Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 1 August 2016 issue)

Dear Kam,
I don’t want to sound like a boring old person who complains that things were better in the old days but weren’t things better in the old days? I’ve got to go now, I need to study for my SPM.
Retro

In 1960, Tunku Abdul Rahman volunteered 3,500 members of the Malaysian Armed Forces (actually, Malayan at that time) for United Nations peacekeeping duties in Congo — the first of over 30 subsequent UN peacekeeping missions. The story I was told, by somebody who was on that expedition to Congo, was that the UN would have paid for the troops but our first prime minister thought that idea was ridiculous. We had volunteered, it was our duty as a responsible member of the community of nations, why would we be paid? So, I was told, Malayan troops in Congo had less money than the other UN troops but they performed their tasks professionally nonetheless.

Such was the mentality that guided the birth of this nation, and who would have bought into the idea if it had been otherwise. Yes, money is important but so is duty. (By the way, the UN has paid for subsequent Malaysian deployments because it is very expensive). For a long time, Malaysia was one of the sane ones without military rule and genocides or a singing First Lady notorious for her shoe collection. But somewhere along the way, something has changed. Where Tunku was simply blind to the temptations for self-enrichment, others have been perhaps, well, not so blind.

Dear Kam,
Why on earth has the US Department of Justice become involved with 1MDB? If we’re okay with it, then they should respect that. I have a conspiracy theory that involves Jews, black people and the Illuminati. Here’s how it works … [letter edited because it’s completely insane].
Spooked

Recently, the US Department of Justice filed civil lawsuits alleging that US$3.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB. This would be a dark stain on our nation’s reputation but fortunately, this is a civil case and not a criminal case. As we all know, civil cases are almost irrelevant, like not saying thank you when somebody opens the door for you. Only a criminal case is important and if that happens, then it too will be irrelevant because, well, you know, reasons, that’s why. Fortunately, the need to give any even vaguely cogent reasons will soon completely evaporate when the National Security Council Act comes into law on Aug 1, at which point all debate could come to a screeching halt. Also, it’s not even clear that the US DOJ lawsuit is talking about 1MDB because the document keeps referring to a shadowy “Malaysia Official 1”. Who or what is this person? Nobody knows. It’s possible that the lawsuit is not referring to 1MDB but to IMDB, the Internet Movie Database, which could soon become one of the very few accessible websites.

Dear Kam,
Is it my imagination or will Donald Trump win the US general election?
Watcher

And so, Hillary Clinton is officially the Democratic Party candidate for the US presidency. This is the first time a major US party has nominated a woman and it’s about time. After all, plenty of Asian nations have had female leaders but like Hillary Clinton, they have all been in some way related to earlier male leaders. It has been rare for a woman to make her way in the world of politics and yet we could soon be seeing female leaders of America, Germany and Britain. Or maybe not. Angela Merkel may not survive the onslaught of IS-inspired terrorist attacks in Germany; in post-Brexit Britain, it simply doesn’t matter who is in charge because the country is now basically irrelevant, which is why it’s possible to have Boris Johnson as foreign minister, a man who has actually called some foreigners “pickaninies”. And there’s a strong possibility that Hillary Clinton will not win the US general election. Inexplicably, Donald Trump might win.

I watched his coronation as the Republican Party candidate at their dismal convention and although it was horrifying, I was nevertheless impressed by how he has managed to capture the dark mood of not just America but of the world. He painted a dystopian vision of the world as a dangerous and broken place but that he alone could fix things, bring back jobs and make things safe against all the dark forces out there. He bellowed out of what the talk show host Stephen Colbert has called the Trumphole, “I will be your voice!” and the crowd went wild. Crazy.

And yet it is hard to argue against Trump’s terrifying dystopian vision because it looks a lot like the postings on my Facebook feed where perfectly normal and mild-mannered people feel free to post videos and stories of beheadings, the impression that crime is out of control and videos of hordes of China tourists behaving badly. These stories are undoubtedly true but when offered as a steady stream on TV news channels or on Facebook’s unending scroll, we can’t help but start to join the dots and try to make a single theory that might explain events that are in actual fact completely disconnected. Before you know it, parents are not vaccinating their children because the 9-11 attacks were staged.

Obama trademarked the “Hopey-changey thing” and it did not transpire because the promise was unfulfillable. Trump is having success with the opposite: Stranger-danger, which is a gift that keeps giving because there will be more attacks. Hillary Clinton is a lacklustre candidate without her husband’s charisma but women are unfairly expected to conform to standards that men can ignore and she is infinitely preferable to Trump. What message can she conjure to inspire a nation that thinks the zombie apocalypse is imminent?

I hope she does win but two things come to mind. When will Malaysia have a female candidate for PM (because, you know, there is a statistical possibility that we will one day have another PM), and, gosh, America thinks it has problems.

Reprinted with the kind permission of