Tag: Kuala Lumpur

Date with Eusoff Chin – 22 Years Ago…


Somehow I managed to get 5 people to come along that day, in the Sultan Abdul Samad High Court complex in Kuala Lumpur. That was 22 years ago now.

I remember there were photos with my parents and grandparents and Tress. They must be in an album in the wooden trunk at home. Hopefully they’re not in the shed. Those photos were probably a tad dark, but I guess the Sultan Abdul Samad complex was probably dark generally – not a lot of light. Not especially since the presiding judge was Eusoff Chin, one of the more overtly corrupt judges Malaysia has known.

22 years later, my dad’s gone and so have my grandparents. My mum look well in a recent photo I saw in a facebook page. Tress has been wonderful and is my joy and comfort every day, far more than the event of 22 years ago has done for me.

I was called to the bar in Malaysia 22 years ago today. I have been a lawyer since, to earn a living. Except for a period of working for a Christian mission not for profit of course. I don’t know what my role as a lawyer through the years have done in terms of helping along for God’s will to be done on earth as in heaven.

The journey continues. I still wonder if I ought to be doing something else.

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More “running” from Malaysia, and my (closer to “proper”) run…


It rained all day on Saturday. I was a bit restless as a result, itching to go out into the gardens to organise the pruning which has accumulated in a couple of corners in the backyard. The council’s “hard rubbish” week was to start today and I had wanted to clear my backyard off those pruning.

After our usual coffee at the Coffee Club at the Chase, we rang a new migrant couple and invited them to dinner. They were probably too polite or maybe they didn’t want to miss out on an evening of time with the kids (they have 3 young ones) so they suggested afternoon tea instead. It was a novel idea – albeit an very English and therefore old one – but as the idea was to get to know them and see if we can be their friends, we agreed and set it for 3.30. We then checked with Jason and Mel to make sure our suspicion that they would give this a miss was ok. We had asked them the previous night when they were at our home for the first cell meeting of the year, but we thought it was going to be dinner. Our dear friends spend Saturday afternoons swimming and/or playing badminton so dinner was going to suit better. The previous Sat had been taken up with another do at our mate’s home so two Saturdays in a row was always going to be tricky. So it was just Tress and I and the new family.

So we had “tea” on Saturday arvo. The family was lovely. They’re both IT professionals – very highly successful ones with large MNCs, but remained very pleasant and courteous. Their kids were a joy to be with. Extremely courteous, curious and obviously intelligent, they were very warm too, to boot. They would be such wonderful additions to the local community. They have been here only a few weeks, but they are one of probably half a dozen or so families we have met in the last 6 months or so, who have chosen to leave Malaysia. The trend is a continuing one and appears to be escalating. All Australia’s gain and Malaysia’s loss for sure, but I dont think those idiots who pretend to run the country care very much at all. Someone told me Idris Jala, a Malaysian government minister, recently went back on his views that Malaysia faced bankruptcy unless fuel subsidies were removed. No one in Malaysia thought this reversal had anything to do with any notion of an improving economy, and more to do with another minister who either did not know what he was talking about or one who lacked courage to defy his band of thieving and lying manipulators.

Anyway, this family appears to have settled in well and quickly and will no doubt contribute to Australia more positively and will be appreciated here more than they were in Malaysia. At least their kids can attend university courses of their choice and which they qualify for strictly on merit, instead of seeing buffoons take up places they dont deserve, in hopelessly narcissistic universities anyway.

———————————-

Yesterday in church someone asked me if I can recommend his grandson a job. He just finished his law course in a local uni and is probably having a testing time looking for work or deciding on the next step. I mentioned to his parents before, about roles in the State Revenue office but I’m not sure if he’s into that sort of stuff. Like I always suspected, if you finish law school without ever securing a summer clerkship at anytime or locking up an article clerkship, you’re in for a rough and yet very ordinary careeer. That is not a bad thing as lawyers who work their entire lifetime in suburban practice can do well and be happy but it does tamper with a young man’s often rose tinted view of a law career.

