the land below the wind

If the Doomsday prediction never comes true, New Zealand will remain as picturesque after a hundred years, with cows and goats roaming all over the country sparesely populated by humans.

A hundred years later, Singapore 's foundation will remain rock solid. The tiny city-state will continue to lure new immigrants, and many new-generation Singaporeans will see their lineages traced back to those of migrants.

How about Malaysia a hundred years from now? Lee Kuan Yew did not seem to see things that far. He only set his sight 20 years later. He said all constituencies in Malaysia would be dominated by the Malays in 20 years' time, and the leadership in this country would value the Chinese population less and less.

The Chinese population would continue to slide, he added, not because of the pathetically low fertility rates among the Chinese in this country, but because those who could afford would have sent their children overseas, who would decide not to come back.

"And those migrating to Malaysia will be from Islamic states, making the country's Islamisation inclination more and more pronounced." Statistics don't lie, and the current political and social ecosystems are not here without a reason. MM Lee's predictions are by no means novel. But his well-thought remarks have touched the hearts of many a Malaysian.

If this is what the country should look like 20 years from now, we can imagine Chinese Malaysians to be like apes in a forest sanctuary a hundred years down the road, where we need to sharpen our eyesight to carefully scan through the entire swathe of forest before we can catch a glimpse of one or two of them.

That comparison is, most certainly, exaggerated, but I really hope we will not be reduced to a rare species by then.

The ratio of Chinese population in this country has been on steady decline over the decades; so has their political status here. Very soon, they will be completely engulfed by the powerful waves of aggressive Islamisation.

This is the pessimistic side of the outlook of their destiny. But Chinese Malaysians cannot afford to go on this way, and wait helplessly for such a destiny to befall them. They have to take the initiative to accentuate their own strengths and be in firm control of their own fates before they can divert such a predestination.

The next ten years will be key to the future destiny of Chinese Malaysians. If the country's policies get more and more ethnically-oriented and religiously inclined, the future of Chinese community is well within our imagination, and Chinese Malaysians will exit the country in droves.

On the other hand, if community-centric ideologies get diluted, conflicts between mainstream and minority races get thinned down, the common Malaysian identity gets consolidated, and the spirit of secularity stays very much relevant, then Chinese Malaysians will have a much more promising future here.

So will Malaysia . Whatever happens to this country or our society, the most important element for new-generation Chinese to secure a place in this land, will be their very own competitiveness.

In this age of globalisation, when national boundaries are increasingly obscured, people will find a greener pasture beyond our shores if our internal conditions remain this bleak. We cannot afford to talk about what will happen to us a hundred years from now. We need to buck up and fight for our near-term opportunities.

Meaningless and unnecessary squabbles, like the one currently taking place within MCA, will only serve to bog down the pace of the Chinese community further, blurring their vision of the clear and present danger. What the Chinese community urgently needs right now is high-calibre and farsighted leadership, not one engrossed with endless infighting.

(By TAY TIAN YAN/Translated by DOMINIC LOH/Sin Chew Daily)