The Arthur Tjandra Foundation was established by Dr Arthur Tjandra in 2018, with the main purpose of preserving Chinese cultural identity and Confucian values among oversea-born ethnic Chinese people of all nationalities, because of the persecution, discrimination and brain-washing Dr Arthur Tjandra personally experienced, while growing up as an ethnic Chinese person, and the widespread anti-Chinese discriminatory practices and policies he observed and experienced, around the world, especially in Western countries.
The Arthur Tjandra Foundation offers bursaries to needy students to study Chinese literature at a top-tier university in the People’s Republic of China, such as Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Fudan University. Priorities are given to non-Chinese citizens, born outside China, with Chinese ancestry.
This is Dr Arthur Tjandra’s story.
Following Chinese tradition, as the first/eldest grandson from the eldest son and heir of the 曾 family, Dr Arthur Tjandra was named by his paternal grandmother at birth. His birth name was 曾华浚. But, due to discriminatory laws in Indonesia which marginalized Chinese Indonesians from 1965 to 2002, Dr Arthur Tjandra had his name changed from 曾华浚 to Arthur Tjandra. For almost 4 decades, the use of Chinese names, Chinese surnames and Chinese language were banned in Indonesia. So was the distribution and importation of printed and recorded materials in Chinese, which included, but not limited to books, newspapers and audio cassettes, as well as public display of Chinese culture, such as the celebration of Chinese New Year and Chinese New Year ornaments. It was not uncommon for ethnic Chinese Indonesians to get beaten up for speaking Chinese in public during Dr Arthur Tjandra’s younger days. This is not different from the condition in Hong Kong today, where one may get beaten up for speaking Mandarin/Putonghua in public. Even today, one still gets frowned on if one speaks Chinese loudly in public, in Indonesia. At least we no longer get beaten up for speaking Mandarin now, like what still happens in Hong Kong today!
It is abominable to see United States’ hypocrisy today, pretending to stand up for Uyghurs in Xinjiang, by alleging China of implementing forced assimilation policy, without being able to present any concrete evidence. The only evidence that these 192 Western human-rights groups have, is that China implements compulsory Mandarin language learning in schools. They call this genocide! How could one live and get a job in China without knowing how to communicate in Mandarin? With hundreds of tribes and dialects in China, Mandarin is the unifying language, which is why it is also called Putonghua (普通話), or the “Common Language”. Why do Western countries insist that Uyghurs, Tibetans and Mongolians in Inner Mongolia should not be made to learn Mandarin? What is their real agenda for not wanting Uyghurs, Tibetans and Mongolians to learn Mandarin, when they live in a country whose national and official language is Mandarin? To close the door to opportunities? To push them into poverty? So that the West could incite riots and chaos?
READ: Zimbabwean students chase their dreams by learning Chinese; Doorway to opportunity
READ: US is so bent on resisting China’s rise, it has ignored its own decline
If implementing a policy of compulsory Mandarin language learning in schools in a country whose national language is Mandarin, is considered forced assimilation and genocide, what do you call the many Southeast Asian countries which also adopt the same policy, of not only making learning English compulsory, but also making English the language of instruction in schools? Those countries’ national languages are not English! So, can this be considered genocide, too?
Singapore is one such country, where learning English in schools is made compulsory. English is not only used as the language of instruction in schools, but also the official language in the government. Meanwhile, the national language of Singapore, according to its Constitution, is Malay. The indigenous ethnic group of Singapore is Malay. So, why does US not accuse Singapore of implementing forced assimilation and genocide by making the Malays learn English? The policy Singapore adopts, does not differ from that of China’s. But, why the double standard? Because Singapore is United States’ ally?
What about Hong Kong? The indigenous ethnic group in Hong Kong is Chinese. Their mother tongue is Cantonese. But, they are forced to learn English, the language of instruction in schools is English, and the official language of the government is English. So, why was the British government not accused of the same crime? Why only China?
What about Taiwan? The native indigenous inhabitants of Taiwan are not Han Chinese. They are the aborigines. They did not speak Mandarin. Han Chinese who lost the civil war in mainland China fled to Taiwan, then made Mandarin the official language of Taiwan. How is this different from Xinjiang, when China makes the Uyghurs learn Mandarin?
What about Australia? The indigenous people of Australia did not speak English! But, a bunch of White British prisoners went to Australia, took control of the government, then forced everyone to speak English! Why did anyone not call this genocide?
