Embracing diversity

A dear friend of mine recently broke up with her boyfriend of many years. It wasn't because they fell out of love or one cheated on the other or anything cliché like that. They are still very much in love but in the end, it was the strain of having to continuously defend their relationship to their friends and family that got to them. Because you see, she is a malay girl and he is a chinese boy.

It's terribly unfortunate that the love between two individuals should come under the scrutiny and criticism of people who should have no bearing on the relationship in any way at all. What goes on between the two of them should naturally be a personal and private matter, but instead you have others butting in to try and establish their versions of what is right and what is wrong.

Sustaining a relationship is hard enough for any ordinary person without having to bow down to societal pressures that tend to be arbitrary more often than not.

Race is a huge topic in both the American elections and the recently concluded Malaysian elections. A fair few of my friends believe that the results highlight that Malaysia is ready for a change, that we are ready to put behind the ethnic differences and to embrace our future as a rakyat of Malaysians.

I don't think we're anywhere ready for that, probably not in my generation. There are too many fractions, too many vested interests for it all to go away in just one General Election. Looking back, I have a number of friends who have attempted mixed relationships, all with mixed results (no pun intended). I myself was in such a relationship once, and I'm actually a product of one so I am quite well-versed in the consequences of these relationships succeeding and failing.

But on a bright note, these seem to indicate that there are changes in the mindset of my generation and this augurs well for the future. Hopefully nobody will bat an eyelid if my daughter decides that she wants to marry someone of a different race.
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On a related note, this has got to be one of the best speeches that I have heard during my lifetime, one of the few that has actually moved me. You have to respect the man for sticking to his principles and not disowning his pastor, which would have been the politically safe thing to do. Instead, he grabbed the issue by the balls and has proven to be an inspiration to not only the Americans, but citizens around the world. For the full text of his speech, click on the link above.

Do as I say, not as I do (the doctor's mantra)

The news headlines are currently being filled by calls from various parties for heads of states to boycott the Beijing 2008 Olympics as a sign of protest against China’s hard-line stance against Tibet. The first major world leader to announce that she will be boycotting the event is Chancellor Merkel of Germany.

I wonder if this means she will be boycotting events organised by the United States and perhaps even the London 2012 Olympics? I totally agree that China is up to no good with regards to the Tibetans but to demonise them and to ignore the atrocities that are condoned by the Western powers is hypocrisy at its very best. I mean, where do I begin? Guantanamo Bay? The illegal occupation of Iraq and subsequent implosion of the country? The joke that is the American healthcare system? And so on and so forth.

Another issue that I have, well, an issue with is the bailing out of huge financial companies by the British and American central banks. These are (quite naturally) the same governments that attempted to slap the wrists of Tun Dr Mahathir when he imposed capital controls and bailed out various GLCs during the financial crisis of the late 1990s. I don’t doubt that the Old Man helped out some of his cronies, but it would be daft to argue against the fact that in the process, he also prevented a few million Malaysians from losing their lifelihood.

Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was once ready to open up the gates of our country to his friends over at the IMF, wrote in the Asian Wall Street Journal shortly before his farce of a trial that ‘Unless the gale of creative destruction is unleashed on these rent-seeking and parasitic corporate activities (i.e. national industries), the Asian economy will never regain its past vigor.’

One wonders if he should perhaps write a similar article in the Wall Street Journal and advise his American brethren? After all, if free market economics is paramount to everything else, if destruction of capital belonging to the powers that be and the masses is insignificant next to long-term health of the economy, then surely the financial system should be allowed to fail. What? No? I thought not.

So we have financial giants like Northern Rock and Bear Sterns falling by the wayside due to the mismanagement of a select few. And who foots the bill? It’s the masses who have to supply their hard-earned cash to prop these companies up. And I almost threw up when Gordon Brown said that the all decisions re. Northern Rock will be made with reimbursement for the shareholders in mind. The last time I checked, investing in a company was a GAMBLE i.e. you take a risk with it. If it does well, you share the profits. If it doesn’t, then it’s too bad. Isn’t it?

It’s also almost amusing how the Americans argue that Malaysia should open up her markets and her shipping lanes in the interest of fair trade, but balk at the thought of sovereign funds taking over their blue chip companies. They got jittery when Dubai was at the brink of taking over a few of their ports, and apparently they’re also worried that Singapore owns a substantial amount of shares in their precious banks.

I guess if you are in a position of power, going about setting rules and regulations that apply to everyone but you will be almost second nature. But things change, and nobody remains a superpower for long (just look at Mongolia – from the biggest empire the world has ever known to one of the poorest countries in the world today). All these people need to do is to regain their moral authority to be able to spread their gospel, but we have Bush to thank for making sure that that will be impossible to achieve over the next few years.

