Search and You Shall Find in My World

31 March 2009

The alleged article describing Filipinos as a country of servants and why

This is allegedly (allegedly because the text could no longer be traced) the column from Hongkong Magazine belittling the Filipinos but was later pulled out. I copied it from http://www.umleo23.com/2009/03/30/country-of-servants/

Hongkong Magazine already issued an apology after some quarters opposed to the column written by a Cheap Tsao.

The full text (emphasis mine):

The War At Home
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/war-home (Note: This link no longer be found at the address)
March 27th, 2009

The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.

But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.

As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.

Grimly, I told her that
if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.

Oh yes.
The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland Islands War in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home. Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being. 


Chip Tsao is a best-selling author and columnist. A former reporter for the BBC, his columns have also appeared in Apple Daily, Next Magazine and CUP Magazine, among others. 

4 comments:

Sidney said...

I don't give him the benefit of satire... it was a very insulting column.

The guy is a racist...he stirred a fierce controversy in 2005 by writing that Chinese girls weren't interested in white males anymore...

HK magazine was a bit slow to react... anyway it shows the power of the internet.

Unknown said...

but mind you sidney, there is truth in his article. although yes i agree he is a racist, but he is just a strong chinese nationalist i think. his issue is about the spratleys and china and the chinese people in general who also claims the islands as theirs, i believe the reaction was normal and justifiable.

there are more racists in this country.

umleo23 said...

spratleys and servants, whats the connection? He reacted very badly because the island is being claimed by the Philippine government. So to take revenge, he started firing it back to his domestic assistant??? Is that fair?

As a journalist he should research more. Know the details about a paricular topic. If he wants to talk about the spratleys then thats okay...

But to mistreat people because of some certain topic which you didn't like, i think that's unfair!

They can have the Islands if they want! Pero hindi nila makukuha ang prinsipyo ng mga Pilipino!

wanderingcommuter said...

i still think that as a writer, he should know the difference between being satire and being a racist.