Dr Teck Khong: Chinese addition for British politics

Dr Teck Khong, former Parliamentary Candidate for Bradford North and a GP,  ponders on a quiet corner of diversity politics. 

“Yes, can I help you? ….You speak very good English…Into the main hall and up the stairs to the left”. That was the other half of the dialogue between my daughter and the police at the security check-point at Westminster recently. She was joining me at the belated New Year reception of the Chinese in Britain All Party Parliamentary Group. Unfortunately, she missed the event.

My daughter, who looks impeccably Chinese, has an English mother and was educated privately. She graduated last year with First Class Honours in Law at the LSE. Of course, we don't go around shouting out such things, and neither are we expected to post our curriculum vitae on laptop bags, brief cases or even emblazon the back of our tee-shirts with our family pedigree. And what's there to be ashamed of, if I was a kitchen hand at a Chinese takeaway? Such social situations are commonplace and are tedious, sometimes even exasperating. 

As is often the case with these inter-racial encounters, I suspect the flow of stimuli and responses can cascade along pathways of misconception so what we then witness is an aggregate of flawed perceptions. The real reasons are legion, but as a whole, they represent some of the major hurdles for both the Chinese and the indigenous white population, and which is probably different from their respective interactions with other ethnic groups. 

As we walked to my car, I shared some of my observations of the event with her. It is disappointing that the Chinese have surrogate representation in Parliament in MPs Andrew Dinsmore and Mark Field. It would be wrong for this remark to be construed negatively. Indeed, these are fine gentlemen with sincere desires to be sensitive and supportive of any difficulties the Chinese community might encounter.

I am also not suggesting for one moment that the Chinese community should be a case for special treatment, or that such a thought is founded on either elitist or even segregationist tendencies. The Chinese community needs an accomplished leader who is as conversant with the nuances of British social mores and politics as he or she is with the stereotypical perception of the Chinese people in Britain by the white Anglo-Saxon British public. He or she must be spiritually and emotionally attuned to both cohorts of people. Importantly, he or she will also know the Chinese people more intimately than any non-Chinese with the noblest intentions could ever hope. 

Why has the Chinese been apparently in the backstage of politics or non-participating audience? Maybe it is because of their reserved nature in perceived host-guest environments. Or maybe it is because they are too busy with their lives earning a living or making advances in their spheres of work and in the social structure. And what of community leaders stepping into centre stage? It is not so much a dearth of appropriately qualified and capable people as the sheer dispersion of a small Chinese population that does not have much opportunity for grouping and organisation that can galvanises social and political mobilisation. Above all, in a role reversal of the Dinsmore and Field case alluded to above, would the English, Scots, Welsh and Irish be ready to acknowledge that a Chinese with the right attributes for a parliamentary role is fit to represent them in the House of Commons? A queue is forming at all Parties but the supporting audience is lamentably sparse.

My belief is that the Chinese community in Britain has a fair way to travel on the road to political maturity and societal respectability that exceeds the tokenism accorded to them as a group rather than as individuals. There are tests to pass and ways of gaining momentum to achieve that critical purchase on the political ladder which has so far eluded many aspirants. Britain as a nation is uniquely conservative, and it is probably this fundamental quality that needs to be addressed before Chinese Britons can make substantial progress as true equals with their peers in the political life of this country.

Comments

[Tony Makara]

I've always believed that the Chinese community in Britain, rather like the white community is overlooked by government. Almost as if they don't exist. We rarely hear about Chinese communities, probably because they are, without doubt, the best behaved ethnic group in Britain. The Chinese certainly are under represented in all areas of life in our country and it is time to give the Chinese community the same equal-time that other communites enjoy. I, for one, like the Chinese and have a great respect for their lifestyle. Wo si kao chongguo ren shi hao ti tuan zhi yinggelan!

[Patrick Ratnaraja]

Not just the Chinese community in politics. I have been trying very hard to get the Tamil community into politics. Majority of the Tamils vote for Labour and I am trying to change that. There are about 10 Labour Tamil councillors and not a single Conservative Tamil Councillor.

