Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 29 September 2014 issue)

Dear Kam,
Selangor, sedition. What on earth is going on?
My Malaysia

I returned to Malaysia in 1990 so I missed the crackdown in 1987. I didn’t pay much attention to Malaysian politics until the mid-1990s and my memory is never good but I think that right now is the darkest time I have ever known in Malaysian politics. The sudden use of the ancient Sedition Act is effectively shutting down the freedom of speech. I’ve been watching social media and I’ve seen how a lot of people are going quiet or changing the way they speak in order to avoid trouble. But I don’t see anybody changing their overriding opinions. It’s a big if but if politics in a democracy is about persuasion, then I don’t see anybody being persuaded. Instead, the various camps are being further concretised in their antipathy for each other.

What is the long-term strategic plan? Is this supposed to go on forever? Is this the new normal? Is this Malaysia?

Dear Kam,
I received the new U2 album for free on my iPhone. I quite like U2 and I love things that are free, but for some reason, I’m not happy that Apple forced me to have the new U2 album. Am I just being ungrateful?
Free Loader

There’s a story that is often told about George Best, whom some would argue was the greatest footballer of all time. Sadly, he eventually drank himself to death but the story goes that at the height of his footballing career, a very serious football journalist entered George Best’s magnificent hotel suite. The journalist found champagne on ice and a naked Miss World in the bed and he muttered to himself, “Oh, George. Where did it all go wrong?” The sight of a hedonistic lifestyle may have upset the puritanical journalist, but the comment is ironically funny because for George Best (a young man from the poorest part of Belfast), life was looking pretty good.

Throughout the 1980s, I would wait with fevered anticipation for the next U2 album. I was a big fan of the Irish rock combo and I still think that Achtung Baby is one of the greatest albums of all time. And yet Apple has now given me their latest album for free and I can’t be bothered to listen to it. U2 are still the biggest band in the world, making millions with each huge sell-out concert, Apple probably paid them millions for their latest album and Bono gets invited to speak to the UN General Assembly (which is where our PM is, if you were wondering). But I can’t be bothered to listen to their new album even though Apple has given it to me for free. Oh, U2. Where did it all go wrong?

I think I can critique U2 and Apple without being charged for sedition. The problem for a rock band is that they must become frozen in a moment — in the moment of our youth. This wouldn’t have been a problem for old-time crooners like Nat King Cole or Andy Williams because they were born middle-aged. But rockers like the Rolling Stones are expected to keep hollering defiantly that they can’t get no satisfaction even though they are so enormously wealthy that they can afford to purchase all the satisfaction they need. It must feel strange to be trapped in an eternal youth. These old rockers are in their sixties but they’re still singing songs they wrote when they were 20.

To be fair, U2 have been determined to evolve, continuously develop and mature with their audience. I still like U2 and I think that Bono’s work on child poverty (or is it global warming?) has been admirable. And I don’t have a problem with Apple. I am at this very moment surrounded by Apple products (some of which still work). But Apple is a huge corporation making huge profits. It’s an integral part of the global capitalist machine and for U2 to sell their name and music feels like a betrayal of my youthful idealism.

It also feels like a missed opportunity. Why did Apple choose U2? U2 don’t need the money or the publicity. Why not give a package of albums from younger and newer musical acts? Promoting newer acts would give the impression that Apple is cutting-edge and not harking back to some previous age with a band that made its name in the 1980s. Spending large amounts of money to look backwards must have a negative impact on a brand that should be portraying itself as continuously looking forwards.

There’s a story about a U2 concert that’s probably not true. In the story, Bono hushed the crowd and told them that a child dies in poverty every few seconds. He clapped his hands and said, “A child died.” Then he clapped his hands again and said, “Another child died.” He repeated this several times to emphasise the tragedy until somebody in the crowd shouted, “So stop clapping then!”

Dear Kam,
I watched the vote for Scottish independence. I couldn’t believe it.
One Country

I was not at all interested in the Scottish vote for independence but as the voting day drew nearer, I suddenly was. For a moment, it looked like the Scots might actually choose to leave the UK and become independent. It seemed unimaginable. And then it didn’t happen. It was close (45% versus 55%) and I’m sure that next time they vote, it will happen. And maybe it will happen to other countries because it feels like the trend. When once countries wanted to be as big as possible, many now wish to be as small as possible.

For what it’s worth, I was hoping Scotland would not vote for independence because I’m concerned about how the Scottish would come to tell their own history. I’m sure that Scottish history would become nothing but a story of defiance against English oppression. Braveheart, the battles of Bannockburn and Culloden are all true but when Scotland and England joined in union, the Scots became willing and enthusiastic members of the British Empire. I’m not blaming them for this because they were not Nazi-style conquistadors (except the Scots Guards regiment at Batang Kali) but Scots were probably overrepresented in the British Empire in the military, civil service, as miners, planters, and especially as tradesmen. Scottish names still dot our landscape, from Fraser’s Hill to Cameron Highlands, and big Asian businesses like Jardine Matheson and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank were started by Scotsmen as were both the Standard and Chartered banks. Few British made personal fortunes in the Empire because they didn’t know how to access the local markets but Scotsmen succeeded where others failed. I don’t think the British Empire would have been as successful as it was without the Scots.

I consider it disingenuous for Scotland to vote against the union and to jettison its British legacy just because it’s no longer fashionable or lucrative. Having said that, I’m sure that they will eventually become independent and I will then wish them the best of luck.

Reprinted with the kind permission of