German Engineer fired for marrying Chinese woman

An engineer in northern Germany was sacked because his marriage to a Chinese woman was considered by his employer a security risk, according to an article on the BBC website on Aug 17, 2011.

The 47-year-old German engineer had been working for a company that provides supplies for the German armed forces since May 2006, said the article.

But after his marriage to the woman in December 2009, the engineer was suspended for what was described as security concerns. In June last year, he was fired out of concern about "possible industrial espionage" due to his new family ties.

The man's dismissal was arbitrary, said the employment tribunal in Kiel in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, as the employer had violated his right to marry whomever he chose.

Under a settlement, said the article, the man was awarded compensation equivalent to seven months' salary.

When I read this piece of news, I knew that the company is at fault as it is a violation of human rights. The engineer can marry whoever he wants and the company has no right to "choose" which the bride for him, not to mention racial discrimination too!

News source: Chinadaily

Can we change racial stigma?

Yesterday I was on my way driving home after dinner and I met with an Indian hooligan on a motorcycle bearing the number plat BGU 5221. The Indian motorcyclist beat the red light and we met at the T-junction. He got irked at me as I had the right of the road and when we reached another traffic light, he stopped by my side and started to use vulgarities and kicked my car. I wound down my car window slightly and asked why did he kick my car and he got even angrier. To cut the story short, he eventually rode off swearing at me.

Once I read an article about how people generally labelled Malaysian Indians as gangsters especially those are of dark skin. I bet those who mentioned that are those who personally had a awful experienced them. I’m not trying to be racial or racist but it is because of a few bad apples it spoils the whole basket. I believe whatever race or culture we are, the way we carry ourselves are important. When there is a too many bad encounters with a certain race, people will remember your race for the bad doing rather than the individual itself. People will start to think that this particular race carries bad culture and the people from that race are labelled negatively. Before we react or we do anything, we need to think of the impact it will cause to ourselves and our society. We are responsible for our act and not the race itself. It is never easy to erase the stigma and negative perception but to change it, it always starts from an individual and carried by another individual.

I still believe and want to believe that there are good Samaritans out there be it Malay, Chinese or Indian. For the the readers or anyone who knows the Indian guy on the motorcycle bearing the number plate BGU 5221, tell him not be the rotten apple and in the end spoils the whole basket. You may think you are a HERO but you a ZERO if you bring shame to yourself, family and race.


Picture Source: donicethings.org/