(6 October 199u) A Malaysian Journal: Three lessons in perspective [ (C) Copyright 1998, D. Crocker, Brandenburg Consulting ] [ A series of notes on living and working in Malaysia, during Jackie's ] [ Fulbright Fellowship to Universiti Putra Malaysia, near Kuala Lumpur. ] [ Copies may be freely distributed, but must retain this preamble. ] [ To subscribe, send me a note. /Dave ] We are in very deep trouble, here, but it's not for the reason that you are likely thinking. It has nothing to do with our local politics. Rather, Jackie has informed me that living in Malaysia has become routine and not really all that different from "back home." I've tried to point out to her that that, in a way, was the goal, but she is insisting that she wants things to feel more "exotic". I'm starting to have images of squatting around a log fire after groping for berries all day and carrying water from the river, miles away... I've tried to point out to Jackie that this really is still quite different from "home". For example she still gets a thrill every time she drives. Today it was not the usual bevy of motorcycles that swerved out of their lane toward her but a seriously large lorry truck. A short time later, it was a city transit bus! Still, she claims to be unconvinced. Her job has developed a routine. We have some regular restaurants. We are discovering the better shopping venues. We are almost comfortable finding our way around -- although that's still pretty marginal -- so what's left, she seems to be asking? Personally, I still find the language and ways of doing business challenging, never mind the continuing daredevil quality to the driving. However it's true that we now know of several up-scale places, including one area I found myself calling "Malaysian Yuppie". Sure enough, it has a large ex-patriot community. There's a Mexican restaurant, a couple of Italian -- one called "manja" which you actually pronounce as the Italian mangia -- etc. The famous, tall towers downtown include an extremely upscale, vertical (is that why it's called upscale?) shopping center, with the usual array of U.S. and European expensive brand names. Japanese department store chains are also popular, such as Isetan and Sogo. Worst of all is that these places sport lots and lots of white faces. We aren't the only Caucasians in the room and that, certainly, reduces our sense of the exotic. So we induced some quick therapy by having dinner tonight in Sri Serdang, next to campus, at the open-front tandoori restoran (restaurant) we've mentioned before. The nan bread and lentil dal is still great and tonight's tandoori chicken was to die for. The smell around the "strip" center it is in, however, was to die FROM, as seems to be the norm these days. It's a good reminder that this is very much NOT the same as California, or at least not the part we live it. We have finally had it explained to us that Sri Serdang and the equivalent "strip" at Sri Kembanggan, next to the fancy Mines shopping center, used to be old-time kampung (kahm-poong, village) and all this commercial activity just sprouted up around the kampung recently. In other words, we are really living in a pretty low-rent area and are now, finally, getting some exposure to the higher rent districts. As uncomfortable as I was with the physical inconveniences, initially, they underscored the fact that this place really IS exotic. Had we landed in one of the fancier areas, we'd be a long way from home and not have much of a daily sense of "difference" to justify it. Perhaps that's a perverse view, but I'm mostly quite uncomfortable in these very upscale places that seem exactly like the modern U.S. On the other hand, all this is making just about anywhere in Europe seem run-of-the-mill, even when I haven't a clue how to speak the language, like in Edinburgh. And then there is politics. The rumored "interception" of a university staff member's email, which resulted in their dean giving them a warning lecture, was apparently not from sophisticated monitoring by the authorities; we think some listed recipient of the email complained to the dean. And the other dean that removed all of the computers from the Modern Languages staff, while giving them a warning not to talk about politics, seems to be entirely unique. We can't find any other examples on campus. More interesting was the comment from a shopkeeper that Mahathir had every right to sack Anwar, but that the later efforts to class him as morally corrupt and to prosecute him are NOT right. This distinction between legitimate authority, versus tacky follow-up is interesting. We have no idea how representative the shopkeeper's view is, but at least it was someone "off the street". Most of our other contact, of course, is academics and they, as we all know, are not exactly statistically representative of the rest of the population. So I was particularly intrigued by the comments of an experienced news reporter who gave me a one hour lecture on Malaysian history and politics. The reporter works for a paper that was once shut down by Mahathir, so their comments are no doubt biased (but then, whose aren't?) But the reporter was direct, clear and seemed to pull no punches. They had the requisite irreverance for and against each topic and target. At the least, they offered a darned interesting perspective: I've referred to the one night of ethnic violence that occurred (1969) but was not aware that there was another set of public demonstrations, in the late 80s. It was part of the previous economic recession. During that recession, too, most of the cabinet resigned, including the deputy minister. During that recession, Mahathir followed the International Monetary Fund's guidance, contrary to his current choice. So Mahathir has rather more basis for his actions, now, than I had realized. I can't judge the likely efficacy of his actions, but it helps to hear that he's not just reacting out of naive, ethnocentric fear. As for Anwar, the reporter covered him twice, once when he was Minister of Agriculture and once as Minister of Education. Apparently he nearly destroyed the educational system. A small example is that he made the study of English optional. Later Mahathir reverted it to compulsory, but we've heard from a current high school student that their English instruction is quite poor. The lad's parent's force the use of English in their house, but that only fixes the situation for one student. In general the reporter noted that, unlike Mahathir, Anwar is very media savvy and media oriented, but that his politics have, historically, been very Muslim right wing. ("If Anwar gets in, liberal Muslims should pack their bags.") In other respects, the question is what is the touted "reformasi" (reform) really supposed to be about? Apparently he has not said. The reporter further claimed that the Malaysian populace makes an important distinction. They do not particularly "like" Mahathir. They wouldn't have him over for dinner. But, the claim goes, he has run the country phenomenally well and warrants the loyalty he is getting. This echoes the comment from the shopkeeper, so it carries a ring of legitimacy. Further, the reporter noted that it was eighteen days from the time Anwar was sacked until he was arrested and during that time, Anwar called for public demonstrations. Even the ignorant world press has noted that Malaysians do not tend toward public outbursts. The reporter claims this is particularly due to fear of recurrence of 1969 and the late 80's. Hence Anwar's calling for public demonstrations crossed a very important line. It's just not allowed in the culture of Malaysian politics, according to the reporter. As to the alleged beating of Anwar in prison, I must admit that I was surprised that the police would be that foolish. There is no benefit to beating him and too much chance it would cause media problems. It's easy to think of bad people as brutes, but also easy to forget that they aren't usually stupid. So why would they have indulged in such violence when it had no apparent purpose? It's not as if anyone believes the police or the legal system is pure. The bank on campus was robbed shortly before Jackie arrived. The police knew about the plan ahead of time, since it involved a gang that had been operating on a number of banks before. So they set up a trap for the robbers and shot them all to death. We were later told that one of the robbers was initially only wounded slightly but a policeman walked up and shot him in the head. In fact, the reporter claimed that criminals who commit violent acts rarely emerge from the legal process alive. So as I say, it's not as if this system follows the rules we like to think are in force in the U.S. But the reporter also said that they had made a considerable study of "ISA" arrests, that is, the political ones done under the Internal Securities Act. And here, they claim, treatment is quite different. They claimed that the relevant police are specially educated and selected and that treatment of these political prisoners has historically been extremely careful, if only for exactly the reason of public relations. Like most people, I thought that Mahathir's public suggestion that, perhaps, Anwar inflicted his injuries on himself was absurd. Now, I'm not so sure. d/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dave Crocker Tel: +1(408)246 8253 675 Spruce Drive Sunnyvale, CA 94086 USA Brandenburg Consulting Tel: +60(19)3299 445 Post Office Box 296, U.P.M. Fax: +1(408)246 8253 Serdang, Selangor 43400 MALAYSIA