Having said that, I’m still struggling with what to do myself. Increasingly, spending time in my present role is just that – spending time. It is still underwhelming, uninspiring and I often go home with a flat feeling not from exhaustion but from being flat all day with little push or excitement. How one needs to be happy with one’s work.

So I’m hoping to make up for all that flatness by running a little bit more. I have previously resorted to food to do that for me – to provide something to look forward to each day – which has been a bit of a problem. Last week I clocked a 32km total, which is something I had not done for months and months. To run 8km a day again, for 4 days a week, feels a little better. It was laboured and it took a lot longer than it used to, but at least the run was clocked up.

This morning I did a 9.6km, albeit still at a slow time of just over an hour. I wonder if those 11km-12km an hour days are well and truly over. At least it made me feel a little better.

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Sang Kancil Forum


There was a forum in Malaysia, back in the nascent days of internet comms, which the late MGG Pillai used to contribute to. Someone mailed me a link which said this, almost 12 years ago!:

 

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Re: [sangkancil] Malaysian Dilemma

Thanks Mr Teh and very well said.

>From: Bala Pillai 
>To: sangkancil@malaysia.net
>Subject: [sangkancil] Malaysian Dilemma
>Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 13:46:46 +1100
>
>--forwarded message--
>Date: Sat, 11 Mar 00 10:30:00 +0800
>From: TEH THIAN HWA 
>To: adnan98@pd.jaring.my (Adnan_xyz)
>Cc: bala@malaysia.net (Bala Pillai)
>Subject: Malaysian Dillema
>:
>:
>:
>
>Dear xyz,
>
>I refer to your email to sangkanchilers dated 10 March 2000. I am a
>Chinese and can therefore safely condemn the Chinese race's shortcomings.
>
>I make the following observations:
>
>1. The primary school teacher incident.
>
>i. I am inclined to believe one can find a vernacular school where when
>the race factor is eliminated, one finds a similar pattern of car
>ownership or qualification for an assistance scheme, between wage earners
>and entrepreneurs.
>
>ii. Perhaps the families which did not own cars had better furnished
>homes or were better clothed. My personal visit to homes of my malay
>friends and chinese friends tell me that malays in general place more
>importance on home furnishing than chinese. Down my street there are a
>couple of beemer owners, but their single-storey terrace units are in
>absolute shambles. My double-storey terrace unit looks like a palace in
>comparison, but my Iswara parked in front is somewhat of a giveaway
>
>iii. More pertinent may be why malay parents were more likely to be wage
>earners than chinese parents. Can one not turn it around to suggest
>employment opportunities unfairly favour malays? I know many small
>business owners who would not have chosen to start those businesses had
>they had better employment opportunities. Is there unfair treatment here
>and by whom?
>
>2. Special class during Friday Prayers
>
>Assuming the students who were praying did not know about the classes and
>would have attended those classes had they known, or assuming those
>classes were not specifically requested by those students not praying,
>the teacher was wrong
>
>3. Students Abroad
>
>I studied abroad. When I left home my father gave me enough money for
>three months. I started looking for part-time work on the third month.
> >From the fourth month on, I worked part-time and continued doing it until
>I left for home 6 years later. At the worst of times (during semester) I
>had one weekend job, working 10-11 hours starting at 5am on both
>Saturdays and Sundays - manual labour in fish markets. At the best of
>times during summer breaks I had four jobs simultaneously. Paper runs on
>weekdays at 5am-7am. "Regular" work as a cleaner/porter in a hospital
>from 8am-4pm weekdays. Ad-hoc work at university faculty in the printshop
>and moving furnitures, after 4pm. Fish markets weekends. Often I did
>paper runs and fishmarkets during semester. All this while, a family of
>malays live one floor above me. A married couple, both sponsored. Neither
>worked. They had children while I was working. Two of them, one after
>another. They had a good 10 years head start in raising a family.
>Assisted. I wasnt abroad because I was rich. I'm no Einstein but neither
>am I an intellectual slouch. I was in a top university in a top faculty.
>It now requires a near 99% percentile for admission. The family man was
>in a university a few suburbs away. In a faculty my cousin whose mother
>wished she had me for a son instead, would have gained admission if he
>tried harder. Merit? Deserving? Sigh ...
>
>I have another cousin whose father was schizophrenic. Left home when my
>cousin was only 2. My auntie became a seamstress to bring him up. There
>wasnt a year through primary and secondary school when he wasnt the top
>student. Guess who fished him out of the poverty cycle? The Singapore
>government.
>
>Of course, apart from my family man neighbour, I knew of another rich
>malaysian kid in my faculty, who was of the indian race. He drove a big
>Japanese car. Spent weekends on some waterfront hangout with local kids,
>sipping beers. Goes skiing during winter break, and out deep-sea fishing
>(read : sailing in some classy yacht, no doubt champagne laden) during
>summer breaks. He chatted now and then with me. I envied him whenever I
>do. I wished somebody had fished me out of my fishmarket routines. I know
>the malaysian government didnt. It plonked instead for that family man.
>And his wife.
>
>Also, the rich kids that malay student you mentioned spoke to? Maybe they
>had money because they worked. Not in fishmarkets may be, but maybe they
>worked. Certainly their parents did. Perhaps their parents were given a
>break from the vicious cycle by someone, huh?
>
>4, 5 & 6. Business cheats
>
>A pure, unadulterated truth - businessmen consider it a job well-done
>when they can squeeze maximum profits out of a deal. All businessmen do
>that. The fair ones try to give the party squeezed, some benefits so that
>they feel they have been fair. They squeeze some harder than they do
>others. Bases for differentiation? Anything. Race is certainly one way. I
>have been taken for a ride by a chinese, just because I speak a different
>dialect. Racist? Almost certainly to a large extent. Many chinese are
>racist. But that su
>
>
>Thanks,
>Teh
>
>
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>To unsubscribe, send a blank message to 
>
>or go to <http://www.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil>
>
>

