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  • Overrepresentation of ethnic Chinese players in SE Asia

    What I find interesting is out of the 7 NTs in SE Asia that participate in basketball regularly, 3 of them are essentially "Chinese": Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei (excluding Vietnam, whose people have "Chinese names"). Singapore I can understand because the city is basically 3/4 Chinese. But I particularly wonder about Malaysia, where the Chinese population is only 25%. Out of their 12-men roster, there are always at least 10 Chinese names; and the other 1 or 2, such as Guganeswaran who played in China for 6 years, speak Chinese well. What is more, their national league website (nbl.com.my) is exclusively in Chinese language, and their official basketball association's webpage (malaysia-basketball.com) also has considerable Chinese-language content.

    I've never been to Malaysia so I'm just throwing this question out. A couple years back I met several Malaysians in my apartment in the U.S. -- they are all ethnic Malays with pretty stereotypic "Muslim" names -- and I see them go out and play basketball together. So I wonder if the sport is actually popular within the Malay community in Malaysia? Or is the overrepresentation just explained by genetics because the Malays are shorter? But that explanation also makes little sense as the "Chinese" Malaysian NT is not that tall and the Malays I met in the US don't seem to be that short (definitely taller than the Filipinos I met in the US )

    Or is it because Chinese communities organize basketball better? From the forum I see that the Chinese communities in Philippines organize annual tournaments for schools and amateurs. I wonder if that's a factor!

    Also, there have been some discussions about ethnic Chinese players in the Philippines. To me it seems like the "Chinoys" are also overrepresnted considering they are only 1.3% of the RP population but I'm not sure.



    But, I've never seen any Chinese names in Thailand NT or Indonesia NT. Why is that??
    aim low, score high

  • #2
    Originally posted by sinobball View Post
    What I find interesting is out of the 7 NTs in SE Asia that participate in basketball regularly, 3 of them are essentially "Chinese": Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei (excluding Vietnam, whose people have "Chinese names"). Singapore I can understand because the city is basically 3/4 Chinese. But I particularly wonder about Malaysia, where the Chinese population is only 25%. Out of their 12-men roster, there are always at least 10 Chinese names; and the other 1 or 2, such as Guganeswaran who played in China for 6 years, speak Chinese well. What is more, their national league website (nbl.com.my) is exclusively in Chinese language, and their official basketball association's webpage (malaysia-basketball.com) also has considerable Chinese-language content.

    I've never been to Malaysia so I'm just throwing this question out. A couple years back I met several Malaysians in my apartment in the U.S. -- they are all ethnic Malays with pretty stereotypic "Muslim" names -- and I see them go out and play basketball together. So I wonder if the sport is actually popular within the Malay community in Malaysia? Or is the overrepresentation just explained by genetics because the Malays are shorter? But that explanation also makes little sense as the "Chinese" Malaysian NT is not that tall and the Malays I met in the US don't seem to be that short (definitely taller than the Filipinos I met in the US )

    Or is it because Chinese communities organize basketball better? From the forum I see that the Chinese communities in Philippines organize annual tournaments for schools and amateurs. I wonder if that's a factor!

    Also, there have been some discussions about ethnic Chinese players in the Philippines. To me it seems like the "Chinoys" are also overrepresnted considering they are only 1.3% of the RP population but I'm not sure.



    But, I've never seen any Chinese names in Thailand NT or Indonesia NT. Why is that??
    Many ethnic Chinese in Indonesia adopted local names under the "New Order" era: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Indonesian_surname

    The same thing goes for ethnic Chinese in Thailand. I believe Thaksin Shinawatra is one example.

    Keep running, big boy.

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    • #3
      in the philippine situation, height is the reason. i dont know about the other countries. As long as your tall and can play , you will be asked to play for the team, it so happens that chinese in the philippines are taller on average than the average filipino. this is also the reason why there are many mixed bloos on philippine teams such as spanish -filipino, american- filipino, euro-filipino, indian/arab-filipino, etc . the hybrids are taller

      Originally posted by sinobball View Post
      What I find interesting is out of the 7 NTs in SE Asia that participate in basketball regularly, 3 of them are essentially "Chinese": Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei (excluding Vietnam, whose people have "Chinese names"). Singapore I can understand because the city is basically 3/4 Chinese. But I particularly wonder about Malaysia, where the Chinese population is only 25%. Out of their 12-men roster, there are always at least 10 Chinese names; and the other 1 or 2, such as Guganeswaran who played in China for 6 years, speak Chinese well. What is more, their national league website (nbl.com.my) is exclusively in Chinese language, and their official basketball association's webpage (malaysia-basketball.com) also has considerable Chinese-language content.

