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Star Columnists
So Aunty, So What?

Day at the museum BY JUNE H.L. WONG

Actually it was just two hours, but it was enough to leave the writer shaken and
stirred.

I WAS given my first ever senior citizen concession last week. It was completely
unexpected so I got slightly hysterical.

It happened when I decided to visit Muzium Negara over the Chinese New Year break.
Two of my children, aged 24 and 20, tagged along to see what was “new” at the museum.

After all, it had been many, many years since I visited (the kids have no memory of ever
visiting) and it had undergone a RM20mil upgrade in 2008.

At the ticket counter, I noted the entrance fee was RM2 for Malaysians and RM5 for
foreigners. What I didn’t notice was the RM1 fee for the elderly and disabled as, to my
mind, there were no elderly or disabled persons in my group.

Well, the eagle-eyed ticketing girl did. She accepted my RM6, glanced at our three
Mykads (to prove we were citizens) and promptly gave me back RM1.

Seeing my puzzled expression, she enlightened me by saying, “Seorang warga emas,

kan? (One senior citizen, yes?”)

“Nooooo!” I groaned inwardly as reality hit me. Yes, that’s me: Senior citizen June. Aunty
got her first “official” nod as a “golden citizen”, as the Malay term puts it most glowingly, on
the third day of the Year of the blasted Wooden Goat.

Blame it on the extended retirement age. Because of that, I have not been put out to
pasture and therefore did not think of myself as a retiree with discount privileges.

To cover up my shock, I was giggling rather hysterically as I handed out the tickets to my
children. When I explained what happened, they tried soothing my frazzled nerves by
saying, “But you don’t look old, Mum.”

Yeah, but I feel it now. Going into the museum made me even more aware of being a
senior citizen. There are stairs everywhere – even to the cafeteria and the wet, smelly
toilets located outside – and hardly anywhere for a tired visitor to rest.
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Apparently, there is a lift for the disabled but it’s not immediately accessible; one has to go
through the gift shop to get to it.

But since I wasn’t disabled and elderly-looking enough, I climbed the stairs to the first floor
foyer where two of the four galleries are located.

Gallery A focuses on Pre-history while Gallery B is dedicated to the Malay Kingdoms.

I have a childhood memory of a replica of the huge ceremonial bird used to carry the
Kelantan princes for their circumcision ceremony of yore. That was in what is now Gallery
B, where there was also a dusty Peranakan matrimonial chamber in one corner.

Both ceremonial bird and Peranakan room are gone. New exhibits showcase the grandeur
of the Malay court like the singgahsana or throne. There is a huge bronze bas-relief of
Hang Tuah which assured me that our legendary warrior hadn’t lost his place in history
after all.

Galleries A and B are quite well laid out in an open concept. But the lighting was a bit too
low for my liking, as my golden citizen eyes had to squint to see some of the exhibits.

After the good impression from the first two galleries we were lured upstairs to Galleries C
and D: Colonial Era and Malaysia Today.

Foreign visitors generally find the museum a good introduction to Malaysia and appreciate
the nominal entrance fee. As a visitor from Canada posted on TripAdvisor: “This nice little
museum is great for those who want to know more about what made Malaysia so unique.
It does not take long to see it all and for only RM5, it was reasonable.”

But locals like my kids and I aren’t so forgiving. As a journalist, I was bugged by the
inconsistencies in spelling (is it “Melaka” or “Malacca”?), language confusion (nationalisme
instead of nationalism), grammatical errors and occasional lack of context and coherence
in the English texts for the exhibits. As a newly minted senior citizen, I felt it was rather
thoughtless to make visitors climb up more steps to view a couple of the exhibits instead
of providing ramps for easier access.

We found the last gallery, Malaysia Today, the least engaging. Quite frankly, by the time
we finished, our interest had waned. It felt as if the museum had run out of steam and
space to tell our post-World War Two shared history better.

As a British visitor wrote on TripAdvisor: “there is an emphasis on the Malay history (i.e. to
the almost complete exclusion of the Chinese, Indian and other Malaysians) in the story of
gaining independence, but this is somewhat ironically contrasted with the display on
1Malaysia, which gives one the impression that there is a little papering over the cracks of
Malaysia’s issues going on.”
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That’s quite an astute observation, made back in April 2012. After all, according to
Department of Museums director-general Datuk Ibrahim Ismail in his website message,
the national museum, in line with the 1Malaysia aspirations, is an “educational instrument”
for “fostering a closer understanding, integration and tolerance among the people.”

He adds: “Our diverse heritage shaped from the assimilation of the different races in
Malaysia showcases unity in various unique ways, something which is rarely seen in the
international arena.”

That’s a lofty statement that sadly falls short in reality. Therein lies my biggest
disappointment with Muzium Negara: the failure to document the roles of Chinese and
Indian leaders and the communities in the making of this diverse nation.

It’s a tad ironic really, considering the artist of the lovely murals on the walls of the
museum was Cheong Laitong, the architect was Ho Kok Hoe and the Italian glass mosaic
tiles for the murals which cost RM135,000 back in the early 1960s were donated by
philanthropist Tan Sri Lee Kong Chian. Their contributions are not mentioned anywhere in
the museum, unless I missed it.

But then, what’s also forgotten is that even the National Mosque, built at a cost of
RM10mil, has a multiracial past. As reported in an August 2007 Star article, a mosque
brochure stated it was “designed by a Malay, constructed by Chinese and Indians, and
financed by Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims”.

If Muzium Negara cannot manage to tell a fuller and more inclusive history, then it’s time
for a National Museum of the Malaysian Chinese and Indian, like the National Museum of
the American Indian in Washington D.C.

I won’t mind contributing to a fund for that, as long as it is built to be truly accessible to all.

The sheep really gets my goat

THIS is the Year of the Yang. That’s the word in Mandarin for “a ruminant mammal,
generally with horns on its head”.

To the Chinese, yang can refer to either sheep (mianyang) or goat (shanyang), so therein
lies the confusion as to what animal is the eighth in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese
zodiac. To the Japanese, it’s the Year of the Sheep, to the Vietnamese, it’s the Goat, for
the Koreans, it’s the Ram. The Chinese don’t mind either one.
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But after a tumultuous Year of a runaway wild Horse, which would be a better animal for
the year ahead? Let’s take a look at the characteristics of both cud-chewing critters,
starting with the sheep.

According to David Murray in his essay, 12 Characteristics of Sheep, this is one stupid
animal.

“I don’t know what sheep would score in an animal IQ, but I think they would be close to
the bottom of the scale. They seem to only know how to do one thing well – eat grass (and
produce more grass-eating sheep).

“It’s possible to know little, yet not be foolish; but not if you are a sheep. They are so
irrational. You watch them as they pause in front of a stream. They know they can’t jump it
or swim it. So what do they do? They jump in any way!” writes Murray, a pastor who got to
know the animal well after 12 years in the sheep-infested Scottish Highlands.

Another characteristic is being slow to learn. Murray cites the example of a sheep getting
caught in barbed wire while trying to break through a fence. Instead of learning from that
painful lesson, it will do it again and again. That’s why sheep are dependent creatures,
requiring close supervision by their shepherd, he adds.

Granted, scientists say new research shows sheep to be as intelligent as monkeys. But it
will take a great deal more to change the long-held perception of this creature as being not
just woolly on the body but in the head, too.

After all, we think “sheep” when it comes to mindlessly following the crowd, or for imitating
what others do without understanding why.

Murray describes their behaviour thus: “When one sheep decides to start running, they all
decide to start running. If you were able to ask one, ‘Why did you start running?’ it would
say, ‘Well, because he started running.’ The next would say the same. And the next one.
And when you got to the last sheep he would just say, ‘I dunno’.”

Goats, on the other hand, are described by animals.pawnation.com as “independent,

intelligent and tolerant of interaction in general”. In other words, they don’t spook easily
and don’t bunch together to graze.

The goat is also seen as a nimble, agile animal who can take on hilly terrain with ease. It’s
even associated with determination for its ability to climb mountains and trees.

Because they are curious creatures, goats will try out new things and explore the
unfamiliar – usually with their hyper-sensitive lips and tongue – and often end up chewing
and eating strange stuff.
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While the male goat is a symbol of virility and stamina, the female goat is a symbol for
nurturing and nourishment. Which is why someone entrusted with looking after young
children is called a nanny, which is a female goat.

After all that, which animal would you prefer for the Year of the Yang? My pick is the goat,
for all the reasons I have listed.

We have enough of sheep-like behaviour from people who are spooked easily by certain
groups and individuals using loud and intimidating tactics. What’s more, after being
spooked, these people blindly and unquestioningly accept those noisy pronouncements
and exhortations.

We also don’t need people who, like sheep, stick to their own kind, or harbour irrational
fears and suspicions against their fellow citizens. Being more goat-like by mixing around
and interacting with others is what we need more of in our society.

Neither can we afford any sheep-like slowness to learn and respond to the ever-changing
socio-economic environment within and without the nation.

We can’t forever depend on a super shepherd (aka the Government) to think for and look
after us. That has led to what we know as the crutch or subsidy mentality.

Of course Billy Goat has his critics too. Among Christians, being a sheep is preferable to a
goat as the latter is depicted as devious and insincere in the famous parable about
separating sheep from goats in favour of the sheep. There is also the view that goats are
too independent and unpredictable to be good followers, unlike the mild and meek sheep.

Indeed, a citizenry can happily be meek and mild if there is a good shepherd who takes
care of all its needs.

But this is not the time for meekness and mildness, but rather for fearlessness and
fortitude.

We need to have both qualities if we as a nation are to hold fast against forces bent on
tearing apart our multiracial, multicultural and multi-religious fabric. And if we are to
compete on the global economic front, we need the goat-like sense of inquisitiveness and
boldness to be innovative and explore new possibilities and ventures.

Critically, in such challenging times, we need leaders who are like mountain goats who can
nimbly guide us on the rocky path ahead, and not silly sheep that jump into water without
knowing how to swim.

All this will require a lot of ram-like determination and stamina – if not virility – from leaders
and citizens. So I say “Welcome, Goat”, and may you goad us to greater heights!
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A surprising silver lining

Sometimes an unfortunate event can lead to unexpected good outcomes.

ON Dec 31, my son Nick was mugged. He and two of his high school classmates, Collin
and Giselle, went to Kuala Lumpur on New Year’s Eve to join other friends to usher in
2015.

They were walking past a group of guys when one of them – a boy of 12 or so – suddenly
whacked Collin on the head. Shocked, he turned to look at his attacker who aggressively
challenged him; “Nak gaduh? Nak gaduh?” (Want to fight? Want to fight?)

They – about 10 of them – then started hitting him. When Nick went to Collin’s aid, the
group turned on him. They beat and kicked his head. It was over in seconds and the group
walked off with his wallet and handphone. It was about 10.30pm.

Fortunately, Giselle was unharmed and the two boys were not badly hurt as their
assailants were unarmed. They ended up greeting the New Year in a police station.

The next day, I took Nick to the hospital for a check-up. What was interesting was when he
made the police report and when I told the doctor he had been assaulted, both the
policeman’s and doctor’s first question was: “Attackers what race? Foreigners ah?”

It happens all the time, this obsession with looking at everything through race-coloured
lenses. I can tell you that in the newsroom whenever an accident, crime or disaster
happens, “What race?” is always the second question – after “How many dead?”

Elsewhere in the world, we have seen how the race card is played to the great detriment
of society over, say, a shooting incident between a white policeman and a black man.

On a personal level, when something bad happens, how many of us give in to knee-jerk
reactions to tar a whole race or community like: “Chinese people are like that” or “All
Malays are…” Or “Those damn Chinese/Malays/Indians…”?

Nick’s attackers were all Malays. And because my son and his friends are Chinese, it
would have been all too easy to add a racial undertone to the attack.

Indeed, while Malays caused hurt and inconvenience to Nick, as it turned out, it was also
Malays who somehow helped put things right for him.

Because he lost his identity card and driving licence, Nick had to visit the National
Registration and Road Transport Departments. He expected the visits to be long and
tedious. Instead, he practically breezed in and out.
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The officers were efficient and courteous. And we learned that because he lost his
documents in a robbery, they were replaced free of charge.

Next was getting his handphone replaced. After collecting his iPhone 6 from the Maxis
outlet in Taman Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur, he of course wanted to accessorise it. The
helpful Maxis staff told us to go to Kedai Ustaz. (Yes, you read it right.) They said many of
their customers recommended the place because it was really cheap.

Intrigued, we decided to check it out. Kedai Ustaz is in a nondescript part of the up-and-
coming suburb of Kota Damansara. When we walked in, we were gobsmacked by how
busy it was.

The double lot shop had a huge range of goods and the prices were indeed so
reasonable, we were grabbing stuff off the shelves. All the staff were Malay and we were
served by two cheerful, helpful young people.

I was delighted because this shop demolishes a Malay newspaper columnist’s belief that
no Malay can do well in the handphone accessory business.

The said columnist had written an article in May 2013 about how he couldn’t find a Malay
shop in the whole of Shah Alam – “the most reputable city of the Malays in Malaysia”, as
he described it – selling handphone covers.

He finally had to purchase one from a Chinese-owned shop. To him, this was enough to
prove how the Chinese controlled the handphone accessory supply chain and by
extension, the whole economy.

Incensed, he called for an “economic jihad” to break that monopoly. While I didn’t care for
his solution, I did agree I had never seen a handphone accessory shop that wasn’t run by
Chinese.

That’s why Kedai Ustaz was a truly pleasant find. The staff said it started two years ago
and it is open seven days from 10am to … 4am!

This shop puts paid to the argument that no Malay can penetrate, much less survive, the
phone accessory market. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before we see other Kedai
Ustaz outlets popping up. I hope they set up one in Shah Alam.

Kedai Ustaz also helps to break the stereo- typical thinking about Malay entrepreneurship.
I now believe there must be other gems which I am not aware of because I do almost all
my shopping in malls.

I am glad the unfortunate incident led my son and me to meet a string of people – from the
police, to the doctor, the civil servants and phone accessory shop staff – all Malay, who did
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their jobs efficiently and professionally and clearly showed race did not matter to them.
And that’s what truly matters.

Tie a carrot to the big stick too

OVER a year ago, I wrote a column headlined, “Ruling multiracial Malaysia” (The Star,
Aug 14, 2013), which began with “Lee Kuan Yew got it right. Whether it is Barisan
Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat in Putrajaya, this country will still be under Malay rule”.

Lee made the remark after GE13 and I agreed with him. I also outlined what I expected
from such a leadership.

For example, I wrote I would support leaders who upheld Islam’s position as the official
religion but would also protect the rights of all Malaysians to practise their faiths without
discrimination, harassment or fear.

I went on to say I would support leaders who would stand firm against and punish those
who preached hate and divisiveness, regardless of who they were.

It looks like our present leadership intends to do the above with the help of the Sedition
Act.

After declaring in 2012 it would be abolished, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak
(pic) told the nation at the Umno general assembly on Saturday that the law would stay
after all.

Why? Because he “accepted the desire of Umno members (for the Act to be retained)” as
Umno and the Government will no longer tolerate any attempt to incite hatred against the
Malays, Islam and the Malay Rulers.

Not only that, the law will be amended to give more power to the police, the Attorney-
General and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to act against
instigators and agitators whose words could be deemed as harming national peace and
harmony.

Critics of the Sedition Act will surely be dismayed by this turn of events, which could turn
what is already perceived as a political blunderbuss into a bazooka.

They say what can be deemed “seditious” or with “seditious tendency” is too broad; so too
“subjective” words like “contempt”, “hatred” and “feelings of ill-will” which are used without
any definition.
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We don’t know whether such concerns will be addressed but reassuringly, Najib said the
law would be used impartially to protect everyone. “This Act will also protect the rights of
non-Malays and non-Muslims. We want peace in our country, we want Malaysians of
every race and religion to respect each other,” he added.

But what about the National Harmony Act that was to replace the Sedition Act? A lot of
effort was made to come up with a law that would “emphasise the nurturing of the spirit of
harmony and mutual respect among Malaysians of various races and religions.” Will that
be all for naught?

I hope not. If our leaders believe they need a very big stick to whack miscreants bent on
causing disharmony, then another law that encourages people to think and act in positive,
inclusive, non-discriminatory ways is very much needed too.

It’s the classic carrot and stick method to achieving what we want. As an example, which I
have highlighted before, Britain’s 1976 Race Relations Act did not solve the issue of
racism because it did not take into account “institutional racism”.

This is when an organisation, through its procedures, can behave in a racist way that can
deny certain people their rights or opportunities. Once this was recognised, a 2001
amendment to the Race Relations Act made it mandatory for British public bodies to
promote racial equality.

In addition, this country really needs to start speaking the same language, and I don’t
mean Bahasa Malaysia. I am referring to the definitions of several established universal
concepts like liberalism, progressiveness and pluralism which are cherished and admired
by many but scorned and vilified by others, including some leaders.

If such ideals are offensive, then why does the preamble to the Rukunegara state,
“Malaysia nurtures the ambitions of”, among others, “guaranteeing a liberal approach to
her rich and diverse cultural tradition” and “building a progressive society that will make
use of science and modern technology”?

It was good to be liberal and progressive in the 1970s but not in 2014? Does it mean our
beloved first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, who has been described as a “classical
liberal”, meaning someone who subscribes to the principles of the rule of law, limited
government, free market and individual liberty, got it wrong?

I found it interesting that in an interview with Sunday Star on Nov 9, Member of Parliament
for Pulai and Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed said he
wanted to change the “old thinking” in his party, which according to him, is to “act only to
protect royalty, Malay rights and Islam”.
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“Old thinking” – that’s really the same malady afflicting most other political parties, isn’t it?
Chinese party, Chinese rights. Indian party, Indian rights. Kadazan party, Kadazan rights.

Yet, I wonder when this “old thinking” took root because while we started out with race-
based political parties, our leaders, while representing their community’s interests, were
always mindful of being multiracial in their approach.

Even the New Economic Policy, launched in 1971 to address the economic imbalances
among the races, was carefully worded to make its two-prong strategy palatable to all
citizens:

“To reduce absolute poverty irrespective of race through raising income levels and
increasing employment opportunities for all Malaysians; and

“To restructure society to correct economic imbalances so as to reduce and eventually

eliminate the identification of race with economic function.”

The overriding objective, since it was in response to the May 13, 1969 race riots, was “to
create harmony and unity”.

While the NEP’s socio-economic targets were largely met, the question is whether the
bigger aim of national unity was achieved. I think we all know the answer to that.

Our pioneer national leaders were careful, considerate and respectful in their words and
actions to each other and to all communities. But over the years, successive leaders,
along with the communities they represent, seemed to have retreated into their own turfs
and built more walls instead of bridges.

So where is the esprit de corps that was so strong among Tunku and his ilk? Where has
that sense of comradeship, trust and the “we are in it together” spirit of the early years
gone?

Can an amended Sedition Act – used judiciously and impartially as promised by our Prime
Minister – and a National Harmony Act help rebuild what was lost? I want to hope so.

Ending the cycle of elect and regret

IT’S Saturday and the sound of Chinese lion dance drumming fills the neighbourhood. It
makes it hard to take an afternoon nap but I do not mind. It is happy noise emanating from
the school field in front of my house.
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To me, it shows there are healthy extracurricular activities in that school which embraces
and encourages diversity among its students. What’s more, passing by the field, I can see
that the group of lion dance drummers, although small, is of a good racial mix.

Other times, I hear the beat of the kompang, the noise of the basketball team in action or
the cheering and whistles being blown during a football match.

I do see the kids during their annual cross-country run and I hear the names of their
winning athletes announced over the loudspeakers on Sports Day and again, it is a
heartening mix of all races.

What makes this school what it is, according to my colleague whose sons studied there,
are good principals and a strong Parent-Teacher Association.

While the PTA can play a complementary and supportive role, much depends on the
mindset and attitude of the head, who can make or break a school.

That is kind of like Management 101 for any organisation, isn’t it? It is the head who must
set the vision and have the right skills, conviction and experience to lead.

But if an organisation has poor leadership, its performance falters. That is why Maxis hired
Morten Lundal when the company got wobbly, and now Malaysia Airlines has a new CEO
in the form of Christoph Mueller.

So whether it is a school, company or, yes, a government, nothing beats good leadership.

The trouble with the world is that we need leaders but we don’t need politicians. Yet
somehow, politicians become our leaders. And that is why I found the views expressed by
Chinese venture capitalist and political scientist Eric X. Li very interesting.

Basically, he dislikes the Western single-minded belief that electoral democracy is the only
way for a society to progress and achieve greatness.

To him, that is a lie. Instead, there are alternatives such as China’s one-party system,
which holds no elections but works well because it has three defining characteristics:
adaptability, meritocracy and legitimacy.

In a Ted Talk entitled A Tale of Two Political Systems, Li outlines several reasons for the
success of China’s Communist Party as the “world’s leading expert in political reform”.
One reason is that it has constantly self-corrected over the last 65 years since coming to
power in 1949.

But it is how China trains its leaders that fascinates me. It may be communist in name, but
Li says that at work is a modern version of the centuries-old Mandarin system.
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Driving it is the party’s blandly named and little known Organisation Department, a “giant
human resource engine” that recruits college graduates into three components: the civil
service, state-owned enterprises and social organisations like universities where they start
from the bottom.

From there, the recruits are stringently reviewed annually and promoted through four elite
ranks, moving through and out of all three components.

This serves as a sieve so that only the most talented cadres can move further up to high
officialdom and ultimately, the Central Committee and Politburo.

It is a process that takes decades. Xi Jinping, who took 30 years to become President,
started as a village manager. But by the time he entered the Politburo, he had managed
areas with a total population of 150 million and combined Gross Domestic Product of
US$1.5 trillion (RM5.3 trillion), says Li.

He adds that patronage does play a role but merit remains the fundamental driver.

What Li describes is very much like what a good corporation does to groom young talents
recruited for its management training programme.

So to me, China’s leaders are really managers and CEOs who are trained to run their
nation like a company and are not politicians who make lots of promises to win votes.

Even the great Barack Obama in his two terms of office has fallen short on his promise of
“Change”, which electrified America and the world and got him elected to the White
House.

So I really, really like the Chinese model. As Li says, “I’m not sure elections produce
responsive governments anymore in the world”. Worse, he adds, democracies are
“becoming a perpetual cycle of elect and regret”.

I can absolutely identify with that. I voted and I am filled with regret. Both Barisan Nasional
and Pakatan Rakyat are mired in self-created problems and in-fighting that is so
depressing.

Li, however, has a caveat: that political model is uniquely Chinese and not exportable. Just
as well because despite my disappointment, I am not willing to give up on democracy just
yet.

But I wish we could import parts of it, like the intense and thorough training for people who
aspire to be state and national leaders over many years to ensure they make the cut.
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I know that it is wishful thinking but if we could implement just a sliver of such training,
then perhaps we, the people of Malaysia, need not suffer hare-brained, sheep-like
politicians and could have more leaders with real talent and substance instead.

Flying on wild guesses and wild

weather
AFTER such an eventful, controversial and tragedy-filled year, I wanted my last column on
the last day of 2014 to strike an upbeat note.

But as luck, fate, whatever would have it, more bad news hit us in the remaining days of
2014: many states were hit by severe floods, sending thousands fleeing into temporary
shelters. And as if that weren’t bad enough, on Sunday, Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501
from Surabaya to Singapore went missing with 162 people on board.

All of us who heard the news must have reacted in a similar way: shock followed by
disbelief. Then, when the truth could not be denied, that wretched sense of loss and
sorrow.

I was in my local mall shortly after I got the news and when I ventured into a store, the
sales assistant was quite jovial about the missing plane, telling her co-worker that no
Malaysians were on board, as if that made it all right.

Indeed, most of the passengers and crew were Indonesian, but there was a Malaysian, a
businessman from Sarawak, as well as one Briton, one Singaporean and three South
Koreans. Among them were 16 children and one infant.

I don’t think the sales assistant meant to be callous but it is certainly not all right. Even if
our loss was one citizen and it was an Indonesian-majority owned airline, we feel the pain
because the victims are our neighbours.

Also making the rounds are conspiracy theories making a big deal over the AirAsia pilots’
request to deviate from their scheduled route by ascending to a higher altitude and the
plane having turned “slightly” by a few degrees.

All that brought back memories of the still missing MH370 and its strange flight path, which
obsessed us for months in the first quarter of 2014.

But I believe there is nothing sinister in QZ8501’s disappearance. In all likelihood, it was
bad weather that downed the plane.

According to press reports, the pilot asked to divert his plane because of dense storm
clouds, strong winds and lightning.
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Aviation experts say modern planes can literally weather stormy flying conditions and
experienced pilots know how to navigate such conditions. That seemed to be what the
AirAsia pilots were trying to do. They were ascending to 38,000 feet when contact was
lost.

But apparently the storm clouds were rising up to 52,000 feet, which means flying at
38,000 feet did not help the pilots overcome the extremely adverse weather.

All this is still speculation at this point and how big a role bad weather played in this air
disaster remains yet unknown. But it cannot be denied that bad weather is increasingly
becoming unprecedented wild weather because of climate change.

