This is one reason why racial discrimination and cultural displacement are common themes among writers of Chinese descent from Malaysia residing in Taiwan.
The report noted that despite its multicultural society, Malaysia did not recognise works by Malaysian Chinese authors as part of the national literary canon.
Among prominent Chinese Malaysian writers with a Taiwanese connection is the recently deceased Li Yongping. Others are Ng Kim Chew, Chang Kuei Hsien, Ho Sok Fong and Li Zi Shu.
The report quoted Show Ying Xin, co-founder of the Rumah Attap Library and Collective, based in Kuala Lumpur, as saying the plight of Chinese Malaysian authors stemmed from the lack of government recognition and a history of marginalisation.
“These writers went to Taiwan for higher education and stayed because their work is appreciated and accepted there. They thought that in Malaysia their work would not be recognised,” Show said.
According to the report, after the country gained independence, many young Chinese were eager to learn Malay to promote national unity.
However, anti-Chinese violence that erupted on May 13, 1969, after the the majority-Chinese DAP made strong gains in the general election, made the Chinese feel they should never forget their roots, even as they “became Malaysian”.
Khor Boon Eng, an associate professor at Tunku Abdul Rahman University’s Institute of Chinese Studies, said this resulted in a stepping up of grassroots efforts to preserve what cultural heritage remained, in the face of social and political pressure.
On reason Malaysian Chinese writers are comfortable with Taiwanese writing and culture is that during the British colonial period, there were restrictions on reading materials from China, due to the communists being active locally.
So, many Chinese sought out books from Taiwan and Hong Kong. As more Chinese intellectuals fled China for Taiwan, the island became increasingly attractive to Chinese Malaysian students, many of whom headed there for their tertiary education, SCMP reported.
Taiwan’s foreign affairs ministry estimates, according to the report, that more than 70,000 Malaysian students went for tertiary education there in the latter half of the 20th century.
Khor said the openness of Taiwanese universities allowed young Malaysians to explore the island’s strong literary history. Also, there are more writing competitions there which offer talented writers financial opportunities and literary acclaim.
The SCMP report quoted Chong Ton Sin, owner of Malaysian independent bookseller and publisher Gerakbudaya, as saying he published substantially fewer books in the Chinese language than in English or Malay. He said he did not consider Chinese Malaysian writers to be particularly talented.
Khor, however, disagreed with Chong, saying there were Malaysian Chinese writers on par with their Taiwan-based contemporaries.
Ironically, Khor said: “Taiwan regards them as Taiwanese writers, but we also claim them as ‘mahua’ writers.”
“Mahua” refers to a genre of Malaysian (“ma”) Chinese (“hua”) literature that is inherently political.
Khor told SCMP that these writers, whether at home or abroad, explored themes of discomfort and discontent with the political status quo in Malaysia. He said: “Literature is a way for [mahua writers] to express their grievances.”
The report quoted from several books written by Malaysian Chinese to show the themes explored.
Writers abroad, according to the SCMP report, are much freer to explore topics that might offend others’ sensibilities, while authors in Malaysia can tend to self-censor.
Khor was quoted as saying that those who stayed in Malaysia ran the risk of political retribution for their work.
He added that the Chinese in Malaysia felt they were being discriminated against, “and their culture, language and education are not being taken care of by the government”.