There are a number of Tamils who also vote for the Conservatives. Infact they all voted for the John Majaor Government.

I feel that the Conservatives don't want the Tamils. The moment I say that I am a Tamil, the Conservative MPs who would normally reply to may emails stop replying. Lee Scott MP and Andrew Pelling(Independent Tory) MP have been very helpful to the Tamil community.

Recently I have been trying to arrange meetings with Conservative members of Parliament for the Tamil comminity. Some who have more than 5000 Tamils in their Constituency are not interested.

Given that there are more than 2500 Tamil Doctors working for the NHS (Numbers given to me by a Conservative MP) it is time to think that the Tamils are professionals and not Terrorists.

Tooting Constituency has more than 10,000 Tamils and Sadiq Khan would even wake up in the middle of the night to talk to the Tamils. The Conservative Candidate is not interested(Sorry Mark you are a good friend but don't listen).

As Tony I also have great respect for the Chinese community in Britain. I hope they can all join the Conservative party.

[Gege]

Tony Makara,

Some of your comments point to the possibility that you are mentally unhinged.

What on earth is the best behaved ethnic group?

Are you a representative of your ethnic group or are you an individual?

[Tony Makara]

Gege, my point is that the Chinese community give us far less trouble than other communities. This is a fact as I'm sure any breakdown of crime figures will bear out. How often do we hear of Chinese people in trouble with the law? Almost never. However criminality among certain other ethnic groups is high. Are you saying that communities don't exist or that there is no such thing as correlation?

[Gege]

Tony,

If i get into trouble, i do so on my own and not as a representative of my race. The same goes for 'minorities'.

The factors that cause crime are poverty, drug use, alcoholism etc. These are not unique to any race.

Racists have tried to divide humanity along color lines. You do not fight them by using their own tools. You should be intelligent enough to realsie that every culture has bad eggs and the good people of all races should unite to tackle these problems instead of pitching one group against the other.

There is no need to patronise a chinese man by telling him 'his community does not cause trouble'. Does he have any control over their actions?

[Tony Makara]

Gege, black community leaders are very concerned about the amount of criminality in their communities. Asian community leaders fear their young being drawn into the drug-trafficking culture. Criminality is high among white communities, although unfortunately we do not have the community leaders like black and Asian groups. These communities do exist and in certain communities there is a culture of crime, black gang crime being interwoven into community life. My argument is that criminality occurs more within certain communities, this you cannot deny, and that the Chinese community appears to be free of such criminal culture. Perhaps we should look to the Chinese to find out what they are doing right and what other communities are doing wrong?

[torydeb]

I'm glad I'm not the only person who thinks Tony Makara is unhinged! As soon as I see a comment is written by him, I just skip over.

[Biodun]

Teck,
Be grateful for what you have.
When you're in a successful position, people don't believe you got it by quotas or positive discrimination and you don't have self-appointed "community leaders" like Lee Jasper embarassing you in front of the nation and making a mockery of every good thing you've ever stood for.

I would trade the relative anonymity that the Chinese have for the non-stop interference from a government that says it wants to help but only makes things worse.

Remember, there is no such thing as a community leader. We have elected members of parliament and that's it. Anyone calling him or herself a community leader is nothing but a self-publicist!

[Biodun]

Forgot to say Gege that I agree completely with your comments to Tony Makara.

Patronising is an understatement!

[Conservative Homer]

"If i get into trouble, i do so on my own and not as a representative of my race. The same goes for 'minorities'."

Be as that may, the fact is the current dialogue in which politicians speak (wrong as it is, and damn the liberal establishment for allowing or even encouraging it to get this way) is one that is based on racial or cultural lines.

How many times do we hear gushing politicians go on about the alienation and disaffection 'MUSLIM' (or insert group of your choice) youth experience. Very rarely, if ever have i heard the same said of the chinese community, mainly because nothing is ever said in political circles of the Chinese community, period.
Often we hear of politicians go on about the lack of black and muslim MPs in power, and how muslims arent (personally i thought representation is on ideology - i certaintly dont need someone to look like me to think they will be a good leader!) represented enough. Never is the same said of the Chinese in Parliament. As far as im aware the only 'oriental' politician is some woman in northern ireland whose name eludes me. IIRC there are more Chinese people in the UK than blacks, however i can think of various black MPs in parliament - yet still they are considered under represented. Why?