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BERSIH and Carbon Tax


9 July has come and gone. Tress and I were with close to a thousand others at the Federation Square on Saturday afternoon, for a rally to demand some electoral reforms in Malaysia. We went with Brian, a good mate of mine who in turn introduced us to another bloke, who was also a lot of fun. The BERSIH rally in Melbourne was no where near as eventful as the KL version, but the KL folks showed the BN government it needs to take a serious look at itself or it is going to be sitting at the opposition side of the house come the next election. At the very least, BERSIH 2.0 has stripped BN off whatever claim to legitimacy it has left. Najib Razak can barely stand with any credibility and he has his mob has come out of this looking really rubbish. Well done BERSIH, well done, Ambiga.

On the domestic front, Bob Brown, Christine Milne and their mob have flexed their muscles and Julia Gillard continues to look worse by the day. All the compensatory aspects of the scheme may sit well for now for a group of voters but how will employment and foreign investment be affected over time? I don’t think Julia Gillard will be able to make the sale to the people in that regard. I think for most Australians, compensation is only a small part of it. What we want is assurance that jobs and investments and growths of these will not be adversely impacted, especially given the minimal impact the carbon tax will have on climate change.

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Thank you Bersih Thank You Ambiga


For a while, due probably to the end of semester exams and essay submission due date, I wasn’t following events in Malaysia all too closely. I then discovered, about 2-3 weeks ago, the planned activities of Bersih 2.0 and thought “wow, this should be great”.

I haven’t been disappointed.

For over 2 weeks I have jumped on the usual websites (Malaysiakini, Malaysia Today etc) and have picked up reports concerning 9 July 2011. More importantly, I have picked up vibes about the how people feel, leading up to the event.

I haven’t been disappointed.

