Nation of Servants?

The War At Home
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.

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So what was this Chip Tsao thinking? Is it just plain satirical or a big blow on our nation's sovereignity and power?

I do think we should take this thing seriously. This Chip Tsao is speaking of OUR Filipino workers, OUR countrymen, and perhaps OUR relatives. He correlates this "Filipino Diasporra" to our never-ending claim of the oil-rich Spratly's Island.

To put simply, he said WE are INCAPABLE of governing our own country and any additional land area such as the Spratly's would be a burden so we might as well abandon our claims. And that is an insult to us as a nation!

True, our government cannot provide enough works for us. True, we have to go to a foreign country to look for greener pastures. True, we are wiping some other people's ass to earn some breads.

BUT we are not parasiting on those foreigners! We are working our butts off to feed our families three times a day. We are doing things sometimes, nasty and dirty, but hey, we earn our money honestly.

WE are NOT superior to the chinese people. That's true! BUT WE are NOT inferior though!

We are not heavily dependent on China and HongKong. They are not our MASTERS (and will never be our masters!) and WE are not SLAVES. They are simply just THE employers!

Summoning your helper? Giveing her a harsh lecture? WTF! Is this guy a GOD from heaven? This bitch don't deserve our help! HE doesn't deserved to be treated nicely! To be patriotic is one thing, but to be INSULTING is another.

Let's go back to our history, the PHILIPPINE history. During the Spanish era, Chinese immigrants and the Indios are no different. They received the same harsh treatment from the Mestizos, the same beating from the Guardia Civil and the same status symbol form the Principalia. The Indios are sometimes more respected than their Chinese counterparts because the Indios are sometimes baptized while the Chinese are not. To be a Chinese before was a bigger insult than to be an Indio..

Fast Forward.. We are indeed imposing a cheap-labor policy so that we can be hired and the investor's will thrive our nation. BUT who are we up to? who are the investors pitting us against? CHINA!

I am not saying that the FILIPINOs are greater and nobler than the Chinese people. But I am proud that we have humbler roots than those proud chinese who look at themselves as gods and goddesses.

WE are NOT and will never be perfect as a race. We are not the richest of the rich, the highly industrialized people, the influential power to the world. BUT we are not a nation of servants!

WE are ASKING for RESPECT because we respect other countries, too. We are not waging war because we have some serious problems too. We just need RESPECT, no more no less.