Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 11 August 2008 issue)

code of conduct, maddening events, abusive treatment, hybrid ideas

Dear Kam,
Do we have our own Code of Conduct for our Royal Malaysian Police? If so, can we see it and let everyone judge their performance? If not, should we create one? Maybe, you have one created just for our own Men In Blue (MIB).
Law-Abiding Citizen
Via email

Code of Conduct? You are funny. Oh, you’re being serious. Now I’m confused. Oh no, I’m bumping into things. This is all your fault Mr Law-Abiding Citizen!

Meanwhile, according to the NST (Aug 5), “Drugs worth RM1 million stolen from Johor police headquarters.” Further headlines said, “The thieves, believed to be cops, used acid to melt padlock to storage room. Loss may jeopardise case against 12 suspected members of international drug syndicate.” Please insert your own comment because I’m too confused.

Dear Kam,
I am feeling very frustrated about what’s happening in our country – abuse of power, rampant corruption, unreliable police, ACA and judiciary system, and so on. How difficult do you think it is to investigate a “sodomy” case? Malaysians only want the truth. We don’t care who is winning or losing. I find great relief reading your article. At least, it brings some laughs to all the stupid news.
Frustrated
Via email

I’m glad you find my articles amusing but today I don’t feel funny. Sometimes I can find the funny side, but sometimes I quite simply cannot. The place really is a mess and nobody seems to have noticed. We’re without a plan or a clue. Instead, the country you describe, and that we all recognise, cannot be found in the papers. Ministers continue to make their pronouncements and cut ribbons as if it’s 1998, or even 1978. It’s 2008 and we’ve got some big challenges coming up, and arguing about petrol subsidies gets us nowhere. But don’t worry, we’ve got corridors.

Dear Guru,
I read about the alleged abuse of foreign workers by a Nike supplier in Kepong. How can this sort of thing still be happening?
Can’t Do It!
Via email

We treat our foreign workers very badly. It’s institutional and systemic. Nobody, as far as I can see, has ever stepped up and said that we must treat them well. Sometimes they are treated as nothing more than slave labour. We have workers from all over Asia and how many go back to their countries telling stories about bad treatment? This kind of thing could so easily come back to haunt us. A country that is poor today could become rich tomorrow. Popular opinion about Malaysia in Indonesia is that we treat their people badly. Unfortunately, they sully their copy-book with the haze.

The Nike story was broken by an Australian TV station and Nike conducted an investigation which confirmed abuse. According to the Malay Mail (Aug 5), our Human Resources Minister said “the allegations were not accurate and without basis”. The question is, who are you going to believe, a Malaysian minister or Nike? (The minister later said he had been misquoted. But the denial was only in the NST so now I’m confused.)

The Malay Mail jumped all over the story, which is good. The paper dedicated three pages to it and was tough on the minister’s response. But the problem is that it is merely reacting to a story that was investigated and broken by a foreign news organisation. Why isn’t our own media investigating abuses of all sorts? Can somebody remind me, what exactly does our media do?

Dear Kam,
I’m looking for somewhere fun to go for the weekend. Can you suggest anywhere?
Fun Loving
Via email

There is a big poster near where I live that shows the PM, the DPM and the Tourism Minister and it says something about Port Dickson. I only ever drive past the poster at high speed so I don’t get a good look at it and I’m left struggling to understand what it means. Is it an advertisement for Port Dickson? Am I, upon seeing those three faces, supposed to suddenly want to go to PD? If the poster showed the Pussycat Dolls relaxing in a sauna, then it might succeed. Or is it advertising yet another conference to which nobody is invited? Fortunately, I’m sure the poster will be there for years to come so I’ll have plenty of time to find out what it means.

Dear Kam,
It was great to see that the PM wants Proton to make hybrid cars. We need an environmentally friendly alternative.
Green Eyed
Via email

I saw that pronouncement too but, unfortunately, I cannot find it again in my pile of newspapers.

But, somewhere in my pile of papers, there is, I am sure, a report that the PM said that Proton should make hybrid cars. I’m almost certain I didn’t dream it. Maybe Proton will make hybrid cars, but it’s an interesting economic model if a PM can decide the product range of a car manufacturer. I don’t suppose even a Japanese or South Korean PM/president does that. One imagines they’re busy doing something else.

Reprinted with the kind permission of