Merry Christmas to all. I know that this will be my last post before the holiday, and may be the last before the new year. Thus, get all of your holiday greetings now.
POLITICAL SHADOWS
I have been kicking an idea around for a while. It is still in its infancy, but the basic idea is that the Chinese, particularly those in the Diaspora in Asia are very like the Jews in Europe. Today I read a Straights Times (Singapore) article that made me think I might be on to something. First, it is important to know that there are substantial Chinese communities all over Asia. For instance, Singapore is essentially a Chinese city, Malaysia has a strong Chinese population, and the subject of this article, Indonesia, has about 10 million Chinese out of a population of 215 million. The Chinese are generally not Muslims, while most Indonesians are, and are obviously racially distinct from Javanese, and other indigenous Indonesians.
The article talks about the fact that the Chinese are becoming more politically active in Indonesia. It then talks about some of their grievances. First, the Chinese are not granted automatic citizenship, second Confucian weddings are not recognized. Finally, while the Chinese are about 4.5% of the population, they represent less than 2% of parliamentarians. The traditional barriers to Chinese political involvement are stated as a focus on business, rather than politics and avoiding making waves as a minority. Now, I suspect that the real barrier is an extreme lack of democracy in Indonesia for most of the last 50 years. Still, the sort rationale for Chinese disenfranchisement sounds awfully familiar.
The Christian Science Monitor ran an editorial today calling for the status of Puerto Rico to be finally determined. Puerto Rico is currently a Commonwealth of the United States, which is essentially a colony. They are not a state, they are not a separate country. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, are subject to federal laws, and can be drafted. However, they have only a nonvoting delegate to the US House of Representatives, and cannot vote for president. However, they are not required to pay Federal income tax (no taxation without representation…). How many states would take that deal?
GLOBAL CHRISTMAS
In keeping with my love of odd translation, Merry Christmas in various unlikely languages:
Merii Kurisumasu (Japanese)
Sungtan Chukha (Korean)
Milad Majeed (Lebanese Arabic)
Schéi Krëschtdeeg (Luxemburgish)
Festusu Natale (Monagese)
Craciun fericit si un An Nou fericit! (Moldovan)
Selamat Hari Krimas (Malay)
Happy Christmas (New Zealand)
By the way, I wouldn't go around saying these without double checking. The Dutch includes Happy New Year, and God only knows what some of these other languages are really saying.
POLITICAL SHADOWS
I have been kicking an idea around for a while. It is still in its infancy, but the basic idea is that the Chinese, particularly those in the Diaspora in Asia are very like the Jews in Europe. Today I read a Straights Times (Singapore) article that made me think I might be on to something. First, it is important to know that there are substantial Chinese communities all over Asia. For instance, Singapore is essentially a Chinese city, Malaysia has a strong Chinese population, and the subject of this article, Indonesia, has about 10 million Chinese out of a population of 215 million. The Chinese are generally not Muslims, while most Indonesians are, and are obviously racially distinct from Javanese, and other indigenous Indonesians.
The article talks about the fact that the Chinese are becoming more politically active in Indonesia. It then talks about some of their grievances. First, the Chinese are not granted automatic citizenship, second Confucian weddings are not recognized. Finally, while the Chinese are about 4.5% of the population, they represent less than 2% of parliamentarians. The traditional barriers to Chinese political involvement are stated as a focus on business, rather than politics and avoiding making waves as a minority. Now, I suspect that the real barrier is an extreme lack of democracy in Indonesia for most of the last 50 years. Still, the sort rationale for Chinese disenfranchisement sounds awfully familiar.
The Christian Science Monitor ran an editorial today calling for the status of Puerto Rico to be finally determined. Puerto Rico is currently a Commonwealth of the United States, which is essentially a colony. They are not a state, they are not a separate country. Puerto Ricans were granted US citizenship in 1917, are subject to federal laws, and can be drafted. However, they have only a nonvoting delegate to the US House of Representatives, and cannot vote for president. However, they are not required to pay Federal income tax (no taxation without representation…). How many states would take that deal?
GLOBAL CHRISTMAS
In keeping with my love of odd translation, Merry Christmas in various unlikely languages:
Merii Kurisumasu (Japanese)
Sungtan Chukha (Korean)
Milad Majeed (Lebanese Arabic)
Schéi Krëschtdeeg (Luxemburgish)
Festusu Natale (Monagese)
Craciun fericit si un An Nou fericit! (Moldovan)
Selamat Hari Krimas (Malay)
Happy Christmas (New Zealand)
By the way, I wouldn't go around saying these without double checking. The Dutch includes Happy New Year, and God only knows what some of these other languages are really saying.
posted by David at 6:42 PM
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