Fellow Chinese brothers and sisters, First, I would like to apologise if I have written to the wrong place. As I do not know where to send this letter, I'm very hopeful that some one would help me forward this letter to the right place in the Government of the People's Republic of China. It is about the plight of the Stateless Chinese in Brunei Darussalam. There are at present some 50,000 persons of Chinese ancestry in Brunei Darussalam. Among them, 48% are temporary residents of foreign citizenships (mostly Malaysians), and the rest are permanent residents being divided into those with Brunei citizenship, 23%, and those with no citizenship 29%. In Brunei Darussalam, Stateless Chinese numbers some 14,500. This is quite a big number when comparing to the country's population of only some 340,000. They are the Chinese who possess no nationality. While the PRC Government had negotiated/resolved with Brunei's neighbouring countries in the past few decades regarding the issue of the Stateless Chinese there, the Stateless Chinese in Brunei have been ignored. All the Stateless Chinese in Brunei are either immigrants or descendants of the Chinese who fled turbulent Mainland China in the period between 1931 to 1947 to seek fortune overseas. The main goal of these recent immigrants is to make enough money and return to their beloved Motherland to reunite with their families and help rebuild the nation. However, after the liberation in 1949 and the founding of the People's Republic, these overseas Chinese did not return out of suspicion and fears of the new government due to early propaganda by the pro-Nationalists supporters. And because of this, the Chinese in Brunei had become "Stateless", for the Republic of China had ceased to exist. Despite stranded in a foreign country for decades, we, the Stateless Chinese are still very much emotionally attached to China and still call ourselves "Zhongguoren":(People of China) . I think the story is similar to the stories of how the Chinese became stateless in other countries in Southeast Asia. When the British left Brunei in 1984 (Brunei was a British protectorate state), they did not resolved the issue of Brunei Citizenship. This irresponsible act of the British of leaving us in our plight had caused us much disappointment. When Brunei and China established diplomatic ties in the past few years, we have been placing our hope on the PRC Government to help us and resolve our Stateless problem, but we have been waiting and waiting, and this hope of ours seem to be very far reaching. To qualify for citizenship in Brunei, aliens have to have had 20 years' residence and pass Malay language tests (take place only when application is approved). Application for Brunei citizenship may take a very long time to process. Each year hundreds apply while only tens are called to sit for the Malay language tests. One can imagine just how long the whole process will take. And because of this, it almost impossible for the Stateless Chinese to acquire Brunei citizenship. Many Chinese thus became re-migrants, moving to North America and Australiasia I strongly believe that we have the right to Chinese citizenship by the virtues of our ancestral and historical rights since we have never relinquished our loyalty and commitment to China. How can a person and his descendants lose their original nationality when they have never renounced it? China should confer on us Chinese citizenship before we acquire the citizenship of our adopted land. Has our beloved Motherland disown us, her children who love her so dearly? Son of China __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/

Dear China Son of and other list members: This message is NOT appropriate for the CHINA-L or CHINA-D lists. Please do not discuss this issue further or I will have to unsubscribe everyone who ignores this warning. CHINA-L and CHINA-D are for discussions of FAMILY HISTORY, not politics or human rights issues. I don't care how sad a story is or how much a person or a group of people may have actually been wronged, this is NOT the place to talk about it. Again, this list is for the discussion of genealogy and family history, not anything else. Sincerely, Dave Lawrence ------------------------------------------------------------------------ David M. Lawrence | Home: (804) 559-9786 9272-G Hanover Crossing Drive | Fax: (804) 559-9787 Mechanicsville, VA 23116 | Email: dave@fuzzo.com USA | http: http://fuzzo.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo "No trespassing 4/17 of a haiku" -- Richard Brautigan -----Original Message----- From: China Son of [mailto:luvchina2000@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 6:44 AM To: CHINA-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [CHINA] Looking for help from fellow Chinese! Fellow Chinese brothers and sisters, First, I would like to apologise if I have written to the wrong place. As I do not know where to send this letter, I'm very hopeful that some one would help me forward this letter to the right place in the Government of the People's Republic of China. It is about the plight of the Stateless Chinese in Brunei Darussalam. There are at present some 50,000 persons of Chinese ancestry in Brunei Darussalam. Among them, 48% are temporary residents of foreign citizenships (mostly Malaysians), and the rest are permanent residents being divided into those with Brunei citizenship, 23%, and those with no citizenship 29%. In Brunei Darussalam, Stateless Chinese numbers some 14,500. This is quite a big number when comparing to the country's population of only some 340,000. They are the Chinese who possess no nationality. While the PRC Government had negotiated/resolved with Brunei's neighbouring countries in the past few decades regarding the issue of the Stateless Chinese there, the Stateless Chinese in Brunei have been ignored. All the Stateless Chinese in Brunei are either immigrants or descendants of the Chinese who fled turbulent Mainland China in the period between 1931 to 1947 to seek fortune overseas. The main goal of these recent immigrants is to make enough money and return to their beloved Motherland to reunite with their families and help rebuild the nation. However, after the liberation in 1949 and the founding of the People's Republic, these overseas Chinese did not return out of suspicion and fears of the new government due to early propaganda by the pro-Nationalists supporters. And because of this, the Chinese in Brunei had become "Stateless", for the Republic of China had ceased to exist. Despite stranded in a foreign country for decades, we, the Stateless Chinese are still very much emotionally attached to China and still call ourselves "Zhongguoren":(People of China) . I think the story is similar to the stories of how the Chinese became stateless in other countries in Southeast Asia. When the British left Brunei in 1984 (Brunei was a British protectorate state), they did not resolved the issue of Brunei Citizenship. This irresponsible act of the British of leaving us in our plight had caused us much disappointment. When Brunei and China established diplomatic ties in the past few years, we have been placing our hope on the PRC Government to help us and resolve our Stateless problem, but we have been waiting and waiting, and this hope of ours seem to be very far reaching. To qualify for citizenship in Brunei, aliens have to have had 20 years' residence and pass Malay language tests (take place only when application is approved). Application for Brunei citizenship may take a very long time to process. Each year hundreds apply while only tens are called to sit for the Malay language tests. One can imagine just how long the whole process will take. And because of this, it almost impossible for the Stateless Chinese to acquire Brunei citizenship. Many Chinese thus became re-migrants, moving to North America and Australiasia I strongly believe that we have the right to Chinese citizenship by the virtues of our ancestral and historical rights since we have never relinquished our loyalty and commitment to China. How can a person and his descendants lose their original nationality when they have never renounced it? China should confer on us Chinese citizenship before we acquire the citizenship of our adopted land. Has our beloved Motherland disown us, her children who love her so dearly? Son of China __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/