The world is experiencing fierce erratic weather never seen before; or at least since we
started recording weather patterns. So what aviation experts think they know about bad
weather may not hold water anymore. We could now be flying in uncharted weather
conditions.

It is this thought that sends frissons down my back. After all, almost everyone flies these
days. I took almost 20 flights to near and far destinations this year.

In early December, my sister and brother-in-law who flew to Tokyo from Singapore had
their flight redirected to Haneda airport because of bad weather at Narita.

My son, who also flew to Tokyo on the same day, arrived two hours late because his MAS
flight out of KLIA was delayed by bad weather. Then his connecting flight from Haneda to
Chitose in Hokkaido was also delayed by two hours because of heavy snow.

I, who was waiting for the three of them to join me in Hokkaido, was tearing my hair out
with worry and angry about the delays.

Now with hindsight, I am thankful that nothing happened to my sister, brother-in-law and
son because wise decisions were made to delay and redirect their flights.

Statistically, flying remains the safest way to travel. As anxieties.com says, no other form
of transportation is as scrutinised, investigated and monitored as commercial aviation.

According to PlaneCrashInfo.com, which tracked accident data from 1993 to 2012, we

have a one in 4.7 million chance of being killed flying on one of the world’s major airlines,
on any single flight. And the odds are still one in two million even if we are flying on an
airline with the worst safety record.

“The most dangerous part of your airline flight is the trip to the airport,” aviation and
national security expert Carl Rochelle told NBC News.
 15

That is cold comfort to the bereft relatives of the passengers of flight QZ8501. I too am
shaken by this latest air disaster so close to home, and spooked by the thought that wild
weather may cause planes to crash. But it will not stop me from flying. In fact, I plan to
travel quite a bit next year on both MAS and AirAsia.

I have started making my holiday plans, pencilling in dates, destinations and working out
my budgets. But I will also pay more attention to the weather conditions and work my
dates to avoid typhoon or monsoon seasons, for example.

It is my dream to see more of this big beautiful world, which is a major item on my bucket
list. That dream is possible, thanks to the phenomenal growth of the aviation industry.

Yes, the loss of flight QZ8501 is a horribly sad way to close the year, and I will mourn the
passing of the victims. But I refuse to let fear cloud my future as it would be self-defeating.

So let’s chin up, square our shoulders, bid goodbye to our annus horribilis and do all in our
power to make 2015 a happier new year.

Grave concern and burning issues

IT’S a road I use to bypass traffic jams to get home. I use it so often I hardly notice the
funeral parlour and crematorium on the left. But somehow as I was passing on a recent
wet weekday, the rubbish-strewn car park fronting the parlour hit me as an unmistakable
eyesore.

The crematorium is no better. This Selangor council-operated facility is clearly run-down

and showing its age.

Perhaps the company operating the funeral parlour does not think the car park is its
responsibility and presumably neither does the local authority.

But there is no excusing the lack of maintenance for the crematorium which is very well
used. Last year, there were 850 cremations.

I can’t help but compare it to the state-run crematorium and columbarium in Mandai,
Singapore.

My uncle was cremated there some years ago and I found the well-designed complex with
its high ceilings, sombre colours, landscaped grounds with tranquil water features befitting
 16

its purpose: to send off the deceased in a dignified, efficient and respectful manner while
providing mourners with a sense of solace and comfort.

I can’t think of any public-operated crematorium in the Klang Valley that comes close to
the Mandai complex; neither do I know of any government-built columbariums.

This made me wonder about the options we have in burying or cremating our dearly
departed in this country.

What I unearthed is cause of grave concern in a plural society like ours. And it is this:
there does not seem to be adequate planning or allocations for non-Muslims to bury their
dead, especially in urban areas like the Klang Valley.

An online portal reported in April that the scarcity of burial grounds had led to non-Muslims
interring as many as three coffins in one grave in public cemeteries.

I am familiar with the concept because my grandparents share a single grave in a

Singapore cemetery too.

Grandpa died in the 1950s and when grandma passed on 20 years later, her coffin was
placed a couple of feet above his in the same plot.

That is understandable in land-hungry Singapore but why the need for this in Malaysia?

Why aren’t there more public cemeteries for Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and people of
other faiths who want to bury their dead?

It is time for us to open up more public space for Malaysians of other faiths – and even
those with no religious beliefs – who want their remains to be returned to the earth.

Traditionally, Christians prefer burial too, and in consecrated ground. The oft-spoken
phrase “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” is based on the Bible: “By the sweat of your face you
shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)

It is only in fairly recent times that Christians adopted cremation as an acceptable

alternative.

But just because citizens of other faiths can accept cremation of their dead, it should not
mean the state can overlook the need to allocate enough land for non-Muslim public
cemeteries.

Sure, the private sector, seeing a lucrative gap to fill, has stepped in most enthusiastically.
And for non-Muslims, it has become almost automatic to bury or cremate using private
facilities.
 17

That’s why the euphemistically termed “bereavement services” sector is doing roaring
business.

Burial plots in beautifully landscaped private cemeteries are selling like hotcakes at prices
in the thousands.

For those who prefer cremation, these private outfits also provide cremators and
columbariums to keep the urns of ashes.

For the better-known burial grounds run by reputable companies, prices are also rising
because of demand.

In many instances, family members will even forego superstitious beliefs and book plots
ahead for the living, as a form of investment.

I know of one cemetery run by a church that is so popular with many Christians that they
no longer allow pre-booking.

Only if one member of the family dies, will they allow the next plot to be reserved.

And the prices are also going up, even though they were quite affordable at the beginning
when compared to those run by the private companies.

However, what about those who cannot afford such burial plots, especially when the prices
seem to rise in the same manner as houses for the living?

A good comparison may be with regard to how people turn to either a public or private
hospital for treatment.

While many may prefer the comfort and ambience of a private hospital, those who are not
covered by insurance or protected by their employees have to opt for the government
hospital.

Thankfully, they do have a choice, and we are still assured of good medical care at public
hospitals, even if the waiting and comfort may not be similar to what the private sector has
to offer.

Just like in medical care, the government, especially at the state level since land is a state
matter, has a responsibility to provide such facilities that are well-designed, properly
maintained and upgraded when necessary.

And these structures should also be designed with a thought to the physical and emotional
needs of grieving families of the deceased. That’s not too much to ask, right?
 18

Goodbye housewife, hello single lady

SOME of you might recall that in July last year, as a mother of two marriageable
daughters, I lamented, where have all the young men gone?

I got flak for that from singletons for being an interfering mum. But I also got support from
other parents with similarly marriage-resistant children.

Well, more than a year later, my girls continue to resist any attempts to get them attached.
And now an event in China on Nov 11 is making me wonder if I should just give up trying
to turn them into wives – forget the “house” prefix, which was never my focus.

That was the day when China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba scored its biggest ever one-day
sale with its Singles Day event, breaking all records: US$9.3bil (RM31.1bil) worth of goods
sold in 24 hours.

In China, single people are called guanggun, literally meaning “bare sticks”. As the story
goes, according to Bloomberg Businessweek, in 1993, a group of Nanjing University
students “decided to celebrate the perils of singledom” every Nov 11, since the date has
four stick-like ones.

The idea gained popularity; Alibaba spotted the potential, launched its Singles Day in 2009
and saw it grow into the biggest online shopping day in the world.

Of course it was a supremely clever marketing ploy to get thousands of retailers to offer
deep discounts on a wide range of goods for just one day. And I’m sure plenty of married
people took advantage and made purchases too.

But as Peter Golder, a marketing professor quoted in the Bloomberg Businessweek article,
said: “The key to Alibaba’s success here is that they’ve taken something that’s already
existed, developed it, and taken advantage of the fact that retailers wanted this as well.”

That means Alibaba didn’t create something out of nothing; there was a real basis for
Singles Day.

For the longest time, however, it was the housewives who made up the most important
target group for fast-moving consumer products.

If you have time, check out the YouTube videos of 1950s American soaps like Love of
Life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZojQxp9FGRk), where the opening commercial is
an exciting message to housewives on how to stretch their dollar: Stop. Paying. Fancy.
Prices. For … floor wax.
But with more people, especially women, opting out of marriage, singletons now make up
the world’s fastest growing household group.
 19

In my July article, I quoted from a report in The Economist that the “Asian avoidance of
marriage is new and striking” because 30 years ago, just 2% of women were single in
most Asian countries. Now it’s closer to 25% among women in their 30s.

Even the Middle East is not spared. According to the United Arab Emirates’ Marriage
Fund, about 60% of women over 30 are unmarried, up from 20% in 1995. There’s no sign
of a reversal and as expected, the UAE and other governments are pretty worried about it.

What is really interesting is the single households’ great spending power – as underscored
by Alibaba’s success – which has led to the global phenomenon of the “solo economy”,
first seen in the United States where half of American adults are unmarried.

I caught an Arirang News report on the growth of the solo economy in South Korea, which
was pretty insightful.

Korean single dwellers make up 25% of all households which have about a third of their
monthly income to spend freely, while the three-to-four person households have about
17%. And their needs are strikingly different.

What singles want are space-saving items, compact and chic design and small portions of
perishable goods.

Property developers, retailers and manufacturers have quickly responded. “Small Buy”
sections are popping up in malls offering products like mini rice cookers, small-load
washing machines, single-serving cereals and even wines for one.

Since Korean home-alones don’t buy in bulk, they prefer convenience stores, which have
recorded 15% annual growth while supermarkets are stagnating.

I can imagine the same insights applying to China’s millions of young, upwardly mobile,
unmarried urbanites. What’s more, as amply proven by Alibaba, they love online shopping.

For now, I think our hypermarkets are safe since Malay households, in particular, are still
robust and large. But I have no doubt the number of urban Malaysians staying single is
also increasing.

With that, the standard notion of what makes up a Malaysian household will also change
and along with it, as seen in Korea, socio-economic behaviour.

My 20-something daughters are still young and they may yet find life partners. But if they
don’t, they will be among those creating Malaysia’s solo economy.

Actually, I think the solo economy will also be supported by older citizens who might be
divorced, widowed or like me, living in a two-person household. I figure when it’s down to
 20

just my old hubby and me, we won’t be buying in bulk anymore (except maybe toilet rolls)
as our needs will be vastly reduced.

So if my daughters are happily leading single lives and society supports their lifestyle, I
guess I will just have to accept it. My consolation and hope for grandchildren now lies with
my 20-year-old son who says he’s not averse to marriage.

How will this 'Garden' grow

I BRING exciting news about a book I mentioned in my column almost exactly two years
ago.

This was on Oct 10, 2012, when I wrote about “Looking for world adoration” and the book
was The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng.

At that time, the book was in the running for the Man Booker Prize, one of the world’s most
illustrious literary awards.

Fascinated by how Psy’s Gangnam Style video brought South Korea world attention and
“adoration”, I suggested this highly acclaimed novel set in Malaysia written by a Malaysian
could be our ticket to fame if it was turned into a movie by a Hollywood or British studio.

Well, what do you know? I didn’t have to look so far. Someone read my column and
decided his company should be the one to make the film adaptation.

That someone is Henry Tan, Astro’s chief operating officer for strategy, content and
marketing.

Henry told me that after he read my column, he instructed his staff to get the book, contact
the author and negotiate for the film rights.

Much as I am delighted and excited by this development, I am also apprehensive because

securing the film rights is just the first step in the long and pitfall-ridden process of turning
a book into film successfully.

I am sure Henry and his team are well aware of this, especially when Henry said he wants
to make not a Malaysian movie but an international one that will fly the Malaysian flag.
 21

For starters, The Garden of Evening Mists isn’t easy to turn into a screenplay. It is a highly
complex, multi-layered story that unfolds “Very, very slowly,” as The Guardianreview
noted.

The Telegraph described it as “a beautiful, dark and wistful exploration of loss and
remembrance” centred on the tragic protagonist, retired Supreme Court judge Teoh Yun
Ling, who was a prisoner of war during the Japanese Occupation of Malaya.

The novel is set over many decades, moving back and forth from the 1980s when Teoh,
diagnosed with aphasia that will gradually rob her of all her memories, returns to
unfinished business in Cameron Highlands, to the communist-infested 1950s when she
first goes to the Highlands to learn how to create a Japanese garden from Nakamura
Aritomo, the enigmatic exiled gardener of Emperor Hirohito, with flashbacks in between to
her war imprisonment.

Then there are the subplots involving a former kamikaze pilot, a South African Boer War
veteran turned tea planter, Aritomo’s own intriguing story, woodblock printing, tattooing and
stolen treasure. Condensing all that into a two-plus hour movie without losing its essence
and emotional heart will be no mean feat.

It’s wonderful that the author has confidence that a Malaysian film studio can do justice to
his work, but I do have concerns. After all, Astro’s biggest success is The Journey, the
highest grossing Malaysian film with RM17.28mil in 56 days.

Much as I liked its quirky charm, The Journey had quite a few shortcomings and it’s not
exactly a world-class production. Astro may have grand ambitions with Twan Eng’s book,
but will it really invest in it?

Of course, Asians have shown they can do things brilliantly without breaking the bank
(think India’s recent awesome achievement of sending a mission to Mars at a fraction of
Nasa’s budget) but this film will require way more than the RM3mil it took to makeThe
Journey

As legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki said, “We live in an age when it is
cheaper to buy the rights to movies than to make them.”

Seriously, Astro should ask Red Granite Pictures, which financed The Wolf of Wall Street,
and was co-founded by Malaysian Riza Aziz to invest in its project. But big budget alone
can’t guarantee success. Great films require great directors; someone like Ang Lee, for
example, who has been feted as having the “insight into the human heart (which) has
allowed his films to transcend cultural and linguistic barriers to speak to audiences all over
the world”.
 22

It was Lee who turned Yann Martel’s so-called “unfilmable” 2001 novel Life of Pi into a
critically acclaimed box office hit. But, erm, Lee did have a budget of US$120mil
(RM391mil) and the film grossed US$609mil (RM1.987bil). If not Lee, then perhaps
Malaysian-born Australian director James Wan, who is famous for hits like Conjuring.

I think it’s critical to get a director like Lee or Wan if we want the West to take this film
adaptation seriously because they are recognised and respected names in the industry.

And who do I think should play Teoh Yun Ling? Why, Michelle Yeoh, of course. She’s
famous, is of the right age and her Malaysian accent will be perfect. What’s more, Yeoh, in
an interview with Italian Vogue in December last year, said she loved the book and wanted
to see it turned into a movie. And since she worked with Ang Lee onCrouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, she can help connect him with Astro.

As for the actor to play Nakamura Aritomo, how about the excellent Ken Watanabe? Yeoh
co-starred with him in Memoirs of a Geisha, so....

If Astro does it right and I think it can if it is serious about it, then the rewards can be
great. The Garden of Evening Mists is much loved by readers around the world and a well-
crafted movie adaptation can only bring plenty of benefits to the nation.

A reader writing in Goodreads.com said among the many things he learned from reading
the book was: “Malaysia: its geography, history and heterogeneity. I feel like I was Google-
mapped directly down on this peninsula.” That means a box office hit could put us on the
tourist map like how The Lord of the Rings did for New Zealand andGame of Thrones for
Wales.

Well, Henry and team, the heat is on. Good luck!

The awesomeness of ordinary folk

MY previous column about the goodness of ordinary people, based on the random acts of
kindness I experienced from strangers, touched a chord in many readers who wrote back
to share their own happy encounters.

Along the way, several readers also revealed things about themselves which brings me to
today’s topic: the awesomeness of ordinary people!!!

Yes, three exclamation marks and a word straight out of Kungfu Panda. But to me, it
captures the extraordinary things that so-called ordinary people do without any fanfare or
need for glory.
 23

Whenever I write about caring for my parents, I get very nice e-mails of praise. Much as I
appreciate them, I am also a little embarrassed because I know there are many others
doing the same thing. I am only fortunate to have a column in a national newspaper to
share my thoughts and experiences.

I am also lucky that my parents are living with me. Other children have a harder time
looking after their parents who live apart from them. This is why, to me, someone like
Thayar from Seremban is awesome.

This is what she wrote:

“I am in the midst of packing to leave for Seremban to fulfil my alternate week

responsibility with my elderly parents, aged 86 and 91. I suddenly remembered I had
wanted to respond to your article ‘The goodness of ordinary folk’.

“I agree with the fishmonger that your mum shouldn’t go to the market anymore to buy
fish. We had to make that decision with my father, who loved doing the marketing. It was
the one time in the week when he met his old chums the fishmongers and could chat for a
while. They had known each other for years and had a common love – fish!

“The challenge was how to keep Father still feeling he had an important part to play in the
running of the home even though he was not to do the marketing anymore. Your mother
will need to feel the same.

“With our father, he tells us what fish to buy and how much. After the maid has cleaned the
fish, Papa decides how much goes into each plastic bag before arranging them in the
freezer. He does it very slowly but he feels valued as an important part of the household.

“I normally spend three or four days with them when it is my turn to be in Seremban. It
allows me the time to chat and interact with my parents patiently apart from doing the
marketing and groceries, paying bills, etc.

“It is a conscious choice to do so and possible only because of an understanding husband.

And knowing that there comes a time in our lives when something has a much greater
priority over other pursuits.”

High five, Thaya!

Another reader wrote in about how his wife has such a natural way of connecting with
people, be it a fast food cashier, supermarket security guard or chicken rice seller, that she
brings out the goodness in them.

“What I am trying to say is people are generally nice if we take the time to get to know
them. I am optimistic that we can mend the current rift if we extend our hand in friendship.
 24

“Some may take it and some may not. Doesn’t matter. But it starts with each one of us,”
wrote Seow.

That started an online conversation and I have since learned that Seow is amazing in his
own right.

He is a plantation expert who has developed 40,000 acres of oil palm. That has led him to
the jungles of Kalimantan and more recently, developing an organic farm in Fiji, which is
where he showed his awesomeness:

“I was on a trip to Fiji to look for a piece of farm land for a foreign investor. Had to trudge
barefoot crossing three streams into this village nestled in a forest not far from a road.

“In the midst of talking to the village chiefs, we asked them what they needed. They asked
us to get a road to their village. During the bouts of rain, the streams overflowed and their
access to the road was cut off. They couldn’t sell their crops, their children couldn’t go to
school. Had a few drownings too. They had been appealing to the district officer (DO) for
one-and-a-half years to no avail.

“So I dropped by the DO’s office and said I was a foreign investor with interest in the
village but there was no road access. Told him our farm would be a showcase in Fiji and
VIPs would visit regularly, maybe even his PM. Miraculously, he found the budget to build
the road within two months of my visit.

“When the villagers found out from the district office that I was there, they were ecstatic.
It’s a funny story, I know, but sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.”

I asked Seow to let us tell about his amazing Fiji adventure but he demurred, saying the
story was still developing because “we are working with the Prisons Department there on
their farming rehab programme. Planting is coming in November so it will get busy”.

My apologies to Seow for jumping the gun a bit but I cannot resist sharing his story so far.

I hope he continues to keep in touch with me like another reader S.B. Lee, whose witty
and humorous emails often cheer me up.

Lee is another awesome person – she is a highly qualified nurse who is still active after
her retirement. She attends diabetic conferences overseas, coordinates drug trials and
writes a blog to dispense advice to nurses. Oh, and she shares healthy recipes with me.

In an e-mail sent in June, she shared her own care-giving story: “My late mom was
warded in Kulim ICU for a week before she passed away last year. I was by her bedside
daily, recalling how I had survived the years of shift duties in surgical wards and the
casualty unit. I was just glad that I had the chance to nurse her and hold her hands when
she breathed her last.”
 25

There are other awesome ones who have touched my life like Dr Siva, a scientist who
works with insects for the benefit of the palm oil industry, bank officer Sarah who carries
small packets of dog biscuits and cat food to give to strays she comes across and 17-
year-old Khen, who can’t wait to vote in the next general election.

It is the opportunity to know such wonderful people that makes writing a regular column so
rewarding. The funny thing is they think I am awesome but truly, it’s the other way round.

The goodness of ordinary folk

ON Friday, I experienced true beauty in a place that could be considered as dirty and ugly:
the wet market of Petaling Jaya Old Town.

I had taken my 80-year-old mum for her session at the acupuncture centre in the early
morning and since the centre was very near the market, she wanted to go there to buy
fresh noodles. I didn’t want to as I dread wet markets but she insisted.

It wasn’t possible to park near the noodle stall so we had to walk a short distance.

Halfway, mum turned pale and started to sway. She was hit by a severe dizzy spell. I
wrapped my arms around her and struggled to keep us both on our feet.

Suddenly there was an extra pair of hands supporting her and helping me guide her to a
nearby lamppost for support.

I turned to see a young man, his face full of concern.

I looked around for a chair or stool for her to sit, but all I could see were slimy baskets and
grubby boxes.

I was getting frantic because mum looked like she was about to faint.

Then a middle-aged man came running from the market, lugging a large blue plastic
container. It was wet and probably used to transport fish. He turned it over and told the
young man to grab some newspapers to line the top.

I heaved a sigh of relief as I sat mum down on the makeshift bench safely to rest.

I thanked both men profusely and they left. All thoughts of buying noodles had vanished
and I just wanted to get her home safely
 26

“But the stall is just there in the front,” she protested. Nothing was going to prevent her
from getting her four packets of wantan mee and three more of kway teow. “I’ll wait for you
here.”

Luckily, I found the stall easily, bought the stuff and hurried back.

By then, mum, who feeling better, was chatting with yet another young man. He was the
fish monger, his plastic apron flecked with scales. He recognised mum as a regular
customer and was giving her a lecture.

“Auntie, you should not come to the market any more. Dangerous, you can fall down,” he
told her earnestly and offered to get her a drink which she declined.

I was amused and touched that he was willing to lose a customer out of concern for her
health and safety.

When we got back to the car, mum told me with a laugh that the fish monger always tried
to dissuade her from buying in bulk because he didn’t like it that his fish wouldn’t be fresh
by the time she cooked it.

“And he often totals the bill wrongly so that I overpay. But when I tell him on the next visit,
he will always take my word and give me an extra fish.”

I laughed too. And I thought how wonderful. I detest wet markets and it is normally the
maid or my obliging son who will accompany mum to the market.

But look what I had been missing out: developing friendships with people who see their
customers as people and even individuals.

That is something that doesn’t happen at the supermarket where everything, including the
service, is impersonal, cut-and-dried.

This episode made me rethink my aversion to wet markets – mum swears by their
freshness and cheaper prices – and I’m mulling over taking over my mum’s place as the
Auntie and her network of fish, vegetable, noodle, etc, suppliers.

But I celebrate the fact that in such a busy, chaotic place, there are people with good
hearts who will aid someone in need, regardless of race or religion.

That Friday, I kept seeing good people everywhere: the acupuncture centre where the staff
treated their many patients cheerfully and at a nominal fee; the hospital where the doctor
came in during his sabbatical just so he could attend to my dad and answer my numerous
questions patiently.
 27

I even appreciated the scolding I got from the nurse who told me to keep to the
appointment time and then gave my dad a warm, friendly smile.

I know there are good people across our nation. But why am I always pleasantly surprised
by any first-hand experience?

I think it’s because I have been poisoned by those who have problems with living in a
multiracial country.

Their poison is, unfortunately, the worst kind because it is a long, slow drip and after a
while, it seeps in without you even realising it. It’s insidiously toxic because it blinds you
with cynicism and doubt about others.

But Friday, on a day when the nation showed it could put aside differences and mourn
together to start the healing process, I realised I too need healing of my own – one that
purges my cynicism – so that I can start seeing again the beauty, the goodness and the
kindness in my fellow countrymen and women. Happy Merdeka, everyone.

Extra, extra, read all about it!

AM a queen, standing under a canopy on high ground, commanding the attention of a
camp full of soldiers.

I do my best to look regal, pulling my shoulders straight and my tummy in. Not that they
can see as I am covered by a long black cloak. Still, this is my moment and I might as well
make the most out of it.

I am tempted to give a little royal wave but somehow I don’t think it will be appreciated.
After all, we are in the midst of serious film-making. And I am just a stand-in for veteran
actress Joan Chen who is playing Kublai Khan’s beloved queen.

Stand-ins are just that: live dummies who replace the actors in a scene so that the director
and crew can move them around to test angles, lighting and camera distance and what-
have-you.

I didn’t start out as a stand-in. On a whim, my three children and I signed up as extras on
the Marco Polo TV series which is being shot in Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios in
Johor.
 28

The casting people needed guys to play soldiers, so they called my son almost
immediately. Several days later, they asked for the rest of us to play townsfolk. Okay, that
sounded pretty cool and we imagined we would be dressed up in 13th-century Chinese
costumes.

The four of us duly reported for duty on Saturday. Nick was “upgraded” to a “feature” role
as a Song bodyguard but my daughters and I were to be “Mongol women”, whatever that
meant.

The three of them were whisked off to the costume, make-up and hair departments. I was
left waiting my turn when the casting assistant, Avery, suddenly asked if I could be a
stand-in instead for Chabi.

I was quite affronted. Stand in for Chubby? Thanks a lot.

No, no, Kublai Khan’s queen, Chabi, explained Avery. The girl who was supposed to be
the stand-in couldn’t make it.

After I found what being a stand-in entailed, I was torn. What, no make-up and proper
costume and absolutely no chance of getting a glimpse of myself on TV?

