Kam Raslan’s Talking Edge

(Reprinted from The Edge – Options pullout, 10 July 2017 issue)

Dear Kam,
Is it my imagination or is the world becoming Asian?
Observant Observer

Suddenly, the West has become Truly Asia. For decades, the leaders of democracies like America and Britain have lectured us on the rule of law, good governance, the need to fight corruption and blah, blah, blah. They objected to how a ruling party or even an individual leader treated their nation’s finances as if it were a personal plaything. But now, it is apparent that the Western democracies have actually been quietly learning from us, for instance, the Trump family happily enriching itself while daddy is strangely familiar.

I’m in Britain at the moment and their floundering prime minister’s recent words and actions also have a strangely familiar quality. Before the recent general election, Theresa May lectured a nurse who was asking for a pay rise that no such thing was possible because there is no such thing as a “magic money tree”. But May and her Conservative Party did very badly at the polls and the 10 members of parliament of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party were suddenly needed in order to create a slender parliamentary majority. And so May suddenly discovered that as prime minister, she does indeed have access to a magic money tree. In order to win over the DUP, she immediately promised to give Northern Ireland £1 billion, and she gave the DUP leader a free flight on an RAF plane. The massive amount of money is ostensibly for Northern Ireland and not for the DUP but, well, I wonder who will be handing out the cash. May gave government money to save herself and her political party. Now where have I seen that before?

Say Kam,
Is it my imagination or are you in London at the moment?
Captain Obvious

I am in London. How did you know? Whenever I am in London, I like to see what countries are well represented on its streets. I suspect that it’s a good way to see which countries are doing well or doing badly. The last time I was here was just after the Brexit vote and the subsequent collapse of the sterling. This coupled with a strong US dollar meant that London was packed with American tourists. But the Americans were just tourists passing through. A few years ago, London was packed with Russians, but they seem to be less evident now. Perhaps Russians are no longer travelling or perhaps the Russians I saw have become settled in London and therefore less easy to distinguish on the streets. London is the go-to hideaway for those wishing to park their money and escape from trouble.

I don’t think I have seen any Malaysian tourists, which is a far cry from the 1980s and 1990s when Harrods and Oxford Street looked like Cold Storage and Batu Road because there were so many Malaysians. The absence of Malaysians might be an indication of the state of our economy, or it might be because it’s not the school holidays yet.

But while Malaysian numbers might be down, I have over recent years seen a growth in the number of Thais. There are a lot of Thais in London and they are beginning to look permanent. You can easily tell if somebody is a tourist or permanent. Tourists (especially Malaysian tourists) never wear clothes that are appropriate for England’s changeable weather. They wear too much in summer and too little in winter and the clothes look like they were bought at P Lal Store (the winter clothing specialist once of Batu Road and now of PJ). After they have left the hotel, tourists have to trudge the streets all day long so they look very tired and a bit desperate because there are virtually no toilets in London, and tourists are always gathering outside restaurants trying to decide where the hell to eat and saying, “You decide”, “No, you decide”.

When people become more permanent and settled in a city, they can be seen wearing the appropriate clothes for the weather because they can easily select clothes from their wardrobes in their nearby homes. They don’t wander the streets carrying their older brother’s big woollen jumper while the English are in T-shirts. Settled people don’t carry anything and they look like they are going somewhere specific. And that is what London’s Thais look like. There are an increasing number of Thai supermarkets where you can buy all the Asian provisions you need, and when I went to a Chinese restaurant to have its legendary roast duck, the place was absolutely packed with Thais, many of whom spoke English like locals. Why are there so many Thais in London?

Another tourism trend I have seen on the streets of London is the new China tourist. Malaysians and Singaporeans appear to enjoy reading stories about boorish and ignorant China tourists opening aircraft doors in mid-flight to get some fresh air or throwing coins into jet engines for good luck, thereby destroying the engines. These stories help us feel sophisticated and superior but we need to rethink our stereotypes. Every single year there emerges a new young generation of China tourists who are much more worldly and sophisticated than their parents who travelled in big tour groups. The numbers in China are so colossal that the country produces eight million graduates every single year. And that number does not include Chinese students graduating outside China. The young China tourist is looking for the same authentic travel experience as everybody else. The young China tourist has not grown up in the closed world of the Cultural Revolution but is instead aware and curious about world culture. They are not travelling in big groups but as individuals and they have money. The age of the big China tour group is perhaps passing and we are now entering the age of the individual and high-end China tourist that will become the dominant story.

But I will be leaving London in a few days’ time and returning to Malaysia. And I am looking forward to it.

Reprinted with the kind permission of