The responses of the authorities have been expectedly empty gong loud noises. There haven’t been any substantive responses to the cause of Bersih. The cause is very clear, and it is made up of the following:

       1.      Clean the electoral roll

       2.      Reform postal ballot

  1. Use of indelible ink
  2. Minimum 21 days campaign period
  3. Free and fair access to media
  4. Strengthen public institutions
  5. Stop corruption
  6. Stop dirty politics

 Instead of addressing the matter in substance, it has branded the movement in a number of ways, none of which demonstrate that Bersih is anything other than what it claims it is fighting for. Like I said, Ambiga Sreenevasan is fair dinkum. You cant fault her. She may be nice – after all she was a dutiful rakyat who heeded her Agong’s call – but she is also clean and has nothing to fear or lose, except her personal liberty maybe. I expected Ambiga Sreenevasan and her team to hold steadfast to the cause and I haven’t been disappointed.

It is such an exciting time to be in Malaysia, particularly in KL. It wouldn’t be pretty. It would be tense. But it is exciting, because you could sense change coming. Maybe Najib Razak did too. Maybe that is why he has run away for now. Maybe intelligence tells him (not his, Najib doesn’t have a lot of intelligence I don’t think – I meant that of the Special Branch) it isn’t safe to be in the country as this could lead to anything. Maybe the actions of the authorities, especially the police, leading up to 9 July has been such that the people would at long last, say enough is enough and they would rise and take no more of this rubbish the hopelessly finished BN government continues to dish out.

I will participate by remote presence. I will be in the Melbourne chapter. Tomorrow is expected to be a little cold, and even wet. But it is an opportunity to be part of something special. Federation Square will be Merdeka Square for me tomorrow. Thank you Bersih. Thank you Ambiga Sreenevasan. 

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Malaysia’s Ever Growing Cesspool


Just caught up with some Malaysian news and frankly, I am embarrassed by it all. I thought Gillard and Abbot were disappointing but the make-up, the mentality, the tools, the whole cesspool of a pig sty in which Malaysian politics dwell is revolting. The press – what is it doing by playing along? It should just pull up stumps and focus its pages and airwaves on anything but politics. Is there no hope for Malaysia?



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Oz Tax $ v Malaysian


There is a National Medicines Policy Document. The aim of the policy is to improve positive health outcomes for all Australians through their access to and use of medicines. It has four objectives – timely access and affordable, appropriate quality, safety and efficacy, quality use and maintenance of a responsible and viable industry.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Therapeutic Goods Administration and National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines are frameworks which facilitates the fleshing out of these objectives.

I came across this policy document while working on a file concerning a regional (Victorian) support group for health practitioners. They were working with me on state revenue compliance issues and I was seeking to understand the context of their set up. The extent and details of frameworks put in place as a result of Commonwealth and State government initiatives which support delivery of health services was a very pleasant surprise for yours truly. I could go on for weeks looking up the scores of websites, policy documents, program write ups, reports, findings etc – all serious work done to better the health and delivery of healthcare services.

Just a few days ago we had a few families over for dinner and we were talking about paying taxes and where our tax dollars went. Barry one of my mates said he could see our tax dollars in the remote road networks out in the country area. I mentioned how I didn’t mind paying higher taxes in this country precisely because we could, to a large extent, see delivery of services.

In Malaysia, our taxes went largely to things like religious causes – huge and expensive mosques, salaries of Imam’s and Islamic clergies, Quran reading events and worst of all, our tax dollars often find their way into corrupt politicians’ retirement funds. Frustrated Malaysians often use throwaway lines like “Samy Vellu has a few billion dollars stashed away” and the common belief is that politicians over the years have stolen tens of billions of dollars from public purses – our tax dollars. There are commentators who suggest as much as USD300 billion have been squandered – with no doubt a big slice going into politicians’ pockets – over the years as a result of mismanagement and leakages in the Malaysian economy.

I wonder if there is a Malaysian equivalent of the National Medicines Policy and the extent of work done to flesh out the policy and give it the tools and resources to work.