But Avery seemed desperate so I agreed to be Chabi.

As it turned out, it was a good decision. I joined the other stand-ins who have been
involved in the production for months, like the jolly Johorean stand-in for British actor
Benedict Wong who plays Kublai Khan. He told me his name was Gan and he was from
Kulai. “So you can call me Kulai Gan,” he quipped.

As a stand-in, I was able to get close to the sets and was within spitting distance from
Chen who looked resplendently royal in her fitted long leather coat and elaborately done
hair.

I stood in for all of 15 minutes and I was done for the day.

I didn’t need to sweat it out under the sun, unlike Nick.

He was one of the four guards accompanying the supposedly shady Chinese minister,
played by Singapore actor Chin Han, who meets Kublai Khan in his Mongol camp.

Filming for that scene started mid-afternoon and dragged on till evening. You can imagine
how energy sapping it was to be dressed up in heavy costumes in our Malaysian weather,
and Nick was drenched in sweat.
 29

But there were no shortcuts as the director and crew paid painstaking attention to every
detail. After all, this is a US$100mil (RM319.6mil) production by the Weinstein Company
for Netflix.

There is already a buzz that this series could be a hit like Game of Thrones. I hope so
because it would be great publicity for Malaysia.

The schedule for that day was to shoot four or five scenes, including night scenes, centred
around the Mongol camp built on the studios’ backlot, complete with yurts and prison
stockades.

Every scene had to be reset repeatedly and it was always a hive of activity. The rug under
Chabi is grass stained and out comes a vacuum cleaner; the soil is too dry and dusty and
someone quickly sprays water over it. Costumes need adjusting, make-up calls for touch-
ups; a yurt needs to be moved and a giant crane does the heavy lifting. It’s not gory
enough so the props guy generously sprinkles blood on the body parts.

It was also awesome to see

Malaysians confidently carrying out their tasks and being very much part of the team.

I finally caught up with my daughters who were sitting with other extras in a holding area
and I could barely recognise them. Mongol women? With dirty faces and dressed in
ragged clothes, they looked like camp slaves.

They were to provide the “background action” by walking around while Kublai Khan
conferred with his men and heaving pots of oil (I think) to keep a huge cauldron boiling
during a torture scene.

This is a production with about 700 people and what was truly impressive was how
multinational and multiracial the production was, from actors to crew and support staff.

English was of course the lingua franca, but I could hear people speaking in Malay,
Mandarin, Tamil, Kazakh and Russian as well.

The latter is because there were actors from Kazakhstan and I was totally smitten by their
tall stature and good looks, which were a nice mix of Caucasian and Asian features. And
they were immensely friendly and approachable guys.

For my children and I who were there for just a day, it was a memorable experience, even
though it took 14 hours and ended at 3.30am.

I missed my chance to be an extra but if there is season two, I will sign up again and
hopefully, I get to play a court lady. No rags for me please!
 30

For those with no tombstones

THERE is a round black plaque cradled by white granite that is dedicated to Flight MH653.

It is located at Kampung Ladang Tanjung Kupang, Johor *. It bears the Malaysia Airlines
logo with the inscription: Kenangan kepada rakan-rakan kita (In memory of our
colleagues) and seven names: Azian Borhanuddin, G.K. Ganjoor, Kamarulzaman Jalil,
Karim Tahir, Onn Jaafar, Sharifah Sidah Syed Omar and Sim Siang Yong.
These are the seven crew members of the first fatal air crash of the national carrier on Dec
4, 1977. They perished along with 93 passengers whose names we don’t remember.

Such is life. We mourn, we move on, we forget.

And that is why memorials are important. In its simplest definition, a memorial is
“something designed to preserve the memory of a person, event, etc.” (Dictionary.com).

Yes, it is still early days where MH17 is concerned and MH370 remains as big a mystery
as the day the jetliner disappeared. But no nation or airline has ever been struck by two
major aviation tragedies within six months. It’s truly unprecedented – to use a very
overworked and overwrought word – and that’s why we, as a nation, need to mourn, heal
and remember.

In a way, the Government has already started the ball rolling when Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said on Thursday that a special
gravesite for Muslim victims would be provided in Presint 20, Putrajaya.

The victims’ families would have a choice whether to have the bodies buried in Putrajaya
or in their respective hometowns.

That indeed is a kind and thoughtful gesture. But it should not stop at that. In recent
decades, memorials have been springing up around the world to commemorate victims of
death and disaster.

Historians call it the Age of Commemoration brought about by “the acceleration of history”,
where continuity and permanence are no longer a feature of the modern world but rapid
change is. And that means it becomes harder and harder to remember things, events,
even people.

We all know that. Fads, trends, gadgets and events come and go at an unbelievable
speed. That’s why we are quick to build shrines both physical and virtual, in the face of
any disaster, but we also forget easily. Even with MH370. The intense international interest
and scrutiny started to fade after a few months.
 31

Permanent, meaningful memorials therefore, as Julian Bonder writes in On Memory,

Trauma, Public Space, Monuments, and Memorials, “help us consider trauma and rethink
and reactualise the past”.

Some may argue that a memorial to MH17 should be in eastern Ukraine where the plane
was shot down, or that it’s meaningless to have one for MH370 since it disappeared over
the South Indian Ocean.

But that is precisely why we need a memorial for victims of both flights because as Bonder
explains, it can function as a mourning site and especially so, in our context, “when
tombstones are absent”.

Having a memorial gives us a chance to memorialise all who perished, whatever

nationality, whatever religion. For this, we can look to examples like the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial and the Berlin Wall Memorial for inspiration.

What makes both so moving and indeed memorable was the effort to put the names (and
faces in the case of the Berlin Wall Memorial) of those who died.

Anyone who has visited these memorials can feel the power of remembrance even if you
did not know any of the deceased. That was what Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs wanted
when he started the campaign to build that memorial because he wanted the names of all
those killed in that war remembered.

This was in stark contrast to previous war memorials which were symbolic and nameless
like the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And that, according to historian John Gillis, was the
start of the “growing acknowledgement that everyone now deserves equal recognition at
all times in wholly accessible places”.

If we do decide on a memorial – and I sincerely hope we do – we must focus on its

purpose: a “sacred space for mourning and reflection”, as Lisa M. Moore writes in her
article “(Re)covering the Past, Remembering Trauma: the Politics of Commemoration at
Sites of Atrocity”.

She adds that a memorial can also be a public site for education and awareness.

In fact, we would do well to wait to find the right place and design for such a memorial.
There is no need to rush to put something up just because emotions are very high still.

That’s because it is just as important to design something that is worthy, powerful and
poignant and not throw up an ill-conceived and above all, politicised, embarrassment. If
we believe this is important, then let’s do it right, for the right reasons.

In the meantime, I think we owe it to the families of those on board MH370 to have
closure. It’s no point to continue waiting for concrete evidence that the plane had gone
 32

down. So what the Government should do – and do soon – is organise a multi-faith

ceremony for families and friends to say goodbye properly, respectfully and lovingly to the
victims of MH370 and MH17. And we should do it together.

Revelling in happy doggie-land

EUROPEAN cities are charming. Be it Paris, Venice, Prague or Vienna, they have
beautiful churches, elegant old buildings, palaces, parks, imposing statues and
cobblestone streets full of lovely little shops, cafes and restaurants.

It was no different with Torino in northern Italy, which I visited last week to attend a
newspaper industry conference.

But what struck me most as I explored the ancient city with my colleague were its happy
and much loved canine citizens. For someone who lives in a country where dogs are often
mistreated and barred from public places, it was a joy to see dogs of all shapes and sizes
going everywhere with the owners.

Dog watching, as it turned out, is really fun. Turn a corner and a sweet little old lady is
walking her pretty poddle. Eat al fresco in a café and there is a large Labrador panting
quietly under its owner’s chair at the next table. In the subway, a woman enters with an
assortment of bags. Melting brown eyes stare out from a floral bag and you realise it’s an
adorable silky terrier.

Remarkably, the dogs were well groomed, well-fed and above all, extremely well-behaved.
Occasionally, two passing alpha males growled and barked at each other, forcing their
owners to pull hard on the leashes.

Even the doggy companions of vagrants were much loved and cared for. In turn, the way
the dogs guarded their sleeping masters on the sidewalks made a touching sight.

Owners didn’t always match their pets. I giggled to see a hunk of a guy in tight jeans and
even tighter T-shirt (all the better to show his pecks and biceps) striding down the street
and trotting valiantly behind him was his tiny Chihuahua.

Dachshunds seemed to be a popular breed, as were retrievers, terriers and pugs in

downtown Torino.

I can only surmise that dogs are so well integrated in western societies because they have
responsible owners. Their dogs didn’t chase after strangers or bark at passers-by, and
knew when to heel, sit and lie down beside their owners.
 33

There was some dog poo on the streets which may mean Torino residents are not as
diligent about picking up their dog’s business the way, say, Seattle citizens are. But clearly,
dogs in public spaces are very much part of the lifestyle there.

All that doggy exposure led me to think about the situation in our country. Now most dogs
here aren’t fit for company because they are untrained so it is best they are indeed left at
home. Their owners are also unlikely to neuter them to ensure there are no unwanted
puppies. But there are also very many genuine dog lovers who take great pride in their
pets and ensure they are properly trained and groomed. These are the dog owners who
love to show off their obedient and pampered pooches but can’t because our society is so
dog-unfriendly.

We have bylaws against dogs in public parks and just about everywhere else. Dog owners
are limited to walking them in their neighbourhoods and again not all are responsible. But
while we may blame irresponsible pet ownership for the lack of acceptance for dogs in
public, there are also religious sensitivities to consider, as we know. That is
understandable.

What is hard to understand and impossible to accept is the demonisation of the animal.
Yes, there have been cases of fierce breeds attacking and even killing people which fuel
the fear and loathing, but surely such incidents do not mean it is permissible to
deliberately hurt and treat dogs, especially strays, cruelly and with impunity.

And I am not talking about misguided children throwing stones at them; it extends to
people who abandon their dogs once they are no longer cute puppies and local council
staff who use ghastly ways to catch strays, often inflicting pain and suffering on the poor
creatures. The latest horror story is how the Johor Baru Tengah Municipal Council killed
strays by beating them to death with metal rods.

The killings were caught on phone video which went viral and led to the council president
Sallehuddin Hassan to decry his staff’s action as a “terrible mistake” and promising action,
such as reviewing their SOP so that strays can be put down humanely.

That’s good of him but we’ve heard that before, haven’t we? The JB council isn’t the first to
be caught for inhumane treatment of strays and I doubt it will be the last.

That’s why we have an NGO called Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB), co-founded
by my colleague Wani Muthiah, because our canines, especially strays, do deserve better
owners, better protection, better treatment and definitely better, more humane methods to
put them down as a last resort.

There’s a good reason why dogs are man’s best friends; over the eons they have proven
that, whether as sheepdogs or drug and landmine sniffers, or guides for the blind.
 34

And simply because they are loyal, loving, lovable creatures. Those dogs in Torino? I
swear they even smile at strangers.

 Aunty supports Stevens Chan’s ‘Dogs for Sight’ campaign, but isn’t hopeful that our
authorities or the majority of the people will finally see the light. Feedback
tojunewong@thestar.com.my.
 The views expressed are entirely the writer's own.

Psst, the Govt is listening...hurray!

IN June last year, I came up with a brilliant idea: Let’s play the Negaraku in cinemas during
the month of August to give the public a chance to show their patriotism.

Well, I thought it was brilliant so I wrote about it in my column. Others thought it dim-witted.
But amazingly, someone of importance and influence was like-minded.

Just before Merdeka Day, Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad
Shabery Cheek got cinema operators in the country to play the national anthem before the
start of a movie for about a week.

Till today, I can’t be sure what motivated the minister to do so; maybe he read my column,
maybe not. But my motive, as I wrote on Aug 28 in a follow-up article, was simple: let us
citizens take back ownership of the symbols of our nationhood like theNegaraku and the
national flag. Why? Because many people think the national anthem and flag belong to
politicians.

Of course there were grumblings and naysayers who criticised the move as an artificial
attempt to force people to be patriotic. But allowing citizens the chance to sing
theNegaraku in a common space is a nice reminder that they share a nation too. That’s
what I think.

Will the minister ask cinema operators to repeat the anthem action this year? I hope so. It
shouldn’t be just a one-off experiment. Besides, I like singing the Negaraku.

Then in January this year, I wrote about Putrajaya. That column was in response to the
objections by an NGO to the possibility of having a Hard Rock Café there because it
claimed the nation’s capital was modelled after Medina, which was quickly debunked by
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
 35

I opined that, as much as I appreciated Putrajaya’s strong Islamic influences, it should also
reflect the multicultural complexity of our nation. So I suggested a Chinese pavilion or
garden like Sydney’s Chinese Garden of Friendship.

Three months later, on April 22, The Star reported that a garden would be built in Precinct
4, Putrajaya, and it would be the China-Malaysia Friendship Garden, complete with
“distinctive Chinese elements and character”.

Ahem...

Of course, it could be pure coincidence. Officially, the garden was mooted by the
Malaysia-China Friendship Association (PPMC) and according to the Putrajaya
Corporation (PPj) website, the Chinese government’s agency, Dongguan People’s
Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, will provide RM1.5mil to construct a
“Lingnan-styled” garden, slated for completion in early June.

PPj President Tan Sri Aseh Hj Che Mat said the garden was not only symbolic of the 40
years of Malaysia-China bilateral relations, but would also be a tourist attraction that would
add “international character” to Putrajaya.

That’s wonderful but I would be happy to settle for a “multiracial character”, or at least the
start of one. Can we hope to see other creative additions that are distinctly Indian, or
Sabahan and Sarawakian? Surely, a stylised kelirieng, the imposing Iban burial pole,
would add more character to Putrajaya.

By the way, that NGO that opposed the Hard Rock Café idea also opposed the Chinese
garden, saying it would be better suited for Penang. Go figure.

But what I am most pleased about was the recent announcement by the police that they
would actively target the Chinese in its recruitment campaigns.

That’s because in my column on May 22 last year, titled Rebooting our racial quotas, I
gave reasons why there were so few non-Malays, especially Chinese, in the force and
suggested ways to address the problem, including setting reverse racial quotas for the
police.

So when Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said they
wanted to increase the number of Chinese policemen from the current 1,974 to over 5,000
because “we need people of all races and ethnic groups to join the force to help the police
serve the people”, it was music to my ears.

Actually, this call for a more multiracial force is not new at all. Back in 1979, as a rookie
reporter, I wrote a story quoting the then police assistant director of personnel and
 36

establishment Senior Asst Commissioner N. Nadarajah. The headline: Police to take in

more non-Malays.

Obviously, that didn’t happen for 35 years.

But this time, it looks like the police really mean it. Bukit Aman assistant director of
personnel (recruitment) Senior Asst Comm Saiful Azly Kamaruddin reinforced Mohd
Bakri’s statement by saying: “There is nothing we want more than having a force
represented equally by all races. We realise that there are two things that are keeping the
Chinese from joining the force – (bad) perception and not knowing about the recruitment.”

They addressed those concerns with road shows all over the country and have got a good
response because non-Malays have now realised the police (and the rest of the civil
service) offer good jobs with improved salaries, excellent benefits and more importantly,
good prospects.

All the above gives me renewed hope. Hope that despite the communal shrieks and
ranting of certain groups, there are important people in the right places rooting and
working for our beloved multiracial Malaysia.

That we must never ever forget, that we are multiracial and everyone, apart from the
orang asli, came from somewhere else, once upon a time. And with that, we have
diversity. And as a top banker said:

“Diversity is power. Work and learn from others that are not like you. Malaysia’s greatest
strength is the diversity of its people; if you can only team up with people like yourself then
you are wasting your biggest comparative advantage as a Malaysian.”

Who said that? Datuk Seri Nazir Tun Razak, who added, “When people joke that CIMB
stands for Chinese, Indian, Malay Bank I feel proud because it is an implicit recognition
that we are one of the most successful multiracial companies.”

By simple extension, by embracing our diversity, Malaysia should be one of the most
successful multiracial nations anywhere in the world. Any objections to that?

It's Seoul good after all

AND there it was: The Bench. The very spot they shared their first kiss. And there I was,
sitting on it.
 37

Not only that, I was grinning like a schoolgirl as I posed with two fingers up for my camera.
Except I was no agasshi but an ajumma. That’s “young lady” and “aunty” respectively. In
Korean.
Yes, folks, almost two years after that first unhappy visit to K-land, I was baaack!

Readers might recall the column I wrote on June 21, 2012, in which I described my great
disappointment in finding the people in Seoul unfriendly, the cabbies scary and the shop
assistants rude.

It was nothing like what I had seen in my K-dramas. It was a good lesson not to so
foolishly believe everything you see on the telly. Then again, I also felt I hadn’t given Seoul
a fair shake as that trip was poorly planned. Actually, there was no planning at all. We
practically jumped on the plane and landed on our backsides, figuratively speaking.

So I decided to go back with the same friends from the first jaunt and this time, we turned
to the experts for help. We got Apple Vacations to put together an itinerary of two nights on
Jeju Island and three in Seoul. We gave them our wish list of places to see and eat. And of
course shopping.

And it worked out beautifully. That’s how I landed on that bench on Jeju. This was where
Kim Joo-won (played by Hyun Bin) and Gil Ra-im (Ha Ji-won) kissed in the 2010 hit
series, Secret Garden.
Finding the locations of a few of my favourite dramas turned out to be really fun.

After a taste of other Jeju charms which included the living Folk Village (complete with a
real pig pen), spectacular Cheongjeyeong Falls, the sex-themed Love Land (more
hilarious than sexciting) and an unexpectedly good underground shopping mall, we
headed for Seoul.

Our tour guide brought us to the café used as the setting for Coffee Prince in Hongdae.
This is a relatively old drama dating to 2006 but the fans are still visiting and allowed to
take photos (provided you are a customer and, as it turned out, the place serves pretty
decent coffee).
Next stop was Bukchok Hanok Village, which is an area in Seoul where lovely traditional
houses are maintained as real homes. There are signs asking tourists to keep the noise
down but it can’t be easy having nosy strangers streaming past your house and snapping
photos daily.

I was delighted that I recognised the area and found the unmarked house which was
featured in yet another favourite drama, Personal Taste, starring hottie Lee Min-ho.
Finally, we drove up to Namsan Tower, where the couple from the megahit series, My
Love from the Star, placed their love lock with the other thousands at the bottom of the
tower.
My buddies and I did the same. Saranghae, BFF.
 38

Food-wise, we got it right as well. We had scrumptious black pork barbecue and delicately
ginseng-infused samgyetang, as well as bibimbap, jajamyeon, spicy seafood hot pot, lots
of kimchi and yes, we even did the fried chicken and beer thing (fans of My Love from the
Star will know what I mean).
That is the power of soft power. By using pop culture, South Korea has conquered the
world, which has brought so much respect, love, curiosity and tourist dollars to the country.

Then there is its electronic dominance. My telly, smartphone, tablet, and even my washing
machine are from Samsung!

And it happened in less than three decades after South Korea threw off the yoke of military
dictatorships that lasted more than 30 years. What helped, according to experts, was the
high level of education among its citizens who bloomed once the repression was removed.
That’s truly a lesson to be learned here.

Yet, despite all its success and progress, it was unable to prevent a man-made disaster
like the sinking of the Sewol ferry that has claimed hundreds of lives, the majority of them
teenage students.
The deep sorrow of the people was not really evident to a visitor even though the
newspapers and TV stations were full of news of the tragedy.

But as a citizen of a nation which has also suffered a terrible loss with MH370, I felt
compelled to visit the memorial for the ferry victims set up outside Seoul City Hall which
was within walking distance from my hotel.

I was accompanied by my friend, Yu Khun-ha, a senior journalist from The Korea Herald,
to the memorial. There were long queues from morning till night and people wrote
messages on long yellow ribbons which were tied to metal frames set up for this purpose.
I wrote a condolence message to join the thousands already fluttering in the wind.
That was the only sombre moment during a trip that I will remember as my Seoul
redeemed.

Wanted: A rational water plan

 39

The present method of dealing with the ongoing water crisis is literally in drips and
drabs. What we need is to learn water resource management from other countries
and we’d better do it fast.

WHAT fools we are. What wasteful, short-sighted fools!

I came to this conclusion after learning about the Singapore water story a couple of weeks
ago and from conversations with my sister visiting from Sydney on how New South Wales
coped with prolonged drought in the state.

First, Singapore and its water supply. I was down south for a meeting of Asian News
Network newspaper editors which included a field trip to the Public Utilities Board (PUB),
the national water agency.

I didn’t think it would be interesting but as the briefing by PUB director George Madhavan
unfolded, I found myself lapping up the story about a nation that worked out a 50-year plan
to ensure its water security.

The plan, known as the “Four National Taps”, was to build “a robust and diversified supply
of water”, derived from local catchment, imported from Johor, recycled through technology
(called NEWater) and desalination.

The aim was simple but ambitious: collect every drop of rain, every drop of used water and
recycle every drop more than once.

And that is done through two separate systems. The first is a comprehensive network of
drains, canals and rivers that collects rainwater which is stored in 17 reservoirs before it’s
treated for drinking.

Two-thirds of the land area is water catchment, which “makes Singapore one of the few
countries in the world to harvest urban storm-water on a large scale for its water supply”,
says the PUB website.

The other system collects used water which is recycled, using membrane technology and
ultraviolet disinfection, into high-grade reclaimed NEWater. It’s so clean, it’s safe to drink
and industries love it.

Singapore is still getting water from Johor but the government plans to be weaned off that
supply when the second water agreement expires in 2061. By which time, desalination
should provide 25% of the state’s water needs.

Simultaneously, a lot of effort goes into educating the public and the young on water
conservation.
 40

Clearly, the Singapore model has worked because a two-month drought at the beginning
of the year did not dent its water supply and there was no rationing or dry taps in the city.

I got another lesson in water management from Down Under.

My sister and her family who live in Sydney came back to celebrate our dad’s 87th
birthday and ran smack into our sorry state of water rationing.

Like others, I thought rationing was the only solution but it really hasn’t helped as we have
only reduced water usage by a measly 7%. That’s because we haven’t changed our habits
and affected residents are storing water like mad for the dry days.

But my sister said that even with a prolonged drought in New South Wales, the
government did not resort to rationing but introduced water restrictions instead.

Despite the near critical levels in their dams and reservoirs, their water supply was never
turned off. Instead, the government issued measures on how water could be used and
people abided by them.

As my sister explained, in Australia a lot of water is used externally to water lawns, wash
cars and fill swimming pools.

With restrictions in place, that meant no washing your car unless it was with a bucket. It
became almost a badge of honour to drive around in a dirty, dusty car.

Garden-proud Australians lived with dried up flower beds and brown lawns because if
anyone tried watering them, they would be reported to the authorities – by their
neighbours!

Public education and societal pressure ensured that people took it upon themselves to
behave responsibly and follow the rules on restricting the use of water.

Although water restrictions have eased off as there has been good rainfall of late, the
Australian authorities are planning ahead for when it could turn dry again.

There are subsidies for people who buy rainwater storage tanks for their homes and
workplaces. Regulations are in place that require new housing developments to have dual
water supply systems – one for drinking water and another for “grey” water which is
recycled water that’s not clean enough for drinking and cooking but good enough for
external watering and washing.

Equally importantly, Australians pay a hefty price for their water. My sister’s quarterly water
bill is A$200 (RM611) but what she gets is very high quality clean water that can be drunk
from the tap.
 41

As a science teacher, my sister runs a programme called Streamwatch in her school that
monitors pollution in the local creek. Her students are taught to regularly test the quality of
the water and report anything suspicious they find.

She says all the waterways, streams and creeks are mapped out and assigned to schools,
local community groups and volunteers to monitor water pollution.

Of course you may say it makes sense for Singaporeans on their tiny island and
Australians living in one of the world’s driest continents to be obsessive about water.

In contrast, we in tropical Malaysia have plenty of rain, so why worry. Well, folks, time to
rethink everything we know about water. Climate change has made weather and rainfall
patterns unpredictable and there are no guarantees any more as thousands of households
now know.

Water has become such a precious resource that wars in this century will most likely be
fought over it. That’s the premise of the book, Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power
and Civilization, in which the author Steven Solomon argues that water will surpass oil –
the cause of many 20th century conflicts – as the world’s most critical dwindling resource.

So we have to stop this short-sighted, populist, wasteful foolishness of giving free water
and squabbling over water assets and start a master plan for managing our water
resources and supply holistically for the very long term.

Already, foreign investors are wondering what went wrong with our resource planning. The
CEO of a multinational food and beverage company told me: “When we invested in this
country, we never thought we would have to worry about the water supply. If this situation
is not resolved, we are looking at 2,000 people losing their jobs.”

Imagine, no water can also mean no jobs. It’s such a scary thought, I could do with a drink.

It’s raining heavily as Aunty writes this but it’s such a shame that most of it will be wasted
with precious little falling in catchment areas. Feedback tojunewong@thestar.com.my
The views expressed are entirely the writer’s own.

Up close with Lee Hsien Loong

 42

Singapore’s prime minister took questions on a wide range of subjects at a dialogue

with editors whose newspapers are members of the Asia News Network (ANN).