What about Canada’s horrific forced assimilation policies which resulted in the massacres of countless of indigenous Canadian Indian children? In the late 1800s, the Canadian government promoted church-operated residential schools as a tool for assimilating indigenous children into European-Canadian culture. More than 150,000 children attended the schools over more than a century, many of them separated from their families by force or coercion. The last of the schools closed in the 1990s.
READ: Suspected Graves at Canada’s Indigenous Schools Prompt Search for Answers
READ: How thousands of indigenous children vanished in Canada
READ: New search begins for residential school graves in Canada
READ: Canadian Indian residential school gravesites
Last but not least, why is English being adopted as the national and official language of the United States of America, when English is not even the mother tongue of native Americans? A bunch of White Europeans went to America, and forced the natives to abandon their own culture and mother tongue, but they called out China for forced assimilation! Is this not hypocrisy? Shouldn’t the European immigrants learn the language of native Americans, instead of forcing native Americans to speak their language? On one hand US and its cronies are making so much noise, when China implements compulsory Mandarin language education in schools, as the unifying language, in its own territories. On the other hand, the White European newcomers killed the language of native American Indians, and forced them to adopt English as their new mother tongue! They did not just kill the language. They even slaughtered native Americans!
READ: The American Genocide of the Indians—Historical Facts and Real Evidence
READ: “Cultural Genocide” and Native American children
READ: When Native Americans were slaughtered in the name of “civilization”
READ: Native Americans are still experiencing cultural genocide today – The BBC
Professor Ben Saul of the University of Sydney was spot-on and is probably the ONLY honest Westerner (read: White) so far, when he singled out the West for its hypocrisy:
Harvard University’s Professor Graham Allison, said something along this line. “American calls for adherence to an “international rules-based order” are essentially a U.S. ploy. Those calls merely represent a cosmetic effort to create a “U.S.-led international order in which the U.S. makes the rules and others obey its orders.”
Where were the United States and its cronies; where were the 192 Western human-rights groups, which condemn China today, when Indonesia implemented cultural genocide against Chinese Indonesians for close to 4 decades? Which countries were the masterminds behind anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia which saw 2 million Chinese Indonesians being massacred in 1965, which resulted in Soekarno being overthrown and Soeharto seizing power? Watch the following 2 documentary videos below to find out!
(Update on 14 June 2022: Unfortunately, the 2 documentary videos about anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia in 1965, have been removed by TikTok. But, we are still keeping the link, to show you how biased TikTok is! It is probably being pressured by certain governments to remove the videos, because it explicitly pointed out US’s and UK’s involvement. Freedom of speech? Dream on! The funniest thing is they hate Dr Arthur Tjandra so much, that they even pressured TikTok to remove his Shaolin Kungfu instructional video on the pretext of nudity! Dr Arthur Tjandra is probably one of the most hated Chinese in the world, as evidenced by the termination of his YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok accounts, because he dares to stand up to and criticize the West to defend his Chinese heritage and is proud to be Chinese! He is so unlike the Hong Kongers and Taiwanese, who have been completely brainwashed by the West to hate their own roots and heritage!)
Where were these human-rights groups when the puppet government which US and UK installed in Indonesia, implemented anti-Chinese policies for close to 4 decades? Chinese language, names and even public celebration of Chinese New Year were banned in Indonesia during these 4 decades! Three generations of Chinese Indonesians had their cultural identities erased. The anti-Chinese policies which Indonesian government implemented affects not only 3 generations of Chinese Indonesians, but all subsequent generations, the way native Indian Americans had their cultural identities erased. Where were the self-righteous American human-rights fighters during those 40 years of real, not made-up cultural genocide (like what they allege China of committing) in Indonesia? Not even one nation in the world dared to make a noise about what happened in Indonesia, because they were all so scared of their master, the king of the jungle, who installed and backed its puppet government in Indonesia!
READ: Mainland Chinese are being attacked in Hong Kong for speaking Mandarin
READ: In Indonesia, 1998 violence against ethnic Chinese remains unaddressed
READ: “If I don’t speak up, nothing will change!” – Chinese-Indonesians during the 1965 Indonesian genocide
READ: Disciplining Chinese-Indonesians, Normalizing Discrimination
READ: Chinese-Indonesians feel like outsiders amid persisting racist sentiment
Having said that, so effective was the Indonesian government with its anti-Chinese campaign and in driving a wedge between indigenous Indonesians and Chinese Indonesians, that up to now, indigenous Indonesians still use the derogatory Japanese word, Chee-na, to insult Chinese Indonesians and all Chinese people in general. It is spelled as Cina in Indonesian, but pronounced as Cheena. This offensive term, which carries the same racial slur as Chink in English, is in fact, still widely used today by even public officials in Indonesia in their speeches or interviews, by reporters on TV, and in printed publications, such as national newspapers and magazines. Can you imagine what would happen if the president of the United States used the word Nigger to refer to African Americans? Or calling Chinese Americans in Chinatown, Chink? What would happen if Washington Post or Wall Street Journal printed the word Nigger or Chink in their publications?
