Category: Social Commentary

On Your Marks


Tomorrow, Australians go to the polling booth to decide if John Howard has had his day. The article below started by alluding to this election but the subject matter is actually on Malaysia. I’m reproducing it because as always, the writer was punchy and is void of any niceties. It is of course not the Malaysian way but he’s probably an Australian, although he has written about Malaysia for quite a bit. Again as always, this piece is a nice little summary of some of the things that ail Malaysia. I do not think his being an Australian makes what he has written any less true.Many people think tomorrow marks the end of John Howard. I do not think so. I hope I am right. I do not like John Howard – he’s gruff, doesn’t seem personable and isn’t someone you’d want to have a drink with. However, I trust him as a leader and as someone who would stick to what he believes would make Australia well.Kevin Rudd looks better – younger, more personable and definitely someone you’d have a drink with – certainly more than John Howard. With Kevin however, you’d probably listen to what he says and go away saying yeah right. You’d never hold him to his word because he’d change his position in a flash, not because circumstances have changed, but because his audience has.

Did Danny Nalliah’s “prophecy” influence me? I’m giving it the benefit of any doubt and say yes, John Howard will win, against all odds. Let’s wait till after tomorrow. Meanwhile, read what Michael Backman has to say… 

 From: Teh, IanSent: Friday, 23 November 2007 11:10 AMSubject: FW: Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way Thanks J. Actually had Tengku Razaleigh defeated Mahathir in the 1986 UMNO elections, he would have made a much better Prime Minister. Razaleigh would have given Malaysia a better chance at becoming quietly prosperous (and free), instead of being flamboyantly poor, and curtailed in every way. The greater tragedy is that most of the younger Malaysians think the world of Mahathir. In his 20+ years as PM, he may have made Malaysia visible but he also systematically dismantled all safeguards, opening the door for idiots and robbers who now rule the roost.   Best regards Ian Teh

From:
Sent: Friday, 23 November 2007 11:08 AM
To: Teh, Ian;
Subject: FW: Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way   

From:
Sent: Friday, 23 November 2007 10:30 AM
Subject: FW: Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way  

21/11: Truth and justice are no longer Malaysian way

Category: Articles Posted by: raja petra Recent street protests have highlighted the self-serving nature of Malaysia’s GovernmentGUEST COLUMNISTSMichael Backman
The AgeTHE Government of Australia will probably change hands this weekend. There will be no arrests, no tear gas and no water cannons. The Government of John Howard will leave office, the Opposition will form a government and everyone will accept the verdict.For this, every Australian can feel justifiably proud. This playing by the rules is what has made Australia rich and a good place in which to invest. It is a country to which people want to migrate; not leave.

Now consider Malaysia. The weekend before last, up to 40,000 Malaysians took to the streets in Kuala Lumpur to protest peacefully against the judiciary’s lack of independence, electoral fraud, corruption and a controlled media.

In response, they were threatened by the Prime Minister, called monkeys by his powerful son-in-law, and blasted with water cannons and tear gas. And yet the vast majority of Malaysians do not want a change of government. All they want is for their government to govern better.

Both Malaysia and Australia have a rule of law that’s based on the English system. Both started out as colonies of Britain. So why is Malaysia getting it so wrong now?

Malaysia’s Government hates feedback. Dissent is regarded as dangerous, rather than a product of diversity. And like the wicked witch so ugly that she can’t stand mirrors, the Government of Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi controls the media so that it doesn’t have to see its own reflection.

Demonstrations are typically banned. But what every Malaysian should know is that in Britain, Australia and other modern countries, when people wish to demonstrate, the police typically clear the way and make sure no one gets hurt. The streets belong to the people. And the police, like the politicians, are their servants. It is not the other way around.

But increasingly in Malaysia, Malaysians are being denied a voice — especially young people.

Section 15 of Malaysia’s Universities and University Colleges Act states that no student shall be a member of or in any manner associate with any society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or group of people whatsoever, be it in or outside Malaysia, unless it is approved in advance and in writing by the vice-chancellor.

Nor can any student express or do anything that may be construed as expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or union. Breaking this law can lead to a fine, a jail term or both.

The judiciary as a source of independent viewpoints has been squashed. The previous prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, did many good things for Malaysia, but his firing of the Lord President (chief justice) and two other Supreme Court judges in 1988 was an unmitigated disaster. Since then, what passes for a judiciary in Malaysia has been an utter disgrace and the Government knows it.

Several years ago, Daim Zainuddin, the country’s then powerful finance minister, told me that judges in Malaysia were idiots. Of course we want them to be biased, he told me, but not that biased.

Rarely do government ministers need to telephone a judge and demand this or that verdict because the judges are so in tune with the Government’s desires that they automatically do the Government’s beckoning.

Just how appalling Malaysia’s judiciary has become was made clear in recent weeks with the circulation of a video clip showing a senior lawyer assuring someone by telephone that he will lobby the Government to have him made Lord President of the Supreme Court because he had been loyal to the Government. That someone is believed to have been Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim, who did in fact become Lord President.

A protest march organised by the Malaysian Bar Council was staged in response to this, and corruption among the judiciary in general. But the mainstream Malaysian media barely covered the march even though up to 2000 Bar Council members were taking part. Reportedly, the Prime Minister’s office instructed editors to play down the event.

Instead of a free media, independent judges and open public debate, Malaysians are given stunts — the world’s tallest building and most recently, a Malaysian cosmonaut. Essentially, they are given the play things of modernity but not modernity itself.

Many senior Malays are absolutely despairing at the direction of their country today. But with the media tightly controlled they have no way of getting their views out to their fellow countrymen. This means that most Malaysians falsely assume that the Malay elite is unified when it comes to the country’s direction.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and today still a member of the Government, told me several weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur that he could see no reason why today Malaysia could not have a completely free media, a completely independent judiciary and that corrupt ministers and other officials should be publicly exposed and humiliated.

According to Tengku Razaleigh, all of the institutions designed to make Malaysia’s Government accountable and honest have been dismantled or neutered.

