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The John Huang Controversy --
A Wake-up Call for Asian-American Activists

By Ling-Chi Wang

Date: 10-23-96

A veteran Asian American activist sees the controversy over Democratic Party fund raiser John Huang as a wake-up call for Asian Americans. Scapegoating Huang for doing what other fund raisers have done for decades symbolizes the depth of anti-Asian sentiment in the public class. But rather than defending Huang, Asian Americans need to look to the growing influence of moneyed politics in their own communities. PNS commentator Ling-chi Wang teaches Asian American studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

In recent weeks liberal Asian American activists have sounded off on the subject of John Huang, the controversial fund raiser for the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. These activists charge that Huang has been unfairly singled out for influence peddling by a racist media and the Republican party. They say John Huang should be defended as a symbol of the growing financial clout of Asian Americans and their efforts to empower themselves.

As a veteran Asian American activist I am not so sure.

Mr. Huang has raised big bucks from his former employer, the Indonesian-Chinese billionaire Mochtar Riady ($450,000); from Cheong Am America Inc., a South Korean company ($250,000), and from Hacienda Heights Buddhist Temple which represents both Taiwan Buddhist as well as business interests ($140,000). From my vantage, not only has Huang's work in no way benefited Asian Americans; it has contributed to a new moneyed politics that rips off Asian American communities.

I am not oblivious to the anti-Asian racist sentiments fueling the feeding frenzy over the John Huang affair. Huang's activities are emblematic of what big fundraisers in both Republican and Democratic parties have long been doing. Yet the contributions he's raised are peanuts compared to the funds amassed by his counterparts working for foreign firms -- let alone for western allies like Canada, Mexico, Israel, Japan, Taiwan and Korea. (Some of us may remember the machinations of the old pro-Taiwan "China lobby" in the 1950s and 60s, let alone the Tongsun Park and Sun Myung Moon scandals of the 70s.)

What is different this year is that for the first time Asian Americans are getting significantly involved in major league politics. At the same time, the public class wouldn't be scapegoating John Huang and the Indonesian Chinese connection if it thought Asian Americans had the political juice to defend themselves. Imagine what Jewish Americans would do if similar questions were leveled about one of the major Jewish fundraisers lobbying for U.S. aid to Israel!

This evident anti-Asian racism should not, however, excuse us Asian Americans from taking a careful look at fund raising drives in our own communities. We need to draw a sharp line between those who have a genuine concern for empowering Asian America in contrast to those who just want to buy influence. Unfortunately, it is the latter Johnny-come-latelys whose influence seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. Yet they have neither know nor care about Asian American community concerns.

These opportunists look to milk genuine Asian American empowerment movements for their own political and business mileage, often seducing well-intended but naive activists into jumping onto their lucrative bandwagons. As a result, other Asian American leaders involved in community issues with no desire for monetary gain are being marginalized because they refuse to deliver for the professional politicians -- or worse, keep making demands on the politicians and holding them accountable.

This is why I have not been actively involved in political activities in the last eight years. It occurs to me that the original vision of an Asian American movement -- activating ordinary Asian Americans to identify and promote their immediate interests -- has been pushed aside in favor of moneyed politics in which opportunists buy instant recognition and influence with cold, hard cash.

Since politicians are always hungry for cash, they go along with these opportunists, pretending they are responding to grassroots concerns. But the opportunists couldn't care less about the community; John Huang himself has never, to my knowledge, identified himself with any community cause, from immigration to welfare. He is more interested in buying influence for his clients, both domestic and foreign. The only thing that distinguishes him in this regard from other influence peddlers in Washington is his race, his indiscretion or arrogance, and his perceived political vulnerability.

I know John Huang is a victim of racism. But given his involvement in the corrupt system of moneyed politics, I have no sympathy for him. Nor do I feel obligated as an Asian American to defend him in the name of my community. Rather, I want to defend my community from being ripped off by a system of moneyed politics promoted by, for and through the likes of the Riadys and John Huang.