THEY may not have each other’s phone numbers on speed dial, but the prime ministers of
Malaysia and Singapore have “very good rapport”.

That’s now Lee Hsien Loong described the relationship he has with Datuk Seri Najib Tun
Razak.

Indeed, the relationship between the two leaders mirrors the ties between their nations
which have thawed considerably since the frosty days of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and
Lee Kuan Yew.

“I have good rapport with Prime Minister Najib and our officials and ministers work well
with each other. There are issues to be handled. We are not identical, either in the
structure of our societies and political system or in our approach to economic as well as
social issues, but we are able to work together.

“And I think that is the way we have made progress, and that’s how I think we can
continue to make further progress,” said Lee at a dialogue with editors whose newspapers
are members of the Asia News Network (ANN) last week.

The editors were in Singapore for the ANN’s annual meeting. The ANN was founded in
1999 with six newspapers and sponsored by the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation. In its 15th
year, it now has a membership of 22 Asian news organisations, including The
Nation (Thailand), Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Yomiuri
Shimbun, Jakarta Post, The Korea Herald, China Daily, The Straits Times, The
Starand Sin Chew Daily.

Lee took questions on a wide range of subjects but top of the agenda was Malaysia-
Singapore ties as he had just returned from a two-day Fifth Malaysia-Singapore Leaders’
Retreat in Kuala Lumpur which began in 2007.

By all accounts, both men have developed a genuine friendship which has enabled their
governments to overcome long standing issues, resulting in key agreements.

As The Star reported last year, based on data from the Malaysian Industrial Development
Authority, Singapore remains one of the top investors in the country, with total value of
approved projects standing at RM2.2bil last year; and RM2.5bil in 2011.

Singaporeans have also taken a deep interest and strong investment in Iskandar
Malaysia. All in, both countries “have a very big agenda”, as Lee puts it.
 43

That big agenda includes the other ambitious project: the High Speed Rail (HSR) link
between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, which was first mooted as far back as 2006 and
was brought to the table for agreement by both leaders in February last year.

The HSR, announced last year, will reportedly cost RM40bil and will cut rail travel time
between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore from six hours to just 90 minutes.

Lee hailed the HSR as a game changer, likening it to the rail

links between major cities like London and Paris, Shanghai and Hangzhou and Chengdu
and Chongqing in China.

“These are cities three, four hundred kilometres apart. You want to make it less than a day
trip,” he said. In the same vein, the HSR “would make a very big difference to the
connection between two very vibrant cities, in the way you can do business together, in
the way you can travel up down, the convenience of it”.

With so much going for it, there are high stakes involved in bringing the link to fruition by
2020, the stated deadline.

But there is much work to be done. So far, what is known is the rail line will be 330km
long, the Malaysian terminus will be in Bandar Malaysia in Sungai Besi, KL, and there will
be five stops in Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor.

Singapore is still mulling over three possible sites for its terminus, with Jurong East as a
very attractive option, according to Lee.

While Lee said “we know in principle that we want this”, he was candid to admit the
specifics had not been worked out when asked what obstacles could derail or delay the
project.

“In those broad terms, we have decided the shape of it. But where is the line going to go?
How is it going to be built? What’s the engineering? What’s the financing? What’s the
governance? What’s the legal framework? How are we going to operate this?

“These are all very complicated to do even in one country, but to do in two countries and to
work it all out in what would be quite a compressed time frame, I think will test our teams,”
he said.

On the annual problem of haze caused by land clearing fires in Indonesia faced by
Malaysia and Singapore, Lee said the burning has to stop.

“But to stop burning, you must have the laws and you must enforce the laws. And then you
must have sustainable agricultural practices.
 44

“The climate is changing. And when you have extreme droughts, dry weather, then even if
you don’t start a fire, a fire may start by itself.

“But if you do start a fire, it is very unlikely that you can control it. And if you decide that
this is the time to start a fire because that’s the easiest way to clear the forest, well, we are
affected, Malaysia is affected. I think the Indonesian government knows it’s a problem.”

Asked how long he planned to stay as Singapore’s leader, as the era of long tenureship of
prime ministers seemed to be over, especially in the region, Lee replied: “I think leaders
stay as long as they are able to make a contribution. If they stay beyond that, then they
have overstayed their welcome.

“I can’t say exactly how long I’m staying but I’m 62 years old and that’s not young.”

He added, however, that succession planning for Singapore’s top political leadership was
already in place.

“We are making sure we have a new team ready and new leaders who are capable of
taking charge, so that the country can move ahead and the leaders can be in sync with the
country,” he said.

Lee said that after the 2011 general election, he had brought in more than 20 new
Members of Parliament and several of them were in the Cabinet. They are Education
Minister Heng Swee Keat, Minister for Social and Family Development Chan Chun Sing,
Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin and Acting Culture, Community and Youth
Minister Lawrence Wong, according to The Straits Times.

“They are doing well and moving into more responsible positions. I hope they continue to
do well and mature and grow in their responsibilities and in their understanding of
Singapore,” he said, adding that he hoped Singaporeans would also accept their
leadership.

Questioned about what key qualities he would look for in Singapore’s leaders, Lee said:
“You must be quite clear what Singapore’s interests are, and you must be able to
persuade people that this is what we need to do together. People have to be willing to go
with you and to say yes, I trust him, I (will) work with him.”

Asked if he thought Singapore would still be all right if he were to retire as PM tomorrow,
Lee, who once said he hoped he would not have to serve beyond the age of 70, replied:
“That is the objective.”
 45

We are all hurting together

Now that it’s official that MH370 is gone with all on board, we need to mourn the
many lives lost but eventually, we need to move on.

THIS was supposed to be our year; the year we put our best foot forward and welcome
record tourists with bright smiles.

But as we all know, it’s been hard to smile the last few weeks and on Monday tears flowed
freely.

After 18 agonising days, MH370 was officially declared lost in the remote reaches of the
southern Indian Ocean and all on board presumed dead.

Until that dreaded announcement, even though our heads told us it would be impossible
for the plane to land somewhere safely, in our hearts, we wanted that bizarre miracle of
survival so much.

Sadly, the disclosure that MH370 is officially lost at sea did not provide closure. As long as
there is no sign of the plane, there will be people who will refuse to accept there is no
more hope.

They want hard evidence – at least a piece of debris that is definitely from the plane – not
some conclusion derived from satellite technology that experts used to decide where the
plane “ended’.

That is understandable. A close relative thinks the plane could have landed on a remote
island and everyone on board could have been locked up.

Then the plane took off again, was put on auto-pilot and the hijacker jumped off with a
parachute. The plane finally ditched into the ocean when it ran out of fuel.

Talk about imagination and too much espionage movies. Of course the big question I
tossed back was: why would anyone do that?

The same question to so many of the things that are also known and confirmed about
MH370: the turn back, the systematic shutdown of the communications systems, the
erratic altitudes of the plane, so on and so forth.

But as MAS chairman Tan Sri Md Nor Yusof told a news conference yesterday, “We don’t
know how, we don’t know why, we can only pray for the souls on board.”

Hence, the anguished and furious reaction to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s
announcement on Monday night from the Chinese families.
 46

That’s understandable. The tension, the grief, the hope stretched so tightly over so many
agonising days. But what is hard to take is their deep suspicion that the Malaysian
Government is trying to hide the truth. The Beijing Government is also demanding
transparency in the investigations.

Yes, two-thirds of the 239 people on board were Chinese citizens but we lost 49 of our
own. We are just as anguished and in need of answers too.

Yes, there were missteps, delays and contradictory statements, especially during the early
days of the crisis. But once the Government and Malaysia Airlines got themselves sorted
out, they did the best they could.

I seriously doubt any other government could have done better, given the confounding
mystery surrounding MH370’s disappearance.

As an online posting put it: “Jumbo jets, particularly those as big and with a sterling service
record as the Boeing 777, don’t just disappear mid-flight. Especially in otherwise perfect
weather, on a night without volcanic activity and without even so much as a hint of a
problem.”

MH370 simply swept aside everything else. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Every angle
and lead was sliced and diced by the media and everyone else on the planet.

Events and stories which would have normally hogged the headlines – the haze, water
woes, two by-elections, shocking drug use at concerts, tensions in the Ukraine – fell by the
wayside.

“Malaysia”, “Malaysia Airlines”, “Kuala Lumpur” and “Straits of Malacca” have all been
mentioned so many times on all the international TV stations, in newspapers and online
portals that never again will we have to explain where we are on the globe – “south of
Thailand, north of Singapore” – to anyone.

The story hasn’t ended and the intense media interest still hasn’t dimmed because the
arduous search for the plane continues. The foul weather hampering the search efforts
adds further drama to the situation.

What is likely, too, is the search for answers will increasingly be in the hands of other
agencies beyond Malaysia because they have the know-how, expertise and experience.

For now, all we want to do is mourn and pray for the souls of the departed.

In time to come, if answers are not forthcoming, our attention will turn to other things. That
is inevitable and it may seem callous but we will have to let it go and move on.
 47

Even the affected families will have come to terms with their loss. The official declaration
that MH370 has crashed and all are presumed dead is important because it has practical
and legal implications that affect the deceased’s bank accounts, wills, insurance and so
on.

Despite the jitters and blue funk we are in, people are still flying and travelling. The MATTA
Fair did roaring business two weekends back. I was there and booked myself three
holiday packages spread out over the coming months and, yes, I am flying MAS.

So no matter how grief-stricken we feel, we must square our shoulders and put up a brave
front because life must go on.

The great Malaysian movie ... almost

A local production that is unpretentiously Malaysian is a massive hit with cinema-
goers. And it’s about time too.

MY eyes are red, my nose stuffy. But boy do I feel good. Yup, I have been crying, but am
elated too because for the second time in 31 years, I have been smitten by a local movie.

The first was in 1983, when I watched Mekanik. Since then, I have been waiting for
another local production that pressed all the right buttons with me.
In between the two movies, we had a few notable efforts, like Sepet by the late Yasmin
Ahmad, but even that didn’t quite ignite as a box office hit.
Mekanik, a comedy directed by Othman Hafsham, starring Azmil Mustapha and Susan
Lankester, won a slew of local film awards and made nearly a million at the box office,
which was quite an achievement back then.
The storyline was not the cleverest; a mechanic played by Azmil finds RM500,000 in a car
he is repairing and decides to keep the loot. Of course, that only leads him into all sorts of
trouble when the police and the bad guys go after him to recover the money.

But what was great about the movie was how it captured Kuala Lumpur circa 1980 with
such wit and genuine affection that allowed us to laugh at ourselves.

As one online reviewer says: “In my opinion, this is the finest Malaysian comedy of the
post-P. Ramlee era. Director Hafsham created a satirical yet affectionate and
unpretentious look at the habits of KL people, with some of the most charismatic actors of
its time. Definitely worth watching if you want a light-hearted, multi-racial look at how
Malaysia was like in the 80s.”
 48

That is what makes Mekanik an important achievement in Malaysian cinema. According to

Abd Aziz Itar in a 2008 Utusan Malaysia article, it qualifies as that rare Malaysian movie as
opposed to it being a Malay movie.
He goes on to say that a Malay movie is one which is directed at a Malay audience
because of the language used and the customs and culture depicted. A Malaysian film,
however, is one which can represent a much broader spectrum of society and depicts
shared languages and the everyday life of its people.

A fine example of this in Mekanik is the “mee kung fu” scene where Azmil and Lankester
order food from first hawker stalls and then a “proper” restaurant to hilarious effect. You
can watch it on YouTube and see what I mean.
It is these factors, says Abd Aziz Itar, that make a movie compelling enough to pull in a
multiracial audience.

He opined that Mekanik came closest to achieving the right formula for making a
successful Malaysian movie, and Sepet a close second.
Now bear in mind that when Mekanik came out, there was no Internet, no social media to
spread its popularity. It was solely by word-of-mouth, and I remember how my siblings and
I wanted to watch it because we heard good things about it.
Fast forward to 2014, and it is still word-of-mouth that has created such an immense buzz
over the Astro-Shaw production, The Journey, directed by Chiu Keng Guan.
Mind you, Astro ran the trailer plenty of times, but if those who watched it didn’t give it the
thumbs up and tell their neighbours, friends and relatives about it, no number of repeated
screenings of the trailer would have helped.

Some may not agree that it qualifies as a Malaysian movie because its main protagonist is
a Chinese man and most of its dialogue is in Mandarin and Chinese dialects.

But I think it does because there is quite a bit of Bahasa and English spoken as well. Not
only that, its plot takes it beyond a Malaysian Chinese setting.

For those who are under the proverbial coconut shell, The Journey tells the story of a
prodigal daughter, Bee (played by Joanne Yew) coming home during Chinese New Year to
introduce her British fiancé Benji (Australian actor Ben Andrew Pfeiffer) to her estranged
conservative widower dad (Lee Sai Peng) who lives in Cameron Highlands.
The old man initially opposes the marriage. He gives in, but insists on keeping with
tradition and his promise to his childhood friends to hand-deliver the wedding invitations
with his future son-in-law. Benji agrees, but on the condition they make the journey on his
motorcycle.

So what we have is essentially a road trip that takes the audience through towns and
villages in various parts of the peninsula, and along the way, two people from very different
backgrounds and cultures learn about each other and about themselves.
 49

There are delightful vignettes of Malaysian life, 50 years ago (told in flashbacks through
the eyes of the father) and the present.

There is plenty of humour and the funniest scene is when the duo visit Fatimah, the
father’s Chinese primary school classmate, whose cheeky grandchildren call Benji
“sofaman” for a very good and rib-tickling reason.

The Journey manages to capture touching universal family themes like estrangement, filial
piety, love and forgiveness as well as societal motifs like friendship, communication and
traditions.
Like I said, the plot is essentially Chinese, but done with a genuine Malaysian flavour and
setting. The mix of different languages actually works too, at least for the most part.

The Journey is hardly perfect – a couple of plot devices are almost absurd and the acting
is uneven – but my goodness, the cinematography is quite brilliant (great advertising for
Visit Malaysia Year) and the emotions are heartfelt enough to have people in the audience
clapping at the end.
That and the movie beating the likes of The Lego Movie and Robocop in ticket sales are
no mean feat. In fact, it is the highest grossing local movie, regardless of language, at
RM12.92mil in ticket sales and is still going strong.
In times like these, a feel-good Malaysian movie like The Journey is very much welcome.

A capital belonging to the people

I HAVE a question: Why do some people seem to think Putrajaya only belongs to them?

Silly me couldn’t help wondering due to the recent fuss over the mere suggestion of
opening a Hard Rock Café there. And here I was thinking this was the capital of a modern,
moderate, multiracial country.

But the way the objections were made and with an NGO going as far as to assume
Putrajaya was modelled after Medina and therefore should not be sullied by anything that
was remotely unIslamic, it seemed as if this carefully planned metropolis had to be
religiously barbwired for its protection.

Well, thank goodness, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad set the record straight and said
Putrajaya was modelled after gay Paree.
 50

The former prime minister, who was the prime mover behind its creation, wrote in his blog
that he took design cues from the French capital’s Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

One can accept and indeed support that there should be Islamic influences in the look and
feel of Putrajaya. There is undoubtedly much beauty in these design elements. The use of
the dome in the architecture of important buildings like the Prime Minister’s Office and the
Istana Kehakiman (Palace of Justice aka courthouse) bear majestic testament to that.

They are so impressive that foreign visitors sing praises about the “neo-Islamic”
architecture. But what about buildings that give some hint of the multicultural complexity of
Malaysia?

Dr Mahathir also made it clear he did not envisage Putrajaya to be just “an administrative
capital filled only with government offices.”

But the trouble with planned cities is, according to The Economist, that they only work on
paper. All over the world, despite careful, meticulous planning, such capital cities are often
flawed. Brasilia forgot to plan for the poor; Washington D.C. was plonked into a muggy,
humid location and so on.

To me, Putrajaya’s flaw is that the planners forgot to celebrate the nation’s amazing ethnic,
religious and cultural diversity. And that is so sad because Putrajaya, which was built on
public funds coming from all of us taxpayers, was surely meant to represent the whole
nation.

Understandably since “artificial capitals” are seats of administration, almost all the
residents are civil servants as The Economist observed.

It’s the same for Putrajaya. Unfortunately, its demographics are “very heavily skewed to
one race” as noted by Datuk Azlan Abdul Karim, Putrajaya Holdings Sdn Bhd CEO.

But just because of that, it doesn’t mean it’s an enclave for that race.

After all, almost all towns were once largely populated by one race, which was deemed to
be bad for nation building and national unity. So the New Economic Policy was introduced
to restructure society, and state and parliamentary constituencies were re-delineated to
break the stranglehold of that race over the urban centres in the country.

So it is really odd that we spent billions of public funds to build a new administrative capital
that is now “heavily skewed to one race”.

There is no question that Putrajaya is gorgeous with lots of grand-looking ministries,

agencies, palaces, official residences, bridges and parks. But I would argue that it would
greatly benefit from a more multiracial makeup in terms of its residents and looks. It is,
 51

after all, a showpiece to the world and visiting dignitaries. Not to mention it’s a hot
favourite for wedding photographers.

For example, why not have a Chinese pavilion or garden? Sydney has its Chinese Garden
of Friendship and it is an immensely popular tourist spot and for weddings too.

Compared to other famous planned capitals like Canberra, Brasilia and Washington D.C.,
Putrajaya is very young at just under 20 years old. So if Putrajaya is not so happening and
has practically no nightlife yet, it is understandable.

After all, as Prof Ricky Burdett, head of the Cities Program at the London School of
Economics, is quoted by principalvoices.com as saying: “I think cities which are totally
planned, particularly cities which are totally planned to have one function, like a centre of
government, can often be boring.”

“Boring” is a problem that can be fixed. As Dr Mahathir suggested to the authorities: “Open
up more sundry shops and restaurants as well as some entertainment hubs in order to
maintain a high density of people around the area at all times.”

What does bother me is how some people think Putrajaya should be kept sacrosanct and
not be defiled by others, which brings me back to my first question.

To say no to a Hard Rock Café simply on the grounds that the capital’s citizens must be
protected from the sinful influences of alcohol and rock music continues to reinforce the
belief that Putrajaya is only meant for one community.

Ironically, the owners of the Hard Rock Café franchise in this country are very respected,
high-standing personalities. The outlets in Kuala Lumpur and George Town are hugely
popular with tourists and give these cities a bit of international flavour.

I often wonder if some people, including leaders and civil servants, have become so
insular because of the unintended effect of being cocooned in their own mono-ethnic world
that they sometimes forget this is a multi-racial country.

Can we gently remind them that our new capital was named after Tunku Abdul Rahman
Al-Putra, our first prime minister who helped found a nation he believed had space for
different communities to live, love, work, play and pray in peace and harmony?
 52

For God's sake, find a solution once

and for all
FOR now, there is calm. But it is an uneasy calm. Just because there were no
demonstrations in front of churches yesterday, it does not mean the issue that has caused
so much tension and animosity is over.

This country is crying out for a full resolution to something which has been festering for
years.

Most Malaysians, especially in the peninsula, believe this issue is relatively new, but the
ban on non-Muslims on the use of the Arabic word “Allah” goes back to Dec 2, 1981.

That was when the Al-kitab was banned on the grounds that the Bible in the Malay
language was “prejudicial to the national interest and security of the Federation” and
therefore “prohibited absolutely throughout Malaysia”.

In the years after, there were moves that either relaxed the bans or added restrictions and
prohibitions but with the latter outweighing the former, especially in recent times.

For the most part, the Government’s attempts to keep in check how Christians used
certain Arabic words to avoid confusing Muslims went unseen and unfelt by the general
public.

Few were even aware of the federal and state enactments banning the use of many Arabic
words by non-Muslims.

But since 2007, when The Herald decided to take the ban on Allah to the courts, after
receiving several warning and show-cause letters, blinkers have fallen and a rift has
opened up between Muslims and Christians in the country.

Both sides have hardened their stance. To the Christians, Allah is not exclusive to
Muslims, including those in the Middle East, and argue that it was used in Malay
translations of the scriptures as far back as 1514.
 53

What’s more, Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have been using the word freely, which is
also contained in Bahasa Indonesia Bibles that they use.

And with greater numbers of Sarawakians and Sabahans working and living in the
peninsula, do they stop using Allah, too, once they cross the South China Sea?

They also see the Government’s actions as efforts to curtail religious freedom.

For the Muslims, they are adamant in the peninsula, non-Muslims should stick to “Tuhan”
which has long been the practice, and that should not change.

To them, this insistence on using the word is a threat to Islam and even possibly an
insidious way to confuse and convert Muslims to Christianity.

Back and forth it has gone. Instead of dithering, the Government should have acted
decisively to seek out an amicable solution long ago, especially after the attacks on a few
churches in 2010.

The Cabinet only came out with its 10-point solution after 5,000 copies of the Al-kitabwere
detained in Kuching Port in March 2011, which led to a storm of protests from Christians in
Sabah and Sarawak.

This “solution”, which essentially decided it was okay for non-Muslims to use Allah on one
side of the country but not the other, has been no solution after all.

Which is why we are now at a highly volatile point in this dangerous tussle.

By trying not to confuse, the Government, both at the federal and state levels, has created
immense confusion.

The Herald’s lawsuit is not over. The case is now before the Federal Court. The latest
seizure of Christian publications on Thursday by the Selangor Islamic Religious
Department (Jais) from the Bible Society of Malaysia premises has only made the
situation worse.

Frankly, we have gone past the stage of expecting the issue to be settled even in our
highest court because it is no longer just about The Herald’s right to use Allah but its use
in other forms by non-Muslims, especially Christians.

If we are rational about it, we have to admit we have painted ourselves into a corner with
decisions and rulings that cannot be practically upheld and which run contrary to the
progressive, moderate 1Malaysia we are so proud of, especially on the international stage.
How we get out of such an untenable position will require great courage, political will and a
genuine desire on the part of all our leaders to seek a resolution once and for all.
Politicians must stop using this issue to score sniper points off each other.
 54

Godspeed to the National Unity Consultative Council. But if we can’t resolve this internally
by ourselves, perhaps we should seek an international panel of eminent experts to act as
mediators to help us get out of this impasse rationally and equitably.

There is no shame in seeking outside help in times of crisis and if this isn’t a crisis, I don’t
know what is.

Tunku's way to national harmony

IT WAS the same old thoughtless remark from a rash politician: Leave the country if you
don’t like the Barisan Nasional government.

This time, it came from Kuantan Wanita Umno chief Datuk Zaiton Mat after she lodged a
police report last week against a New Year’s Eve rally in Kuala Lumpur, supposedly
organised to topple the government.

As expected, the remark drew a storm of protest from Opposition politicians. But what was
interesting and heartening to see was the reaction from her fellow Umno colleagues.

In the past, they would have stayed mum, presumably to avoid being caught up in the
controversy and also because it wasn’t nice to criticise a comrade.

This time, however, two Umno MPs quickly spoke up: “This country does not belong to
Umno or BN only,” said Titiwangsa MP Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani.

Pulai MP Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed was quoted as saying Zaiton should have kept her
opinion to herself as it was hurtful and had “angered many Malaysians”.

Yes indeed. Even though Zaiton might not have targeted any particular community, such
remarks rankle with Malaysian Chinese and Indians because they have been told too
often by politicians, newspaper columnists and even teachers to go back to China or India
if they have so much to complain about. So, it was good to see the strong and swift
reaction against Zaiton for throwing out this very old chestnut again.

To me, it shows people are beginning to take heed of what Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib
Tun Razak said at the recent MCA AGM: The only way forward is to return to the principles
of the country’s forefathers which are still relevant and that whatever spoken and done
should not cause hurt to others.

“This is not rocket science. If we want to safeguard harmony with each other, we cannot
hurt the feelings of others,” he added.
 55

Amid all the gloom and doom about the spiralling cost of living, this was a bright little spot
as we move rather tentatively into the new year.

And that is my fervent wish and hope for 2014: for the nation to move away from the
bitterness and anger generated by the general election.

Instead, we want our elected representatives to reach out beyond communal and political
fault lines and represent all our interests, without fear or favour.

We saw a bit of that when BN Backbenchers Club chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad spoke
up against any bid to increase toll charges, citing BN’s GE13 promise.

“The main point here is that our manifesto states that toll charges will be reduced in stages
and because of this the BNBBC hopes there will not be any increase at all,” he said.

Yay! More please and not just that: take up Najib’s call to return to the principles of the
country’s forefathers too.

While it wasn’t reported what these principles are, I would like to assume they are what
was uttered by Tunku Abdul Rahman in the proclamation of independence on Aug 31,
1957: ... with God’s blessing shall be forever a sovereign, democratic and independent
State founded upon the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and
happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations.”

And in the preamble to the Rukunegara: “Ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and
diverse cultural tradition.”

I found these quotes in The Tunku’s great ideas by Lenard Lim Yangli, a report published
by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas), a think tank which was
inspired by Tunku’s vision.

After sifting through Tunku’s writings, speeches, interviews and anecdotes from others,
Lim believes our first prime minister was a “classical liberal” who subscribed to the
principles of the rule of law, limited government, free market and individual liberty.