The appropriate non-racist Indonesian word for Chinese is Tionghoa, while the country, China, should be referred to as Tiongkok, in Indonesian. Unfortunately, Chinese Indonesians have to get used to and live with this insult, of being called Cina (pronounced Cheena) by native indigenous Indonesians. The word Cina, continues to be used to insult Chinese by native indigenous Indonesians until today, although President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a presidential decree back in 2014, to instruct Indonesians to use the proper non-racist terms Tionghoa and Tiongkok, instead of the derogatory term Cina, to refer to Chinese and China.
READ: Sebut ‘Cina’ atau ‘Tionghoa’?
READ: ‘Cina’ to ‘Tionghoa’ why do Indonesians use English to talk about the Chinese?
READ: Cina or Tionghoa? Do you know that Cina is a derogatory term to belittle the Chinese?
So effective was the cultural genocide in Indonesia, conducted over a period of close to 4 decades, that the majority of Chinese Indonesians no longer consider themselves Chinese today. Together with indigenous Indonesians, they even use the racial slur Cheena, to insult other Chinese people. This is similar to what happens in Hong Kong today, as Hong Kongers refer to mainland Chinese people as the Cheena dogs. This is because most Hong Kongers do not identify themselves as Chinese anymore, after a century of cultural genocide by the British colonial government. This is why Dr Arthur Tjandra has never dated any Chinese Indonesian girl/woman in his entire life. He is repulsed by people who not only deny but also insult their own ancestral roots, as well as incapable of speaking their own ancestral mother tongue! Even as he was a teenager growing up in Indonesia, Dr Arthur Tjandra already had very strong sense of identity and respected his Chinese root, because of his familial Confucian upbringing. If other tribes and ethnic groups in Indonesia were allowed to speak their own ancestral mother tongues and embrace their own tribal/ethnic cultures, what rights did the Indonesian government have, to erase the Chinese identity from Chinese Indonesians by banning their mother tongue and culture? Why did they not also erase the Javanese identity of Javanese Indonesian? Or Dayak Indonesian? Or Batak Indonesian? Or Balinese Indonesian? There are 1,340 ethnic and tribal groups in Indonesia, but why did the Indonesian government specifically single out Chinese? Who was/were the genius/geniuses who said that Chinese Indonesians were immigrants, while the rest of Indonesian populations other than the Chinese were the true natives of Indonesia? These “true native indigenous Indonesians” had, in fact, migrated from Africa and China into Indonesia! Therefore, everyone who lives in Indonesia today, is the descendants of immigrants! Cross marriages between those earlier African settlers and the later Mongoloid settlers, resulted in offspring who are brown in color, who are then believed to be indigenous Indonesians. Hence, no one is the true indigenous Indonesian! Everyone is a descendant of immigrants!
READ: Tracing the origin of Indonesian people through genetics: All Indonesians are Migrants
READ: Scientists unravel genetic ancestry of Indonesian people. Recent study suggests that no one is truly ‘native’
READ: Why is “Cheena” offensive to Chinese?
READ: The C-Word, the Japanese curse word to curse Chinese
READ: Cina, Chink, China and Tionghoa
READ: Cheena, a racial slur only our enemies will appreciate
READ: 支那 in Wiktionary
READ: Shina in Wikipedia
READ: Indonesian Mass Killings of 1965-66
READ: Exploring Chinese Indonesian identity post 1998 genocide
READ: May 1998 Jakarta Riots Against Chinese
READ: 20 Years Later, Victims of Indonesia’s May 1998 Anti-Chinese Riots Are Still Waiting for Justice
READ: Remembering the Anti-Chinese Riots in Indonesia
READ: Chinese Indonesian Women Break the Silence of Mass Rapes in May 1998
READ: The Discrimination of ethnic Chinese in Indonesia
READ: Indonesia’s Ethnic Resentment
READ: Cashier at Indonesian restaurant resigns after addressing Chinese customer as CINA
Because of the Chinese language ban, Chinese Indonesians have funny surnames and do not know how to speak Chinese. As a matter of fact, the hallmark of Chinese Indonesians is Chinese-looking people with funny surnames or no surnames, who cannot speak Chinese. Some Chinese Indonesians even went as far as adopting a native tribal Indonesian surname, such as Martua Sitorus, one of the richest men in Indonesia and co-founder of Wilmar International, who adopted the tribal Batak surname of Sitorus. As the law banned the use of Chinese surnames, most Chinese Indonesians combined 2 English first names to form their names, or just used 1 first name, without any surname at all, for example Michelle Grace, or Olivia Francisca, or simply Francisca. More than 90% Chinese Indonesians today have no idea what their Chinese surnames are.