      I've never been to Malaysia so I'm just throwing this question out. A couple years back I met several Malaysians in my apartment in the U.S. -- they are all ethnic Malays with pretty stereotypic "Muslim" names -- and I see them go out and play basketball together. So I wonder if the sport is actually popular within the Malay community in Malaysia? Or is the overrepresentation just explained by genetics because the Malays are shorter? But that explanation also makes little sense as the "Chinese" Malaysian NT is not that tall and the Malays I met in the US don't seem to be that short (definitely taller than the Filipinos I met in the US )

      Or is it because Chinese communities organize basketball better? From the forum I see that the Chinese communities in Philippines organize annual tournaments for schools and amateurs. I wonder if that's a factor!

      Also, there have been some discussions about ethnic Chinese players in the Philippines. To me it seems like the "Chinoys" are also overrepresnted considering they are only 1.3% of the RP population but I'm not sure.



      But, I've never seen any Chinese names in Thailand NT or Indonesia NT. Why is that??
      =========================================
      Anyone who wants to replace a coach because his dwarf team keeps losing against bigger teams is wishing for a miracle and should get a magician. A more practical solution is to get reinforcements unless one is content to wait a few more years in the hope that the dwarf players will grow wings and fly over their defenders. PBA reinforcements will not guarantee a championship, but it will guarantee close losses which is enough to make me happy.

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      • #4
        Rony Gunawan on Indonesian NT is Chinese, while the other mostly balinese or javanese and few from other etnicities,

        mostly chinese indonesian have two name, chinese name and latin name, and generally they used latin name for national identity cards (passport,driving license etc)
        but some used only chinese name such as Kwik kian gie (former indonesia economic minister in 2000s) or Liem Swie king (indonesian legendary badminton player) etc.
        "BHINEKA TUNGGAL IKA"

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        • #5
          In international basketball, players represents their respective countries(nationalities) and not their ethnicity. Same goes with all other sports. So, for me, it doesn't really matter...

          By the way, I'm partly Chinese by ethnicity..I can not speak any of their languages/dialects..And I'm proudly Filipino.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by than11 View Post
            In international basketball, players represents their respective countries(nationalities) and not their ethnicity. Same goes with all other sports. So, for me, it doesn't really matter...
            Nobody is expecting these players to suit up for China. But I just find it interesting. Don't forget your people talk about Fil-Ams, Fil-Euros etc. like all the time.
            aim low, score high

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            • #7
              Originally posted by sinobball View Post
              Nobody is expecting these players to suit up for China. But I just find it interesting. Don't forget your people talk about Fil-Ams, Fil-Euros etc. like all the time.
              Yes, it really is interesting. As what a previous post said, maybe it was all about height. Chinese are taller than Malays. What I'm saying is that as long as they are legally natural-born citizens of their respective countries then they have every right to represent that country, regardless of overrepresentation or what.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by than11 View Post
                What I'm saying is that as long as they are legally natural-born citizens of their respective countries then they have every right to represent that country, regardless of overrepresentation or what.
                I don't think anyone disagrees, so I don't know why you are emphasizing this. It's not like I believe in ethnic purity or junks like that.

                I think I learned a lot about other countries through basketball, and I think most of us too. But sometimes looks can be deceiving, and "overrepresentation" is one part. For example in Asia, one would conclude Qatar is a black country, and Kazakhstan a white/Russian country, if just based on their basketball teams. So I think issues like this is worth pointing out. Just my opinion.
                aim low, score high

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by sinobball View Post
                  I don't think anyone disagrees, so I don't know why you are emphasizing this. It's not like I believe in ethnic purity or junks like that.

                  I think I learned a lot about other countries through basketball, and I think most of us too. But sometimes looks can be deceiving, and "overrepresentation" is one part. For example in Asia, one would conclude Qatar is a black country, and Kazakhstan a white/Russian country, if just based on their basketball teams. So I think issues like this is worth pointing out. Just my opinion.
                  Yes, it really is worth pointing out. It's actually nice to see a whole lot of Chinese people scatterred all over the world, pretty much like Filipinos. There are also a lot of Chinese in Kazakhstan by the way..
                  I was just saying my opinion too. I did not contradict any of your post, did I? It's all good bro..Maybe I just didn't like the word "overrepresentation".. Because when you play for a NT, you represent your country, not your ethnicity..

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by than11 View Post
                    Because when you play for a NT, you represent your country, not your ethnicity..
                    Not always, but I got your point.

                    BTW, there are almost no ethnic Chinese in Kazakhstan:


                    PS: I know this because I used to know a Kazakhstan national (he is Russian by ethnicity), he told me there are Koreans in his country but no Chinese. That was before "Borat", and giving how geographically challenged most Americans are, he always told people he was from Russia... Because when he says "Kazakhstan" the Americans all automatically reply "Afghanistan?"
                    aim low, score high

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