The liberal elite have pet races. Those they percieve to be downtrodden and ignored. As you say, we are all individuals, it shouldnt be that way. Its been plain to me for a while now that most of the left is just as racialist and prejudiced as the forces that they claim to oppose.

Maybe it is because Chinese students tend to overachieve, or unemployment doesnt affect them as much as certain other races(but then so do non-moslem asians, indians particularly, or blacks/asians from parts of africa like Kenya) As you say, we are all individuals.

[Robert Wilson]

The Chinese are a tight knitted community and I believe tend to police themselves, but I would not advise trying to leave a Chinese restaurant without paying your bill.
They are very good business people and entrenpenuers and probably conservative in outlook. I understand what Tony Makara is trying to say. I am sure Dr Khong would make an excellent MP.
It should always be born in mind that the term racist is often thrown at people willy nilly. We are, all of us, more comfortable with the familiar and those in our own cultural group and civilisation (as would be the Chinese) and the accusing racist chant is often used by the Left in order to intimidate and falsely win an argument. China has in the past been the leading civilization in the world and is now, as we know, undergoing an economic resurgence. I am sure that the Chinese believe that their civilisation is superior to all others, but don't we all think the same of our own.
Good luck to Dr Khong and his family. Thanks for integrating.

[Tony Makara]

Those who think crime isn't more of a problem in certain communities clearly live sheltered lives. The black community leaders know this to be true, they lose their young ones to stabbings and shootings regularly. As David Cameron has said several times all these things are interrelated and communities need to work together to stamp out the criminality on their estates.

[Span Ows]

Well said Robert Wilson. I agree entirely and would like to add that I too understand where Tony M 'is coming from'; I don't understand those comments directed at him - I assume I'm right in putting this down to regular comment-posters infighting!

The chinese community are too busy getting on with life, working hard, making money, educating their children beyond the unsatisfactory remit of the national curriculum etc to worry too much about who is in power politically.

[snegchui]

I will comment that perhaps the main Brit-Chinese political talent is engaged in furthering business interests in HongKong, there is after all, for the time being, a much better rate of return. Most big Chinese influences in the business world, HSBC, Jardine Matheson to name but two global players, have more of an eye to the east than the west. I did not realise that there are no MPs of Chinese descent in the Houses of Parliament. Mind you, would you join in with a system where the Labour Mayor of London called Tiananmen Square "an interesting riot"?

[Patsy Sergeant]

Well 'snegchui' @ 16.51 many people would agree that the Labour Mayor of London, has a few screws loose - as the saying goes!

I would like to agree with Robert Wilson @ 13.39 and Conservative Homer @ 13.32. And Biodun - you be grateful for what you have got too!!!

When the usual references to 'ethnic minorities' is made, it has often occurred to me that Chinese people are seldom if ever mentioned, and I HAD realised that we do not have a Chinese MP - and it is about time that we do - especially if we are still being rigidly multicultural ugh, which of course we aren't anymore. After all, reading the newspapers over the last six months or more, you'd think that at least 30% of the population was muslim Asian, instead of about 2%.

[Patrick Ratnaraja]

We need good Members of Parliament no matter which community they are from. Just because we have different communities living in Britain it does not mean that we need an MP from each Community.

If there is a Candidate who is British Chinese and He or She is can be a good MP then that is fine. We don't want positive discrimination.

If you start saying it is time we had a Chinese MP, then the others will also start why not a Tamil MP,a Bangladeshi MP or a Gurkha MP and so on.

[Geoff]

In the most positive way imaginable I greet Dr. Khong as a fellow and equal member of Team United Kingdom - someone willing to pledge himself to help us all - not as an "ignored minority" in the way lefties sob over. That is what our Party stands for: social cohesion and unity. Common goals of freedom and opportunity that Labour refuse to accept.

Mr. Ratnaraja is right - our Party should stand for merit and not for tokenism.