More conservative and defiant Chinese Indonesian families, usually with more established roots and strong Chinese background, continue to pass down their funny Indonesianized surnames, such as Tjandra, Chandra, Wijaya, etc, to their offspring. They are also more likely to know the Chinese language.
Dr Arthur Tjandra‘s parents believed it was a blatant disrespect to one’s ancestors to abandon one’s surname altogether, even though it was mandated by law. The first rule in life is: “One should never forget and deny one’s own roots”! Filial piety and honoring one’s ancestors is central to Confucian teachings. If one cannot even respect and honor one’s own roots, one deserves no respect from anyone else! So, instead of omitting his surname altogether as mandated by law, or adopt a native tribal Indonesian surname like what many Chinese Indonesians did, Dr Arthur Tjandra’s father changed Dr Arthur’s surname from 曾 to Tjandra, to make it sound more Indonesian. Tjandra is commonly chosen as the Indonesianized surname of Chinese Indonesians with surnames: 陈, 曾, 谢 and 詹. The usage of Indonesianized Chinese surnames beats the purpose of eradicating the Chinese identities of Chinese Indonesians. Because when you see someone with the surname Tjandra, you immediately know that he is a Chinese Indonesian!
READ: Chinese Indonesian surnames
READ: What’s in a Name? Chinese Indonesians Have Many Stories
READ: On Being Chinese Indonesians
The late Indonesian president, Abdurrachman Wahid, later repealed all those discriminative laws when he was elected the 4th president of Indonesia. Chinese Indonesians are most grateful to him, as after 4 decades of blatant discrimination, they are once again allowed to use their real Chinese names and surnames, celebrate Chinese New Year, and learn the Chinese language!
READ: Is Chinese language alive or dying in Indonesia?
Despite being born into a privileged background, Dr Arthur Tjandra was brought up in modest and humble way by his parents. Dr Arthur Tjandra is the grandson of the late Mr Tjan Kim Kai, who founded the very first paint manufacturing plant in North Sumatra in Indonesia, PT SICO, and the great grandson of the late Mr Thio Siong Soe, a well-known philanthropist, who owned coconut plantations, coconut oil mills and rubber plantations across Indonesia and Malaysia. One of the rubber plantations, Rubber Hock Lie, which is a joint venture between the late Mr Thio Siong Soe and the late Mr Lee Kong Chian, still exists today. The Thio family in Medan and the Lee family in Singapore were later bonded by marriage, 6 decades after the set-up of the business joint venture, when Mr Thio Siong Soe’s granddaughter wedded Mr Tan Kah Kee‘s (陈嘉庚) grandson/Mr Lee Kong Chian‘s (李光前) son.
READ: Eight Prominent Chinese during the Rise of a Colonial City, Medan 1890-1942 (Utrecht University Repository, Netherlands)
READ: The Chinese Commercial Elite of Medan 1890-1942: The Penang Connection
In the late 1970s, Dr Arthur Tjandra’s father, the late Mr Tjan Sek Him, who was the eldest son and heir of the late Mr Tjan Kim Kai, bought out all shares from his father’s business partners, a group of investors from Penang. By doing so, he turned the paint factory Dr Arthur Tjandra’s grandfather founded, into a family-owned business. This was done in order to save the legacy Dr Arthur Tjandra’s grandfather had built. After the passing of Dr Arthur Tjandra’s grandfather, the investors from Penang had planned to divest the company. By buying out their shares, the late Mr Tjan Sek Him helped save some 1,000 local jobs from the paint manufacturing plant, and many more thousands of mouths whom those workers had to feed.
