Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 3 March 2014 issue)

Dear Kam,
I’m an interior designer so it was very interesting for me to see the inside of the runaway Ukrainian president’s home. Gold and marble seem to be very popular these days.
M Stewart

This might seem like an obscure reference, but when I saw former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych’s abandoned estate, I thought it looked like it had been designed by Joey Tribbiani, given an unlimited budget (fans of TV show Friends will know what I mean). It looked like the French “Sun King” Louis XIV had come back to life as a rapper. It looked hideous, but incredibly expensive.

Very occasionally, corrupt leaders lose their grasp on power and they run away, and then, ordinary citizens get a chance to see the opulence of their homes. When Ferdinand Marcos fled from Manila in 1986, ordinary people were able to enter the Malacanang Palace and were stunned to find that Imelda Marcos had a vast wardrobe containing 15 mink coats, 1,000 handbags and, most famously, more than 1,000 pairs of shoes (which are now rotting in storage). Filipinos already knew that Imelda was extravagant, but to actually be able to see the evidence just made the hypocrisy of the Marcos rule more apparent. In his inaugural address as president in 1965, he said, “We are in crisis. You know that the government treasury is empty. Only by severe self-denial will there be hope for recovery within the next year.”

The 1,000 pairs of shoes showed that clearly, the burden of “self-denial” was meant for the Filipino people and not for the Marcoses. Ordinary Filipinos simply had to leave the country to find work and now, there are an estimated 10 million of them working overseas on cargo ships, oil rigs, construction sites, in hotels, as maids, as singers and, well, you name it. Their remittances make up 10% of the Philippines’ GDP and in April 2013 alone, they sent back US$2 billion. It is a credit to the resilience of the Filipino people (Filipino women, in particular, who often raise other people’s children whilst rarely seeing their own) that they have met the challenge, but the untold social cost was forced onto them by the corruption of the Marcos years.

During the Marcos years, they managed to take the Philippines from being one of Southeast Asia’s most successful economies to its most indebted. They borrowed so much money, spending lavishly on populist programmes and bailing out crony companies, that in the end, they simply couldn’t pay it back. But Imelda had a good time and once said, “Win or lose, we go shopping after the election.” But she needed the furs, handbags and shoes, not for herself, but because the people demanded it: “Never dress down for the poor. They won’t respect you for it. They want their first lady to look like a million dollars.”

Recently, in Ukraine, we have been able to see the latest instalment of corrupt politicians’ “Pimp My Crib”. When Yanukovych ran away from Kiev, people were able to see his home and they were stunned. His vast private estate outside Kiev had a private zoo, a golf course (and gold-plated golf clubs), tunnels between the many buildings, a restaurant ship (that’s right, a ship), a very large vintage car collection, a hovercraft, a jet-propelled boat, statues everywhere, incredibly ornate rooms with marble and gold, and, among the hastily burnt paperwork, receipts for cash worth US$12 million and US$10 million. My favourites are a gold loaf of bread (why would anybody want a loaf of bread made from gold?) and a receipt for a US$4,000 bribe. The people could easily tell it was for a bribe because the receipt said, “bribe”. Yanukovych had worked hard to amass such wealth and opulence, and then, one day he had to run away.

Nobody beyond Yanukovych’s inner circle had ever been allowed into his private estate (which had once been the Ukrainian presidential residence, and therefore public property) because he must have realised that the mere sight of his truly incredible opulence would have led to demands for his resignation. How could he have built this crazy Neverlandski on an annual salary of US$100,000? Imelda said they had managed to become so rich through “diligence, hard work, foresight, entrepreneurship and God’s blessing” but, er, surely helped by a bit of something else? As Imelda also said, “I get my fingers in all our pies. Before you know it, your little fingers, including all your toes, are in all the pies.”

When I saw the photos of the Yanukovych estate, I couldn’t help wondering why he had been so reckless? Did he really think he would be in power forever and, therefore, be able hide this extravagant display of stolen money forever? Nobody could have predicted the violence that ousted him, but even without a revolution, there is the gradual, steady passage of time. Ten, 20 or even 30 years down the road, things would change and this level of corruption would eventually be exposed. That would almost certainly be within the lifetime of Yanukovych and definitely, his children’s. Trying to explain it away would be awkward.

Also I wondered why he had spent all this money so close to home. Why didn’t he buy himself lavish property in London and all the other places where corrupt politicians like to buy property? Why not houses, ranches and yachts far away from prying eyes? It just seems crazy.

I’m fascinated by the contrast of the public image and the private life. We can build an impression of what we think a person is through his or her public announcements (or what they want us to think) but that impression can come crashing down when we get an insight into his or her more domestic concerns. It rarely happens that people will suddenly be able to enter their palaces, but eventually, in the fullness of time, leaders will lose grip on power. That’s just the way it is. As British politician Enoch Powell once said, “All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.”

It might seem tempting to have that golden loaf of bread, but one day, you’re going to have to explain it away.

Dear Kam,
Is it my imagination or are we running low on water?
Flow Joe

It hasn’t been raining much lately and for many in Selangor, the taps will be dry for two days, and then, running for two days. Here’s a fun fact: Malaysia has the sixth highest rainfall in the world. I can’t find the stats, but we’re probably also ranked quite high for leaking pipes. If only somebody had the foresight to go to Antarctica and buy some icebergs.

Reprinted with the kind permission of