One question directly for Dr Khong - where is your political CV now, and if nowhere then why on earth not?

There is a constituency out there waiting for you to knock on the door.

[G.B.Johnston]

Dr.Khong's comments about the way people are treated being dependent upon how they look are depressingly true.I am old so am often treated as senile even before being engaged in conversation.
Dr.Khong's ethnic background,whilst useful, is less important than his experience and convictions .His comments and ideas are testimony to the erudition of the man,so I am prepared to listen to him.
We talk of Asian,Black,Muslim and Chinese communities.This in itself shows a sad lack of integration.Why should people feel the need to be in "communities"that depend upon similar colour,religion or ethnic background in a so-called integrated society? This smacks of a ghetto mentality.We are a very long way from integration and will remain so as long as people feel the need to belong to ethnic groups within our Society,however understandable that natural reaction is at this time in the development of our nation.
The fact that Dr. Khong is able to converse directly with people of Chinese, Malaysian and British backgrounds is an obvious advantage in anyone who hopes to stand for Parliament,as is his inside knowledge of the N.H.S.,one of the biggest spenders of the tax payers' money.Given the chance,I would certainly support Dr. Khong in his political aspirations and wish him every success.

[Patrick Ratnaraja]

Integration should be both ways. Just asking people from other communities to integrate and not accepting them is not good enough.

people feel the need to belong to ethnic groups within our Society, only because they are not accepted within our society.I have been a Conservative member for some time now and I can give a number of examples.

It is not because People are racists, it is just because of ignorance of other communities and other Religions.

When I say to someone that I don't drink alcohol, the first reaction is "Is it against your Religion? Are you a Muslim?"

It is time that all communities ar accepted as British so that there will be no Ghetto mentality.

The so called all inclusive Conservative party in Croydon has 43 Councillors. Thirty percent of the population of Croydon is from BEM communities and the conservatives have 2 Councillors from the BEM community.

[Mash, Tory]

Tony Makara: “I've always believed that the Chinese community in Britain, rather like the white community is overlooked by government.”

Tony, not sure whether this is a problem faced by Chinese and white communities, but perhaps it could be argued that all communities feel the government overlook their day to day concerns.

Broadly speaking, there is widespread support for Britain’s democratic process, but there is scepticism about the way the British political system operates and is organised. This is generally within BME communities. More needs to be done in order to encourage young people and people of all ages from all communities to participate in politics.

You insist that, ‘Chinese communities, probably because they are, without doubt, the best behaved ethnic group in Britain.’

That is not really true. I think all communities are generally well behaved, but there are, of course, some communities that have achieved in terms of progress and achievement since establishing themselves in Britain. There are certainly role model communities.

Patrick Ratnaraja:
“Not just the Chinese community in politics. I have been trying very hard to get the Tamil community into politics. Majority of the Tamils vote for Labour and I am trying to change that. There are about 10 Labour Tamil councillors and not a single Conservative Tamil Councillor.”

Good luck, I think it is important that we encourage people from all communities, particularly some of the most disenfranchised communities to play a role in politics. More importantly, I am eager to see us tackle extremism and Islamic groups in Britain aiming to establish sharia law, above the law of this country.

Tony Makara:
“black community leaders are very concerned about the amount of criminality in their communities. Asian community leaders fear their young being drawn into the drug-trafficking culture. Criminality is high among white communities, although unfortunately we do not have the community leaders like black and Asian groups. These communities do exist and in certain communities there is a culture of crime, black gang crime being interwoven into community life. My argument is that criminality occurs more within certain communities, this you cannot deny, and that the Chinese community appears to be free of such criminal culture. Perhaps we should look to the Chinese to find out what they are doing right and what other communities are doing wrong?”

Tony, this culture of criminality is not confined to any specific ethnic or religious community, and certainly not the Chinese community. In fact, the use of drugs and gang related criminality exist within Britain’s Chinese community, similarly this is a problem within other communities too. Here are a few examples of criminality within Britain’s Chinese community.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020603/ai_n12625800

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7039952.stm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/01/ukcrime.uknews4

[Cllr John Ward, Medway]

Very interesting article. When I worked in London I use to enjoy popping up to Chinatown from time to time. It was (and no doubt still is) a great place with its own atmosphere and certainly busy in all senses!