Dr Arthur Tjandra’s father taught him that one should work hard to achieve one’s goals and dreams, and not rely on one’s family’s fortune and inheritance. His mother, Mdm Thio Kim Swan, granddaughter of the late Mr Thio Siong Soe, was Chief Financial Officer at his grandfather’s group of coconut plantations and coconut oil mills, prior to getting married. She eventually chose to be a full-time stay-at-home mother instead of pursuing a high-flying career as a corporate CFO, so that she could be a hands-on mother and instill Confucian values to her children.
Confucian values are values which define ethnic Chinese people, regardless of their nationalities. Unfortunately, today’s younger generations of Chinese, especially overseas Chinese, who are mostly raised by maids, or brainwashed by White teachers and Western education, have lost it completely! This is why Dr Arthur Tjandra made the choice to remain single. None of the women he had met, wanted to be a homemaker, nor were they aware of and embrace Confucian values in their lives! All the women he has met so far, have been completely brainwashed by Western education!
READ: U.S. Senate backs bill to clamp down on China-funded Confucius Institutes
READ: Are Confucius Institutes in the US Really Necessary?
READ: Europe closes Confucius Institutes
READ: Australia Shuts Down Chinese Learning Institutions Due to Propaganda Suspicion
READ: Australia Ends Chinese Language Program
READ: Confucius Institutes ‘on way out’ from Australian unis
READ: Japan is shutting down China’s Confucius institutes
READ: Japan, South Korea join growing backlash against China’s Confucius Institutes
READ: In Indonesia, Confucius Institutes Struggle to Dislodge Anti-Chinese Sentiment
Western feminist movement is the reason why we see such high prevalence of broken home families in Western countries, as compared to countries which embrace Confucian values, like China. One parent should be a breadwinner, and the other parent should be a homemaker. When both parents want to be equal, when both parents want to be kings, those families will ultimately fall apart. This is why divorce has become the norm today. Feminist movement is one of the most important contributors of high divorce rates today.
There is a saying in Chinese: “一山不能藏二虎”, which means “two tigers cannot share the same mountain”. When both parents choose to be breadwinners, the responsibility of raising a child is often delegated to a maid. The child will then grow up taking on the maid’s values! Therefore, rather than having a “banana” child, yellow on the skin, but white inside, Dr Arthur Tjandra decides not to have any offspring at all. Not only is he sick of the fact that most overseas Chinese no longer embrace Confucian values, but he is most appalled by Chinese who deny their own roots, like those in Hong Kong and Taiwan!
According to polls conducted in 2019 and 2020, only 2% of Han Chinese in Taiwan and less than 10% of those in Hong Kong consider themselves Chinese. These people are a huge disgrace and embarrassment to their ancestors! Most of those in Hong Kong, especially the younger generations, have even been brainwashed to believe that they are British subjects whose territory has been colonized by China! They even shamelessly beg their former colonial master to recolonize them! Hong Kong law makers, who are Chinese themselves, even went to the extent of using the derogatory, racist Japanese word, Cheena, which carries the same racial slur as Chink, to insult Chinese. Why? Because the British educational system has been so effective in brainwashing Hong Kongers, that they no longer identify themselves as Chinese!
Inside Hong Kong university campuses, mainland Chinese students are often referred to as “Cheena dogs” and “yellow thugs” by local students. Hong Kong students have the same yellow skin and small, slanted eyes, but yet they insult people who look exactly the same way they look! They use Japanese word with racial slur to insult people of the same ethnicity. Why? Because they have been brainwashed in schools to think that they are White and they are British!
Students at the University of Hong Kong even went as far as putting up celebration posters to glorify the Japanese invasion of China prior to World War II on the anniversary of the event. Apparently Japanese soldiers’ atrocities against Hong Kong people during the war had been wiped clean from British history books used in Hong Kong schools! If you asked any young Japanese, Taiwanese or Hong Kong students today, what Nanjing Massacre or Rape of Nanjing is, none of them would know! This is because history books in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong have been sterilized and censored. Taiwan was a colony of Japan for 50 years, from 1895 to 1945, hence, naturally, Japan has white-washed all history books in Taiwan. This is why Japan strongly opposes the reunification of Taiwan with her motherland, because it is hoping to re-colonize Taiwan again, some days.
Likewise, so successful is British anti-Chinese campaign and brainwashing, that Hong Kong students end up believing that they are White British, that they are not Chinese, that Chinese are their enemies, and hence, end up celebrating the invasion of Japan into China, which killed their forefathers and ancestors! Would any American in the right state of mind celebrate the attack of Pearl Harbor by Japanese Air Force? And here we are, watching the top of the crops of Hong Kong, the best brains Hong Kong has, who attended one of the best universities in Asia, University of Hong Kong (HKU), celebrating the anniversary of the invasion of China by the Japanese!
