Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 6 April 2015 issue)

Dear Kam,
Er, I’m not sure what we can talk about these days because of, you know, things, but, er, have you seen anything nice recently?
Fluffy Clouds Please

In these difficult times, I’ve been struggling to find a topic that might be allowable. And I think I’ve found the one happy topic that is left to us. Kittens.

About 160 people have been arrested for various things since February, including the publisher of this newspaper. The alleged crimes have ranged from protesting the imprisonment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and GST to, well, stuff.

Judging by the responses on the internet, Malaysians appear to be reacting in three different ways. Many Malaysians are unimpressed by this crackdown, but they were probably already unimpressed by the government anyway.

Meanwhile, the internet suggests that many BN supporters are very happy because finally the nation is witnessing firmness of action and now hopefully dissent will be crushed. But they were BN supporters anyway and although they might now have some cause for happiness, the crackdown hasn’t swayed their voting plans one way or the other.

And then there is a third reaction. Most people understandably do not want to have their lives constantly invaded by politics but nobody can escape the understanding that these are truly difficult times in the nation’s story. Nobody wants to live in fear but that appears to be the only option if you want to just get on with your life in this country. It is impossible to escape from the news headlines and the story they tell appears to be, well, not that great (actually, it doesn’t matter where you get your news). For many, when once the future looked bright and possible, now it does not. Many people have silently retreated into a self-imposed internal exile with a hope for escape. The escape could be a physical move to another country but more likely, it is a mental and emotional escape, barricading the mind against pleas to take a position. It is an unhappy and beleaguered alienation where everything is equally wrong and everyone is equally bad. It takes a lot of energy to consciously ignore such an obviously polarised situation but fortunately, the internet is there to help us escape because it has pictures of kittens. It’s why the internet was invented and as luck would have it, it’s the one topic that is left to us.

Innocent, cute and with big eyes — K-Pop stars. Well, apart from Girls’ Generation, also kittens. In troubled times, I retreat to pictures and videos of cats doing cute things. Sometimes also puppies but don’t worry, I make sure I’m wearing gloves when I touch the computer. I don’t know why I like cats, perhaps it is because I am naturally drawn to authority figures.

A university conducted an experiment. Two groups of female undergraduates were given a choice of posters — a Monet, a van Gogh or a humorous cat (I think it was the famous one that says “Believe”). One group was called non-thinkers because they could simply take a poster. The other group was called analysers because they had to write an essay explaining their choice. Ninety per cent of the non-thinkers chose the Monet or van Gogh and 50% of the analysers chose the cats. Follow-up interviews showed that the non-thinkers were overwhelmingly happy with their original choice whereas most of the analysers were not.

It’s a simple almost silly experiment but one author (I think it’s Malcolm Gladwell) says: “The women who listened to their emotions ended up making much better decisions than the women who relied on their reasoning powers. The more people thought about which posters they wanted, the more misleading their thoughts became. Self-analysis resulted in less self-awareness.”

Perhaps that is true but I think that gazing at a van Gogh is ultimately a more satisfying emotional experience than gazing at a 2D cat. When put on the spot, many of us would find it hard to put into words why we might like a van Gogh because we’re afraid of being called incoherent, pretentious or different. I love cats but a painting by van Gogh is better, although I couldn’t say why. Trying to appreciate a van Gogh is an emotional challenge, whereas enjoying a cat poster is an easy emotional retreat to what we know and where we feel safe.

In these strange and difficult times, I retreat to pictures of kittens and I am tempted to stay there forever, hoping that everything bad will just go away and leave me alone. But then, I am arrested by an image, a painting by van Gogh. It’s just a tree but the sky is blue and the flowers are red, as if the tree is on fire. I don’t know what the painting means but instinct tells me an answer can be found there. And so, like the kitten falling through the air uncertain where the ground is, I just have to believe.

Dear Kam,
Is it true? Has Zayn Malik left One Direction? My daughter won’t stop crying and I have no idea what she’s talking about. Who is he and why has he done this to my little Princess?
1D Daddy

Obviously, the really big news last week was that Zayn Malik has left top boy band One Direction, and I want you all to know, I’m okay. I’ll admit it was tough to deal with … the news came as a shock, but I filmed myself crying a lot and I felt much better after I had uploaded it.

Actually, I mustn’t be cruel to fans of One Direction because I have been there too. I can remember being shocked when bands I liked split up (why did David Sylvian leave Japan? Why?). And although I was far too young at the time, I’ve seen footage of inconsolable girls reacting to the news that Paul McCartney had got married. I wouldn’t have been so devastated by Paul McCartney’s marriage (like I was in with a chance?) but in a way, I’ve never recovered from his leaving The Beatles. And as a friend of mine said on Facebook, “I remember how I felt when I first heard that Michael Jackson had split up”.

Reprinted with the kind permission of