of simple English. If an additional word doesn’t convey any added meaning, he discards it like garbage. If a longer word can be replaced by a shorter word without distorting it's intended meaning or compromising its flow of delivery, he has no hesitation using the shorter word.

On correct English, both in term of grammar and pronouciation, our seasoned toastmasters have taken a very gentle approach to encourage us to adopt better English.

One useful correct English usage and technique I learn comes from Paul, another veteran toastmaster cum blogger. He explained the tricky difference between acronym and mnemonic.

LKF is an acronym for Lan Kwai Fong. Surely you know what is the acronym for Hong Kong Special administrative Region? Mnemonic is a technique using easy-to-remember words to assist our memory. Speaking of mnemonic, Frances is our undisputed champion on this technique. I remember she used the word TAG”, the grammarian’s word of the day in evaluating a speech. She spontaneously employed T for title, A for attention, G for genuine to offer some powerful suggestions to the speaker.

I also remember Ben giving us a very meaningful and touching mnemonic – FAMILY – to remind us the very essence of it – family stands for father and mother I love you.

Today I am going to give you a mnemonic – SCREAM - to let us SCREAM out what we say. We will start with the S – S for Simile Simile is making a comparison that uses the words like or as. Our club teasurer -Gilbert used a simile in his icebreaker speech - like a moth to the flame - to explain how passionately and irresistibly he is attracted to sailing. Other examples includes - drink like a fish- as white as snow.

Let me turn to the C – C for Contrast: Contrast involves using words with opposite meanings. This line is famous - Not that I loved Cæsar less, but that I loved Rome more. The contrasting words are less versus more.

At the last meeting, I heard SK Teo a visiting Distinguished Toastmaster from Spore said - there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet. Strangers and friends are the contrasting words.

Can I have the R now – R for Rhyme Rhyme is using words with similar ending sound that are melodic to the ear. An example is an apple a day keeps the doctor away. The rhyming words are day and away. Let me give you another example – a rhyme that preaches the virtue of determination – little strokes fell great oaks.

Let’s have the E – E for Echo. Echo is repetition of words or phrases. You remember William Shakespear asking - to be or not to be.

Ben cleverly twisted it to - to eat or not to eat – in his project 7. Cecelia likewise asked us just last meeting whether to be or not to be - a multi-tasker.

Pauline gave us what appear an ironic yet turn out to be an iconic line singing praises for doctors treating the terminally ill patients - If we cannot add days to life, we add life to days. This is such a clever repetition of words in a reverse order.

Give me the A now – A for Alliteration Alliteration means the initial letters or sound in different words are repeated in a pleasing or memorable manner.

I recall the prolific Pauline saying an alliteration - attitude determines the altitude - to describe her philosophy of life.

Other common examples are sweet smell of success, all three initial letters start with s; bigger and better, all with b.

Lastly, let’s have the M – M for metaphor Metaphor is drawing an analogy between two objects or ideas via association or resemblance. I wish you may one day become a Li Ka Shing. I use Li Ka Shing as a metaphor for being a super rich and if you don't like it, on behalf of the humanity, for being as charitable as he does - giving away a third of his fortune to the charity.

You have heard the SCREAM: S for Simile, C for Contrast, R for Rhyme, E for Echo, A for Alliteration and M for Metaphor.

I hope you enjoy the fun of toastmastering as much as I do. If you do may I ask you a small favor to scream out loud the word - scream.

Losing out to Lion City

My good friend and his family are relocating to Singapore.

Our young children who have been best pals for years will miss their playmateship.

My good friend works for a Multi-national Corporation (MNC), which is moving to the Lion City.

The company has chosen to set up its regional headquarters there becaue it has been offered tax advantages.

Hong Kong seems to view such initiatives with a couldn't care less"attitude.

My friend told me that his employer had approached the relevant Hong Kong departments several times over the past years, seeking similar advantages here, but always got a negative response.

Some might argue that you cannot have preferential treatment in one of the freest economy in the world.But the truth is that our city is losing its once-enormous competitive advantage against a determined competitor.
We can continue to do nothing, which was the stand taken by officials regarding my friend's company. But inaction will lead to higher unemployment rates.

We will have to absorb the economic and social costs of those redundancies.

If more multinationals leave Hong Kong, I think the prospect of my children in the city I love is poorer.

#Appeared on SCMP on August 2, 2010