READ: Hong Kong Lawmakers Refer to “People’s Refucking of Cheena” at Hong Kong LegCo Oath Taking
When China took back Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, corrupt Chinese and Hong Kong leaders were too busy enriching themselves, that they decided to continue to delegate the upbringing of the future generations of Hong Kong to its former colonial master. No one bothered to look at what was taught in the school curriculum, which was made and passed down by the British. No one bothered to find out what was being taught in schools. School children were brainwashed since kindergarten to hate and despise China and mainland Chinese people. Two decades later, Chinese government was shocked to find out how hateful Hong Kongers are of their motherland! Not only do they not regard China as their motherland, but they even consider China as a hostile invader and colonizer! They have been so thoroughly brainwashed since young, that they hate everything Chinese, including Putonghua/Mandarin language! This is why they beat up Putonghua-speaking people during the 2019 anti-China riots in Hong Kong, including Putonghua-speaking Taiwanese! Should Chinese government be shocked? This is a good lesson for them to learn, for being too complacent! This is what you should expect when you decide to delegate the upbringing and teaching of your children to someone else, instead of being hands-on parent yourself!
READ: Mainland Chinese are being attacked in Hong Kong for speaking Mandarin
READ: Mainlanders in Hong Kong worry as anti-China sentiment swells
READ: Hong Kong’s hatred of mainlanders feeds the xenophobic undercurrents of its protests
READ: Hong Kong is fighting back against a Mandarin language invasion
READ: Mandarin language discrimination in Hong Kong
READ: ‘No Mandarin allowed’: dining in ‘Hongkongers-only’ restaurants
READ: If ignorance is not the reason, why do young Hongkongers hate mainland China?
The stories of Hong Kong and Taiwan are 2 great examples of how your children will grow up to be, if you choose to follow the Western feminist movement, demanding equality, and delegate the upbringing of your children to maids and teachers at schools. The descendants of Hong Kongers will never ever be Chinese anymore, because of the grave mistake Chinese leaders made after taking back Hong Kong from Britain.
Unlike most Hong Kongers who deny their own roots, Bruce Lee, on the other hand, who was originally from Hong Kong, never introduced himself as a Hong Konger or British. When he went to the United States in 1959, he introduced himself as a Chinese, although he had American citizenship because he was born in the United States! He is to be credited for popularizing “Chinese kungfu” when he was in the United States. The term “kungfu” was not found in any English dictionaries back then. It is, now. Jacky Chan, too, originally from Hong Kong, never introduced himself as a Hong Konger. He introduced himself as a Chinese. The fact is Hong Kong is China! Why are Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan so different from the rest of Hong Kong people? It is because of their upbringing!
Gu Ailing is an exemplary model of what overseas Chinese should be like. Gu Ailing is an American-born Chinese who competed for China in Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022. If you raise your child yourself, instead of dumping him to some maids, and you raise him well, he would grow up to be someone who is proud of his cultural heritage and embrace his ancestral roots. He will not grow up to be like some Chinese Indonesians who use the racial slur CINA, to address Chinese people, or like the Hong Kongers who call mainland Chinese, the CHEENA DOGS. He will not deny his own ancestral roots, like how Hong Kongers and Taiwanese deny that they are Chinese. He will grow up to be like Gu Ailing, whom despite being born and raised in the United States, is proud to declare to the world that she is a Chinese!
Most Hong Kongers and Taiwanese are “bananas”, yellow on the skin, but white inside. Unfortunately, there are only 2 types of women in the world today. The highly-educated and intelligent ones who are hardcore supporters of feminist movement, and the uneducated with low intelligence ones who are more than happy to be homemakers. But, because of their low education and intelligence, there is hardly anything they can teach their offspring. Not to mention that intelligence is passed down from mother, not father. As a matter of fact, they are more likely to teach all the wrong rather than the right things. It is also an irony that almost all highly-educated women are educated in the West. Unfortunately, most Western-educated Chinese become “bananas”, because of their Western education. After having been brain-washed by White teachers, they have completely lost their identities. One very good example of how good White teachers are, in brainwashing their students, is how 99% of University of Hong Kong (HKU) students deny that they are Chinese. They even begged Britain to colonize Hong Kong during the 2019 anti-China riots. Only highly-intelligent students can get into HKU, but look at how easily it is to cleanse them of their own identities. If the highly-intelligent ones, the top of the crops, can be so easily brain-washed, what about the less intelligent ones? This is why parental guidance is extremely important! It is important for children to listen to balanced views and opinions at home. It is important for parents to provide counter-balance views to what is being taught by teachers at schools. The upbringing of your children shall never be left in the hands of some random teachers, because you do not even know who these teachers are, and what their motives of becoming teachers are! Many are highly-paid with the task of cultural genocide, erasing their students’ cultural identities and detaching them from their roots, like what has happened in so many countries in South East Asia, which target ethnic Chinese people.
