The Malaysian Chinese population is decreasing

By: Li Liang Shi (translated name)
Nanyang Siang Pau, May 28th 2015

The racial composition of all races in Malaysia under the 11th Malaysia Plan 2016 to 2020 was disclosed by the Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance Najib recently. According to the report, the population of the Malaysian Chinese which is the second largest race has increased from 6.4 million to 6.6 million based on the census from 2010 to 2015. By 2020 the Chinese population will increase to 6.8 million.

With reference to the population in percentage, the Chinese population had dropped from 24.5% in 2010 to 23.7% in 2015 and it is projected that it will drop further to 22.8% by 2020.The Malay population will increase from 15.5 million ( 55.1%) in 2015 to 16.7 million ( 55.8% ) in 2020.

The President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Hua Zong) Pheng Yin Huah disclosed that the drop in the Chinese population rate was bad news. In a multi- racial country like ours, the national election was conducted based on the system of one person one vote and this setback would definitely affect the bargaining power to fight for the interest of the Chinese.

The writer believed that the majority of the Chinese would assume it as an old issue as the drop in the Chinese population was discussed since the 80s until now. It was still not solved successfully. Furthermore the present leaders are still retaining the mindset of the last century.

Giving birth to smarter kids is better than having more

Can we increase the Chinese population to help to safeguard the rights of the Malaysian Chinese? If this is true, how come the President of MCA during the era of Tan Siew Sin could not fight for the rights of the Chinese? We live in a democratic society which has a vast difference in population of each constituency. This discrepancy in population will cause the concept of effectiveness of one person one vote to be redundant. This is especially true for residents in Kuala Lumpur who could not elect the members of the local council. Hence when comparing with other state, it clearly shows the rights of one person one vote is not fully honored.

Should the Chinese leaders continue to urge the Chinese to increase their family size as this problem could not be solved nor produce any significant effect? This is the 21st century. The Chinese do not need to increase their population. This is because if the Chinese families increase the size to three or four babies, it still cannot compare to the birth rate of the Malays. Even if the number of Chinese is more than the Malays, the effect is still insignificant.

The main cause for the Chinese population to drop was the livelihood pressure which caused the Chinese to be afraid to have more children. Besides that many Malaysian Chinese had migrated to other nations (Australia, Singapore, USA and other places) and this resulted in a drop in numbers annually. The Chinese should ignore the calls of these Chinese leaders. Instead they should nurture smarter kids than giving birth to more.

We should nurture our children according to the international standard value so that they can acquire the skills to face the future globally. We should not restrict them locally instead we should allow them to venture overseas. Let us place our children at the international front so that our race will be stronger and acquire international influence.

Original Source:
华人人口下降