It didn’t need to be like this. Malaysia is not North Korea or Indonesia. It is something quite different. Its legal system is based on British codes. Coupled with traditional Malay culture, which is one of the world’s most hospitable, decent and gentle cultures, Malaysia has the cultural and historical underpinnings to become one of Asia’s most civilised, rules-based, successful societies.

Instead, Malaysia’s Government is incrementally wasting Malaysia’s inheritance.    

Election Approaching, Rudd Awaiting


After midnight on 21/11, no electronic election campaign advertisements would be permitted. I don’t know if there is a similar blackout from the print media. On television and radio however, we would not hear anymore election campaign advertisements after tonight. Well, for the next 3 years anyway.
The last 3 Labour Prime Ministers have all been very flawed characters. By and large however, you knew who they were, before they became Prime Minister.
With Gough you knew his social agenda. It may have been the ideals of that time for state support nearing total state welfare which sounds repugnant to present thinking and his total, take no prisoner attitude as he steams ahead with his agenda may have seemed suicidal. For that he may have seemed irresponsible. He may have been an idealist, but irresponsible. Yet he made no bones about it. Everyone knew what he was on about. He didn’t try to manipulate anything to project a different image.
With Hawke it was the same thing. He was a womaniser and boozer. Yet he did not pretend to be something else. Keating continues to dish out his tongue lashings and continues to speak his mind about anything he has a view on. You always knew he would do that. I liked both Hawke and Keating. It was Keating who made it cool to appreciate antique clocks. If not for him, whenever I stepped into the antique shop of my brother in law (Daniel Ching) I would not have stopped to stare at these clocks.
Rudd however, is a different animal altogether. His public image has been a carefully crafted one. Just over a year ago I read an interview with him where he quoted Dietrich Bonheoffer extensively. He claimed to be devout Christian. I watched him spar with Joe Hockey, then the Minister for Human Services (or some ministry like that) and thought he was such an articulate, sincere and likeable man.
My perception of Rudd has changed. I now see him as someone who is prepared to lie about anything to get what he wants. Integrity is not part of his vocabulary. He’d go to a strip club and claim he’d forgotten (because he was too drunk). When I get drunk I want to sleep or pick a fight, not go to a strip club. Maybe he got drunk in the strip club, who knows? He faked things on television. Before an audience of mainly Muslims, he would not affirm his belief in Christianity (would not say Jesus is the Son of God). How can someone hold such polarised stance? You cannot say you are a devout Christian and express agreement with Dietrich Bonheoffer’s theological writings and then cannot bring yourself to confess Jesus is the Son of God. He’d say things for years which he would not permit his team to say, if it meant being against the grain of the moment.
He appears to hold no views, sways according to popular opinion and would not tell you the truth. In fact he would lie, if that makes him look good or better. John Howard may appear to be like a grumpy old man at times and his “liberal” (read conservative a la Thatcher) views may not always be agreeable to the average wage earners (like me) but you knew where he stands. With Rudd, his true colours may only surface if/when he becomes Prime Minister. It may mean 3 disastrous years which would take a long time to fix.

Howard Up Against It


The Australian Labour Party launched its official election campaign a few days ago in Brisbane, the hometown of its new found star, Kevin Rudd. On parade in this show, apart from the infamous “worm” (a gauge which sat at the bottom of the television screen during televised debate between the PM and Rudd, measuring audience reaction to a speaker’s speech – very shonky but had a huge impact in terms of creating the image of audience favouring or disliking a particular candidate), the other characters included past Labour Prime Ministers, Gough Whitlam (only Prime Minister in Australian history to have been forcibly removed from office outside of an election – read: sacked), Bob Hawke (he who publicly admitted to womanising and other moral flaws) and Paul Keating (he of the acid tongue and outrageous arrogance).

Each of these characters was charismatic in their own ways, very intelligent and very flawed character wise. Unfortunately Kevin Rudd is a bit like that. Finagling all the time, he has been caught out in these circumstances: drunk in a striptease bar, deceiving television audience, gagging his frontbench from saying the same things he has been saying and lying in a televised debate with his political opponent. Yet he is also extremely articulate and polished in his media appearances.

Earlier this week I watched Andrew Denton interviewed John Laws (a legendary institution in radio talkback host in Sydney). Laws related an incident where he pre-recorded an interview with Kevin Rudd. It was about 7 in the morning and Laws asked how the campaign was going. Rudd said he was so tired and Laws asked if he would rather be doing something else. Rudd said he was alright doing it but felt it was hard going and he was very tired. After saying this, Laws said Rudd was then pulled aside by one of his handlers and when he resumed the interview, he asked Laws if what he just said was recorded. Laws said of course it was – it was an interview for use in radio. Rudd said he didn’t realise it was recorded and said he’d rather Laws didn’t use that as he wasn’t aware of it. They agreed and when he “went on record” and restarted the interview, Rudd was a completely different person.

This told me two things. The first was that Rudd was a very inexperienced man – he should have expected that this exchange was going to be part of Laws’ show just over an hour away. That he didn’t suggested he was too tired to be attuned to this probability or he was too naïve, neither of which is a particularly glowing tribute to a leader’s make-up. The second was that Rudd was always careful about the image he projected. His media image is a creation. He plays the modern C-span politician to the hilt. He is a consummate modern, media savvy politician and would be unapologetic about having a media image which is completely manufactured. He isn’t necessarily the person he appears on television, radio or the newspapers. What he says or projects on television could be entirely different from who he really is, what he believes in and what he is likely to do.

I’m not sure I want someone like that as a leader.

Yet, John Howard proved a disappointment when he announced his education package a couple of days ago. He planned to provide rebates to all parents/guardians of school going children, including cash rebates to assist private school fees. This sounds to me like unadulterated bribery. It’s a sugary feel good quickie with no long term benefit to education (and therefore the skill levels and competitiveness of Australia) in general. Kiddo’s present school – the Mount Waverley Secondary College on Stephenson’s Road in Mount Waverley – may be a good school but the infrastructure is in shambles. Many classrooms are shed-like boxes. They are clean and comfortable but I don’t know if this is representative of the state of affairs of the public school system and the financial commitment of state and federal governments to education. I forget now what Howard’s package costs on the whole but surely if he could get states to match in on some agreed scale public education as a whole would benefit a whole lot more than dishing out lollies.

