by Sonny Leong, Publisher and Chair, Chinese for Labour

January 2012

Here we go again, motomouth, Jeremy Clarkson in a column for a tabloid newspaper, mocked the sport of synchronised swimming as "Chinese women in hats, upside down, in a bit of water", adding: "You can see that sort of thing on Morecambe Beach. For free."

To add to a comprehensive list of the different groups of people Jeremy Clarkson has offended during the course of his journalistic and broadcasting career would surely shame the BBC. A random selection might include Mexicans, Koreans, Germans, Poles, Malaysians, the Welsh, Scottish ramblers, Greenpeace, gays, lorry drivers and members of the Health and Safety Executive.

Before Christmas, the bruised and swollen ranks of the offended were joined by two new recruits: public sector strikers and the friends and family of train suicides. In an interview on BBC1's The One Show, Clarkson suggested that trains should not stop for people who kill themselves by jumping on to the tracks and declared that he would have the strikers "taken outside and executed in front of their families".

The BBC was forced to apologise after OFCOM, the broadcasting regulator, received 30,000 complaints.

The Prime Minister failed to denounce his chum Jeremy Clarkson, nor even actually condemn him for his sick remarks about executing trade unionists – merely describing it as "a silly thing to say". He did not even appear genuinely angry, face set to stern, struggling, one sensed, to suppress a laugh.

Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress said the jibe was "more than silly". He added: "If it was intended as a joke it was in pretty awful taste. If he wanted to confirm his caricature as an outlandishly rightwing figure, he has managed to do that."

Cameron and Clarkson are very close – he appeared as "the Stig" for Clarkson's 50th birthday party – and are part of the so-called Chipping Norton set, which includes, or at least included, the public relations man Matthew Freud and his wife Elisabeth Murdoch, former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, and her husband, the racehorse trainer Charlie, all of whom live nearby.

Clarkson is a typical insecure bully - full of vile – a loathsome individual who thinks he is funny. He is not funny and all he proves is that he is out of touch with modern Britain and that he belongs in the Dark Ages. He has no right to offend communities in this country who live and work here and provide more to Britain than he does.

And a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy added, "We deplore and oppose Mr Clarkson's comments, which are insulting and show a woeful disrespect of decency and moral standards. We regret that The Sun has publicised such remarks."

What will be the responses from the Chinese community and the Chinese media - another deafening silence?

Why are Chinese journalists not contacting our political leaders for their condemnation of Clarkson's comments? What would it take for the Chinese media to rise up and challenge such racist statements?

Why is no one from the community standing up to the authorities to insist that this sort of behaviour is totally unacceptable? Where are our Community leaders when we need them to defend our pride and being?

There are more than 400,000 British Chinese, the largest such community in Europe, and the third largest ethnic community in the UK. Yet no senior community leader has stood up to condemn such vile vitriol from another xenophobe in search of a headline.

I say to my community and my fellow community leaders – enough is enough – if we do not stand up for ourselves no one will. We have let down previous generations who had survived in racist environments and we will let down our younger generation and children for not having the principles and courage to stand up to such cowards.

When criticisms are made, accusations of betrayal and disloyalty are thrown at the maker. No wonder, nobody speaks up. If the community does not feel that it has a rightful place in society then that right will be taken away from them by people like Clarkson.

It has been suggested that all the Chinese care about is making money. Yes, make your money but remember there are higher values, too. You have your self esteem, principles, culture and, most importantly, pride. No amount of money is worth it if we let our pride and values slip – we will a forgotten community.

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