While 99% of Chinese Indonesians today have lost their identities completely, with most denying their ancestral Chinese roots, after 4 decades of cultural ethnic cleansing, Dr Arthur Tjandra manages to preserve his identity as a Chinese, thanks to his mother, and her decision to quit a high-flying job as a corporate CFO and be a homemaker. Unlike most Chinese Indonesians who are too embarrassed to admit they are Chinese, Dr Arthur Tjandra is proud to be Chinese. These brainwashed Chinese Indonesians even use the racist, derogatory term, Cina, to refer to China and the Chinese people. Many countries in Southeast Asia have successfully erased the Chinese identities from their ethnic Chinese citizens, among them are Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Indonesia is perhaps the most successful of all. Malaysia also tried, but did not quite succeed in doing it. Most Chinese Malaysians are still “stubbornly” Chinese, refusing to give up their Chinese names, Chinese language and Chinese culture; like what Chinese Indonesians, Vietnamese, Thais and Filipinos were made to do. Chinese Malaysians’ stubbornness has drawn the ire of Malaysia’s Prime Minister, who chided Chinese Malaysians, for refusing to use bare hands to eat like what the Malays do, and continue to use chopsticks to eat, like what their ancestors did, instead!
READ: Is Chinese language alive or dying in Indonesia?
Unlike her neighbors, which try very hard to erase the Chinese identities of their Chinese citizens, Singapore encourages all her citizens to be proud of their ancestral roots, and learn their mother tongues. George Yeo, former foreign minister of Singapore, said, “Singapore is special because our different communities retain their ancestral cultures… and we encourage them to be proud of their ancestral cultures. Our diversity is not based upon everybody curbing themselves to become Singaporean, but everybody being bigger in accepting others who are not like themselves. The more comfortable we are with our own identity, the more open we’ll be,” he said. “If I know who I am, I can accept you for who you are… So identity is important, and Singapore’s identity is complicated because it is made up of constituent identities.“
Teachers taught “sanitized” history and twisted facts in schools so one would hate one’s own roots. Text books and school curriculums were written by the government. But when Dr Arthur Tjandra returned home, he learned the real facts and history from his mother and tycoon maternal grandfather, Mr Thio Kok Bin. While Christians have Sunday schools, Dr Arthur Tjandra spent his Sundays at his maternal grandfather’s house, listening to him teaching Confucian values. Together with Dr Arthur Tjandra’s mother, they pointed out all the twisted history and lies in school textbooks and straighten those lies. Had Dr Arthur Tjandra’s mother been appointed the Chief Executive of Hong Kong when China took back Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong would not have become what it is today, because the first step Dr Arthur Tjandra’s mother would do was to go through the schools’ curriculum and find out what children were being taught at schools, just like what she did with her own children. Children are our future. Why would you want to delegate the upbringing and teaching of your future to some strangers whose background and motives you do not know?
At a tender age of 10, Dr Arthur Tjandra already learned a very important lesson in life: “Do not believe everything you read blindly, even if it is printed in your school textbooks”. This is also the teaching of Buddha. For all the above reasons, Dr Arthur Tjandra made a conscious decision to remain single in his current life. It is better to not have any descendant at all, than having “banana” descendants. Dr Arthur Tjandra has one motto in life: “If you are too busy to raise your offspring yourself, and plan to delegate the upbringing of your offspring to someone else, do not produce any offspring at all!”