Is Howard thinking now defeat is staring at him unless he finds that rabbit soon? Was that why he took the step of cash rebates? Did he not think Danny Nalliah’s “prophecy” of his victory had credibility, or did he also think that “prophecy” was so circuitous and conditional one could never feel free to remove the quote marks? Whatever the reason for this disappointing step by Howard at the rate of progress it looks like Rudd would romp home. I honestly think Australia would be a poorer place (not just economically or financially) for it.

Kiddo, Theresa and I were at her Mac. Rob last night for an information night. It was the second time Kiddo visited the school, the first time for Theresa and the third for me. It was the first time we all heard the word “Mac.Robian”. I left work a little earlier than usual and drove the short distance from the office to the school, picking up Kiddo and Theresa along the way. They had made their way from the city by tram and stopped a block from my office. I was initially disappointed with the administration of the school, having found out that they had failed to act on my letter advising them of a change of address. Theresa had followed up with an email and that too wasn’t actioned on. We therefore missed out on a couple of communications and some forms, which they had sent to the old address. So we had to play catch-up with the notices and forms.

The sense of competition and the desire to do more was very evident during and after the meeting. A very passionate music director was faced with a queue of students and parents after the presentation which started at the front of the auditorium and snaked its way down to the hallway at the back. Most had simply wanted to hand in the music form (selection of instrument, tuition required and instrument hire). So again, the administration was a bit loose there. We finally left the place close to 9.30 and reached home only around 10.

We’ve been having a family (just the wife/mom and their 10 year old boy) with us for about a week and a half now, and last night when we got home, Theresa and I caught up with her to chat about how she has been doing with all the preparatory work. I feel her fear and her concerns and generally, appreciate her disorientation. There is so much to do. I’m disappointed with some of her friends, who helped her find their rental property. Against my advice, they committed to the lease without even seeing the property, when they were still in Malaysia. They relied on their friends to inspect the property and committed to the lease on that basis. It turned out that the property is in shambles. It is dirty and parts of the house are dilapidated, with a backdoor even missing a knob/lock. Their friends have not offered to help her with the fixing or cleaning and generally left her to her own defences. They came around and took her out for dinner last Friday but did little else. I’m sure they have their reasons but I feel that having committed her to a property which required so much work they could have at least asked if they could help. I kept asking myself how these friends could have advised this family to apply for a lease for a property like that. As a result, this family has been extremely slow in getting this place ready and despite having the lease approved and keys collected well before they arrived the house is still not ready and they are still squatting with us. Maybe I’m being unfair. She’s a nice person and the boy is generally well behaved so they have not been bad guests in any way and are welcomed to remain as long as they need to. On the other hand, I felt she should do more to quickly settle into her own house and prepare to live this new phase of their lives as early as possible. Postponing this would not help her in anyway, except maybe save a few dollars. If this was her motivation for not expediting preparation of her house then it is disappointing and she is being near sighted.

I remember my experience well. Theresa and I came to Melbourne in October 2004 and lived with her uncle in Blackburn, just up the road and as the crow flies from our present home. Theresa left to return to Malaysia after a week. I stayed on and 1 week later found the house on Muir Street in Mount Waverley. A day or so after signing the lease, I went furniture shopping, buying just enough to fit out 2 bedrooms, the living area, dining and a study desk. I also bought appliances – basic necessities like fridge, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, kettle, iron, television, dvd player and some pots and pans. These were basic models – enough to make the house a home. Not a luxury home by a long shot, just enough to provide comfort to cushion the pain of adjustment and being away from our home we’ve known all our lives. I cleaned, scrubbed and fitted and assembled the furniture. I took almost a week to do all of these. As soon as I fixed a bed, I moved out from Blackburn and into this house on 18 Muir Street, Mount Waverley which was to be our home for the next 15 months. While I enjoyed staying in the home of Theresa’s uncle, I wanted to quickly settle in so that I can be in a better position to help my family settle in, when they arrived. I guess we’re all different.

We knew this family (our present guests) from Klang, where they attended the church we used to attend there. Another one who was there before but is also in Melbourne now, called a couple of nights ago and wanted to have breakfast tomorrow with this family. We have so much to do, as does this new family, so last night we decided we won’t do this just now. Sometimes we lose sight of things. The new migrant tends to lose sight of the fact that for the migration to work it has to be seen as a permanent thing. I think too many migrants have a let-give-it-a-go attitude. So when things get a bit rough, they reconsider the whole move and let doubt set in. Of course things will seem rough. My constant line on this issue is that things in Malaysia seemed better and easier because we had then spent most of our lives there. Many took 10, 20 years to build the sort of lives they were enjoying. Why then do we dislodged ourselves, kitchen sink and all, go to a different country with a very different culture several thousand miles away and think life can have the sort of stability and normalcy again within a much shorter period of time, often months? The expectation is simply unrealistic. It would take a few years before life can resume any semblance of stability and equilibrium again. One must give it time.

And so that brings me back to my earlier point about settling in as quickly as possible. Settling in takes time. We must give it as much time as possible. It is therefore, in my mind, imperative that we make our home here in as many ways as possible, as quickly as possible. To facilitate that we must avoid the little things which tend to create the mood and atmosphere of living in a transient mode. Postponing decisions like purchasing basic requirements add to that. We simply have to recognise the decisions and steps which have to be taken take them and move on.

The established migrants also tend to lose sight – they forget how things were like when they first came here. They forgot how helpless they were and how much needs to be done before the home and surroundings can become warmer, friendlier and more secured and stable. I don’t know if meals together help settle one down

It is late Friday afternoon. I started this piece last night. It has been a long week. My colleague has so much on she’s freaking out and exposing frayed nerves everywhere and is near hyper. Another colleague, the departmental personal assistant, is whacking on a number stamp, numbering pages on a document. She was pulling and punching holes on a binder earlier. A Board meeting is coming up and she’s prepping the board papers for distribution. Combining these two activities, you get a cacophony of corporate hoopla which on a good day sets the adrenalin flowing a little faster. On a Friday afternoon it tends to make me give up as it tends to take my mind off to hinterland. Concentrating is too hard work and too frustrating. I have therefore been having trouble on this advice I have been working on and have decided to give up and maybe take a look at it sometime over the weekend. I thought I’d use this time to finish off this piece instead.

