“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, this award-winning movie title best describes the China that I saw when I visited the capital city, Beijing, two weeks ago. After a 3 ½ hour gentle Air China flight from Hong Kong, we landed in an airport 3 times bigger than Chek Lap Kwok Airport. If there is one obvious spectacle that a non-Beijinger would immediately notice upon arrival, it is its grandeur and sheer vastness. As part of a K-Touch group (Manufacturer and Distributor of K-Touch Mobile phones) on a 4-day business trip, we were welcomed by our local counterpart who immediately ushered us to the hotel. True to my first impression, the 30-minute ride through smooth traffic in a late afternoon on an almost empty freeway reinforced my thoughts -- that the airport, the freeways, the transport system and other structures that I saw, are obviously built to accommodate a business environment that is yet to come, say 5 or 10 years in the future. What strikes me with admiration though is the ability of its leader to prepare their country for these challenges ahead. That is what I call VISION!
Except for the slight distraction caused by this “Chip Tsao incident”, I have no doubt that the Filipino politicians and entrepreneurs have already noticed this transformation and consider China as a serious partner both economically and politically.
On a personal level, Chip Tsao’s article has not elicited my contempt simply because it’s not worth it. Instead, I pity this poor soul for “he know not what he is doing”. On his opening statement – "The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the 7 Chinese seamen onboard. 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…”, Mr. Tsao is implying that he can take the bullying from “stronger” countries and at the same time rejoice in bullying the “weaker” ones. This kind of persona reminds me of infamous people such as Hitler, Mussolini, etc… characters who had provoked and incited people to harbor hatred against others through their misguided or misplaced concept of nationalism. And so it is no wonder why his article brought condemnation both from the Filipino community and Hong Kong people. In this age of the internet -- where the world becomes a small global village -- this kind of mentality, no matter how Mr. Tsao defends it, has no place in a just and decent society. He is a disgrace to the Chinese people in general. Instantly, my local Chinese friends called me to express their disgust as soon as they came across his article. Mr. Chip Tsao’s mentality towards people who are doing honest labor, no matter how menial, is what creates animosity in our society. That is what I call DIVISION!
On the other hand, as responsible members of our community, we should treat this incident as a wake-up call for us to discipline our own ranks and stay on guard at all times. Meaning, we have to be vigilant to the excesses that may arise in our conduct as “transients” in our adopted home. On this regard, I strongly urge our community leaders to take notice of how our people behave in public places, especially during holidays, such as gambling in public view (i.e., tong-its, pusoy…), barricading highly visible walkways with thick cardboards (karton) which is obviously an eyesore, leaving behind piles of trash in places of convergence, or any acts for that matter that may offend the sensitivities of others. Kailangan pa bang antayin natin ang Hong Kong government pa ang magbawal sa atin? Officers of the Philippine Consulate must look into this matter and come out with appropriate recommendations. I understand the shortage of manpower from our consular office but there is urgency in this problem that I think they must seriously consider. In as much as I admire and commend our consular staff for gracing our community events with inspirational speeches, I urge them to do a brief detour to the places where our OFWs get together during holidays before proceeding to their appointments so that they themselves can witness what many already know – that during Sundays and holidays our kababayans have literally taken over the many paved walkways and corridors, especially areas around Central and Admiralty, making it appear like we are squatters. We should come up with answers as to why our workers choose these places for “rest & recreation” instead of the more appropriate areas such as public parks and other shelters. Is it lack of space? Is it because of its proximity to Worldwide House? O kaya likas lang talagang wala ng halaga sa loob natin ang maaaring ipuna o masagwang masabi ng ibang tao sa ating lahi? Whatever is the reason, believe me, we should get answers now or find ourselves being bombarded with complaints in the very near future. Have we ever forgotten the old saying: “An ounce of prevention, is worth a pound of cure”? Now, I challenge you to act on this “PREVENTION”.
As for us in True Friends Newsmag, we will continue to do our share of raising awareness to some of our negative traits so that we can rectify it before another persona of Tsao’s mentality take advantage of it and poke fun at us once again.
Author: Tony Bartolome
*Published in TF Newsmag (April 2009 Hong Kong issue)
01 April 2009
Tsao Mentality Explored
"As a nation of servants, you don't flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter," wrote Chip Tsao on his HK Magazine article. The bigot columnist apparently has a heavy chip on his shoulders. Whatever grievances he has, he need not take it out on an entire nation nor a powerless group (the domestic helpers). Had Tsao been the egoistic master and I, his humble servant I'd tell the old fart to take my "bread and butter" and shove it up his ass. Oh man, I pity the poor soul working for him -- if he really has one. He probably couldn't afford to hire a local maid if his only bread-and-butter depends on his unprofessional writing. Even if he's filthy rich and offered me a job to clean up his daily filth for, say twice, the amount I'm earning now... I'd still tell him to shove the darn job up his butt. The Filipinos that Tsao speaks lowly of may not all be professionals but we do our job professionally that is why many (for your information, master fool Tsao!) nations seek our services. In case, Tsao misinterprets my piece, I'll make my message clear: There is nothing so sweet in this write up, peahead. Read ahead to enlighten your dark, ancient, narrow, narcissistic mind! I'm an amateur creative writer so pardon my colorful language, old hog."As a nation of servants, you don't flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter"... the Tsao mentality. How else can we Filipinos, or even non-Filipinos, interpret such words other than a racist's remark. Tsao added more insult to injury by saying his words were misinterpreted...