Having met Dr Knong and knowing something about him, I agree that he genuinely would make a very good MP -- there is no question of it in my mind.

[Teck Khong]

May I thank everyone for their insightful comments? There is indeed a great deal of factual information. For my part, I was prompted to write the article in a spirit not dissimilar to the way I was motivated to enter the political arena in mid-life rather than as a mere youth.

Impressed by the renown of British medicine, I pleaded with my parents to send me to Britain for my medical education. Thirty years later, I look back with pride but to the future with trepidation. Where we should have continued to make progress in world-class medicine, we blight the future of our promising young doctors and nurses with declining leadership and pervasive mediocrity.

An even harsher irony is the sheer scale of escalating waste and flawed policies that make a mockery of the founding principles of the NHS. Under the beguiling mantra of patient empowerment, the government now offers a confused set of values that propagate health inequalities, not narrow them. There is no coherent or cohesive health policy, and the government has squandered its stewardship and lost any respect through lack of accountability.

Medicine offers a humbling kaleidoscopic view of society and an unrivalled insight into the fears, anxieties and hopes of fellow human beings. Working over the years in various parts of the country, caring and treating the whole spectrum of society, even at the interface of medicine and the judicial system, has given me a breadth of experience that I believe could be applied to benefit the society that has now become my home.

That is the first point I wanted the article to convey. As I meander through life’s journey, I have not felt the need to prefix any achievement, success or failure with being Chinese, but it is an inescapable labelling that has intruded from time to time. Just as dedication and industriousness is widespread amongst the Chinese, they do not have a monopoly of these characteristics. It would similarly be wrong to emphasise a perception that there is a low rate of criminal offences amongst the Chinese. Criminality is an undesirable human trait that has various underlying reasons for its manifestation and it is important that as responsible members of a civilised society, we must encourage good citizenry through education, a fair but robust legal system and a sustainable economic environment.

That leads to the other point, which concerns the societal entity of a racially based community. Communities exist not only because of distinguishing features but because there is a continuum of integration with mainstream society, and I believe those who are “integrated” can make a valuable contribution by encouraging and supporting those who are less “integrated”. Leadership in such civic circumstances is an accolade won through consensus by virtue of deserving qualities and not by self-proclamation.

With regard to my political curriculum vitae, it should be clear that it contains the mundane and politically orientated activities; as I write this, I am seeking the support of the public and colleagues for a set of counter-measures to this government’s folly of pursuing destructive policies that neither serve the patients nor promote the scientific capabilities of the medical profession. I am also involved in a project to assist with return to work for those languishing in unemployment.

Hopefully, finding a political platform should not depend on my ethnic background but on the value of what can be given back to the society that has made me who I am.

[Mash,Tory]

Dr Khong,

Thank you for your comprehensive response to colleagues at Conservative Home Platform section, it is certainly insightful to hear your assessment about various issues.

I perhaps differ with your own assessment of patient empowerment, particularly when Foundation Status Trust, including the localised NHS in my community, has provided room for accountability, particularly with local people playing a greater role in their local heath services. There is a need for greater autonomy in patient involvement ensuring the Trust can decide their priorities based upon the needs on grassroots level. This inevitably releases local trust from central government control and additionally Strategically Health Authority control. One important feature to recognise is, the significant role users of services are playing in prioritising the strategically health needs of the wider community.

You excellently assert your viewpoint in reference to criminality. I recognise, as you do so, that criminality cannot be challenged by the police alone, but it requires a multi-faceted approach. There needs to be a clearer national strategy that seeks to provide partnership work, including opportunities of training and work. There are many underlying reasons for the manifestation of criminality, particularly amongst the youth population in inner city areas. This could include low income, unemployment and a wide range of other factors that contribute to people falling into a lifestyle that ought to be discouraged.