 

Malaysians Demonstrate


The footage showing Jalan Tun Perak in KL awashed with soaked protestors running away from the water cannon truck has probably been YouTubed no end. Ironically this footage came from Al-Jazeera, the station which pro-establishment Malaysia applauded when Bush and Co attacked Iraq. The Islamic brotherhood seems to have been broken now that the finger is pointed at the Malaysian Muslim dominated government. This is affirmation of the principle that you don’t support a person or an organisation just because you share the same faith or beliefs. Your support should be based on a shared conviction of the cause.

I have said for some time now (see earlier entries) that Malaysia is past the stage where incremental evolutionary changes would be sufficient. The slide has been primed for so long and the trigger long pulled by the likes of Abdul Razak and Dr Mahathir, that Badawi is now the least suited person to avoid changes which would jolt or shock the system. The chance for a relatively less painful change has been lost.

Again, the following is something I have said many time before in the past but recent events on the streets of KL are such strong symptoms I will just say it again. If you put someone in a position of responsibility not because he is the most able – be that in terms of intelligence or industry – but purely because he is of an accepted race, how can you expect progress? The whole country is systematically mismatched in terms of resource allocation. You can do this in the odd instance and get away with it, I guess. But if you do it consistently over generations and in every sphere of life, can you seriously expect progress? Whereas countries like America, Singapore, Hong Kong and China open their doors and compete for talented workforce, Malaysia bids its talents good riddance for racist reasons.

In fact it welcomes unskilled, uneducated masses from its neighbour purely for racist and religiously bigoted reasons. Unskilled and uneducated Indonesians arrive illegally en masse and are given rights of permanent residence or even citizenship regardless of their capacity to contribute to progress of the country. In contrast, the highly educated, skilled and experienced professionals are pushed out. What is the common thread? Kiddo would say: “like duhh”… race and religion. Do this consistently for 10-20 years and can you seriously expect progress in terms of dragging the country into first world/developed country status? You’d be lucky to avert a dog’s breakfast, probably if times are good. You may then cushion and absorb all the effects this brings. But good times don’t last, especially if people you entrust to manage the country and its economy are not the best ones available but are so placed purely because of racist reasons.

Actually, the cause of the demonstration was free and fair elections. Anwar Ibrahim initiated this. If he has any enduring qualities it is his ability to create a crowd to move in a massive and therefore visible way. I recall the days just before his arrest – the crowds he managed to attract were impressive by Malaysian standards, particularly when the government controlled media has a total blackout of the events.

Of course this crowd working ability of Anwar precipitated his being ostracised from Malaysian politics. He’s now back so while he is generating much needed reaction to stir the powers that be, he isn’t what Malaysia needs going forward. He was one of the perpetrators and he has not done anything to suggest that his exile has created a purer drive to bring about change. The feeling is he just wants to remain in the game and be recognised as someone who still matters in Malaysian politics, instead of being someone with a clear agenda for reform.

But what do I know. I’m not even a Malaysian anymore. I may have been born there, I may have grown up there and I may have had a great life there but that’s not where my future lies. Neither is it where the future of kiddo lies.

Cup Day 07


The office organised a late sweep for today’s “Race that stops a nation”. I plonked in 2 bets but the draw came out pretty hopeless. “Tungsten Strike” is poised to strike, and “Mahler” would not I think, ride to a pretty symphony. So my attention remains with work, our current boarders and Howard v Rudd.

Work is becoming very busy, even busier than before. I feel less in control now, with events hurled at me endlessly and the things I want to do and the manner I want to do them in are consistently shoved aside, to take care of urgent tasks. Still, I’m just glad to be at work whenever I can, including bits of it on Cup Day!

We have a couple of boarders with us now, migrants who arrived just last night. They are setting things up for the rest of the family. It makes the home more lively and we are a bit more conscious of cleanliness, appearance etc and that’s a good thing. Hopefully they would not take too long to settle down or feel more at ease in this new home and country of theirs.

Howard remains a catcher-upper to Rudd, but while he appears to be closing the gap, it looks too laboured and may just be too little too late. I’m following events closely, just to see how Nalliah goes…(see earlier entry on Prophecy…)

Smorgasboard Again


Work

Just a little over a year ago, after a miserable 2 months, I resigned from my role as a solicitor with the Melbourne Market Authority. I left that organisation at the end of October 06 and began a personal downward slide which lasted a few months. I think the wounds from that episode are still felt every now and then, which made me appreciate all the more, the fact that I am now engaged in a challenging and satisfying role. A few days ago a colleague from an associated department came around to tell us he has just resigned. He’s a really top bloke and our favourite guy in that department. He was going to do a course on primary school teaching after which he planned to get a job much closer to home (it is now a 1-hour drive in to work every day) so that he could spend more time with his 4 children.

This tells me either one of 2 things – that the culture here permits such great flexibility for career change without allowing money to get in the way, or that there has been issues which have caused him unhappiness here. The Asian heritage in me tells me there must be a degree of unhappiness in his relationship at work because the sacrifice in terms of income would be too great. There is no way a primary school teacher can earn anywhere near what his role here would have been paying him. I would not be surprised if the drop is somewhere in the 50% region. In addition, he’d have to fork out a considerable sum to enrol in a primary teaching course and be without income for the duration of that course (7 months). Financially, it represents such a high cost. Like I said, the Asian in me tells me there must therefore be something else, which is a strong push factor, which has contributed significantly to his decision. I hope he continues to be the happy, positive and chirpy person we have come to know.

Work pattern in Australia has surged ahead so that in many organisations, it is now commonplace for employees to be working late into the night. Just over 2 years ago when I was in a suburban legal firm, work is almost always done by 6 at the latest. Maybe that is the way suburban work operates. Stil, I had to brief barristers every now and then and invariably that involved trekking into the city. Even the city lawyers didnt want to stay very much later than say, 6.30. Now however, I find many colleagues still hanging in and plugging away way past 7.

