Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 7 July 2014 issue)

Dear Kam,
Has a Malaysian diplomat been accused of attempted sexual assault in New Zealand? That’s just what we need.
Embarrassed Malaysian

Malaysia’s reputation overseas has been taking a lot of flak recently and just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, a low-level Malaysian military diplomat from our High Commission in New Zealand has been accused of attempted burglary and sexual assault. For some strange reason, the accused was not simply handed over to the New Zealand police but instead was able to return to Malaysia where it was reported he would face a Malaysian military tribunal despite the fact that the alleged crime took place in New Zealand.

I considered this to be a disgraceful act — both the alleged crimes and the presumed invoking of diplomatic immunity. I wrote about it for this week’s Talking Edge but just as I finished writing, news came through that made almost everything I had written redundant. I had written a long and impassioned plea that Malaysia must do the only honourable thing and send the accused back to New Zealand to stand trial and that doing otherwise would bring shame on our nation and make it look like we were circling the wagons, protecting our own and pretending that nothing had happened.

But at the precise moment I finished writing the column, I learnt that Malaysia was indeed sending the accused back to New Zealand. That is excellent news. Well done. Good. The alleged crimes remain heinous but the fact that the accused is being sent back to New Zealand is the absolutely right thing to do and a bit more of this kind of thing would be much appreciated. The only downside is that you will never see what I had written. It was by turns moving, full of rage and yet funny and compassionate. Basically, it would have been the greatest thing you had ever read. And it took me three hours to write. But it’s a small price to pay for the first piece of good news I’ve heard in a long time.

I still don’t think diplomatic immunity should have been invoked in the first place because our diplomat had been accused of a shameful crime. It was shameful to us. Our diplomats are sent overseas to advance our interests, but mostly to represent us. They have a duty to us to carry themselves with dignity (even if, I am told, the standard of English is increasingly, er, not so tall). The accused is/was a diplomat, so this is a diplomatic issue; this is about the alleged victim and our reputation. If we look like we are protecting the accused, then Malaysia stands to lose at a time when our international reputation is not exactly glowing.

The only argument against sending the accused straight back to New Zealand would be if we think he would not get a fair trial. I know we hold ourselves to the highest judicial standards with some, er, unique judgments and legal rulings, but I’m going to stick my neck out and state for the record that I think New Zealand’s legal system is probably nearly as good as ours. There, I said it. Give the accused the best legal defence team and see what happens. He is accused of a terrible crime but it’s possible he didn’t do it.

Personally, I am becoming increasingly dejected by the invariably self-inflicted damage to Malaysia’s reputation and, yes, to the reputation of our Armed Forces, which once fought with New Zealand troops during the Emergency and Konfrontasi. I am truly glad that the opportunity has been taken to do the only honourable thing.

Dear Kam,
Have you been following the important news about the most recent Cabinet reshuffle?
Kitchen Cabinet

Have I been following the news of the Cabinet reshuffle? I must admit I never do. Does anybody? But this recent reshuffle did catch my attention because the Cabinet is now so huge. There are 35 ministers, 10 in the Prime Minister’s Department alone.

For some strange reason, I want to tell you about a wedding I once attended where too many people turned up. Too many people hadn’t bothered to RSVP, so there weren’t enough tables but the hotel managed to cope with the overflow by hastily seating the extras in a corridor outside and we were able to watch the ceremonies on a TV screen. We have the technology. We can achieve wonders.

Dear Kam,
I don’t understand my son. He keeps talking in a strange American slang. I should probably give him one tight slap, but he’s so adorable.
Impatient Father

About 10 years ago, a friend of mine was compiling a book of English language Malaysian short stories. I was very surprised when he told me that the majority of stories he was receiving from young Malaysians were either science fiction or stories set in American high schools. Ten years later and he still receives lots of stories set in American high schools. For some people, the response might be that this kind of behaviour must be crushed and quite possibly that more religion must be thrown at the problem (although I have no idea about the religious background of these young authors).

I’m not sure if young Malaysians writing about American high schools is necessarily indicative of anything. In my experience, the rare young person who sits down to write stories is usually hoping to invent an escape from everyday reality and so their stories are not representative of the majority but quite the opposite. I just find it interesting that young Malaysians can find it possible, even preferable, to exist in an alternative landscape, one that might be ever-present on our TV screens but is seemingly so very different from the Malaysian reality. Young urban Malaysians are very different from their parents.

Reprinted with the kind permission of