"The article was never intended to be insulting to the Filipino domestic workers," he told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "English, being a global language, is open to different interpretations by those who come from various cultural backgrounds." Now what? You're suggesting we're morons? Get lost!
Tsao must get off the Spratly Islands issue since he's obviously not in a sane, diplomatic mind to write about such (if anything, he's simply creating a great divide) just as I won't talk about Spratly Islands which I know not much about but I'm here for my people, I speak as an 11-year Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW).
Sadly, the Tsao mentality (arrogance, superiority-complex, one-track mind, narrow vision, and snobbery) exists in any part of the world. When I worked for a manpower agency in Taichung City in 1999, one of the agents told me that Taiwanese employers no longer want to hire Filipino workers. When I asked why, a client/employer complained to my agent that "Filipinos are very smart. They know their rights and can sue you to court. Other nationalities won't complain as much, cost cheaper, and got the 'yes-ma'am' attitude." We both laugh at that. The months that followed after that little conversation had proven my agent wrong... The five employers I've been sent to by the agency had all wanted to hire me -- a Filipino -- permanently. Not that I'm an idiot nor will it cost them less... No, senor. It's because I do my job professionally. Filipinos are honest, efficient workers. Period. I worked exclusively for my greedy broker (who's infected with the tsao mentality), working only temporarily for the other employers (Yup, that's illegal. I was at the mercy of my agent -- "Taiwan --Mei Yo Nama Wan" article). When I defiantly challenged the shrewd agency owner, I was more than happy to be sent back home... that's simply "shoving the bread-and-butter" up my agent's ass. Lesson learned: The master sings high praises of you, "selling" you to his clients, family, and friends at every possible opportunity, giving you false hopes of high salary while encouraging you to work your butt off and pushing you harder and closer to workaholic hell, as if your job's the only most important thing in the world that your life depends on it, never mind the damage it's doing to your well-being -- physically, mentally, emotionally, socially. At the slightest sign of defiance (i.e., you're sick you can't work or you want a day-off after a year of non-stop work), you're given a crack of the whip, you could be terminated. Ask why you're not getting the right amount of salary, you're told you have no right to question how you're being paid. It sounds like it's a practice from the dark ages but it's actually happening everywhere. It happened to me in Taiwan. Though the severity was less than Taiwan's, it happened to me in the western world with my previous slave-driver boss who had been shortchanging me. Darn right, she's got the tsao mentality so I shove my bread-and-butter at her throat and quit my job. With my current Canadian bread-and-butter, it's way, way creamier and healthier. ;-D
No matter how big a master you think you are, if you step on my pinky toe or blow on my tribe's face with your stinky breath, you have something coming... and it's definitely not sweet words, cheap old Tsao. Being a master doesn't give one the authority to step on a servant's rights. Creatures with the tsao mentality need a brain overhaul. If Filipinos are such an insignificant, worthless lot to Tsao why then are our services in such high demand in Hong Kong and China (not to mention other nations)? Why can't they just hire local workers which would cost them way cheaper (RMB500/month) than hiring an OFW (HK$3500+/month)? It's the quality of work we do. It's the respect we have of ourselves (OFWs), of our job (bread and butter), of our employers (masters). Tsao doesn't seem to know anything about respect. And if he's afraid his article could be misinterpreted he should stick to his mother tongue and not write in English.
I thank my lucky stars I hadn't been employed by someone of a tsao mentality in Hong Kong. My big-hearted, open-minded Chinese employer encouraged openness, creativeness, and couldn't stand idiocy. It's in my 5-plus years of working for her that I completely understood why people like her prefer to hire Filipinos instead of other nationalities. More than a dozen locals got the sack from my former boss in just a span of 2 years. There are way much more of the enlightened Chinese souls than that of the tsao mentality kind. ChipTsao wasn't speaking for the entire Chinese race. He was speaking for himself. Furthermore, his writing voice was severely out of tune, and he stepped out of line. Tsao's chosen words simply reek of racism. Filipinos will not simply stand back and let him flex his muscles at us!
Author: Joy Marqueses
*Published in TF Newsmag (April 2009 Hong Kong Issue)
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