I have been driving in to work since we moved into our new place, as I have had to drop kiddo off at school in the morning (we are now too far away from her school for her to walk). As I have become free from the constraints of public transport, I have worked later than I thought I would when I came to this country. What’s more, I find myself not alone! While the vast majority are well out of the office by 6.30, increasingly unhealthy number of staff work well into the night and it is not uncommon for the odd person on the odd occasion to work close to midnight. Sad, but true.

Like I said, I have been driving in to work recently. Since moving into the new place, our routine has changed somewhat. While I still get into the gym as usual, I now drive back home after that, and pick kiddo up for school. I drop her a bit before 8, which isnt ideal for her but under the circumstances, is the best arrangement available. She probably has to wait around 30 minutes before her mates arrive – I feel sorry for her but like I said, we really have no choice. As it is, by the time I pull into the parking space, it leaves me just enough time for the 10-15 minute walk in to office. A week into this new routine, I have become a little more comfortable with it though if given half a chance, I would revert to the old one in a flash. I really prefer coming in early – gives me a certain comfort to be the in early, making sure there are no surprises for the day!!

Fun at Work

We recently had an Amazing Race style of event for the company. Over 3 separate days, up to 20 teams (for each day) went out for half a day and covered the Mebourne CBD completing various tasks and challenges. My team had someone from Project Management, a couple of guys from IT and well, me. We left Fawkner Park on Commercial Road around 1pm, and tracked around the CBD, solving puzzles and completing tasks and challenges. It was a great way to interact with colleagues we would otherwise never have a chance to even talk to. The appointed finishing time was 5pm when we were supposed to meet at a Beer Cafe just next to the office building. My team was an all-male fit and competitive outfit so we ran right through the entire race and finished just before 4pm, a record time! I must say I struggled to keep up (and I thought my fitness level was alright!) with my team members. A little trophy now sits on a filing cabinet at the Legal Department… It was fun but I was zonked that night – slept like a baby!

Malaysia

Last Saturday, I had lunch with an old friend. He is a family friend. When he first went to uni in Sydney, he stayed with me for a little while. I cannot remember how we hooked up but with a family friend that could have been through any one of our many uncles.

Anyway, the last time I met him was more than 15 years ago. About a week ago he bumped into Theresa in the train while getting in to the city. It was a strange and unlikely coincidence as Theresa didnt normally take the train on that line or at that time. Anyway, Theresa gave him my contact details, he called and we caught up over the weekend.

He had been a partner in one of the big 4 accounting firms, in the KL office. He’s younger than me so you could say he was young. A young professional who has made it as a partner in a big 4 accounting firm has a lot going for him. His wife worked as an corporate deal/transaction analyst a tycoon who used to own a bank. When he sold the bank he continued to retain her on his personal payroll, to work on his personal deals and businesses. So she must have been a pretty good talent too. Yet, they have both decided to come and live in Melbourne. He sounded a little down in having to adjust to work at a more junior level. He’s still with the same big 4 firm, but not at the level he was in KL. He and his wife have both given up comfortable professional lives in exchange for personal struggles in many ways, in a new homeland. I do not envy his journey ahead, for the next say, 12-18 months. It is going to take a lot of adjustments. It is a journey Theresa and I have taken and continue to take. It is, unfortunately (or should it be fortunately) a journey many Malaysians have taken and would continue to take.

Just like many before my friend, he too relayed incidents of habitual corrupt practices, economic mismanagement, erosion of law and order and a total lack of leadership or accountability on the part of the Prime Minister. Earlier suggestions that the PM was merely adopting an “elegant silence” were at best, to borrow Alan Greenspan’s famous line, “irrational exuberance” on the part of those who attempted to defend the PM. The PM was, has always been and remains a cause for concern and a major reason for Malaysia’s ills. At the beginning of his watch, Malaysia required urgent attention to cure the ills which Mahathir had inflicted. Instead, he simply made matters worse but creating an envrionment for more of the same, except this updated version of corruption, racism and mismanagement has become an “open source” system of sorts. What I mean is that while Mahathir’s reign heralded big-time corruption by individuals based which created total mismanagement, it was at least confined to a select few. The seriously corrupt and rich were always aligned to some politicians who were in turn aligned to Mahathir or Daim or while it lasted, Anwar. Under Badawi’s watch, no such order remained. It became a free for all, because Mahathir’s successor was asleep for the most part. The system or culture created by Mahathir was at least under control in that Mahathir was a strongman who made sure the order of things remained. With Badawi, the corruption and mismanagement remained but the order was gone. With the strongman gone, it’s the proverbial foot soldiers who have all swarmed in to place their grubby hands on the soiled and shrinking cake. Pretenders like Khairy and the so-called 4th floor boys think they have a good chance to take over but every single person I have spoken to think poorly of him and his mob so things dont look too flash for them.

Meanwhile, i think Malaysia would simply continue to suffer an exodus of the middle class, especially the skilled professionals. Like my old familyi friend said. the very rich would stay because they have too much at stake and they could always buy their way out of trouble should serious trouble come about. The poor or not-so rich and unskilled would have no choice so they would remain and cop whatever comes. All the others who could leave the country, mainly would if they have not already.

Family

It’s been almost 2 weeks since we moved into our new place. I’m at the tale end of a lingering cough, as is kiddo. Theresa is tired, and I’m thinking we could all use a break. On the first Saturday after moving in, after the routine cleaning and the lunch with the friend from the big 4 accounting firm and cooking it was almost 5. The cooking included boiling 80 eggs and dyeing them red (with helpful tips from a cyber friend as well as a church member), to celebrate a church member’s 80th birthday. It was something fun to do – to celebrate an anglo-saxon Aussie’s birthday by a traditional Malaysian Chinese way. I think the birthday boy appreciated it, which was good since we did it because we appreciated everything he has done for the church for so long. Incidentally, his initials are “JC” so he must have thought he has a lot to live up to. Kiddo had a church thing at 5 so after cooking we sent her there, came back and did some cooking (completed the egg dyeing) and by the time we were almost done, it was time to pick her up from church.