Strike 3

I met up with a friend with an active interest in UMNO the last time I went home. Besides being thoroughly amused by his attempts at convincing Fadh that his battle was just, I remembered warning him about the importance of public perception in BN’s bid to maintain its level of power.

Because whatever else you might say about the PAS-DAP-PKR coalition, you have to admit that their boss is excellent at gauging public reaction and is a master at utilising his charisma as and when it is needed to portray the image that’s expected of him. To which I received the reply of ‘who the fuck is Anwar?’.

And to compound matters, my last piece of advice as Mr Lay Person was for him to propagate the online presence of his team in order to prevent themselves from lagging behind the opposition in utilising the new media.

Looking back, I can only mentally shrug and tsk tsk tsk in my head.

And this, in essence, is still the problem that is pervasive within the higher echelons of UMNO at present i.e. a lack of insight into the amount of shit that they’re drowning in. Some individuals still claim that this is all part of a grand plan but having lost the battle, the in infantry and cavalry have run amok and the artillery are firing at each other in the absence of a competent Field Marshall.

It doesn’t take a degree in PPE nor an in-depth study of The Art of War to realise that once morale is low, the leader needs to step in and prop up his soldiers. If he can’t do that decisively, then he should gracefully step aside in order to ensure that the team does not implode and be left to be picked off one by one by the other side.

And if said leader does not have the courage nor the realisation that he needs to step down, then he should be made to do so by individuals who are willing to step up and take the baton. Instead of wondering why they lost, they should be thinking of possible outcomes in 5 years and the APPROPRIATE method in which to achieve victory.

There is no point in joining in the chorus of 'ensuring stability' within the ranks if it leads to the demise of the team in the long run. If a CEO does not perform according to the expectations of the stakeholders, he gets replaced. If it works for MNCs, it should work for countries.

Sign this petition for Abdullah Badawi to resign

Winds of Change

In scenes hitherto unseen in the Malaysian political landscape, the opposition has swept up an unprecedented number of State and Parliamentary seats in the weekend’s General Election – winning 49% of the popular vote, retaining power in the state of Kelantan, overwhelmingly winning the states of Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor whilst narrowly losing the states of Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan.

Anyone who chooses to brush away the significance of these events is either playing spin doctor or ignoramus.

I am happy that Budu managed to win the state seat that he was contesting for, which is no small feat for a 26-year-old who was running in his first election. Like most Malaysians, I am also pleased that the ruling coalition was denied the 2/3 majority that they have enjoyed all this time. And like most Malaysians, I am hopeful that these results will give the ruling coalition a huge kick up its arse; a message that unabashed abuse of power, arrogance and economic mismanagement do not go down well with the electorate.

And that is probably what the opposition should be wary of once the euphoria has dissipated : they didn’t win this election, but rather BN lost it. Abdullah Badawi is exposed for the weak leader that he is (I reiterate my call for someone of Ku Li’s stature to take over the coalition), Samy Vellu will finally have to take his head out of the sand and idiots such as Zainuddin Maidin will have to learn a lesson in humility.

Not everyone within the opposition is squeaky clean either. I am sure that in some constituencies, any individual would’ve done well against a BN candidate regardless of his/her background. A good example would be the dude who exposed that video abt V.K. Lingam. I can’t for the life of me think of what he has done to be elected to his seat.

Nevertheless, it is an opportunity for them to prove the doubters wrong and to show that they can indeed work together to form a viable government despite the spectrum of ideologies that make up the opposition. It will be interesting to observe if the pre-election promises will be kept, as well as the method in which each component party will seek to realise their ambitions. And will this truly be the end of racial politics? The fact that Penang will be governed by a predominantly Chinese party and Kedah by a predominantly Malay party is not exactly encouraging. I would register as a member of the opposition the day they appoint a Malay as chief minister of Penang and a Chinese as the chief minister of Kedah. They would score big in my books (and it would be a cunning move as well) if they decide to make an Indian chief minister of a state like Perak.

The results also show that both Anwar and Mahathir still have significant say amongst the electorate. The former’s party has managed to win 33 parliamentary seats (as compared to the single seat it won during the last election) and the disrespect shown towards the latter was apparently a reason behind the lack of support amongst certain sectors of the Malay population, primarily seen by the abstinence of a significant number of voters in his home-state of Kedah.

It is a rather shaky moment in our country’s history – especially from an economic point of view and many will be waiting with bated breath as to the long-term effects of this election. The most amusing thing though is the number of people who are jumping the bandwagon and suddenly proclaiming how they’ve been wanting such a result all this while. I am sure a fair number will suddenly return from the holes they’ve been hiding in all this while, and try to get their share of the pie (like the Death Eaters when Voldermort came into power, to quote Sweetie).

Whatever it is, it’s only the beginning. Exciting times are ahead. Next stop, the UMNO elections.