Under the chapter on Limited Government, Lim quotes from Tunku’s column in The
Star published in Dec 24, 1984: “We must respect the wishes of the people. This is the
very essence of democracy. Men in their official capacity with power vested in them should
always be mindful of the feelings of others, particularly the small man.”

Got that, YB Zaiton?

But being liberal these days is viewed with suspicion, together with the notions of pluralism
and individual liberty.
 56

Tunku, however, was suspicious of politics intruding into personal liberty: “In the old days,
people never bothered about what others did, so long as they were free to do what they
liked themselves. Today one cannot sneeze without being corrected, let alone enjoy
oneself. That’s what politics have done to our society.”

Are the principles and beliefs of our Bapa Malaysia still relevant? If the Prime Minister
thinks so, then I live in hope that we can see a shift towards reviving them in government,
politics and society.

Before I take my leave, I would like to review my own year that was. My resolutions for
2013 were to change my unhealthy lifestyle and to try to get a work-life balance. I even cut
my hair short so that I could exercise more.

Well, I failed on all accounts. My life is still unbalanced, I work 14 hours on most days, I
haven’t hit the treadmill in six months and my weight and cholesterol are up. My hair has
grown back too.

Still, I intend to give it another go. I have started doing push-ups in my bathroom, taking
the stairs to reach my office on the 5th floor and – this is the best part – activated Walking
Mate on my Samsung Note. Target: 10,000 steps a day. I started a month-and-a-half ago.
So far, I have only hit 10,000 steps once – when I spent a day shopping.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Wasted years, wasted lives

If only we had done what Hong Kong did and started a ‘war’ on landslides right after
the Highland Towers collapse.

MY back neighbour’s house sits on land higher than mine. We share a retaining wall that
is about three metres high on my side.

Both my neighbour and I don’t pay much attention to our wall. We’ve lived with that wall for
eight years now and so far so good. There are no signs of cracks or earth movement.

I think I am safe from falling walls and landslips because I live in an old neighbourhood
located on generally flat terrain and there’s no high-rise development on slopes
overlooking my garden patch.
 57

Not being on hilly terrain was one of my prerequisites when I was house hunting more
than a decade ago.

Houses perched on the side of a hill may offer a great view and bragging rights but to me,
that can’t compare to a sense of safety one gets from being on flat ground.

My reasoning is simple: I did not trust the way hill slope development was managed then
and I still don’t.

Twenty years after the Highland Towers disaster on Dec 11, 1993, our hill slope
management is still sloppy, as evident from our stories to mark the anniversary.

We interviewed many experts. One, in answer to a question, “How far have we come in
improving our system as well as our attitude towards the development and maintenance of
slopes since this tragedy?” said: “Since 2010 the authorities have done quite well by
coming up with guidelines to manage new hillside development although there is still room
for improvement.

“However, there is very little done for older slopes.”

In heaven’s name, is that it? Are landslides a unique Malaysian calamity and we have
nowhere to go to learn best practices?

Hello, hasn’t anyone heard of Hong Kong? Just search online and you can find lots of
interesting information on how the authorities there tackled the same problem.

Landslides were and are still common in hilly, land-scarce Hong Kong.

More than 470 people have been killed in landslides since 1948, almost all from “rain-
induced collapse of man-made slopes created by the process of hillside development”,
explains Andrew Malone of Hong Kong University.

He adds in his article, “Hong Kong’s 35-year war on landslides”, the slopes collapsed
because they were poorly designed and built.

This was due to the intense pressure for public housing in the 1960s and 70s and building
control was lax on slopes.

The “war” started after two landslides at Po Shan Road on June 18, 1972, where a 12-
storey apartment block was demolished and 138 people were killed, and at Sau Mau Ping
Resettlement Estate on Aug 25, 1976, where 18 died.

In the aftermath, the Government set up an Independent Review Panel comprising six
geotechnical experts from various countries. Their report was published and all their
recommendations fully accepted, including the need for “a central policing body to regulate
 58

the whole process of investigation, design, construction, monitoring and maintenance of

slopes in Hong Kong”.

In 1977, the Hong Kong government set up the Geotechnical Engineering Office (GEO) to
regulate all aspects of slope safety.

It also began a long-term slope retrofitting exercise known as the Landslip Preventive
Measures (LPM) Programme, to deal with substandard man-made slopes. They started a
“catalogue of sizeable man-made slopes including cut slopes, fill slopes and retaining
walls”, according to K.Y. Choi and Raymond W.M. Cheung in their “Landslide disaster
prevention and mitigation through works in Hong Kong” article in theJournal of Rock
Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering.

The online reports are pretty technical but even a layperson like me can get it. They fixed
sub-standard old slopes, figured how to cut into hills better and build stronger retaining
walls, and came up with new technology like soil nailing – really impressive stuff – to
prevent landslides as much as possible.

See? Old slopes can be strengthened. This is a clear case of if there is a will, there is a
way. And that includes funds. From 1977 to 2010, the Hong Kong government spent
HK$14bil (RM5.8bil) on the LPM Programme.

Equally important, the GEO had the power to issue a statutory repair order to owners of
private slopes that are dangerous or liable to become dangerous.

The results are for all to see. There is still seasonally heavy rainfall and there are still
landslides. But “by means of slope engineering works over the past 35 years, the overall
landslide risk posed to the community of Hong Kong has been substantially reduced. This
is corroborated by the declining trend of landslide fatality rate since 1977,” report Choi and
Cheung.

So why didn’t we do anything like this after Highland Towers? Instead, 20 years on, we
lament the lack of change.

One would think we would have begun a catalogue of risky slopes back then which was
continuously updated. But no, a hazard map listing risky and vulnerable hill slopes in
Kuala Lumpur was only started after the collapse of a high retaining wall in Bukit
Setiawangsa in December last year.

And after all this time, we only have guidelines on slope development formulated just four
years ago.

We are also good at investigating but we never seem to find out the findings. After a
landslide on May 21, 2011, that killed 16 people at the Madrasah Al-Taqwa orphanage
 59

near Kajang, Selangor, the Government investigated the stability of the Hulu Klang ridge
and slopes, but apparently the report is classified under the Official Secrets Act. If it’s true,
one cannot help but ask: why?

Maybe it points to who should take responsibility. Again, if that’s the case, then we should
also take a leaf from Hong Kong.

After investigations into the Sau Man Ping landslide revealed the cause to be poor slope
practices, the government accepted liability and paid compensation to the victims. Food
for thought?

Now if government reps and civil servants want to go on a really meaningful overseas
study tour of a city, I highly recommend Hong Kong and its GEO. As a taxpayer, I will
happily foot the bill.

Homing in on a star’s soft power

A Mandopop singer is suddenly all over the news because he got married. But there
is a lot more to him than that.

WE met too soon. If it had been, say, five years ago, I would have hung around, done a
selfie, Instagrammed it and exchanged e-mail addresses.

Unfortunately, at that time, I only vaguely knew him as a Chinese pop singer, so I had no
idea that I was standing before a megastar in the making.

But in the years since, I have carried a little torch for him and tried to follow his career as a
singer and an actor. And now I am one of his million fans who were rather heart-broken
(even if I have no right to be) to find out he’s gotten married at the ripe old age of 37.

It’s Wang Leehom (pic), folks, I am talking about. I can’t recall the year we met but I
remember where: Alexis restaurant in Bangsar Shopping Centre, Kuala Lumpur. It was
dinner time when I walked in and I saw an old friend, famed percussionist Lewis
Pragasam, there.

After we exchanged hellos, Lewis introduced me to a tall, good-looking young man

dressed in white.

We shook hands, smiled and then I said goodbye. It took a while but I have since learned
what an amazingly talented man Leehom is.
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He is blessed with not just good looks but with a fine mind as well.

That became evident when we ran an interview with him on Dec 28, 2008, in the now
defunct Sunday Star pullout, StarMag, of which I was the editor.

I looked it up in our archives and my goodness, what a wonderful exclusive we had. Our
own award-winning author Tash Aw (The Harmony Silk Factory, Five Star Billionaire) had
done the interview with Leehom in Taipei for us.

Our introduction to the article was this: “What do you get when you put an erudite author
who loves music with an intelligent singer in love with language in a small room for two
hours? An intriguing pop literary analysis.”

And indeed it was a fascinating article even though it had obscure musical references like
Bernstein’s Norton Lectures and “Bartok’s investigation of gypsy folk music”.

In the years since 2008, both these men of Chinese descent but coming from opposite
sides of the globe have gone to achieve great things, winning acclaim for their work.

Both have used what Leehom alludes to in his address at the Oxford Union Society in May
this year: soft power.

This is a term coined by Joseph S. Nye which is the ability to attract and persuade.
Leehom quotes Indian politician and author Shashi Tharoor’s definition of soft power: the
ability of a culture to tell a compelling story and influence others to fall in love with it.

This American Chinese artiste sees himself as an ambassador for Chinese culture and his
mission is to use pop culture and music as a way to bring people from East and West
together.

He says there is a lot of China phobia and he used Bloomberg Businessweek’s cover with
the banner headline, “Yes, the Chinese army is spying on you” as an overwrought
example (which is of course ironic with the more recent revelations that everyone is spying
on each other, the United States in particular).

This China phobia is misinformed, misleading and dangerous, says Leehom but he also
pointed out the Chinese also view the Westerners in unflattering ways.

To overcome this, Leehom wants to foster understanding between China and the West.

“I believe there is a love story waiting to be told. I believe it is these stories that will save
us and bring us together,” he told his audience.
 61

He went on to share that as a child born and raised in Rochester, New York, he was
“American as apple pie”. He could barely speak Chinese and couldn’t tell the difference
between Taiwan and Thailand.

He was in third grade when he first experienced racial teasing and the harsh reality of
being a minority in Rochester.

What saved him was music and art which helped break down old stereotypes and replace
ignorance with understanding and acceptance in his life.

But it was an “epiphany” at 17 when he went to Taiwan to visit his grandparents that
changed him.

He went from being “a Chinese kid in America to an American kid in Taiwan” when he first
heard Chinese pop music.

To his American-raised ears, the music was of low quality and cheesy and he couldn’t
understand or appreciate it. Then he attended his first concert in Taipei and saw the huge
crowd loving every minute of it.

He realised it was he who was lacking, not the music. Thus began his journey to learn and
understand Chinese music and culture. He took up Mandarin and various Chinese
instruments. It’s been 20 years and he is still learning, he says.

But in the process he has composed and recorded several award-winning albums and hit
singles and starred in films like Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution and with Jackie Chan inLittle Big
Soldier. He is making his Hollywood debut in Michael Mann’s Cyber which was partially
shot in Malaysia in September.

Leehom also has a big heart: he sponsors many underprivileged children around the world
through World Vision and takes part in fund-raisers for disaster relief efforts.

So you see, how can you not love this guy? I totally get what he said about rejecting or
disliking something, simply because it’s new and alien to what you are familiar with.

I have touched on this before and I return to it now because it’s relevant. I thoroughly
disliked Korean music, food and didn’t have a clue about its culture.

That was why the 1988 Seoul Games opening ceremony was boring and horrible to me.

Not any more. Thanks to K-dramas, I enjoy Korean food, language, music and culture,
despite a rather unpleasant first visit to Seoul last year. I even think the hanbok (Korean
traditional dress) is super feminine and elegant. Previously, I just thought it made a woman
look fat.
 62

Like Leehom, I am a living example of how dislike for something due to ignorance and
non-exposure can turn into love and admiration once there is better knowledge and
exposure. Unlike Leehom, I didn’t use that knowledge and exposure to become a
superstar making buckets of money. But truly, I don’t begrudge him.

Now that he has married, he has achieved yet another milestone in his life and I wish him
much happiness.

He has had 20 years of fame as an entertainer and has proven he is not a pretty boy who
composes love songs. His intelligence has depth and breadth. Maybe he should take up
politics and become the first Chinese-American President in 2028 of the United States.
More soft power to him!

Going ape over a mascot

The choice of a certain monkey as the national face of Visit Malaysia Year 2014
opens up interesting possibilities.

A MASCOT that looks like a pot-bellied grumpy old man? That got me thinking. Even
though conventional wisdom decrees that successful mascots are typically cute and
cuddly, the choice of the proboscis monkey is actually contrarian in a most interesting way.

Admittedly, when I first heard of it, I had my doubts. But that’s because I have a bias
against the proboscis monkey ever since I first came to know there was such a creature
in Flight 714, in the Adventures of Tintin series.

The henchman of the villain spots a proboscis monkey on a fictional island in South-East
Asia and laughs at its “conk” as it reminds him of his evil boss who has a similarly
oversized honker.

So when the primate was declared the VMY 2014 mascot, that cartoon version from Tintin
popped into my head and I went, “Oh dear.”

Obviously that was unfair to just depend on Herge’s depiction so I decided to check out
the real McCoy online, but to no avail. The proboscis monkey, or Nasalis larvatus, is on
practically every list of ugliest animals in the world.

It also goes by the name of monyet Belanda or Dutch monkey because the Indonesians
thought it resembled their big-nosed, big-bellied Dutch colonial masters.
 63

Let’s face it: when it comes to mascots, it must have the right appearance for mass
appeal.

In fact, according to BusinessEd9-10.wikispaces.com, a good mascot “should be cute,

cuddly, friendly, positive and happy” because “these characteristics seem to be the most
popular among people.” Better yet, if it is “appealing, welcoming/inviting, and (gives) a
warm-hearted feeling”.

But even if the proboscis monkey has a face only its mother can love, it doesn’t mean,
with clever marketing, it can’t sell.

After all, years ago the squashed-faced Cabbage Patch dolls were a huge hit because it
was unconventionally so different from the cherub-faced dolls on the market.

And not so long ago, the Pixar movie, Up, starred a craggy-faced old guy who, despite his
onery ways, melted the hearts of audiences everywhere with his moving story. As a quick
recap, in the animated movie, elderly widower Carl Fredricksen (voiced by Edward Asner)
decides to fulfil a life-long dream he had with his late wife: to visit the fictional Paradise
Falls in South America. And he does it in the most unconventional but also most inspiring
way: he flies there in his house powered by thousands of balloons.

Before you know it, this grumpy old man is absolutely adorable and giving out warm-
hearted feelings.

Where our proboscis monkey is concerned, according to the Tourism Ministry statement, it
“encapsulated the essence of Malaysia Truly Asia”.

The statement goes on to say, “Like the diversity encapsulated in the Malaysia Truly Asia
branding, proboscis monkeys also possess diverse skills. They frequently leap from tree
limbs and hit the water with a comical belly flop, as well as attract their mate with their
unusually large and long nose.

“The proboscis monkey also has webbed feet, which enable it to swim.”

Critics might say that doesn’t sound very impressive and tease that what it doesn’t
mention is this primate has a permanent pot belly and farts a lot due to its inability to
digest efficiently its diet of leaves and unripe fruit. But really, it is never easy choosing a
symbol that wins everyone’s approval.

Back in April 1989, then Culture and Tourism Minister Datuk Sabbarudin Chik had to
defend the choice of the orang utan as the mascot for VMY 1990.

Various people had objected on all sorts of grounds like it would give the world the
impression that the country was backward and overrun by apes.
 64

Sabbaruddin gave quite a good defence: the orang utan had a Malay name, was unique to
Malaysia and Indonesia and could match the panda in China and the koala in Australia in
terms of familiarity and appeal.

Not only that, the orang utan was picked for its intelligence.

The primate in question today shares similar strong points and it is definitely an
endangered species, found only on the island of Borneo. So, on that score, making the
proboscis monkey our VMY mascot will help raise awareness that its existence is under
threat.

Having said that, there are other animals which are closer to extinction. The others joining
the orang utan and leatherback turtle (which was also a VMY mascot) in the top five on the
most endangered list are the Malayan tiger, rhinoceros and elephant.

But I am guessing these animals have relatives in other parts of the world so it will be hard
to sell any of them as uniquely Malaysian.

Since we have already decided on the proboscis monkey, what is important is to make
sure Si Hidung is turned into a cute, cuddly soft toy that will make us go “Awwww!” With
some imagination and creativity, it’s not impossible to be “kawaii”. That’s Japanese for
“cute”.

After we have the prototype, if we need to test Mr Conk’s popularity, we should run it by
the Japanese because if anyone knows the power of cute, it’s the Japanese. (Helloooo,
Kitty!)

Let’s get it right because we can’t monkey around when it comes to selling our nation to
the world.

Feeling safe and sound

When you live in constant wariness of snatch thieves in your own country, it’s
liberating to be in another where there is no such fear.

IT was his butt that got my attention. The posterior belonged to a trendy young man but
what got me staring was the oversized wallet sticking out of his back pocket.

I didn’t see him earlier because the train we were in was packed and it was only when a
good number of passengers got off that I saw him standing in front of me.
 65

I was seated, so his tush was right at my eye level. If I were a thief, all I had to do was to
reach out and nick the wallet as I got off. I don’t think he would have been any the wiser.

Oh, did I mention we were on the subway in Tokyo?

That’s why it was a sight unusual for me.

Of course, Malaysian men also keep their wallets in their back pockets but they are stuffed
deep and tight.

The only things that stick out of Malaysian male posterior pockets are cheap combs that
no one will steal.

But from the day I arrived in Tokyo for my family holiday, I have noticed how cavalier the
Japanese seem to be with their belongings.

I have seen so many women walking around, sitting or standing in the subway with their
handbags unzipped and the contents quite visible to the curious. Like me.

Of course, the natives don’t bat an eye. Not only that, they leave their bags or jackets to
book tables in crowded food courts.

They do the same in Singapore, I know, but people there leave tissue packets or a water
bottle, not expensive or valuable stuff. That’s asking for trouble, even in Singapore.

But this is Japan where personal safety and security is a given.

When I was planning the holiday, I did worry a little about the radiation emanating from
Fukushima, wondered whether we might experience an earthquake (we felt the ground
give a shudder when we were in a department store but we couldn’t be sure as no one
else reacted to it), fretted over the weather and the clothes to pack, fussed over what
medications to bring and calculated carefully how much yen to carry to last the whole trip.

But not once did I think I needed to lecture my children on keeping themselves and their
belongings safe from pickpockets and snatch thieves.

That was my perception and now that we are on the tail end of our visit, nothing has
changed that perception.

I feel safe even in my low budget hotel. I keep the passports, money and jewellery locked
in my suitcase with nary a worry of break-ins.

My son who is sharing the room with me doesn’t even bother to lock up his expensive
headphones.
 66

How can you not feel safe when you see policemen patrolling in cars, on bicycles and on
foot?

How can you not think all is well when you see little schoolchildren, as young as seven or
eight, taking the subway by themselves?

That, despite Japan’s strange obsession with adults dressing up as schoolgirls and
maids.

In the most crowded of streets like Shibuya and Harajuku, and popular theme parks like
Disney Resort, there are no public signs to warn you of pickpockets or snatch thieves.

Even its red light district – our hotel is right next to it – doesn’t seem to have the kind of
seedy and dangerous connotation of red light districts in other cities.

That feeling of not having to keep a sharp eye over one’s belongings is infectious and
liberating.

After a day or two, I was walking around with my bag loosely slung over a shoulder and
not clutched closely to my body, the way I would hold it back home.

I am still careful to keep it zipped, old habits die hard after all, but it is more to make sure
my things don’t fall out.

And it’s crazy how many cyclists there are in this city who whizz past you on the sidewalk.
I keep thinking one might accidentally hook the strap of my bag and cause an accident.

Again, it’s amazing to see the many bicycles parked and unlocked with all sorts of
accessories from baby seats to blankets to cushions left on them.

I write this on the penultimate day of our vacation.

We fly home tomorrow. It has been a really good break with the kids but soon it will be
back to our dull grey lives.

I read about the kerfuffle over the latest crime statistics and cannot help feel sorry for our
poor police force that continues to face an uphill task when it comes to public perception of
safety in our streets and premises.

Anyway, I am not dwelling on this, not when I am so far away and feeling so safe.

That, of course, will change the moment we land in KLIA. Like our mobile phones, our
personal safety radar will also be turned on again.
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Dishonesty is such a lovely word

Actually what Billy Joel sang was ‘honesty is such a lonely word’ but read on to find
out why the opposite seems in vogue in today’s world.

HONESTY is the best policy. So goes the saying. But that really is a lie, isn’t it? Over and
over again, we see honesty used only as a last resort, when all the lies run out.

But whose fault is this? I think the observation by American law professor Morris Davis
in The Guardian hit it on the nail:

“We make millionaires and heroes out of professional athletes who swear publicly that
they do not cheat when we know that they do.

“We idolise celebrities who lie to us about everything from their sobriety to their fidelity.

“We say we distrust government and that nearly all of our politicians are dishonest, yet we
keep re-electing ethically challenged candidates who talk about their dedication to public
service while serving their own interests.”

Davis concludes that “society often penalises those who have the audacity to tell the truth”
and he cites the example of US soldier Joe Darby.

It was Darby who blew the whistle on the Abu Ghraib prison abuse of the detainees in
2004. Instead of being praised, Darby was vilified and threatened by fellow Americans for
ruining their belief in their soldiers as protectors and heroes. He and family had to go into
hiding.

Davis believes “it is not so much a question of right or wrong, honesty or cheating, as it is
a question of whether people hear what they want to hear and see what they want to see.

“In a tangible sense, it can be more rewarding to give the masses a false sense of well-
being or pander to their preconceived notions than it is to be honest and potentially cause
them doubt or disappointment.”

Simply put, people in general prefer to be kept in the dark as long as the ugly truth does
not spill out and force them to confront it.

It happens at a personal level too, between spouses, between friends, between

colleagues.

Between citizens and leaders, the understanding is the latter woos the former who give
them the vote, handing them the mandate to form the government and take care of things.
 68

That’s why when something like a scandal of an overpriced project or the Auditor-
General’s Report comes out, the citizens get very upset because their sense of well-being,
false of otherwise, takes a beating.

So there will be howls for action and punishment. But we are a very forgiving lot and
perhaps, even rather forgetful.

Or we are easily distracted. Soon enough, we’ll settle down and then go back to the way
we were.

But you know, there has been so much doublespeak from so many politicians of late that
it’s very hard to pretend that all is well.

I, for one, have given up trying to decipher what is real and what is not.

One moment they are spewing all sorts of hateful messages against another community;
the next, they are preaching peace, harmony and oneness. All depending on their
audience.

Maybe it’s the silly season called political party elections, which are coming hot on the
heels of the bigger and sillier season called the general election.

Because of this prolonged season of silly, the whole nation doesn’t know whether to laugh
or cry.

In the same vein, leaders don’t seem to like to be told the truth either.

When the media report the negative effects and ramifications of their decisions and
policies, they take it so badly. They see attempts to question and raise doubts as disloyalty
and betrayal.

It seems many operate under the Emperor’s New Clothes syndrome where they prefer
flattery and blinkers from their courtiers.

And, unlike the child who sees through the lies, reveal the truth of a naked king and knock
sense into that vain royal head, the media here doesn’t get that kind of reception.

Rather, the big stick comes out and all sorts of groups will lodge police reports.

Well, now that the “Third Parliament” has been voted in, will things finally calm down and
all those racial and religious cards that were played packed away?

Will certain rulings made to appease a particular segment of society remain just on the
books and not enforced or extended, like previous similar rulings?
 69

This sandiwara, full of sound and smoke, worked very well in the past as the puppeteers
would wink and say sotto voce, “Don’t worry, it’s just for show” and everyone left happy.

Is it still the same show? I really hope so because in my long years as a journalist, I have
never felt as anxious as I have by the things said and done in recent months.

The strident, rabid voices, the level of disregard for propriety or the feelings of others
coming from people you don’t expect, were unnerving.

What’s more, the voices of reason and calm, from the people you hoped to hear from,
weren’t forthcoming. In fact, the silence was, as they say, deafening.

Perhaps silence, as opposed to telling outright untruths, is the only way for politicians who
still have a conscience to go. Or, if you are a cynic, better to shut the trap if you don’t want
to get trapped. As Billy said, “Honesty is such a lonely word, everyone is so untrue...”

Old, new and something in between

They may share a communist past, but two cities, one in the East and the other in
the West, seem to have different ideas when it comes to building for the future.

THIS is a tale of two cities. Okay, maybe not a tale in the sense of a full-blown story, but a
little vignette of two major metropolises which I was fortunate to visit – Guangzhou and
Prague.

First, Guangzhou in southern China. That’s what it is known as today but for years, it was
Canton to me. That was the name in my history books when they were still written in
English.

As I remember it, Canton was the port that the Chinese emperors opened to foreign ships,
until the opium wars which led to the opening of more ports in 1842.

Today this sprawling city of 13 million on the Pearl River is the capital of Guangdong
province, 120km northwest of Hong Kong.

And it’s old, dating back some 2,000 years to the Qin dynasty when it was founded. The
ancient part of the city remains, quite well preserved, I’m told. But during my stay, I didn’t
see anything that looked remotely even 100 years old.

Rather, I found Guangzhou to be all gleaming steel and glass with the most futuristic
looking buildings crowding the skyline.
 70

More impressively, those skyscrapers are grounded in streets that are clean and safe. And
all those horror tales of China toilets were put paid to by the pretty decent ones I
encountered here.