On the way home, we picked up a dvd and light and fun as it was, I could barely keep my eyes open as kiddo stayed glue. Theresa of course, was long gone way before me. We hit the sack relatively early, bearing in mind we were to adjust the clock to make room for daylight savings (we lose an hour). I pushed the clocks an hour ahead, went to bed and woke up feeling like I needed more sleep but couldnt get any more.

Aussie Pollies

Mr Rudd was at it again – doing his chameleon thing. For such a long time, he criticised John Howard for not signing the Kyoto Accord on greenhouse emission standards. John Howard’s stance of course, was that Kyoto has a huge gaping hole in the form of the absence of the US and China, 2 of the largest polluters. Kyoto also meant new costs to doing business so the Aussie economy would suffer. Why pay for something when others wont pay their shares and we wont get what we pay for? As unpalatable and unpopular as that sounds, I think John Howard is right not to go with Kyoto without US and China participation. I think it is classic Kevin Rudd playing to the gallery by suggesting he would adopt Kyoto. He has said it all along, including at the televised leaders’ debate.

Perhaps it is because the general public is now seeing the ineffectiveness of Kyoto unless the big 2 came along. Whatever the reason, when Peter Garett (the retired rock star of the Midnight Oil fame) the shadow environment minister said the Labour government would sign Kyoto irrespective of US and China participation, it hit a wrong note. Kevin Rudd then did to Peter Garett what he did to Rob McClelland, ie he gagged his team for saying something he himself has been saying all along. I dont know what this says.

With Rob McClelland it was the same thing. Kevin Rudd has been saying, for a very long time now, that he was against capital punishment wherever it took place. He said he condemns it, even if that meant criticizing other countries. Recently the country remembered of the Bali bombing of 2002. While Australians have generally condemned capital punishment especially when one of our own was at the receiving end, there was only muted objections to the execution of the Bali bombing perpetrators. It is understandable. Over 80 Australians were violently murdered. While inconsistent, the muted objection to the bombers’ execution was totally understandable. So no Aussie pollies voiced objections against capital punishment, certainly not during the anniversary of the murder of 80 Australians. Well one honest polly did – Rob McClelland the shadow foreign minister. Kevin Rudd however, decided the gallery must take priority so he went against his shadow foreign minister and gagged Rob, never mind that Rob was only saying what Kevin has said all along. Add that to the dossier of Kevin Rudd’s hypocritical acts, and you’d get a picture of someone you cant really trust, someone who tells you what you want to hear, not what he actually believes in and would do.

I’m afraid if the polls are accurate and Kevin Rudd becomes PM, we’d have a smooth media presenter with a chaotic and out-of-tune cabinet lead by a smooth but not to be trusted operator. Dont tell me we are going to get a Malaysian-style cabinet, please…

Cameo Kevin


Is Kevin Rudd the opposition leader and according to many pollsters the prime minister in waiting a fake? Or perhaps a flake? I used to think he’s a pretty decent guy. I once read an article where he exhorted Dietrich Bonheoffer as his hero. Dietrich Bonheoffer is a heavyweight in theology and was a brave and vocal critic of Nazi Germany. It was therefore quite something for Kevin Rudd, a labour leader, to openly admire him.

With recent developments however, I’m not so sure anymore – it is increasingly a case of a slick politician trying to pull one over as many as possible. He may have targeted that Dietrich Bonheoffer article at a specific audience to buy them over, without really believing it himself. Dietrich Bonheoffer would have had no hesitation in confessing Jesus as the Son of God. Kevin Rudd on the other hand, dithered and fluttered and hummed and hawed before stumbling over “I go to church regularly”.

That’s not good enough, Kevin. Don’t say you are a Christian just to get the Christian votes and by the same token, don’t deny Jesus is the Son of God just to get the non-Christian votes. If you stay true to a course, you may get the votes of those who don’t agree with your course but admire and support your courage in staying true and publicly stating your ground. By playing both sides, you may well end up losing both blocks of votes as neither want a fake flip they cannot trust. The fact that you rely so much on focus groups tell me you have a media management approach and would pander to whoever would deliver the most important numbers. That is not providing leadership; that is more marketing.

I would be taking a closer look, over the course of the next few weeks, at what Kevin Rudd has to offer. To a large extent, I already know what John Howard is all about. I may not agree with some of the things he does but at least I know what he is likely to do. With Kevin Rudd, the only certainty I have is that he changes his position all the time.

Kiddo and Work


Stepping back to catch my breath  I left for home early on 2 days ago, taking the afternoon off to spend some time with Kiddo. I felt I have not been in touch with what her life has been like lately, and that she needed some input on the home front. I got home around 3, and we went out for some coffee and ice cream. We sat down, talked and I caught up with what’s been happening in her life lately.  She’s got a whole range of songs in her iTunes collection – songs I’d never imagined would find a place in our home. She knows all these songs and can sing along with most numbers. She’s totally part of this iPod generation, I guess. I asked her why she would want – why anyone would want – anything more than say, 10-20 songs in her iPod and her response summarises the fact that I don’t get it. I don’t, I guess.  I don’t get why you’d have more than the number of songs you’d listen to at any one time. On a typical day, I ride something like 45 minutes each way, on the train and tram. Even if I had an iPod plugged into my ears right through, that’s approximately 15 songs. For a return journey, assuming I’d only listen to each song once, I need a maximum of 30 songs. That’s what – 250MB? If she needed more songs, it’s a simple act of plugging that iPod into a PC and load up or swap around. Like most people her generation, she’d probably sit in front of a PC some time during the day anyway. So I don’t get why anyone would find it necessary to have a 4GB or 8GB iPod. Maybe this generation has a thing about having everything on call at the press of a button with minimum hassle.   After coffee and ice cream we drove around a bit, then we went home and we talked some more before doing some other fun stuff like watching video clips and playing a play station  game. While I felt terrible leaving work early when things have been busy at the office, I felt this was necessary to try and get kiddo and I back on track for a bit and for me to see how she’s doing. I hope she found this as beneficial as I did and that we’d have a continuous “centring” process like this. CSI I’m not quite sure what it is but it isn’t Crime Scene Investigation. It’s a group at work which does some charity work and does stuff like selling chocolates for funding. I think it means corporate and social involvement or something like that and its pet project (pun intended) is sponsorship of a guide dog. This afternoon, it organised a barbeque where it sold sausages, veggie burgers and soft drinks. It also asked staff to come in to work in casual clothes and those who do so contribute a “gold coin” ($1 or $2). So for the privilege of wearing my khakis to work and having a veggie burger and diet coke, I paid $5. The better bit must be the hour or so spent at the park where the barbeque was. Just idling on a park during lunch on a warmish spring day was really very pleasant. This was the sort of work environment I had imagined being in, when I thought about moving over to Australia. Yet it is almost 3 years later before this happened and it doesn’t look like it would be the norm.  I guess globalisation means competitive streaks have crept into every nook and cranny of every trading nation. No longer is there anywhere in the world where you’d head for an easier workload or more relaxed lifestyle. Someone mentioned, during the barbeque lunch, that it was the first time in a few weeks he had taken a whole hour off for lunch. That has been true for me as well, with lunch often meaning a quick bite at the desk or a quick dash to the takeaway around the corner. Instead of the fabled 38 hour week the average Melburnian professional probably puts in easily 50-60 hours on the low end and closer to 80 hours on the other end and that is probably a conservative ballpark estimate.