In regards to citizenship, my question would be what constitutes British national identity and what it actually means to be British? This has been and continues to be a matter of significant discussion in British society, particularly within Muslim communities. Personally and speaking very frankly, national identity, and I probably agree with some authors that, it is such a complex topic and that there are not set of easily identifiable features that makes us all British. What would you response to a matter of such complexity. What are the underlying causes preventing many parts of our British society from integrating into mainstream society?

I think the best way to develop integration is for the wider British society to make new communities, markedly new immigrant communities to feel at home in Britain. This entails showing a sense of understanding and tolerance of differences; appreciating the positive contribution these communities make to our society and generally the different values and ideas they bring with them. The progress of integration in the UK therefore, in my opinion, can largely develop organically. We have not in the UK gone down the path of pronouncing our allegiance or our values in a written document. I prefer the flexibility that gives us an opportunity to adapt in an ever changing world. Citizenship and integration are not simply matters that can be expressed legalistically. There is an emotional component that is very real and very strong. Citizenship is about belonging, about feeling British or German, over and above what ones passport issuing country is.

[Teck Khong]

Thank you, Tory Mash, for your comments.

I have my reservations on the true level of patient autonomy when it is under the aegis of the health authority. In my own practice, I strive to uphold advocacy of my patients’ interests before my own even though in this era of targets, such adherence to professional principles sometimes costs me dearly.

There are undoubtedly variations in how Acute Hospital Trusts meet their performance-based targets and the PCT interpretation of their remit. Both are influenced by their financial positions, quality of GP performance, organisation of outpatient clinics, theatre capacities, patient needs and usage of services. One notable example within the East Midlands SHA is how Leicester lags behind its counterparts in Northamptonshire with practice-based commissioning.

However, all Labour health policies will be eclipsed by the Darzi Review. I believe it is the first significant step in the modernisation of the NHS since its inception but it will be interesting to see how the government oversees its implementation, as there are potential pitfalls in how it manages the decoupling of commissioning from provision, the latter twinned with simultaneous involvement of the private sector.

In fact, this very opportunity of 'follow-on' development after the Thatcher government introduced fund-holding was lost on the Major government, and repeatedly missed under subsequent Tory leadership. I highlighted a two-pronged proposal which our Party could have adopted as its 'next stage' plan and the basis of a distinctive, coherent and compelling Conservative health policy that would outshine any 'piecemeal change' offering that sadly continues to betray our lack of vision.

On the issue of integration of non-indigenous groups whether viewed from racial or religious perspectives, I believe that regardless of the beneficence of Judeo-Christian principles there are underlying primordial sensitivities that neither legislative sanitisation nor moral invocation can wholly assuage anxieties of a host society. It cannot be denied that mass human movement in modern times facilitated by strife is challenging previous concepts of insulation from friction.

Either unequivocal direction for improved integration takes place or inter-community peace breaks down and threatens with introduction of harsher processes of regulation. Promoting stability in other parts of the world is probably the equal to any domestic effort to check any destabilising tendency of unsustainable immigration. Western governments will no doubt have to balance carefully their mix of foreign policies and economic planning.

I could not agree with you more that a sense of belonging is very important, and the corollary to that must be the reassurance of acceptance! I apologise if I seem to differ from the Conservative line here, but my sincere view of citizenship is based on ‘patriotic’ collectivist approach to nationhood and uniquely in the case of our country requires allegiance to the state and loyalty to the Crown both of which at times may have to be acknowledged as sovereign over private beliefs, whether those are political or theological. I agree that it is preferable to have a flexible ‘organic’ approach, but that is based on a politically mature Western democratic ideology – one that you are I assume born into and one that had been inculcated by virtue of my birth in a British colony – but not necessarily one that is familiar to many new entrants. The ‘organic’ expectation would take several generations to bear fruit while existing home-grown, mainstream culture must not feel threatened or neglected for reasons alluded to.

For me, it was an enriching experience to have grown up in a multi-racial country. It is a privilege to have friends of all religious and racial backgrounds and an honour to be able to serve them.

[Teck Khong]

My sincere apologies to Andrew Dismore MP for the typographical error of his surname in the article - Teck Khong