Yet it wasn’t that long ago that Guangzhou wasn’t so well put together. At least that was
what I was told by people who know it well.

Playing host to the Asian Games in 2010 was said to be a major impetus for a makeover.
The changes included banning motorcycles in 2007 and upgrading its MRT system, which
is clean and efficient.

That didn’t completely solve the traffic jams at peak hours but the city’s wonderful
greenery helps offset that.

At night, the city takes on a different hue, or rather hues, with many iconic buildings like
the Guangzhou Tower ablaze with dancing multicolour LED lights. It’s rather kitschy but
they sure make good Instagram moments.

The scene is best seen from the river by taking one of the many sightseeing boats that ply
the Pearl River.

Guangzhou may be old but it is on a new lease of life, bursting with energy and purpose.

Beneath that shiny new skin is a city full of culture and history. There are museums, parks,
temples, churches and mosques. The city boasts of the oldest mosque in China which I
sadly didn’t get to visit.

The city is also famous for its Cantonese cuisine and reportedly has the highest number of
restaurants per capita in the country.

That I managed to get a taste of as a guest of YTL Group for its launch of its Hutong Lot
10 brand in the city last month. YTL got Chua Lam, the authoritative Asian food writer and
critic, to recommend restaurants and choose amazing dishes for our dinners.

Service was excellent from the hotel, restaurants and shops. Admittedly, it helped that I
could speak Cantonese but the mostly young staff were genuinely friendly and customer
oriented.

I couldn’t help wondering whether the service was so good because the staff know there
are literally millions waiting in line for their jobs. That’s a far cry from our local work force
who often act like the customers owe them a living.

Next, Prague in the Czech Republic. I was invited to attend the Mercedes Benz Prague
Fashion Weekend which ended on Sunday. It was yet another short trip but I saw a lot
more of Prague because it’s a fairly small city of 1.3 million people.
 71

What’s amazing is it gets over six million tourists a year. Not surprising really, as it is a
charming city with lots of history and culture.

Unlike Guangzhou, Prague looks its age as its medieval buildings are carefully preserved
in muted colours and the handful of tall buildings allowed are jokingly referred to as
“Manhattan”.

Walking around the city centre is easy although its cobble-stone streets are really tough on
heels.

Like Guangzhou, part of Prague’s charm comes from having a major waterway running
through it. The Vltava River has many bridges, the most famous being Charles Bridge,
named after a much-loved monarch.

The bridge is a magnet for tourists, thanks to its historic significance, its many aged still
black statues, scores of hawkers and street artists, and the magnificent views it offers of
the city.

While I enjoyed my time in Prague, the vibe was different from Guangzhou.

Both cities are in countries which emerged from communist rule in the 1990s (we all know
that while China is officially still communist, it is unofficially capitalistic), but they look and
feel very different.

Guangzhou is on an extreme growth spurt, pushing for modernity and newness while
Prague seems bent on retaining its Old World identity and heritage.

Service-wise, Prague can’t beat Guangzhou. There doesn’t seem to be any great desire to
please or serve to the customer’s satisfaction.

Then again, I have always felt the care and attention to detail in the hospitality sector in
Asia is way better than in the West.

Still, beneath that old face, Prague’s young people, as exemplified by its fashion
designers, are pushing the envelope with edgy and innovative ideas.

In both cities, I was a delighted witness to Malaysian contributions to two areas, food and
fashion.

In Guangzhou, it was Tan Sri Francis Yeoh’s heartwarming desire to bring uniquely
Malaysian Chinese street food to China. This is fare that had its roots in what he called
“comfort food” that millions of Chinese immigrants to South-East Asia grew up with.
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So what YTL has done is to set up a Lot 10 Hutong food court in Tsai Lan City of Fusion
Foods as the first international extension of the similarly named hawker food centre in Lot
10 in Kuala Lumpur.

In Prague, it was Mercedes-Benz and Datuk Nancy Yeoh’s Stylo International which are
collaborating to take Malaysian fashion designers beyond our shores.

Which was how two designers, one established, the other emerging, were able to present
their collections at the finale of the Mercedes Benz Prague Fashion Weekend.

With the right dreams and partners, Malaysians are going places, going where the action
is. What I would like to see more of though is people seeking out our cities because they
are also where the action is.

Mount Annupuri ski resort, Niseko

Village, pulls out the stops on luxury
Niseko Village, the Malaysian-owned, award-winning ski resort, unveils its latest
developments that will make it even more fun and luxurious.

It felt like I had come home. The familiarity of the place and faces warmed me in the winter
cold of Hokkaido, Japan.

This was Niseko Village, the YTL-owned award-winning ski resort located at the foot of
Mount Annupuri, which I first visited almost two years ago. That gave me one of my
happiest, most exhilarating holiday experiences. I discovered the beauty and splendour of
snow of the finest quality and I learned how to ski.

So when the invitation came from YTL Hotels to revisit, I jumped at the chance. While I
was keen to take to the ski slopes again, it was also an opportunity to see the new
developments added to this sprawling 615ha resort.

These are the Kasara townhouses and the shopping and food and beverage cluster built
in Niseko Village to cater to the needs of a growing clientèle. I had noted that the one thing
that was missing in Niseko Village was a place to shop, something the YTL people were
fully aware of.

They promised a new shopping core would be ready by December 2014, and so it was
and I was invited to witness its official opening by YTL Corporation Bhd group managing
director, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh.
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Niseko Village was originally created for the domestic ski enthusiast market and the
Japanese continue to make up the biggest number of visitors. But since YTL’s purchase in
2010, its clientèle has grown to include more Asians, mostly from China and Hong Kong,
and increasingly from Southeast Asia like Singapore and Thailand.

And as Yeoh explains, while Niseko is brilliant as a full service “ski in, ski out” resort, it was
not suited for well-heeled Southeast Asian tourists who love to do a little shopping, too.
The shopping village – it’s just called that: The Village – is therefore a very important piece
of the puzzle to complete the Niseko picture.

On that first visit, I had asked where the shops would be located and my hosts had
vaguely waved in the direction near the area where beginners were taught their ski basics.
I had imagined a sleek, modern mall, much like the futuristic spaceship-like design of the
Hilton.

Instead, the buildings standing on the ridge above the Hilton, accessible by a flight of
wooden steps and a bridge over a stream, were a lovely throwback to a traditional
Japanese architectural style called Machiya, marked by sliding screens, wooden lattice
façades and lantern-lit walkways, dating back to the Edo Period (1603–1867).

Within the quietly elegant low, black structures which blended beautifully into the white
winter landscape, are shops and restaurants. For now, there are three retail outlets: i Gate
Ikeuchi which sells apparel, footwear and accessories for winter outdoor activities; i Zone
Ikeuchi which stocks Japan-made leather brands and fashion labels, and a branch of the
famous Otaru Taisho Glass Palace with exquisite glassware creations.

Supplementing the excellent F&B outlets in Hilton are four restaurants in the village. Crab
Shack, which used to be housed in a standalone building, has moved to The Village,
making it more accessible. Here, one can savour Hokkaido’s legendary seafood in a
variety of styles, from hot pot, to steaming, to barbecue and baking. Snow crab, mussels
and scallops never tasted so fresh.

There's also the misnamed but must-try Niseko Pizza. It’s misnamed because it’s seafood
on mashed potato without any breadcrust base and absolutely delicious. Even when we
were stuffed, we couldn’t stop eating it.

Next is Yang Shu Ten, serving Japanese classics with excellent set menus for lunch and
dinner. A nice addition for Southeast Asians is Two Sticks (referring to chopsticks), a tapas
bar serving chicken rice, curry laksa, satay, fried wonton and spring rolls, Thai style fried
noodles – you get the picture.

Rounding it off is the Village Patisserie where you can have hot chocolate, cakes and
pastries and an excellent view of the resort’s golf course.
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YTL’s decision to design the shopping core Machiya-style took many, including the
Japanese, by surprise. “The Japanese were very excited about it as they don’t see a lot of
this kind of architecture, especially in Hokkaido which historically was an outpost with
simple architecture,’’ says Datuk Mark Yeoh, YTL Corp’s executive director.

Both Yeoh brothers are of the same mind when it comes to designing their properties –
and that is, visitors to Niseko Village must immediately know and feel they are in Japan
because of what they see around them. While I have no complaints over the restaurants in
The Village, I was expecting more variety on the retail side. But business has been brisk
and there are plans for expansion to include more outlets.

On my next visit – of course, I’m going back! – I look forward to a store that will sell more
food products. The convenience store at Hilton has a decent selection including the best-
selling Jaga Pokkuru, which is French fries from Hokkaido potatoes. But there are plenty
more snacks which are uniquely Japanese and oishii to munch while in Niseko and to
bring home as gifts.

MUCH ADO ABOUT MACHIYA

I wished I had US$2.5mil(RM8.94mil) to spare. Then I would buy a Kasara Niseko Village
Townhouse. Then I would own a slice of heaven on Earth.

Because then I would be able to wake up every morning to a scene that makes me glad to
be alive. Ever since my first visit to this southwestern corner of Hokkaido, I have thought of
this place as the perfect winter wonderland with its awesome view of a mountain that
embodies Japan – Mount Yotei, a near perfect cone of a volcano that resembles that other
symbol of Japan, Mount Fuji.

Leveraging on that natural beauty are the Kasara townhouses, YTL Hotels’ latest
development to expand its stable of accommodation in Niseko Village, a 615ha integrated
resort nestled at the base of Mount Annupuri which YTL owns and manages.

Niseko Village, which was bestowed the Best Ski Resort in Japan title by the World Ski
Awards for 2013 and 2014, already comprises two hotels, the Hilton and Green Leaf.
Despite that, there was a demand for more accommodation catering to the needs of well-
heeled Southeast Asian and Asian visitors, something the YTL bosses were aware of the
moment they bought Niseko in 2010.

“We have the Kasara because people want more than the suites, some because they
come with big families. We know that and Southeast Asian and Asian tourists are a bit
more spoilt, and much more demanding. They want variety.

“What we did was to create something unique that matches Mount Yotei in its elegance
and majesty. When you see Mount Yotei from your hotel room or apartment, you know you
are in Japan because it is so uniquely Japanese,” says YTL Corporation Bhd group
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managing director, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, a day after he officially launched the townhouses
and Niseko Shopping Village on Dec 5.

And that is what the Kasara brand is about: unique and luxurious properties that will
resonate with the locations they are in and pay homage to the local culture and
architectural style.

The plush upstairs living area of a Kasara townhouse. (Below) The fully fitted, ultra sleek kitchen with breakfast counter
and high stools.

The eight Kasara Niseko townhouses are the first of a total of 46 units planned.

The exterior of the 240sq m double-storey units is designed in the classical Machiya
architectural style that dates back to the late Edo period. Inside, it is thoroughly modern
and contemporary in function, yet maintaining the quiet elegance of traditional Japanese
design.

Each townhouse has three spacious bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a fully equipped
kitchen and a tatami-floored dining room that can be converted into another sleeping area
for a couple of futons. It also comes with a washing machine and tumble dryer and a
single vehicle covered garage.

Owners of the townhouses can have the option of leasing their properties which will be
managed by YTL and the projection is that they will be in high demand during the peak
tourism seasons in summer and winter.

Already, response has been encouraging with 70% occupancy rate for the townhouses at
US$1,400 (RM4,980) per night this winter season. According to Datuk Mark Yeoh, YTL’s
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executive director, the bookings were from their internal data base of repeat customers,
before any marketing was done.

There are plenty of facilities and amenities like flat-screen TV and free WiFi, as well as
priority privileges for owners and paying guests, from complimentary use of the two hotel’s
excellent onsen (hot spring pool and bathing facility) to a driver-on-call service.

YTL is targeting to sell the townhouses to high net worth individuals from outside Japan
who like to own properties either as resort homes or for investment as there is no
restriction on foreign home ownership in Japan.

Much as he is confident of a good take-up, Mark says they are not in a hurry to sell. “We
didn’t pre-sell the eight as we wanted to experiment first. But if we can pre-sell the next 38
units, we will build them faster. If not, we can do it slowly as we build them in blocks of
four,” he says.

Indeed, if you own a slice of heaven, it’s almost sinful to be in a rush, isn’t it?

Living to a really ripe old age

Do you want to live forever or will just 120 do?

AS old as Methuselah. That’s how we describe someone or something that has been
around a really long time.

This Old Testament character, the grandfather of Noah, the ark builder, is said to have
lived for 969 years. Longevity ran in his family as Methuselah’s father, Enoch, died at age
365 years and his son, Lamech, lived to a really ripe 777 years.
If we believe people of yore lived to such a great age, then it seems modern folk have
been greatly short-changed since the oldest we can get to is about 120 years. The oldest
person recorded in history was French woman Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 in
1997.

Present record holder in the Guinness Book of Records: 115-year-old Misao Okawa of
Japan.
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There are all sorts of hypotheses to explain this shortened longevity, including the
existence of a thick water vapour canopy in our atmosphere that acted as a shield against
harmful radiation.

That changed after foul weather flooded the world for 40 days or 150 days, depending on
which part of Genesis you read.

So now, we have to contend with just 120 years, give or take a few years. But very few
people make it past 100 and scientists are seeking the keys to great longevity.

The May issue of National Geographic had an Asian baby on its cover with the headline
“This baby will live to 120” and a footnote: It’s not hype. New science could lead to very
long lives.
What has science unearthed so far? After traversing the globe studying groups and
individuals who live to 100 and beyond, the conclusion was: Having the right genes
probably account for 25% of longevity.

The rest has to do with environment and even luck.

After all that, I asked myself: do I want to live to 120?

Interestingly, as reported in Star2 recently, the latest survey by the Pew Research Centre
found that most Americans didn’t care to live beyond 100.
They were happy to survive till anywhere between 79 and 100 years. Only 4% of those
surveyed wanted to live to 121 and older.

Despite the huge efforts to develop fountain of youth drugs, Americans don’t seem to want
them to extend their lives. They think there is more bad than good to living decades longer,
and that includes putting a strain on natural resources.

I don’t know how my fellow Malaysians feel about living till 120 but I don’t think I want to
either, unless I have great health, enough savings and good friends and loved ones to
spend that time with.

That’s important, isn’t it?

We shouldn’t just want a gift of years, but a gift of quality life to go with it.

I am grateful that I have made it thus far into late middle age without any major illness or
accident and am not on any drugs for diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

So if I want to live to a ripe old age, although not necessarily 120, I will try to do my part,
which is to stay healthy and fit. But I also expect my government to do its part.
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And it’s not just for me: we are on track to becoming an ageing nation by 2035 when 15%
of the population is aged 60 and above. The life expectancy for Malaysians has also been
creeping up and is now 74.2 years for males and 79.1 years for females.

Housing, mobility, caregivers, access to public places and, most importantly, affordable
health care must be in place to support an ageing nation.

All this is well documented in the National Health and Morbidity Survey III report and
extensively quoted in many research papers. So the authorities know exactly what this
country needs to ensure the needs of the elderly are met.

I have said it before and I will say it again: we can’t wait till 2035 for the right policies, their
implementation and facilities to be done. It has to start now and I seriously urge fellow
older voters to raise such issues using whatever platforms available, including by-elections
and at the next GE.

The irony is, we are fascinated by and long for longevity. Yet, as American writer Andy
Rooney (who died at age 92) observed, “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life
appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone.”

That’s what the Pew survey found out too. It is younger people, compared to those who
were 50 and older, who see longer lives as a good thing.

I believe that’s because they have no idea what’s in store for them. The sad truth is,
growing old is simply not for sissies, to quote actress Bette Davis.

I am in pretty good shape but already I am getting slight twinges of pain on and off. That is
something young people do not fathom; when you are old, you often live with chronic pain.

Trapped nerves, aching joints, a hurt from an old fall returns, arthritis, rheumatism, just
plain stiffness from sleep that takes ages to ease – that all equals pain.

Not only that. Even if you remain healthy along with your bank account and no matter how
many Botox and filler injections and facelifts you do, you will most likely end up looking like
a human Shar Pei at age 120. Come to think of it, what did Methuselah look like with 969-
year-old wrinkles?

Malacca set to make an Impression

KUALA LUMPUR: Malacca will become the first city outside China to stage the 10th
production under acclaimed Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou’s “Impression” series of
outdoor musical shows.
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Impression Melaka, is a project between PTS Impression Sdn Bhd and China Impression
Wonders Art Development Co Ltd, which will be endorsed by Tourism and Culture Minister
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz today as a National Key Economic Area project under Pemandu.

This follows a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by PTS Impression CEO Boo
Kuan Loon and China Impression Wonders Art Development Co’s co-founder and CEO
Wang Chaoge in February in Malacca, witnessed by then Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr
Ng Yen Yen, and the project’s official launch in Beijing in May.

The immensely successful Impression musicals were founded by Zhang and his creative
partners Wang Chaoge and Fan Yue who were also directors of the opening and closing
ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The stage for Impression Melaka will be built to look like a Chinese junk in Admiral Zheng He’s fleet with the audience
seated in the middle.

All the Impression shows are live outdoor performances involving huge casts, humongous
stages and amazing special effects.

The first was launched in 1998 in Guilin called Impression Lui Sanjie on a 2km-long setting
along the Li River. Since then, there are Impressions in nine locations all over China,
including Lijiang and West Lake, using spectacular natural backdrops.

Impression Melaka, however, will be performed on a gigantic stage built to look like
Admiral Zheng He’s junk with a revolving seating area for 2,014 in the middle.

It was Wang who decided on Malacca as her company’s first foreign foray after being
pursued by a persistent Boo who brought she and her team to visit his hometown.

Boo, 42, who describes himself as a true-blue anak Melaka, is a property developer who
wants to create a destination theatre experience to benefit locals and give tourists a
reason to stay overnight in Malacca.

Boo wants to create a destination theatre experience to benefit locals and give tourists a reason to stay overnight in
Malacca.

“Most tourists come to Malacca for day tours but don’t stay overnight because there isn’t
much to see or do at night. Impression Melaka can change that as there will two
performances every night,” he said.

Boo added that it was a feather in Malacca’s cap that Wang’s company chose the city for
its first foreign production out of 150 proposals from cities around the world, thanks in part
to its Unesco world heritage status.
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Although Impression Melaka’s storyline and music are being written and the stage
designed by China Impression Wonders Art Development Co, Boo stressed it would not be
a Chinese story but one that reflected Malacca’s vibrant cosmopolitan history and
heritage.

As Wang said in an interview with Lifestyle Magazine, “When we go outside the country,
we’re not taking Chinese culture and exporting it to them, but rather we export our art and
performance – Impression Melaka is about Malaysian culture.”
She was also quoted as saying at the Beijing launch that Impression Melaka would
“showcase the city’s glorious past and modern day life.”

Nevertheless, the junk-shaped stage recalls Zheng He’s five visits to the port in seven
voyages between 1405 and 1433 which led to a longstanding relationship between the
Malacca sultanate and China.

Impression Melaka, a RM300mil project, is funded by local and foreign investors and will
be the only one in the region for the next three years, said Boo.

He said the 75-minute long show, with a cast of 200, is projected to sell 1.3 million tickets
a year, at about RM130 a seat.

Like other Impression shows, most of the performers will be ordinary folk living in the
vicinity who will be trained by Zhang, Wang, Fan and their team.

While its location is still under wraps, Boo said the theatre will require 8.1ha, while another
32.4ha will be developed for other related developments, such as restaurants and a
tourism village.

Impression Melaka is scheduled to open in October 2014, in conjunction with Malaysia-

China Friendship Year to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between the two nations and in time for Visit Malaysia Year.

Please rise for Negaraku

Come on now, fellow citizens, is it so hard to stand for just 60 seconds for the
national anthem?
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WE begin a national experiment today. Yes, folks, starting today, all across the nation,
the Negaraku will be played in cinema halls right before the movie you paid to watch gets
screened.

How will Malaysians respond? Will we stand up and perhaps sing along? Or will we stay
seated, grumble and wait impatiently for the movie to start?

I am particularly interested in this experiment because I mooted it in my column on June 5.

I suggested the Negaraku be played in cinemas during the Merdeka month of August to
“depoliticise” it, especially in the aftermath of the deeply contentious May 5 general
election.

I wrote that many Malaysians had shared on Facebook their joy and pride in singing
theNegaraku during Bersih and political rallies. That made me wonder if we could sing it
outside the political arena with just as much gusto.

Actually, it’s already happening. The national anthem is played before the start of sporting
events, like football matches, and spectators and players do stand and many sing along.

So now we have another public gathering place to do the same. Admittedly, movie-goers
may not be pumped up the way football fans are, but let’s see how the patriotic spirit
moves them (or not) over the next six days till Sept 3.

My motive for such a move is simple: Let us citizens take back ownership of our symbols
of our nationhood like the Negaraku and the national flag.

Why? Because it is mind-boggling that many people think the national anthem and flag
belong to politicians or the government.

A colleague who put up the Jalur Gemilang in his garden was taken aback when his
neighbour remarked: “Wah, you pro-government ah?”

How silly is that? In a democracy, governments can come and go but the nation is forever.

Critics may say that playing the Negaraku in cinema halls is a government initiative; in this
case, by Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek, so
it’s still a political ploy.

I don’t know what motivated the minister (although I like to think he read my June 5
column and thought it was a great idea!) but I believe he’s giving us the chance to unite in
the one song that truly belongs to all of us.

While little old me couldn’t move any cinema operator to try the experiment, it’s great he
got the five major cinema chains – Golden Screen Cinemas, Tanjung Golden Village,
Lotus Five Star, MBO and Cathay – to do his bidding.
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He may have used his clout with them because their halls are licensed by the National
Film Development Corporation (Finas) which is under his ministry, but I do think Ahmad
Shabery, who is also the chairman of the Main Committee for the 56th Independence Day
Celebration, has a genuine desire to raise our level of patriotism and is looking for different
ways to do that.

This Merdeka experiment comes in three parts: First, the moment the hall lights are
dimmed, a 90-second clip, Pesanan Terakhir, will be screened. It is a tribute to the fallen
heroes of Lahad Datu. What follows will be the usual commercials and movie trailers.

After that, another clip, 150 seconds long, titled Tanah Tumpahnya Darahku, will be
screened as a reminder of the prosperity, peace and security we enjoy. Both clips are by
Finas.

Finally, we will see a notice asking the audience to rise for the national anthem in Bahasa
Malaysia and English before the familiar strains of the Negaraku are heard. The lyrics will
be displayed karaoke-style for us to sing along.

But cinema operators are nervous. After the news came out, they got calls from the public
asking when the Negaraku would be played.

The most likely reason for this? To see if they can skip it and have more time to buy their
drinks and popcorn.

In the worst-case scenario, impatient and mean-spirited film-goers can damage property.
That happened in the UK.

Apparently, they stopped playing God Save the Queen in the cinemas years ago because
the screens were being destroyed by flying bottles and other missiles.

One country where cinema-goers fervently stand and sing is Thailand. But then, they play
the King’s Anthem, not the national anthem, and it is well-known that Thais adore and
revere their sovereign and they don’t need any prompting to show their love for him.

As for us, despite years of singing the Negaraku in school, we have never quite managed
to instil a deep sense of pride and reverence for it, nor for the national flag, for that matter.

What did we miss? Well, the National Council of Professors’ political, security and
international cluster head Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak told The Star that
“education is a better way to instil patriotism” than by force.

He said that in response to another Shabery Cheek proposal, which was to compel the
business community to fly the Jalur Gemilang on their buildings.
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While the good professor did not elaborate on what he meant by education, my take on it
is: History. Again, at the risk of repeating myself, I am convinced that one of the most
important ways to instil patriotism, forge unity and build a sense of belonging for
Malaysians, no matter our origins, is to teach an inclusive and multiracial history as well as
meaningful civics lessons.

Maybe that’s something the good minister can champion, too. I can only urge fellow
Malaysians to do the right thing this Merdeka and please rise for the national anthem

No time to be patient
Can we not see the changes we so long for in our lifetime?

NELSON Mandela is dying. The world waits sombrely and respectfully for what seems to
be inevitable. He has lived to a good age – he turns 95 on July 18 – and it is time to let
him go. What’s more, this great man’s place in history is assured.

He is in the same league as Mahatma Gandhi and Abraham Lincoln, for what he did for
his country.

Yet, I wonder: Mandela was in his Robben Island prison cell for 27 years. During that time,
did he ever think he would not live to see the end of apartheid in his beloved South Africa.
Perhaps he thought, “Not in my lifetime.”

“Not in my lifetime”, that’s what we say to denote the unlikelihood of something

momentous or significant happening or coming to fruition within our life span.

I guess NIML (as those four words have been abbreviated in this Internet age) would have
crossed the minds of cynics concerning the fight to end slavery or suffrage for women in
centuries past.

“Freedom for slaves? Never, not in my lifetime?” “Vote for women? Balderdash! Surely not
in my lifetime.”

In our more recent past, so many amazing things have changed or taken place that were
thought quite impossible, at least NIML: The creation of the Pill that sparked the sexual
revolution, men walking on the moon and the birth of the first test-tube baby.

I remember when “Made in Japan” was a byword for shoddily made products that didn’t
last and China was an uptight communist state where its repressed people dressed in
monochrome colours and were deprived of life’s little luxuries.
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Today, Japanese-made products are synonymous with quality; Russia and China are
practically unrecognisable from the USSR and China of, say, 1985.