Momentum in Malaysia


Riding on a momentum in Malaysia 

Malaysia seems to be on the verge of very positive stuff. I have just received another email (one of many in circulation, I’m sure – I am now in receipt of at least half a dozen each week). This email contains a letter/article written by a veteran civil servant critical of the current leadership and recent events. 

The author of this latest letter/article is actually a retired state Chief Police Officer who was also a senior Special Branch man. He thought the IGP (highest ranking police officer in Malaysia) at the time he was state CPO (Tun Haniff) had great integrity and served well. He wouldn’t have been a career cop if he had anything less than unwavering belief in his higher ranking colleague so his glowing reference is to be expected. I would have been more inclined to believe him had he not given a similar stamp of approval to the next IGP after Haniff, which is Rahim Noor. Apart from Rahim’s criminal assault on Anwar (and created the most famous black eye Malaysia has seen), Rahim has been known to be accused of many other sins. For this CPO to allude to Rahim’s assault on Anwar as an aberration means his other accounts have been badly coloured.  

So what was so good about a hackneyed and somewhat biased piece by a retired cop? It demonstrates the point that a number of people have now spoken up against the sins of Badawi’s government and his band of thieves. This ranged from royal family and retired big wigs to ordinary office men or business owners. Many agree something has to be done. In fact, apart from the dominant party of the ruling coalition, I think most people think something has to be done. Many are of course asking what can be done. The lawyers have gone on a march. A march by a couple of thousands of lawyers with widespread press coverage is a rarity in most societies, let alone Malaysia. So that was great. But apart from speeches and articles and marches, what else can be done? 

Many have resorted to prayers. As a Christian I believe in that very firmly. I know prayer changes things. I have advocated prayer (as a cure for Malaysia’s problems) for many months now. However, just as we do not just pray when someone is sick (we send him to a doctor) and we do not just pray when we are hungry (we go out and find food), so we should also think about what else we can and should do with the malaise plaguing Malaysia, even as we pray. Someone once said that a miracle is to keep doing the same thing but expecting a different outcome. What can Malaysians do which haven’t been done before?  

I think those who can, should lead a peaceful revolution. Those who can are the non-political Malay professionals, technocrats, teachers, office workers, housewives the Chinese and Indian businessmen, professionals, teachers, office workers, housewives – ie, everyone! Or, almost everyone – anyone who has up until now limited his or her political activity turning up on polling day to check off a ballot paper – can participate in this. It can be a very simple act. For example, organize a day where everyone collects the household rubbish, put it in a black garbage bag, and take a drive to the nearest and highest ranking politician’s office and deposit that bag of rubbish there. Call it rubbish day. Ideally all this rubbish can be deposited at the front of an identified person – Fairuz, Khairy, Badawi, Rafidah, anyone who is easily identifiable and can be a symbolic figurehead and representative of the stink that has become unbearable for most Malaysians. That is just step 1. I don’t know though if even a simple act like this is something all Malaysians would be bothered with. Any concerted efforts which is non-violent but sends a loud and clear message, ought to be a great first step. Someone should capitalize on the momentum and do this, I feel. 

Full-on (and therefore un-relaxing) weekend 

A good mate of mine is in town right now. He flew in from Malaysia a few days ago with his family. They’re here for a final reconnaissance trip, before making the move in December this year. They’re looking for a house so last night he came over to our place and used the internet to do some research. They were here from around 4pm and by the time they just a little after 9pm, I was so knackered I could barely stay up a minute longer. I think we all were. It was a bit of a hectic weekend. 

Earlier yesterday afternoon, as we were limbering up to leave church after a long lunch there, I received a telephone call from a friend. She said her car was on fire and she wondered what she could or should do for the insurance. After my jaw stopped dropping, I told Theresa what happened and we both drove straight from church to this friend’s house. We arrived some 20 minutes later and when we sent into the driveway, we saw that the front of their Camry wagon was almost completely burnt off and the smell of burnt rubber and plastics was still hovering about.  After giving some general advice on what she could do, we hung around and chatted with her and another friend who has also come to just be around. We were all old friends, and shared a flat together in our university days back in the mid to end 80’s in Sydney. As we chatted, we reminded ourselves it has been over 20 years since those relatively carefree days. We only left when my mate rang and said they were at our house! 

Earlier that morning, we had busied ourselves getting ready for church and the lunch which followed thereafter. We left home earlier than usual, I dropped kiddo and Theresa off, stayed around to chat with a few people and then left to pick up another member and her mother and baby. They’re from Hong Kong and have been attending our church for a few months and we recently offered to give them a lift to church. The baby is absolutely adorable and I suspect she has begun identifying me as the taxi man as she no longer look at me as a stranger and even smiled and waved at me. She’s only about a year old and contrasts well with another baby in the church, also about a year old and a girl, who is much chattier. They are now both friendly to Theresa and I.  