Dr Arthur Tjandra grew up in Medan, Indonesia, where he attended a top notch school, Sutomo Primary School, Junior High School, and Senior High School (formerly known as 蘇東/Su tung) which was the best school at the time and still is, presently. 蘇東/Su tung/Sutomo is often touted as the 華中/Hwa Chong of Medan. Hwa Chong is one of the top 2 Junior Colleges in Singapore. Just like 華中/Hwa Chong, 蘇東/Su tung was a Chinese school, until it was forced to close down when Chinese language and culture were banned in Indonesia, in 1965. It was re-opened after changing its name to Sutomo and abolished Chinese education from its curriculum. It was one of the many schools which construction Dr Arthur Tjandra’s late great grandfather, Mr Thio Siong Soe, contributed generously to. Mr Thio Siong Soe donated a parcel of land on which Su tung (蘇東) was built and established in 1927. Mr Thio Siong Soe believed that poverty could be eradicated and a nation could be made strong through education. He donated generously to the constructions of many schools, both in Indonesia and China. To honor Mr Thio Siong Soe’s generous contribution, Dr Arthur Tjandra’s uncle, the late Dr Johan, Mr Thio Siong Soe’s grandson, was elected to chair Sutomo school board and Sutomo foundation in the late 1970s. He remained chairman of the school board and foundation, up to the time he passed away in 2017.
Upon graduation from Sutomo Senior High School as one of the top 10 graduates in his cohort of approximately 1,000 graduating students, Dr Arthur Tjandra went on to attend medical schools at the University of North Sumatra in Medan, University of Wales in Cardiff, and University of Sydney in Sydney. After completing an internship program at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney, and served a 3-year bond with the Indonesian government, Dr Arthur Tjandra relocated to Singapore, joining Singapore General Hospital as a Medical Officer (a.k.a. Resident). Initially aspiring to be a cardiologist, Dr Arthur Tjandra eventually found his passion and love in cosmetic surgery. He was extremely lucky to have crossed path with and be mentored by an outstanding plastic surgeon, Dr Fong Poh Him, who was the father of modern liposuction in Singapore. Dr Fong Poh Him was the first surgeon to have performed liposuction surgery in Singapore back in the 1980s. Dr Arthur Tjandra later on followed Dr Fong Poh Him‘s foot steps to become one of the greatest liposuction surgeons in the world.
In 2008, Dr Arthur Tjandra returned to Indonesia to set up his private practice, Elixir de Vie, which eventually becomes worldwide famous. From then onwards, he shuttles frequently between Medan and Singapore, calling both home. Patients are coming to Dr Arthur Tjandra from every corner of the world. As a matter of fact, 99.9999% of his patients are from overseas, many of whom travel all the way from the Americas, Europe and Australasia, often spending up to 48 hours of traveling time, in order to reach Indonesia, where Elixir de Vie is located.
Entering his 10th year in private practice, and 27 years of medical practice, 2018 marked a second important milestone in Dr Arthur Tjandra‘s life. He decided to go into semi-retirement and spend more time in his Tantric practice, which he started learning and practicing in 1991. He set up a blog, TantricPractice.com, to propagate Buddha’s teachings, in particular Tantric teachings. When he set up TantricPractice.com in 2018, he has been practicing Anuttarayoga Tantra, the Highest Yoga Tantra, for 8 years.
Dr Arthur Tjandra also set up The Arthur Tjandra Foundation in the same year, following the foot steps of his philanthropists Great Grandfather Mr Thio Siong Soe, Aunt Dr Della Suantio Lee and Uncle Dr Lee Seng Gee. From 1st Jan 2018 onward, 50% of profits generated by Elixir de Vie, are channeled to The Arthur Tjandra Foundation. Dr Arthur Tjandra is not a billionaire. He is not even a multi-millionaire. But his mentor, A/Prof Fong Poh Him, once told him, “You don’t need to be a millionaire to start giving to those in needs. When you have only $10 and you give away $5, that is philanthropy.”
As Covid-19 pandemic ransacked the world and prevented foreign nationals from entering Indonesia due to never-ending border closure, 2021 marked a third important milestone in Dr Arthur Tjandra’s life. Dr Arthur Tjandra picked up a new hobby in 2021, to replace his hobby of sculpting the human bodies: trading! As he could no longer sculpt the human bodies, because foreign patients were unable to enter Indonesia due to never-ending border closure, as well as travel restrictions imposed by neighboring countries, which are necessary for his transiting patients flying from the Americas, Europe and Australasia, he took up trading, instead. He immediately fell in love with his new hobby! Elixir de Vie Capital was born as a result.
In the near future, he may open up his fund to external funds from family, relatives and friends, who would like to tap into his expertise in his newly-found hobby. Right now, he is still focused on maintaining his private fund’s performance. Just like his human body sculpting skill which he had perfected through decades of practice, he aims to also achieve perfection in his trading skills, so that he could eventually beat all hedge funds in the world!
Mr Tjan Sek Him, Mdm Thio Kim Swan and Dr Arthur Tjandra