We may spend our free time bemoaning our Aussie politicians but actually they have – by and large – done good work. It is at least much better work than the rubbish dished out by the Malaysian counterparts. There is a much weaker case of not seeing our tax dollars work better for us here.

Regards,Ian

Sent from my iPigeon

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Leave Malaysia If You Can


Someone emailed me this letter I wrote to Malaysiakini more than 3 years ago:

Leaving Malaysia because I had to
Ian Teh | Feb 10, 06 2:18pm

MCPX
Smita Elena Sharma may have re-affirmed what many Malaysians have experienced for so long. My family and I left Malaysia more than a year ago. Smita was right – we left Malaysia reluctantly, especially me. My wife and I had well-paid jobs, were debt-free and had only one child. We had great friends, wonderful relatives and a strong network of social circles to make life a thoroughly enjoyable journey. We could see however, that it was a fast eroding paradise.

Our employers were successful only because of political patronage. Our child remained a second-class citizen as far as education was concerned, and this was going to be only the first of many more discriminations to come. The public institutions could not be relied upon to do the right things. In fact, few bothered with doing the right thing. Malaysian society was disintegrating because the leadership was distracted in all sorts of ways.
We have been here in Melbourne, Australia for more than a year now. We had to start all over again. Re-build our careers. Start new relationships. Find and build our home. We bump into Malaysians all the time. They are all here for the same reason – to give their future generations a fairer go. They are here to raise their children in a place where work ethics, intelligence and industry count for more than skin colour and political patronage. They are here where wrongdoings are highlighted and challenged and their perpetrators are put under the spotlight. They are here to give and take in a fair exchange.

Do we miss anything in Malaysia? Absolutely. We miss our family and friends. We miss, just as Smita wrote, the wonderful food. We miss the familiarity our previous home gave us. We were reluctant leavers.

Yet we were a lot more fortunate than many. Poor Malaysian’s Emigration not an option, stuck here for example, rightly pointed out that many simply can’t leave. Traditional destinations are not open to them as they don’t meet the criteria. There are also many who, by default, remain in Malaysia. They cannot bear to sacrifice the life they have in Malaysia. Lifestyles many more times more opulent than the one my family and I enjoyed.

Some of these people have accused us of running away. Some say we are armed and equipped to fight for the less fortunate in Malaysia, to help bring about a more just and equitable country. By running away, so we have been accused, we have not discharged our moral responsibility to help bring about this change.
YMM in his letter Not giving up hope on Malaysia echoes this tune. It is an admirable tune. I hope one day it becomes a battle cry to bring down this racial and religious barricade. Such lofty aspirations were mine too, some 15 years ago. When I first returned to Malaysia after studying in Australia, I vowed not to follow the steps of those who left the country. I decided to stay and make Malaysia my home, and try to make it a better home for my fellow Malaysians as well.

Soon however, this decision was faced with the harsh reality of being a victim of discrimination. Let us not mince words, the vast majority if not all of us who are not bumiputeras are victims of discrimination. We put up with being victims because the scraps are always enough to fill our coffers.
In spite of such discrimination, most stayed on because there is money to be made. It wasn’t to fight for equality that those who could leave decided not to. It was the fact that there was material wealth to be accumulated and it was also due to inertia. Our lives have simply continued without us pausing to think and plan ahead and, if necessary, make major changes. If we do, I cannot imagine anyone seriously believing that Malaysia offers a better chance of a better future for our children than many other countries.

The one thing which would swing my assessment is the total abolishment of the current pro-bumiputera policies, in toto. I don’t see this happening, no matter what I do. Was it I who tucked tail and left, or have those who, recognising such a change would not come about, be the ones who tucked tail in remaining?

I decided I had not put up a sufficient fight after 15 years. I decided I was not about to spend another 15 years trying, while my child foregoes an opportunity to go and fight her battles elsewhere, where there is a fairer go for her.

Do I miss Malaysia? Only the people there. My family, relatives and friends. I remain a reluctant leaver. There are many things we do in life not because we want to, but because we need to. Leaving Malaysia was one of them.

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