So from baby hugging to lunch preparation and wining with mate, yesterday left me tired this morning, when I struggled to get into the gym. The reduced 30 minute runs I have these days wasn’t as laboured as I was afraid it would be but I am still one luc short of a bright and chirpy fellow.  Saturday was no better – after the usual weekend house cleaning we dropped kiddo off at her mate’s place in Canterbury. We also spent some time with that mate’s mother, who just had back surgery and was recuperating at home. After that we went and did some shopping, collected some boxes to do some more packing and got home by about 2pm. I lugged a whole bundle of clothes down for ironing and by the time I finished, the footy grand finals was already half way through. It was obvious then the cats were going to win this one and end that other drought plaguing Victoria. When the lead stretched to about 70 points soon after half time, it was a question of whether Port Adelaide was going to be able to ward off getting beaten by the greatest ever margin in grand finals history. It turned out they couldn’t and the final 119 points margin was something coach Williams was going to take some undoing.  As the final quarter was drawing to a close, I started cooking dinner.

We were supposed to meet at A Hooi’s house to prepare the dessert for the lunch next day. She was going to cook a curry and I volunteered to cook some noodles to go with it.  Theresa had gone to someone’s house in Box Hill earlier in the morning to collect some heavy duty pots for this. I cooked the noodles, Theresa went to pick kiddo up from her mate’s place and we made our way to A Hooi’s. The peeling, cutting and dinner finished by about 9pm and by the time we got home it was close to 10pm.

Prophecy: Howard Will Win in Nov 07


A political leader actually knows what to do and announces it and gets support for it.  They don’t announce committees.”

Peter Costello the treasurer of Australia made that statement recently in a media interview. I didn’t quote that statement because it is such a great quip but more because in a quick way, it sifts out the essence of what makes a good head of government. It is not to give paternalistic advice or to make money for oneself and family members. It is certainly not to ignore what is truly going o n in the country and either sleeps his way through meetings or jet around to this part of the world. A good head of government has to determine what is best for the country, device a plan to achieve the desired outcome, gets support for it and goes out to implement that plan.

What the Liberal Party (and its junior member, the National Party) has recently done is to highlight the deficiency of Kevin Rudd and his Labor Party on this count. Perhaps as a result, we now have polls showing the Liberal/National coalition going somewhere other than south for the first time. It has reversed the trend of the past few months. Costello and Howard have recently been more successful in showing that Kevin Rudd and the Labor Party has no coherent policies. In fact they don’t have any. Even the shadow treasurer, Wayne Swan, had put up his hand and admitted he is no economist. I have never liked him and as cocky as Costello sometimes appear, he at least has substance. Wayne Swan too, appears cocky and arrogant but he appears a lot flakier. The environment shadow minister is an ex-rock star (Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil fame) who at one point wasn’t aware of basic environmental programs existing in Australia. The shadow industrial relations minister (Julia Gillard) promised to “rip-up” work choices legislation when elected but has no coherent replacement policy. She has in fact said work choices would remain well into this decade and may not be touched till 2012. In other words she does not have any idea – she would continue with the current government program for industrial relations. What many fear is that this vacuum would be hijacked by trade unions, who continue to have very strong influences over the Labor Party.

All of this isn’t really exciting. You can pick up any newspaper in Australia or tune in to any radio or television station and you’d get the necessary stories and commentaries over these and other issues.

What is really intriguing is the fact that a church minister has come out and said, virtually in public, that Howard and Costello would win a November election. He titled a short message “Prophetic Word Regarding the Federal Election 2007”. That is an extremely brave statement to make. That minister said he met with Howard and Costello over a month ago, spoke with each of them separately and also prayed with them. That statement was said to have been made on 11 August 2007. The really interesting points are that Howard would be re-elected in a November election, and he would hand over the leadership to Costello “sometime after”. If this was really said over a month ago, that statement would have especially gained a lot more traction in the past week. Howard was on the verge of being dumped by the Liberal Party.

Political commentators (including Andrew Bolt, my current favourite columnist) have pined for Howard’s resignation, saying that offered the best hope for a Liberal fight back. Bolt had cited several examples in the past, including Bill Hayden’s handing over of the Labor Party reins to Bob Hawke on the very day Malcolm Fraser called an election. Hawke of course, went on to win the election. Costello of course, does not have the wide popularity Hawke had. The cabinet had met and had wanted to do a Brutus on Howard, only for Costello to refrain from plunging the knife. Could it be that he paid heed to this church minister? He could of course, have gone with the wishes of his cabinet colleagues and dumped Howard. But that would have been to ignore the “prophetic word” and taken things into his hands and the hands of his fellow (human) colleagues.

By all accounts, many who cared for the Liberal/National coalition thought Costello should have done it. He was accused of “lacking ticker” for holding back. The fact that he did not do it, and let Howard continue to lead, and the fact that Howard then undertook to continue being PM well after the election but would hand over to Costello some time during the next term, gave the “prophetic word” a lot of credence. It is especially stark given Howard’s and Costello’s action went against what many thought was political wisdom and absolutely necessary for Liberal survival. The fact that both of these very wise and experienced leaders didn’t do what many experts thought they should have done, gave the “prophetic word” even more colour. I got really excited when I read that message last night, just before I left the office. When I thought about it today, I said “wow” again.

Is there a catch to all this? I don’t know – I really don’t want to sound like doubting Thomas and cast a shadow over this really exciting stuff, but that church minister did throw in a proviso. He said this:

“I will boldly declare that Prime Minister John Howard will be re-elected in the November election (if the Body of Christ unites in prayer and action) and pass the leadership onto Peter Costello sometime after.”

When does a prophecy depend on the prayer of Christians? The prophecies in the bible are never dependent in this way (as far as I know). The outcome of certain events can very well be affected by prayers of Christians and they often do. We can for example, be concerned over Labor party philosophies which tend to be humanistic and exclude God and for that reason, pray for more Godly persons to be victorious in elections. That however is not a prophecy. That is a case of answered prayers. To qualify a prophecy in this way somehow makes it a lesser case of God planning to do something and more a case of we wanting something and made an appeal to God to let what we want come to fruition. Often – where what we want is in accordance with His plans – God answers our petition but that isn’t fulfilment of a prophecy. It is a petition granted.