Please see my previous posting dated 6 November 2010. (Lily)
Malaysiakini (http://www.malaysiakini.com)
A conversation with Hillary Clinton, 9 November 2010
by KJ John
I served almost 30 years with the government and I must say that only once was I ever invited to the US Ambassador's residence for the 4th of July celebration.
Although I am married to an American, I do not think that has made a difference either about how the American Embassy perceives me. That is a professional American approach, I suppose.
Therefore when "out of the blue" I received an email invite to have a conversation with the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton during her recent visit, I was somewhat confused.
My UCSI colleague Dr Ong Kian Ming also received the same invite, but he at least is a Fulbright Scholar and therefore should have been invited.
But, why me, I thought. I concluded that it must be for my views as a civil society activist and a Malaysiakini columnist. Therefore, with encouragement from some friends, I decided to attend.
My doubt or hesitation though was about the word "conversation."
To me, a conversation is always about two-way dialogue; with both parties speaking and listening. And, how can one have a conversation with more than 200 people, I thought?
So, while I was hopeful and felt really privileged to be invited, I was also sceptical about the "what and how of the conversation". The invite advised us to arrive early, from 9.30am onwards. I left home at 9.30am and arrived at 10.00am at ISTAC's beautiful, sprawling complex.
The Wikipedia declares about the architecture and acknowledges that Syed Naquib Al-Attas "envisioned the plan and design of every aspect of ISTAC, and has incorporated Islamic artistic and architectural principles throughout the campus and grounds".
It is truly a beautiful and breathtaking complex worthwhile of a visit. I believe it was funded with public funds.
After security and other clearances, we were ushered into the hall for the event, and like everywhere, it was intricately well decorated and designed.
VIPs a special breed of people
But then our wait in the beautiful auditorium began. I had taken the language of the invite literally about the "first come first served principle" and sat at the only row that was not occupied towards the front of the room.
Although the sign said VIPs; I assumed I was important enough and sat there with two of the Wisma Putra colleagues, one of whom was the Undersecretary for the Americas.
The invite said that we were to be seated by 11.00am and therefore I assumed that the meeting would start at 11.00am. I think the whole room was filled by about 11.00am except for the other VIP chairs in the three front rows before us.
Nothing happened until about 11.30am, when we saw some more "VIP people" arrive, some through the front door and others through the back door.
I suppose even in the most first world country in the world, VIPs are a special breed of people. They often are accorded the right to be treated more important than others and can often arrive late or later. But, why keep 200 people waiting?
On my way to use the men's room during the long wait, I learnt even more. The president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat was seated about five rows behind, us with Selangor state exco member Elizabeth Wong; both important ladies in future Malaysia.
I wondered why were they invited but not treated as VIPs. Whose protocol list was the American Embassy using anyway? Who in the Embassy does not know good and proper protocol and correct etiquette? Would the MB of Selangor, for example, been treated so badly, or would even Lim Kit Siang?
Then I heard that yet many other people I would also consider VIPs were upstairs, but many other MPs and ADUNs from the Pakatan were also equally ignored. I saw and met a number of them. But why, and does the US secretary of state know about such one-sidedness?
There are two forms of time in life; and the Greek roots for the words are kairos and kronos. The last time Malaysia had the honour of a serious visitor from the US was when Vice-President Al Gore flew in to attend the APEC Summit in Malaysia on President Bill Clinton's behalf. That was a disastrous outing for the US government.
The most significant guest before that was the visit of President Lyndon B Johnson, also a Democrat, in the 1970s. In fact, there is even a Kampung LBJ in Negri Sembilan which is now made up of Felda Settlers who have become millionaires with their land value appreciation.
Time is also seasonal and cyclical
Therefore, in the affairs of nations, time is never always merely chronological but also seasonal and cyclical! It is therefore great that Secretary of State Clinton could visit us at this time and season in Malaysia. We hope President Barack Obama will make a visit some time too and help us improve our emerging two-party democracy!
Although we all waited almost two hours in chronological terms for the conversation to begin with the US secretary of state, when kronos time and kairos time were juxtaposed, the real conversation did begin.
And, I must say I was most impressed with the former First Lady. I wish though many of the NGO friends who took time to come could have asked their questions too. I wish also that we could have been privy to the content of the dialogue the selected women leaders had with Clinton; or at least know the issues they covered.
Only a very small handful of people in this conversation got to ask their questions; and I happened to be one of them. I tried to communicate using the elevator pitch principle, and was happy especially that the minister heard and understood my feedback.
My many professors at GWU could never get the point I tried to make about Malaysia's real offerings for cross-cultural appreciation and learning.
Nevertheless, all my NGO colleagues were mostly disappointed with my question or comment as it did not feature their human rights concerns, or police abuse, and our corrupted system of injustice.
But, are not our internal issues more relevant for intra-family discourse? Are not all of them being already monitored by US Embassy? Are not these already being noted by the US Embassy officials on the political, commercial and public affairs desks?
Anyway, what could the foreign secretary of the US really do about these, other to raise them with our rookie foreign minister?
In fact, I got the impression from the way she talked about Sisters in Islam that she has been more than thoroughly briefed on the real issues. I heard that she raised human trafficking with Irene Fernandez.
So, I cannot understand the "too much bodohfication" Twitter unless we really believe we are pembodoh to start with. Do we really think they do not know about these issues?
I distinctly remember meeting two US Embassy officers everyday in the Federal Court during the Lina Joy appeal. And I know that they dispatched someone from the US to attend the hearing everyday. I met her and even collaborated for the Lina Joy case violations to be reported to the Human Rights Commission hearings in Geneva.
Wake up, folks. A conversation is only that: a meaningful dialogue about matters of concern. In this case, many spoke as individuals and not representatives.
Unbeknown to most in the room, my underlying point was the fact that two American professors, Milton J Esman and John Montgomery, came to Malaysia under the post-war Asia Foundation programme and taught us a new concept called "development administration," which hitherto we called "public administration."
Second Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein listened and learned from these professors and implemented some of those ideas. We managed to significantly reduce poverty through Felda, Risda and Mara; although much these served only the Malays in rural areas.
The children of these Felda settlers are today engineers and IT experts in Cyberjaya and in the new multimedia and content industries. They will also decide the future of Malaysia in terms of new value creation through IP and technology innovation.
Cyclical time is also about seasons, and the time needed for us to change mindsets and achieve maturity. Many of those people who asked the simpler and straightforward questions are young people. We would be failing if we do not also take care of their future and their interests.
Of course, we need to improve our governance, but that is our problem and we can do it; we do not really need to get the Americans to tell us how to do that! Change, we can too! God bless Malaysia!
KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. He is now dean of the Faculty of Economics and Policy Science at UCSI University, Malaysia. The views expressed above are truths that matter to him as an individual citizen wearing private and civil society hats and therefore are not opinions of the university or faculty. Do send feedback to him at kjjohn@ohmsi.net
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