Talk is cheap, so they say. I guess that is why we spend so much time yakking away all through the day. Around the water fountain in the gym, in the coffee shop, that 10 minutes while waiting for everyone in that morning meeting, those 5 minute phone calls with colleagues during which anything but work was discussed, those snatches of 2 minute exchanges around the photocopying machine…you get the picture. We spend so much time talking, that after a while, we lose sensitivity as to the importance of the subject matter talked about.
Take yesterday. During the day, I chatted with the CEO. Not about work. Politics. He thought the next 1-2 years will be extremely interesting for Malay politics. Said Pak Lah would not, cannot, last as a PM. The old regime still has a strong overhang and will not go away so easily. They are just waiting for him to trip up, and there is an ever ready replacement in Najib who will take care of business as ususal, ie., Doc M days style. He thinks if Pak Lah is smart (and he is), he’d strategise to bolster his own position. The obvious tool would be Anwar Ibrahim. Now I know this angle is so prevalent the makcik who sells nasi lemak outside my office can regale mulitple versions, but that doesnt make it less plausible.
Take also, last night. I had dinner with some ex-colleagues who suggested to me Khairy Jamaluddin once eyed Anwar’s daughter, when Anwar was still the DPM. That changed when Pak Lah became the DPM…Now THAT talk is cheap. Cheap in more sense than just sen.
“So, I commend the enjoyment of life.” (From the Bible – really. Eccl 8:15)
Ante 