Chinese businesspeople today sent an unmistakable message to the government of Prime Minister Dean Barrow – they are tired of the murders of their own by brazen, lawless, savage criminals who kill, seemingly, without compunction, or remorse.
There have been murders before, but the latest outrage, the murder of a 14-year-old Chinese girl in the execution of an armed holdup of her father’s shop, has pushed the Chinese community into action, and today, the day of Hellen Yu’s funeral, they have shut down their businesses countrywide in protest of her murder, and to show solidarity with her family and friends. They have had enough.
Businesses are expected to reopen tomorrow as per normal.
Today at 11 a.m. sharp, the funeral services for Hellen Yu, shot while assailants tried to rob her family’s store on Iguana Street Extension last week Thursday, were held to provide closure for her family and friends. The service was held at the Chinese Christian Church, located at #5448 Seventeenth Street, King’s Park, Belize City.
While at the funeral, Amandala spoke to the General Secretary of the Belize Chinese Association, Eric Chang, about the organized shutdown.
Eric Chang: “The incident [The Yu’s Store robbery and Yu’s murder] took place last Thursday, so the association was trying to assist, and we ended up calling an emergency meeting on Friday. And the meeting, actually, came through the board of directors of the Chinese Association. So we decided, for the mourning purpose, to close down all the businesses, citywide only. But eventually we got cooperation from countrywide Chinese business sectors. So it ended up as a countrywide closedown. The decision was sent out to businesses on Friday night.”
We also spoke to Chang about the attitude of other ethnic groups of Belize toward the Chinese population. He said that other ethnic groups who call Belize home, just like they do, tend to show them disdain, saying that they (the Chinese) have come here, taken over Belize, and have stolen jobs away from Belizeans. He said that Chinese business owners work just as hard as any other Belizean, and they don’t slight anyone. Belize is a free country in which Chinese businesspeople see an opportunity to make a good and honest living.
He said that part of the message that the closedown is intended to send is that Chinese business owners are an important part of the steady flow of goods to the local Belizean public. The association is only trying to show that both the Chinese and local communities are one and the same; they both need one another, and both make up a larger Belizean community.
Chang said that the Belizean public is treating Hellen Yu like just another victim of Chinese nationality who was murdered during a robbery of a Chinese shop, which seems to be becoming the norm. He said that this is not the right mentality – this kind of “second class” placement, because Hellen Yu was a born-and-raised Belizean; only her parents were immigrants, who eventually became naturalized Belizeans.
And the Chinese community, in force, from all over the country, attended the funeral service in support of the Yu family. In attendance, however, were not only members of the community, but also family and friends, residents from Iguana Street Extension, even Edward P. Yorke High School’s principal, teachers, students, and Hellen Yu’s classmates, who all appeared to pay their respects to her for the last time.
The service lasted for approximately 30 minutes, but during that time, the grief and the sense of loss was expressed fully in the form of speeches by Hellen Yu’s mother, Lilly Yu (using an interpreter), Yu’s classmates, members of the Belize Chinese Association, and residents who live nearby and were close to Yu. They all said that Yu was a brilliant and quiet young lady who was a very positive influence on her classmates.
Yu’s body was transported to Mile 4 on the Western Highway, which has been sanctioned as a site for cremation. Unconfirmed reports are that her remains will be transported to China, where they will be scattered in her memory, since she reportedly didn’t have a chance to visit the native country of her parents in her short lifetime.