So too South Korea, now east Asia’s poster nation. But it wasn’t too long ago it was under
a repressive military dictatorship and it was only in May 1980 that the Gwangju Uprising
began that nation’s transformation to liberal democracy.

Who would have thought back in the 1980s, that many Chinese nationals and Russians
would become obscenely rich citizens living freely in various parts of the world; or that
South Korea would rule with “soft” power through its pop culture.

Ironically, I found Korean music grating and unpleasant during the opening ceremony of
the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Twenty-five years on, I can hum Arirang, Korea’s popular
folk song, and have k-pop songs on my handphone, a Samsung Galaxy, of course.
All that in my lifetime. And I am not that old. Really.

Change is a constant throughout the ages but the current speed of it is what takes our
breath away. We accept and even demand it when it involves technology, our devices and
machines.

Japanese scientists are ready to send a talking robot called Kirobo into space that can
communicate directly with astronauts on board the International Space Station.

Better still, researchers just announced that people with severe spinal cord injuries can
walk again with ground-breaking stem cell therapy that regrows nerve fibres.

Dr Wise Young, chief executive officer of the China Spinal Cord Injury Network, was
quoted as saying: “It’s the first time in human history that we can see the regeneration of
the spinal cord.”

He further declared: “This will convince the doctors of the world that they do not need to
tell patients ‘you will never walk again’.”

It is a pity quadriplegic Christopher Reeve, who will always be Superman to his fans, did
not live to see it happen in his lifetime.

Yet, strangely enough, when it comes to change to create a better and safer society,
change to weeding out corruption, change to needs-based policies, change to save our
education system, change to end institutionalised racism, we seem willing to apply brakes
and decelerate.

We tell ourselves, “slowly lah”, or “some things take time” and yes, even “not in our
lifetime” because we believe the things we want changed are too entrenched or too rotten.
I refuse to accept that because, as I have repeatedly lamented, we don’t have the time to
slow such things down. We need to change urgently and effectively or we will fall further
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behind other nations. What I think we need for effective change to happen is great
statesmanship and selflessness from our leaders.

While Mandela is rightly honoured and revered, he could not have succeeded in ending
apartheid without the support and courage of F.W. de Klerk, the now largely forgotten last
white president of South Africa who freed Mandela.

Similarly, it was Mikhail Gorbachev, the last general secretary of the Soviet Union who
brought political, social and economic reforms that ended both the USSR and the Cold
War.

It is men in power like them who had the political will, the vision and steely courage to
dismantle their untenable systems of government and set their nations on the path of a
new future.

Do we have a de Klerk or Gorbachev among our leaders who will demolish race-based
politics and policies, free our education system from politics and truly fight corruption and
crime? A leader who will move our nation onto a new path of greatness by quickly
harnessing all the talents that a multiracial Malaysia has to offer without fear or bias?

Can it happen in my lifetime? Since I have seen what was deemed impossible, NIML, the
first black man elected US President, I want to believe the answer is yes, we can.

Rebooting Chinese history

THE clue to the forgotten nugget of information came in the form of an e-mail.

The reader who sent it pointed me to a particular chapter in a book written by long-serving
colonial officer Sir Frank Swettenham.

The book was British Malaya, published in 1907, and once I perused chapter 10, I
understood why the reader thought I might find it interesting. Here’s the pertinent excerpt:
“Their energy and enterprise have made the Malay States what they are today, and it
would be impossible to overstate the obligation which the Malay Government and people
are under to these hardworking, capable, and law-abiding aliens.

“They were already the miners and the traders, and in some instances the planters and
the fishermen, before the white man had found his way to the Peninsula.
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“In all the early days it was Chinese energy and industry which supplied the funds to begin
the construction of roads and other public works, and to pay for all the other costs of
administration.

“They have driven their way into remote jungles, run all risks, and often made great gains.
They have also paid the penalty imposed by an often deadly climate.

“But the Chinese were not only miners, they were charcoal-burners in the days when they
had to do their own smelting; as contractors they constructed nearly all the government
buildings, most of the roads and bridges, railways and waterworks.

“They brought all the capital into the country when Europeans feared to take the risk; they
were the traders and shopkeepers. Their steamers first opened regular communication
between the ports of the colony and the ports of the Malay States.

“They introduced tens of thousands of their countrymen when the one great need was
labour to develop the hidden riches of an almost unknown and jungle-covered country, and
it is their work, the taxation of the luxuries they consume and of the pleasures they enjoy,
which has provided something like nine-tenths of the revenue.

“The reader should understand at once what is due to Chinese labour and enterprise in
the evolution of the Federated Malay States.”

Wow. They did all that even back then? My history books sure didn’t teach me that. The
Chinese in Malaysia certainly didn’t get a free ride to where they are. But if I didn’t know
my community’s history well, how could I expect others to know?

If they did know, surely it would help create a deeper appreciation of the Chinese and
assuage the suspicions about their loyalty.

As the nation mourned the loss of eight policemen and two soldiers and hailed them as
heroes in the recent Lahad Datu armed intrusion, a blogger thought fit to write:

“As has always been the case, when we send our policemen and soldiers into battle and
they are killed or injured, the chances are they are Melayus and bumiputeras. Perhaps
there is wisdom in getting more Chinese and Indians to join the armed forces so that they,
too, can die for one Malaysia.”

“Always been the case”? How sad that the many Chinese Special Branch officers who
died fighting the communists are unforgivably forgotten.
Online columnist K. Temoc who took umbrage at this blogger’s “caustic and unfair”
remarks pointed out that five Chinese police officers have been awarded the nation’s
highest gallantry award, the Seri Pahlawan Gagah Perkasa (SP), two posthumously.
 87

Again, it shows how little is known about non-Malay heroes who served in the security
forces.

This blogger certainly didn’t and he clearly buys into the belief that non-Malays aren’t
willing to risk life and limb for the country and doesn’t consider why there are so few of
them in uniform today.

The irony is even if you are well-known, your deeds may not be officially recorded.

Hence, Robert Kuok may be a business legend in Asia but few Malaysians know he was
the close friend and confidant of Deputy Prime Minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman.

As mentioned in Ooi Kee Beng’s biography, The Reluctant Politician, Tun Dr Ismail and
His Time, Kuok played a role in the nation’s development and politics, including helping to
pave the way for Tun Abdul Razak’s historic six-day visit to China in May 1974.
So much is left out of our history books and our national museums.

It’s telling that even Yap Ah Loy’s tok panjang showcasing the family’s exquisite dinner
ware are housed in Singapore’s Peranakan Museum, not in Kuala Lumpur, the modern
city he founded.
I agree whole-heartedly with the Prime Minister that Malaysians must understand each
other better if we hope to become a great nation.

Something therefore must be done to document and preserve the nation’s history that is
more inclusive and multiracial.

If the Government has been remiss, the Chinese should take it upon themselves to
address this lack of understanding and appreciation of their community’s immense
contributions. It shouldn’t, however, be a glossy and glossed-over coffee table account.

By all means include the darker and controversial aspects, including the Chinese-led
Communist Party of Malaya’s attempt to overthrow the colonial government (Interestingly,
Kuok’s brother, William, was a communist who died in the jungle).

But it was also a long war that was won with the help of the Chinese, like those S.B.
officers.

While we take pride in celebrating our most famous Malaysians – Michelle Yeoh, Jimmy
Choo and Zang Toi – we must also honour the unsung, unknown heroes like those
mentioned by K Temoc: policeman Yeap Sean Hua who died while apprehending a
criminal at Setapak and was awarded the SP, sergeant Lee Han Cheong and Deputy
Commissioner Khoo Chong Kong who were both killed by the communists.

It’s time to build a Malaysian Chinese museum that will tell a history – the good, the bad,
the noble, the inspiring – that must no longer be hidden or forgotten.
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The pain of pebbles in our shoes

The strong response to what the Aunty said last week has prompted her to share
her thoughts today of what needs to be done on this important inter-racial issue.

THERE is a scene in the movie Ever After, based on the Cinderella story, where the
stepmother, played by Angelica Huston, has just sold her stepdaughter, played by Drew
Barrymore, to a villainous low-life. The dialogue goes like this:

Stepmother: You are not my problem any more.

Stepdaughter: Is that what I am? Your problem? I have done everything you’ve ever asked
me to do and still you deny me the only thing I ever wanted.

Stepmother: And what’s that?

Stepdaughter: What do you think? You are the only mother I have ever known. Was there
ever a time, even in its smallest measurement, that you loved me at all?

Stepmother: How can anyone love a pebble in their shoe?

To me, this scene encapsulates how the people in this country feel about each other. To
the non-Malays, especially those born here, this is their motherland. Yet, they often feel
like stepchildren yearning for love and acceptance.

To the Malays, they believe the Chinese and Indians see them as obstacles that block
them from achieving their best for the country and taking their rightful place under the
Malaysian sun. So we are pebbles in each other’s shoes.

Perhaps it has always been like that. After all, to the Malays, the Chinese and Indians
were indeed pendatang (immigrants) foisted upon them by the British to work in the rubber
estates and tin mines. It wasn’t like they had much say at that time.

Then came the fight for independence and because the British insisted, the Malays joined
forces with the Chinese and Indians in a spirit of cooperation and power-sharing. It was
indeed a magnanimous act even if it was born out of necessity. So while not quite pebbles,
everyone had sand in their shoes that could not be dislodged; not very comfortable but
one could still walk in them.

Whatever the cause – racially divisive politics, lopsided implementation of policies, the
politicising and fragmentation of the education system and so on – power-sharing has
become an unhealthy power struggle over who controls the political and economic
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spheres. As a result, that esprit de corps in the early years of the Alliance has been
gradually evaporating and worse, the sand seemed to have become pebbles and, I fear,
perhaps even sharp, painful stones.

This was brought home to me in the huge outpouring of responses to my column last
week, Rebooting our racial quotas. I argued for the case of reverse quotas for Chinese
and Indians to be added as a KPI to heads of the civil service, police and armed forces to
correct the obvious racial imbalance in these sectors.

Not surprisingly, all the e-mails from Chinese and Indian readers agreed with me. They
were grateful that such a “sensitive” issue that had rankled for so long was raised openly.

But the three e-mails from Malay readers, while polite, made it clear they didn’t believe
there was discrimination in the hiring and promotion practices of the public sector or
anywhere else.

One said the Chinese then and now are different, meaning the Chinese then were patriotic
so they were willing to join the police and army but not any more. Present day Chinese
aren’t willing to serve and die for this country; they just want good paying jobs. She ended
up calling me a racist.

Another said he understood my pride in my dad (a retired Special Branch officer) as he is

a son of a soldier and we should celebrate our dads’ contributions. That was nice but he
also concluded by saying there were just too few non-Malays applying and they would get
in if they did. “Just get in the queue” as he put it.

The third Malay said it was clear the Chinese controlled everything, presumably because
of the Chinese shop signs he sees everywhere and that they dominate top professions like
engineers, doctors, and scientists. He added that the Chinese should be sincere in
wanting to help the Malays and what’s wrong with “a little privilege” as provided for in the
Federal Constitution.

I received only one sms from a Malay friend, a senior civil servant, who agreed with me
and lamented about the good old days.

This struck me as how wide the gap of perception of reality is between the Malays and the
non-Malays. The Malays honestly believe they are entitled to special help. The way they
see it, the Chinese still dominate everything and aren’t interested in serving in the police,
army or the civil service because of the low pay.

For the Chinese and Indians, that is just untrue. They have plenty of anecdotal evidence
from friends and family to prove there is an entrenched practice that discriminates against
them from getting into government service and if they did, from getting their due rewards
and promotions.
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That’s why non-Malays support my proposal for the Government to implement a

mandatory quota for the Chinese and Indians in government, be it the police, the armed
forces, teaching profession or the civil service itself. As a reader put it: Who doesn’t want a
shot at a job that is an “iron rice bowl”?

Non-Malays, especially the Chinese, are also dying to tell their stories of patriotism to
prove that given the chance, they would serve and even die for this country. Clearly, there
is a dire need to bridge the perception gap. The only way to bring both sides to a better
understanding of each other’s grievances and frustrations, hopes and fears is to get closer
to see each other at work, play and pray.

Officially, we are very good at pretending that we interact and mingle well but we know
that’s not true. It’s all become very superficial. As I have said before, over the years, we
have lost many touch points: from the schools we attend, the places we eat at, the TV
channels we watch and the music we listen to.

But the experience of Mohd Izam Mahazir is an example of how we can break down racial
walls. He was interviewed in March by The Star’s Shahanaaz Habib for her “Heartland
Voices” series. Shahanaaz wrote:

The 27-year-old uprooted himself from Alor Setar to start a jeruk business at Chowrasta
market in Penang and loves it here so much that he doesn’t want to go back.

“When I was in Alor Setar, I lived in a 100% Malay community, so my thinking was a bit
narrow. But in Penang, I got to mix around with all the races and I found my perspective
has opened up. I am a changed person.

“We Malays are less competitive because we depend too much on the Government. And
the Federal Government maintains its power by allowing this kind of thinking – that without
them and special rights, the Malays would never be able to come up,” says Izam, who now
makes RM20,000 a month from his business.

He feels it is time for the Malays to be tested. “Right now, even with all the help the
Government is giving to the Malays, it is the Chinese and Indians who are doing better
economically and this is because they have been forced to compete. Before I came to
Penang. I never quite saw things this way.”

Here is one young Malay who, once removed from his one-dimensional cocoon, came to
realise what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur – basically hard work and persistence
– and an appreciation of what most ordinary non-Malays face to make a living.

On the other hand, the non-Malays should appreciate the latitude the Malays have given
them in terms of vernacular schools, recognising non-Muslim religious festivals as public
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holidays and there has never been any Idi Amin-like attempt to throw out the so-called
pendatang.

The Chinese should also show a better understanding of and allay the Malays’ fears and
expectations, like embracing and speaking fluent Bahasa Malaysia, and not dismiss them
as unfounded.

Ultimately, if there is to be national reconciliation and a genuine desire to forge national

unity and multiracialism, the Government must take the lead and encourage important and
painful issues to be openly discussed and make the necessary changes and adjustments
to policies and practices.

Not only that, the rascals who continue to play the racial card and fan fear and hatred by
using a particular community as the bogeyman must be shamed, silenced and shunned.

For far too long, it has been a one-way street, even dead-ends, when it comes to
communities understanding and knowing about each other, which has led us to the sad
state we are in. There is no better time than now to make it two-way. Then only will we be
able to remove any pebbles in our shoes and finally walk, no, run together.

Rebooting our racial quotas

How about combining good old quotas with trendy KPIs for a different effect?

MY dad was a police officer. During the Emergency, he was the Special Branch officer in
the communist-infested area of Labis and Segamat, Johor.

He was a handsome young man but lonely as he was shunned by the local Chinese for
being a “running dog”.

Every day, he ate dinner in different places and varied his routine because he was a target
for assassination.

Despite the difficulties, he risked his life protecting this country and served 33 years until
he retired with the rank of assistant commissioner.

Why am I telling you this?

Because it makes me angry whenever I am told the Chinese are not interested in joining
the police force.

My dad was not alone. There were plenty of Chinese (and Indian) officers.
 92

I remember his two close friends: Uncle Jerry Liew who was the CID deputy chief and
Uncle Seenivasagam who was also in Special Branch and an exemplary officer until his
untimely death of a heart attack in his 40s.

After the New Economic Policy was introduced in 1971, slowly but surely, the number of
non-Malays dwindled. Now, the police force is a near solid block of Malays.

Overall, the Royal Malaysia Police has kept law and order.

But something is not quite right in a country that boasts of being multiracial (“Malaysia,
truly Asia” – remember?), yet important public entities like the police, the army and the civil
service are almost exclusively of one race.

Where the police and army are concerned, the excuse cited ad nauseum is that the
Chinese aren’t interested because they are culturally averse to such dangerous work and
prefer better paying jobs.
If that were true, how the heck did China and Taiwan build up their armies and police
force?

Former National Civics Bureau director-general Datuk Shagul Hamid Abdullah, in a

January 2010 article in The Star, claimed “there has never been any deliberate and
conscious effort to discourage the non-Malays from entering and staying in public service”.
He also cited the Federal Constitution that stipulates that job opportunities and promotions
in the public service should be awarded fairly to all deserving Malaysians.

Yes, well, while there is no formal policy for the Government to employ only Malays at the
expense of the non-Malays, writer and socio-political commentator A.B. Sulaiman believes
there are “covert and informal policies” doing just that.

“Career advancement has been a problem for the non-Malays since the 70s and early
80s, i.e. the period of the NEP.

I’d say that this period saw the birth of the “Malaysation” programme of the political
leadership, later known by the label “Ketuanan Melayu”.
“This era saw the marginalising of non-Malays in government employment,” wrote
Sulaiman in a 2010 comment.

While Malays are fed the notion that the Chinese won’t risk their lives for their country, the
truth is: why would the Chinese risk their lives signing up for jobs with practically no
prospects in an organisation that discriminates against them?

But if people are inspired, believe they can contribute and be recognised, they will sign up.

Pemandu, a multiracial government outfit, is a clear example of that.

 93

I know of many non-Malays who gave up high paying jobs to serve under Datuk Seri Idris
Jala.

There are also some progressive ministries like International Trade and Industry whose
secretary-general is Eurasian and a woman, Datuk Dr Rebecca Sta Maria.

These, sadly, are the exceptions.

The mono-ethnic situation, as Sulaiman puts it, “is the direct result of the preferential
treatment given to Malays in government recruitment”.

Undoubtedly, the NEP was crafted with good intentions – one of its key aims was socio-
economic restructuring to eliminate the identification of race with economic function.

To achieve that, quotas were used as part of this affirmative action.

Well, folks, it’s 2013, and it’s about time “preferential treatment” gets new treatment.

According to the Department of Statistics, Malaysian citizens are made up of 67.4%

bumiputera, 24.6% Chinese, 7.3% Indians and 0.7% others.

So, if the police and civil service are now lopsided with over 90% being Malay, then let’s
correct it using our tried and tested method of quotas.

Thanks to Jala and Pemandu, ministers and civil servants have KPIs.

Let’s add one more: a quota to bring in non-Malays into their workforce.

Instead of merely paying lip service and lamenting that the Chinese are not interested, the
IGP and his directors, the chief secretary to the government and his heads of departments
must fill their quotas of 25% Chinese and 7% Indians in their recruitment drives and
promotion lists.

In a public lecture in Kuala Lumpur in June 2009, University of Manchester’s vice-

president for equality and diversity, Prof Dr Aneez Esmail shared that Britain’s 1976 Race
Relations Act had not solved the issue of racism because it did not take into account
“institutional racism”.

What this means is an organisation through its procedures can behave in a racist way that
can deny certain people their rights or opportunities.

Once this was recognised, a 2001 amendment to the Race Relations Act made it
mandatory for British public bodies to promote racial equality.

Where the university was concerned, it had a problem of gender inequality.

 94

Dr Aneez said while there were more women lecturers than men, only 20% of professors
were women. Why so few?

“The frequent answer is, they don’t apply for these positions,” said Dr Aneez.

Sounds familiar?

To solve this, the university told faculty heads that their requests for promotions would be
rejected if there were not enough deserving, qualified women on their lists.

Those heads then went out of their way to identify and help qualified women lecturers to
present their case for promotion.

If 40 years ago, the Malaysian private sector was overwhelmingly Chinese and to correct
that imbalance, companies had to dutifully fulfil Malay quotas in equity and hiring
practices, then it’s time the public sector did the same to correct its own racial imbalance.

If those tasked to do this don’t fulfil this KPI, then no salary increments or promotions for
them. It’s as simple as that. To the new post-GE13 Government, please be true to our
Federal Constitution and dust off that old chestnut and inject it with new meaning:
leadership by example.

Untying our Gordian knots

To create trust from all the people, leaders from both sides must confront the
complex and long-standing problems before us.

WE’VE voted so let’s stay calm. And all said and done, we the people haven’t done too
badly at the polls. We have demonstrated we are moving towards non-race based politics
and ejected extremists from Parliament.

Too bad if both sides – BN and Pakatan Rakyat – didn’t get exactly what they wanted. So
to BN, sorry-lah, no Selangor and no two-thirds majority in Parliament. To PR, no
Putrajaya.

I really think Malaysian voters showed great sense. They stuck to Pakatan in Selangor and
Penang because they liked what they did the last five years. They also gave Kedah back
to BN after trying out PAS for five years and didn’t like what they got there.
 95

And that should be the way. Politicians must learn that they cannot rule as they like,
without fear or consequence for their actions and decisions.

As I see it, there are a couple of takeaway issues from the GE13 results that politicians
should really pay attention to.

One is the hunger for change. Now, just because Pakatan used ubah as their rallying cry,
it doesn’t mean “change” is a dirty word.
That’s because by now, it is abundantly clear Malaysians are desperate and impatient for
change and that is why they voted the way they did. And it is not just the Chinese who
yearn for change. Urbanites of other races, Malays included, also wanted something
different.

That’s why Nurul Izzah Anwar prevailed in her Lembah Pantai constituency over a
carefully orchestrated, well-funded campaign by her rival, the Federal Territories and
Urban Well-Being Minister, no less.

That’s why Ibrahim Ali lost his Pasir Mas seat in Kelantan and Zulkifli Noordin in Shah
Alam.

What sort of change voters want is well documented in many commentaries, blogs and
articles. In a nutshell, it is a cry for better governance, stemming corruption, for truly
independent entities that are supposed to uphold and safeguard democracy and citizens’
rights.

It is a demand for public safety, a top class education system and a country that works on
meritocracy and needs-based policies.

But change is a scary thing. Nobody really likes change if they can help it. Even changing
lanes on a busy highway can be unnerving and dangerous. So a good driver will only
change lanes after careful consideration: he checks his mirrors on the traffic behind and
looks ahead to make sure he has room to manoeuvre.

Then there is the other kind of lane-changing; one that is made out of desperation or
impatience. It happens when you are trailing behind a slow-moving lorry for ages on a two-
lane road and you are fed up at going at 30kph.

In such a situation, you start looking for the slightest opportunity to overtake. It means
taking a risk in the hope that you can accelerate fast enough and get back in your lane
without a head-on collision.

So what kind of “lane-changing” did Malaysians do on Sunday? Was it a measured, well-

thought out decision to switch because they believed it was timely and safe to do so or
was it a wild and reckless move because they had lost patience?
 96

I think it was a bit of both. Pakatan didn’t pick up enough speed to overtake and is still
stuck behind the BN lorry on the road to Putrajaya for the next five years.

The good thing is both coalitions are moving and have not broken down nor driven
themselves into a ditch. If they can keep on truckin’, they have the chance to really work
hard to win our trust, which is the next takeaway issue.

For the next five years, both BN and PR must figure out how to convince the vast majority
of Malaysians that they indeed have the nation’s and our best interests at heart.

Najib tweeted after being sworn in as PM before the King: “I will serve as Prime Minister
for all Malaysians.”

That’s the kind of inclusiveness that this country needs. But he must convince the Chinese
that it is not mere rhetoric.

I believe Najib will want Chinese representation in his Cabinet and I’m sure he will find
qualified people, a la Idris Jala style, to appoint.
While he’s at it, perhaps he can also consider appointing qualified Malaysian Chinese to
head a few GLCs.

As for Pakatan, I noticed how at their ceramah, they kept crowing about their shiny
achievements in Selangor and Penang as proof of their ability to govern but kept
absolutely silent on Kedah and Kelantan. Ho hum.
Also, although we had the surprising spectacle of Chinese voters waving PAS flags, let’s
be honest about it: there is deep doubt and disquiet over such strange bedfellows with
different ideologies.

If nothing is done about this, the tentative trust earned by Pakatan this GE will dissipate in
no time at all.

There is much that needs fixing and nobody said it would be easy because it involves
undoing some pretty unpleasant Gordian knots that tied and held us back for so long.

The problem is we don’t have much time to unpick them slowly. That’s because there’s a
big, bad world out there we have to compete against and our neighbours are forging
ahead.

Can either side show us that they will do what Alexander the Great did with his Gordian
knot?

For some, no shame, just fame

 97

For most, what happens in the bedroom should stay right there. But for younger ones
today, there's no problem in proclaiming their most secret of trysts. What's more, they can
find fame or infamy.

THERE are certain bodily functions and activities you keep private. You know, those
functions that usually occur in privies and the bedroom.

But of late, the attitude is you don't need to close and lock the door on such activities any
more; rather, you invite an audience in.

For example, when South Korean rapper Psy sat on the loo with his pants down in his
Gangnam Style video, early audiences gasped and giggled in embarrassment at the sight.

Subsequently, that scene has been repeated in countless parodies ad nauseam and the
shock value is no more.

Similarly, while pornography has been around a long time, it was stuff that professional
actors did for show but “normal” people didn't. If you filmed it, it was strictly for private
consumption.

Well, along came Facebook, which really should have been called Openbook because it
provides space for people to share all sorts of things, including sexually explicit material.

The most disturbing aspect about Facebook, blogs and YouTube is the easy access they
provide to an audience and therefore instant fame.

