Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 22 August 2011 issue)

Dear Kam,
Who is the most famous Malaysian in the world?
Famous Amos

It has not been the biggest news story in Malaysia but the most famous Malaysian in Britain at the moment is a young accountancy student called Ashraf Haziq. He did not seek the fame. Instead, it was thrust upon him when his jaw was broken and he was robbed in east London during the recent riots. The incident was filmed by an onlooker and it provoked a deep sense of shame and self-loathing among millions of Britons when they witnessed the incident on the news. The incident was even mentioned by the British prime minister as the lowest of low moments during a shameful episode.

When I first saw the footage, it was not clear who the victim was but I had a horrible feeling it was a Malaysian student. I think his backpack gave it away. For those of you who have not seen it yet, the shaky footage shows Ashraf sitting on the ground and he is bleeding a lot. A few youths approach him and at first they look like they are helping him, but then they help themselves to the contents of his backpack. One of the satisfied youths strides away with something and Ashraf is left by the side of the road looking dazed, confused and still bleeding.

It later became clear that the victim was Ashraf Haziq and at a press conference in the Malaysian High Commission, he described how he was taken to a hospital and a metal plate was put into his jaw. He said he felt sorry for the youths who attacked him and stole his bicycle because they were very young, probably still in primary school. He said his mother was very worried about him and wanted him to return to Malaysia but that he wants stay in London to continue his studies. A Facebook group called “Let’s do something nice for Ashraf Haziq” was set up to raise funds for him and when he was told about this, Ashraf said: “You guys are so generous.” He could have said: “You guys broke my jaw and stole my bike”, but he didn’t. People contributed £22,000 to Ashraf via the Facebook group.

I have never met Ashraf but watching the way he conducted himself, I felt an immense sense of pride because he spoke with good humour, modesty and without a hint of malice. I know nothing about him but he comes across as a genuinely nice guy who is enjoying his time in London and who had the courage (or naïvety) to ride a bicycle in a foreign city and in the middle of Britain’s worst riots in living memory.

The incident resonated with me on a personal level. My father studied accountancy in London when he was the same age as Ashraf and I cannot be sure if my father would have been as forgiving. My mother is British and my parents met in London in the 1950s. I was born in Malaysia but grew up in England before returning to Malaysia when I was a bit older than Ashraf. I feel like I know both sides of the equation. I grew up among those feral youths of England. I never liked them or associated with them but I learnt through bitter experience how to read the signs on the streets, how to recognise and avoid trouble. I even know where Ashraf can go to buy back his stolen bicycle (although, with £22,000, he can now afford Batman’s bicycle). But in his innocence, Ashraf did not know the signs and he could be forgiven for thinking that mass rioting is a regular London day. When I saw the footage, I wanted to protect him. It was as if one half of me was breaking the jaw and stealing the bike of the other half of me. But at the end of the day, I would just be the one with the broken jaw.

Until now, I have not been impressed by the British actor/comedian Russell Brand, but he wrote an excellent piece in The Guardian about the rioting youths. He lives in Hollywood now but he came from their world and he said: “These young people have no sense of community because they have not been given one. They have no stake in society because Cameron’s mentor Margaret Thatcher told us there is no such thing. If we do not want our young people to tear apart our communities, then do not let people in power tear apart the values that hold our communities together.”

Could a similar explosion happen in Malaysia? People are simply deluding themselves if they try to equate a recent big demonstration on the streets of Kuala Lumpur with the riots in England. I know both sets of people and their motives and background could not be further apart. Also, immediately after the riots in London, hundreds of people took it upon themselves to go onto the streets with brooms to clean up the debris. This was not a government programme; it was a spontaneous response. In Malaysia, this too would have been an illegal assembly needing a permit.

So, could it happen here? Probably almost certainly not. But then, I read an article on how around 30 schoolchildren in KL attacked four other students in a school. The Bernama report says they were armed with iron rods, batons and helmets. It is probably an isolated incident, a one-off. But are these youths like the ones that Brand wrote about? Are they in danger of losing a sense of community? Do they have a stake in society? Is it possible that the values holding our communities together are being torn apart? I hope not.

In the meantime, I would like to wish Ashraf a speedy recovery and I hope he enjoys his time in London. It is a good place.

Dear Kam,
Is it true that the government is going to abolish the censorship laws?
Netizen

It seems that old-style censorship is just too hard to do in this modern world of electricity and iron birds (how do they stay in the air?). It seems that censorship will be replaced by “monitoring”, which, er, is a completely different thing.

Reprinted with the kind permission of