Narcissistic self-glorification without justification is almost the norm. That “I'm famous for
being famous” mantra that is most identified with the Kardashians has infected millions
around the world. It doesn't matter what you do as long as it gets you noticed.

Which was what that National University of Singapore law student and his girlfriend did.

According to reports, the couple started innocuously enough. They met on Facebook and,
like million of others, started posting photos of themselves.

Then they started taking nude shots of themselves and “After taking more and more
photos, we started to want some sort of recognition for our work so we uploaded them on
Facebook,” said Alvin Tan Jye Yee.

When those photos got flagged and removed by site administrators, Tan, 24, and Vivian
Lee, 23, started an erotic blog last month showing photographs and videos of themselves
having sex. Suddenly, they are famous and they seem mighty proud of it.

What has taken many aback is that, in the onslaught of publicity, they have responded with
icy-cool insouciance that is as brazen as their postings.
 98

It is this completely unrepentant attitude that stuns many it's so un-Asian, un-Malaysian.

Lee was quoted as saying that she was not worried whether her parents and family were
upset even though she said she got the “mother of scoldings” from them nor what others
thought of them. In fact, they would carry on as they enjoyed what they did.

Now these two young people are not aimless school dropouts with no future nor purpose
in life: she is a business studies graduate and he is an Asean scholar which is no mean
feat. One can assume these are bright young adults who knew exactly what they were
doing when they did what they did.

Yet, one cannot help wonder: What the blazes were they thinking?

Did they really think it was all right to “star” in their own porn and make it public? Did they
not think it was shameful and inappropriate behaviour? Did they believe that there was no
stigma attached to their actions nor consequences to their actions?

From their responses, it appears that they really do think so: yes, it's all right and dandy.
And they could be right, as disturbing as the thought is to older folk.

Really, it is the older generation who are most flustered and shocked by the duo's actions.
The younger ones are generally blas to it; after all, they have grown up on a diet of overt
eroticism and sexuality that is all over MTV, the Internet, movies, graphic novels and
manga.

For them, as old restrictions, mores and morals become increasingly ambiguous, the line
between the sacred and the profane has blurred.

What's more, to Netizens, what Tan and Lee did is nothing new. At most, there's a bit of a
novelty factor because they are Malaysians.

There is talk that the couple may be charged for breaking Singapore's Films Act for
producing and uploading porn and Tan might be expelled for breaching NUS's students
code of conduct.

Again, the couple have responded with indifference. Tan, a final year student, is reportedly
on leave from NUS and has started his own firm which he said was “doing pretty well, so
that's actually my career plan anyway”.

Not only that, thanks to their erotic antics, Tan claimed they have been asked to endorse
sex toys and lingerie by Singapore companies!

Indeed, Tan's clearly articulated intention to leverage on their new-found fame “We want
Alvin and Vivian to become a household name, ... known for being a sexually open duo”
 99

makes you wonder whether it was all carefully orchestrated by two wily people who know
that this is the kind of publicity that can lead to quick and good money.

And because there is always the next scandal, the next shocking antic coming up on
Facebook or YouTube, they will go from infamy back to anonymity by, say, next Monday.

So why worry, what was good for a Kardashian can be good for a Tan and Lee. Or put it
another way: what is one person's shame is another's fame.

Choo reckons William will love the

fruit while Pandelela plans on
presenting a slice of S’wak
PETALING JAYA: Give them a taste of Malaysia! That is what both Datuk Jimmy Choo and
Pandelela Rinong Pamg would like to do during Prince William and Princess Catherine's
inaugural visit to the country.

Choo said if he had the opportunity, he would host a durian feast for Prince William as he's
betting the young royal would like the strong-smelling fruit that most Westerners find
challenging.

That's because William is known to be quite adventurous and sporting, explained the
famed shoe designer who was friends with his mother, the late Princess Diana.

“I would also love to have them try other Malaysian food favourites like asam laksa and
nasi lemak,” he added with a laugh.

Choo said while he was not well-acquainted with Princess Catherine, or Kate as she is
popularly called, he had met William and his brother Harry many times when they were
young.

“I remember a Christmas party Diana threw at Kensington Palace where William, who was
then about 12 years old, was the perfect host.

“He greeted all the guests and thanked us for coming,” said Choo.

Choo and Pandelela, with Olympic silver medallist Datuk Lee Chong Wei and actress
Datuk Michelle Yeoh, are among the Malaysian celebrities invited to a tea party held in
honour of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the British High Commissioner's
residence on Sept 14.
 100

Choo, who is a tourism ambassador for Malaysia, said the three-day visit which is part of
Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebration, would help create awareness and
interest in the country as the British media would be present in full force.

Pandelela, on her part, is planning to give William and Kate a taste of Sarawak's special
kek lapis (layered cake).

“I want to bring them something famous from Sarawak which is kek lapis as I heard that
they are not going to my home state.

“I would have been happy to show them around Kuching,” said the Olympic bronze
medallist national diver.

Pandelela said she had been reading about Will and Kate but this was the first opportunity
she had to meet them in person.

“I am really excited and hope I don't say anything inappropriate,” she said.

Pandelela is seldom seen in a dress as she is more comfortable in jeans and T-shirts but
will have to make an exception for the tea reception.

“I think I will wear a simple white dress,” she said when asked what she was planning to
wear.

Asked about her experience in London, Pandelela said she did not have much time to
explore the city other than take a picture with the team on the River Thames with London
Bridge in the background.

“Nevertheless, I had a great time as I got to meet great people and make new friends,”
she added.

Squashing the rumour mill

When you are a famous person, do you tell when you are stricken with a serious illness?

MY friend is sick. You might know her; she is often in the newspapers and the society
pages. She's not an actress, singer or reality show host. She's neither a politician nor a
royal. But she certainly knows almost all of these people and they know her.

She is a well-known figure because she used to organise fabulous high society events for
her clients, hence her moniker “PR Queen of Malaysia”. But in recent years, she has been
in the limelight for her own original Stylo event, which she developed as a key social and
fashion fixture with the yearly F1 races in Malaysia and overseas.
 101

She is famous enough to be recognised on the streets but not so famous that she is
mobbed.

Ordinarily, she is able to “control” that fame. When she needs to, she steps out in her
glamorous persona to promote her events. And when they are over, she happily steps
away and be pretty normal a businesswoman juggling her busy career with family life,
which includes raising a young son.

But as you may know by now, my friend Nancy Yeoh has cancer.

You know because the media reported it after she announced it at her press conference
on Tuesday to introduce her Stylo partners and sponsors and the foreign performers and
models she's bringing in.

It was an extremely brave and honest thing for her to do. Make no mistake, if she could,
she would have preferred to keep it private.

But the cancer couldn't have caught her at a worse time. It is just two-and-a-half weeks to
Stylo 2012 and she has always been the heart, soul and face of Stylo.

Much as she would have liked to quietly go away and get herself treated, she couldn't.
Already word had leaked out and the gossip mill went into overdrive and Nancy and her
team were overwhelmed with calls and SMSes asking whether there would be Stylo.

There was fear and concern that there would be a huge hole in the F1 calendar of events.

Her unexpected diagnosis had indeed thrown her and the team off. But after the initial
shock, it was back to work. There was no way that they were going to let down their
sponsors and partners. The show must go on.

With her surgery scheduled two days after her press conference, Nancy had to decide
whether to tell of her medical condition or not.

Nancy and I have been friends for more than 20 years and I know behind that larger-than-
life persona of big hair, bling-bling and designer clothes, is a down-to-earth gal with a
really generous and loving heart who will go out of her way to help friends and family.

So I was more than happy to spend three hours with her over iced teh tarik and Diet Coke
going over the pros and cons.

What Nancy didn't want was for her personal crisis to overshadow Stylo. Worse, for
people to think she was using her illness to elicit sympathy or as a publicity stunt.
 102

She certainly doesn't expect her illness to turn her detractors or critics into friends and
supporters. “If they disliked me before my cancer, I would like them to continue to do so.
Anyway, I see this as a temporary setback,” she said.

What we both agreed on that night was that she has nothing to be ashamed of. She has
uterine cancer, the fourth most common cancer in women in Peninsular Malaysia,
according to the Malaysian Oncological Society (after breast, colorectal and cervical
cancer).

While doctors have identified some risk factors that can increase a woman's chances of
getting uterine cancer (which can't be detected by a Pap smear, unlike cervical cancer),
the exact causes are unknown. So what that really means is it can happen to any woman.

Nancy did ask “Why me?” because she is a careful eater and she doesn't drink or smoke.
But that is the way of the big C. It is capricious, and with an increasingly polluted world
with all kinds of dreadful chemicals polluting our air, water and soil, we are all at risk.

Another thing she railed at was the bad timing.

“If it had been detected three months ago, I would have been able to just go away and get
treated. Or even right after Stylo. But for me to find out just before we open, it really is a
bummer!” she said.

As it is, she was admitted the day after the press conference. While she can trust her
capable team to carry on, if she didn't explain why she suddenly vanished, the rumour mill
would definitely have gone into overdrive and her staff, family and friends would have
been bombarded with queries.

And that is exactly why she made the difficult decision of going public: to stop the
speculation, assure her business partners, friends and supporters that she is, as she put
it, “not quite ready to drop dead”.

Indeed, as we discussed it and she declared on Tuesday, she fully intends to add another
“title” to her name cancer survivor.

Long-time readers will remember managing editor June H.L. Wong's ruminations when
she wrote Clove's monthly editorial under A moment please'. After a long hiatus, she
returns with a new column. It's called So Aunty, So What?' because as a proud baby
boomer, she believes a modern-day aunty can be pretty cool and happening with a unique
take on all and sundry.

After a long hiatus, she returns with a new column.

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Space junkyard: Scary sci-fi movies

may just become a reality
here’s no escaping the waste that humans generate, even in space.

YOU’RE a space tourist – yippee! – one of the few privileged ones who can afford the
US$200,000 (about RM 620,000) ticket to orbit Earth’s stratosphere. Just as you are
enjoying a perfect view of the big blue marble from space, something slams into your
spaceship and tears a huge hole in the hull and you are flung screaming into the void.
Except, as they say, in space, no one can hear you scream ...

This, you would think, is the stuff of scary sci-fi movies but this “nightmare scenario” is a
very real possibility that worries the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration
scientists. It’s called the Kessler Syndrome, named after Donald J. Kessler.

The former Nasa senior scientist for orbital debris research had described the cascading
effect of man-made space junk colliding and causing more fragments which would lead to
even more collisions until the planet is surrounded by a belt of spinning, deadly shrapnel.

That, of course, makes space trips quite dangerous. One would guess it’s not something
Richard Branson wants to talk about or highlight. After all, his space tourism plans are in
full flight.

Last Friday, he attended the dedication ceremony of the Governor Bill Richardson
Spaceway for Spacesport America in the state of New Mexico. This first commercial
spacesport is expected to be operational next year.

Branson already has 340 people signed up for space flights with his Virgin Galactic who
must be wondering what to pack for their miles-high vacation.

What they may not realise, like the rest of us, is that the Final Frontier is also mankind’s
ultimate junkyard. Just 63 years after the launch of the first man-made object – the
USSR’s Sputnik 1 – to orbit the Earth on Oct 4, 1957, there is a litter trail of frightening
proportions that include defunct satellites and spent boosters.

According to National Geographic (July 2010 issue), scientists have catalogued 11,500
objects larger than four inches in low Earth orbit and another 10,000 that are smaller or
orbiting further up, creating what it described as a “hypervelocity menace”.

These fragments travel at very high velocities, like bullets shot from a rifle, and if any
crash into a spacecraft, it will be a disaster.
 104

Until last year, the Kessler Syndrome was academic. Then in February 2009, a
communication satellite (Iridium 33) collided with a dead Russian satellite (Cosmos 2251)
some 800km above Siberia. The collision created another 2,000 large pieces of debris.

This collision was, as Kessler put it, “catastrophic” and the first clear example of what he
predicted in 1978.

Now Nasa and other international space agencies, which track the larger debris to allow
spacecraft, manned and unmanned, to evade them, are figuring out how to clean up the
space trash.

Not surprising, cleaning up is always tougher than creating the mess. It will involve a lot of
money and resources and no one can quite agree on how to do it.

In a way, it is not the least bit surprising that we humans have managed to litter our way
into space. From the moment we learnt to make fire and catch prey to cook, we have left
rubbish behind.

Our ability to create garbage got a mega-boost when we invented plastic. It gave rise to
our great disposable way of life.

In plastic we trust and in plastic we are now encased. There is a huge – said to be
anything from twice the size of Texas to the entire North American continent – swirling
vortex of plastic bags entangled with all sorts of other junk, including chemical sludge, in
the North Pacific Ocean.

This Great Pacific Garbage Patch, as it is called, is yet another man-made ecological
nightmare that threatens marine life. Eighty percent of the rubbish is estimated to come
from land sources and the remaining from ships.

Scientists and NGOs are also trying to break up this floating garbage patch. But it seems
like a Sisyphean task because as long as us human beings continue our use-and-throw
ways, more garbage will just flow out into our oceans and enter our food chain. Actually,
our plastic is throttling the life out of our food chain.

Up in space, if they don’t clear the, er, space, Virgin Galactic might find their flights
grounded faster than a volcanic ash fallout as more collisions occur, and more debris
fragments created.

Even if we manage to clean up the space junk, sending up pleasure spacecraft will
become another source of pollution for poor old Earth.

According to space-travel.com, quoting a Nasa and Aerospace Corporation study, rocket

exhaust could become a significant contributor to global climate change in coming
decades.
 105

According to the study, soot emitted by the estimated 1,000 sub-orbital flights a year – not
their carbon dioxide emissions – had the greater potential to contribute to global climate
change in coming decades.

The study explained that rockets would use hydrocarbon and the soot particles emitted by
space tourism rockets would accumulate in a stratospheric layer at about 40km altitude,
three times the typical altitude of airline traffic.

“These particles efficiently absorb sunlight that would otherwise reach the earth’s surface,
causing projected changes in the circulation of the earth’s atmosphere from pole to pole.
Unlike soot from coal power plants or even jet aircraft, which falls out of the atmosphere in
days or weeks, particles injected by rockets into the stratosphere remain in the
atmosphere for years,” said the report.

The warnings are being sounded. But the sad truth is do we really care? Human beings
have a great ability to bury our heads in the sand or optimistically leave it to others to fix
the problem.

In Malaysia, after two decades of annual bouts of the haze, courtesy of Indonesia, we
grumble, then promptly close our windows and turn on the air-conditioner to shut out the
problem.

Our own rivers and drains are so clogged with refuse our precious water resources are at
risk. Even awnings in high-rise flats are not spared as dumping grounds as neighbours do
the unneighbourly thing of tossing out their rubbish from their windows.

In 1968, scientist Garrett Hardin coined the term “the tragedy of the commons” to describe
what can happen when individuals act selfishly for their own interests and not of those of a
larger group when using a shared resource. Because of that, the resource is destroyed
and everyone suffers. Sounds familiar?

Branson wants to make astronauts out of everyone who can afford it. Maybe he should
start building spaceships big enough to airlift millions from this world (but it will be most
likely the millionaires who get to go) as we turn it into a planet of garbage and leave
behind Wall-Es to clean up.

Don’t debunk this. The make-belief in movies has become reality far too many times. And
what we see happening around us – a giant oceanic dump, a band of shrapnel
surrounding the planet – seems right out of Hollywood. The really scary thing is it’s all real.

Managing Editor June H.L. Wong tries to her bit for the environment but is the first to admit
that it is truly just a bit.
 106

Mien of a model
Everything about Chinese supermodel Qiqi turns heads: her height (1.8m), her long glossy
hair, her elegant features and her to-die-for complexion.

When asked her beauty secrets, she says she is lucky to have started early on using good
skincare. In her case, it’s SK-II, which she has used for 14 years and is a long-time brand
ambassador.

But the down-to-earth and very approachable celebrity also has other tricks up her sleeve.
She shared them generously at an interview in Tokyo during SK-II’s 30th anniversary in
January.

Her daily routine

Every morning, I wake up my skin by running an ice cube over my face. After that, I will
apply SK-II’s Facial Essence Treatment. My maid boils red dates in water for an hour and I
drink that every morning.

If I wake up a little earlier, like 6.30, and have more time before I have to take my daughter
(four-year-old Ella) to school, I will put on a SK-II mask as well.

Pick-me-ups
Sometimes when my skin is a little tired, before I go to bed, I will soak a towel in hot water,
squeeze it dry and cover my face with it for two minutes. I will do this three times and my
skin becomes smoother and relaxed. It is very simple to do and it feels really good.

I also use an organic shower gel and I love hot baths. I don’t put too much stuff in the
water. To me, what is important is to soak in it for about 10 minutes. I usually read a book.

Weight control
I love food and I eat a lot – more than my husband (Hong Kong actor Simon Yam) but I
don’t exercise nor do any sports. I tried doing yoga only three times in my life! I have a
very busy schedule that starts from the moment I wake up.

Her secret “weapon”

Ten years ago, I would wash my face with just my hands. At that time, I was working a lot
in Tokyo and everyone thought that was the best way to clean your face. Then a make-up
artist from Taiwan told me to use a towel instead. It removes dirt and it exfoliates and is
cheap too. A towel costs maybe HK$10 (RM5). I use it to massage my face for a minute or
two as well. It’s really that simple.
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Making a miracle
For 30 years, SK-II refused to allow outsiders into its manufacturing plant to protect
its most closely-guarded secret on which the skincare brand has built its success –
until now.

PITERA. For millions of women including some of the most beautiful actresses in the Far
East, this is the name of a magic ingredient in SK-II, the miracle face cream they swear
by.

On a crisp winter morning I am on my way to the very place that Pitera is made. I feel like I
am about to see the source of the fountain of youth – the SK-II plant.

Not only that, I am being driven there by the scientist who is regarded as the Father of
Pitera, Takashi Yoshii, together with Ping-Huai Keong, a Malaysian scientist who is in
research and development for beauty and grooming under the Procter & Gamble Group
that owns SK-II. I am also accompanied by SK-II Malaysia’s public relations consultant
Muhammad Fadhil Choong.

Celebrity endorsement

My visit comes after two days in Tokyo where P&G had celebrated the 30th anniversary of
SK-II’s first skincare product, Facial Treatment Essence (FTE) that is 90% pitera, launched
in 1980.

The event was a triumph for the brand as it had gathered on stage all its ambassadors
who unreservedly credited SK-II for their fabulous looks.

It’s hard to remain cynical when celebrity after gorgeous celebrity tells you to what they
owe their great-looking skin.

What’s more, many of them are long-time users like acclaimed Japanese actress Kaori
Momoi, 58, who has used SK-II for 20 years; thirtysomething model Qiqi for 14 years and
Hong Kong actress Carina Lau Kar-Ling, 45, for 11 years. And the one with biggest star
power, Academy Award-winning actress Cate Blanchett, 41, has been a dedicated user of
nine years.

The other ambassadors are Japanese actress Koyuki, Korean actress Kim Hee-Ae,
Malaysian actress Lee Sinje, Indonesian actress Susan Bachtiar, and actress Sopidnapa
Chumpani and TV host Suquan Bulakul from Thailand.
 108

Still dazzled by this huge halo of glamorous endorsement, I had imagined the SK-II plant
to be glamorous too and surely, with the famed Japanese sense of style, an aesthetically-
pleasing place.

Getting there

My sense of anticipation was also buoyed by the fact that I am the first journalist allowed
into the Shiga plant! My request to visit got the nod from Yoshii, whose rather mundane
title of SK-II’s senior manager for global technical marketing belies his high standing in the
company. I am plain lucky that he decided it was high time to allow a media tour.

The factory is located on the outskirts of the 1,000-year-old Yasu City in Shiga prefecture,
and although it is described as an industrial area, it retains a bucolic charm with its wide
expanses of rice fields and vegetable farms.

Yasu is within commuting distance from Kyoto and borders Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest
lake, and is surrounded by mountains. The Ibuki range lie in the east, the Hira Mountains
in the west and the Suzuka Mountains in the southeast. It is the last that, I will learn, plays
an important role in the SK-II plant.

In such a picturesque setting, when my imaged fountain of youth comes into view, it’s a bit
of a letdown. The white three-storey building looks like any regular factory in Petaling
Jaya’s Section 13 light industrial area!

Waiting to greet me in the conference room are plant manager Kogi Ogaki, integrated
work system manager Koji Iitani, human resource manager Toshiharu Sakata and
engineering and technical systems person Mari Enomoto.

After a briefing by Sakata, we put on white lab coats, and tuck our hair into disposable
caps – we had earlier changed our shoes for factory-issued sneakers at the entrance –
and our tour begins.

The tour

We walk down corridors with green floors and orange strips that are reminiscent of a
sterile hospital and we quickly work our way through the warehouse where the raw
ingredients like the seed yeast, oil and wax are stored and randomly tested for quality,
past the weighing station and the “making room” where the ingredients are put together.

Everything is neat and orderly, and the high grade stainless steel equipment is kept
fastidiously clean. The huge containers are made according to what I am told is a “clean
welded design” that ensures there are no grooves or holes that can retain water.

Before my arrival, I was warned that there would be no photography allowed, except told
otherwise, and queries related to certain aspects of production would not be entertained.
 109

After all, Pitera production is SK-II’s most closely guarded secret which was the result of
painstaking research based on an observation by scientists in a sake factory.

The legend

That story has become legendary. But here I am with one of the scientists who actually
made that discovery.

At that time in 1970s, Yoshii, 59, was a young researcher with Max Factor Japan working
on safety protocols in skincare products.

“We (he and his team) decided to visit a sake brewery because we had heard
that toji(sake brewers) had good skin on their hands,” he recalls.
The brewery they visited was one of many in the old part of Yasu City which was famous
for family-run sake houses. That particular brewery no longer exists.

The scientists were checking out the lead because Max Factor Japan was looking for new,
natural ingredients – from Chinese herbs to Japanese medicine to spring water – that
could be secret keys to new, more effective skincare products.

Spurred on by the observation that the old tojis’ hands remained young-looking because of
the constant contact with the yeast to make sake, the scientists started researching for a
most potent saccharomycopsis strain.
“It took us five years to go through 350 types of yeasts before we found the right one,”
says Yoshii.

That right strain yielded Pitera. According to Yoshii, there is no scientific name for Pitera
which is trademarked by SK-II.

While Yoshii will demur at calling Pitera the elixir of youth, for SK-II users, its widely-touted
ability to improve skin quality and clarity makes it as close as an elixir as they can get.

The Shiga plant, set up by Max Factor in 1971, started making SK-II products in 1980. The
first bottle of FTE was called “Secret Key” before it was abbreviated to SK and carried the
Max Factor label.

Eleven years later in 1991, P&G bought over Max Factor and SK-II became the group’s
most prestigious skincare brand.

The secret room

Three flights of steps up, we arrive at a steel door. It is the Pitera production room where
the yeast is cultured in a nutrient-rich broth.
 110

Again Yoshii is mum about the length of this fermentation process but reveals that the
seed yeast “grows” by 24,000 times to yield a precious liquid called “metabolic
fermentation fluid” which is Pitera.

The room we enter is the control centre that monitors the well-being of the fermenting
yeast.

Beyond the panels of lights, gauges and buttons is a window that gives a full view of the
chamber where steel vats connected by a complicated network of pipes hold the yeast.

Obviously, a lot of water is needed for the fermentation and the plant’s source comes from
the nearby Suzuka Mountains. Pure and natural as the water may be, the factory takes no
chances and filters it several times.

“Pitera is the product of a living substance – the fermenting yeast – which we have to
manage very carefully because a living thing can die. We use technology developed by
our scientists to monitor the status of the yeast 24/7,” says plant manager Ogaki.

Which is why the chamber and control room are such sensitive and secure areas. Only 12
specialists trained in managing the fermentation process are authorised to enter.

While I am chuffed to be allowed in, I am also aware that Yoshii and co are very careful not
to reveal the rest of the process which is filtration to remove the yeast from the liquid,
leaving behind concentrated Pitera.

Instead, I am ushered to the packaging area – the last stage of making the SK-II products
– and finally allowed to use my camera to take a few innocuous shots.

The Shiga plant produces the 50 or so types of SK-II products. Since 1980, it has
produced 23 million bottles of FTE, the brand’s constant bestseller, but it is only operating
at less than 50% capacity.

Not only that, it also manufactures some Max Factor products as well as products for
Illume, a small mid-priced skincare brand sold in Japan.

With such a huge untapped capacity and need to ensure a clean water source, there
seems little reason for P&G to build another plant elsewhere any time soon.

Zen surprise

The tour ends and I come to the conclusion that a factory, no matter how glamorous and
expensive the products it makes, is just that: a factory. It is all about manfacturing under
sterile and tightly controlled conditions, high-tech processes and equipment, laboratories
 111

and testing. Certainly a place like that has little time or interest for aesthetics and
inspiration. Or so I thought.

But Yoshii and his colleagues leave the best for the last. They lead Fadhil and me to a side
entrance and suddenly we are in a lovely rock garden with mature trees, well-tended
bushes and a pool. We drink in the serene beauty that’s bathed in bright sunlight softened
by the cool winter air.

Ah, these Japanese, I should have known better.