**updated photos - see below**
It seems like the University of Cambridge have got quite a reputation with shoe throwing lately, especially after the Premier of China was the latest victim. The health warning was given twice before the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Dr Mahathir, began his dialogue - Malaysia at the Crossroads.
I'll be honest and say that I decided to attend mainly for photographic reasons, but also to have a taste of understanding why this man is so prominent among the malaysians.
Throughout his speech, I was crouching by the corner of the stairs trying to frame a good picture of him. As a result, my brain was mainly functioning as to how to get a better shot of him. The contents of his speech mainly passed as a blur to me, though I did pick up a bit of his summary of how Malaysia reached it's current state. It seems like the issue of race is being played over and over again. I suppose it is inevitable in a multiracial country. However, he did point out that during the 1997 crisis, there was little conflict between the races, allowing the government to tackle economical issues. He also highlighted that in order for integration to happen, mixed education must begin at tender ages. The fact that ethnic races want to cling on to their own education system seems to complicate matters slightly more.
Drawing a comparison, it seems like back in Brunei, racial tension isn't as bad as in western malaysia (or so it seems). The free education system in Brunei also encourages most Bruneian Chinese to move into government schools after their primary education. In my opinion, it has produced very good results in terms of integration - I've not heard horror stories as bad as theirs. I just struct me that actually, the majority of the people who carry on their education in 'chinese schools' are in fact overseas malaysians. Then again, we mustn't forget that fact that brunei's economy at the moment is unsustainable and when the country will only be put to test when a economic pressure is applied on its population's survival.
Towards the end of the talk, there was a question posed by someone through email: What do you think of Mr Lee Kwan Yew?
↑ The cheeky smile on this face when he was asked what he thought of Mr Lee Kwan Yew. His responses were classic - using the opportunity to drop a few issues about the 3 cents water supply to singapore, the dispute with the islands as well as very subtly portraying his indifference towards his 'good friend's' less-than-glamorous remarks about him by ending with a reminder that he has yet to publish his memoirs!I generally enjoyed the talk. I've always heard about people professing their admiration towards Dr Mahathir. Having come from a different country, it was never quite able to understand this. At least if you're talking about his singaporean 'best friend', it's a bit more obvious - in my case at least.
I overheard a few singaporeans declaring that they found it quite disappointing and 'not as great as expected'. I personally don't agree. I think it's the subtle details that shine in his thoughts and it is that which connects him to the malaysians he's speaking to. I've been educated well enough to understand some of the complexity in malaysia by my fellow friends but i'm sure they would have found it way more fulfilling that I did.
↓ So here's my favourite picture - the hands that moulded modern Malaysia.
↓ The party moved to the Old library where the former Prime Minister of Malaysia was able to mingle around with the students. It's also here where the picture frenzy began.
↓ Last night, Wei Shen has specially asked for a picture of him with his long-time idol, Tun Dr. Mahathir. So here it is. I also think this was the time when he was declaring his admiration of him. It's okay - he wasn't the only one.
↓ Group picture of my friends. I have to admit that amidst the chaos, this picture was quite difficult to frame especially when people were first taking individual photos with Dr Mahathir and this bunch of people suddenly formed a super wide fan formation. I was literally bending over to get everyone into the frame. Note that there was a wall of people behind me, so moving back would mean losing my 'prime location'. Anyway, i think the picture turned out well.
↓ Witnessing his overwhelming popularity, I wonder if anyone would make a full size poster of him. If this was my Sultan, I actually wouldn't mind. haha
↑ Tun Dr Mahathir with the current CUMaS President and Publicity Officer.
↑ Dr Mahathir with the people who made this opportunity available - I would say 'prominent figures' of the CUMaS administration since i can't find a better description.
↑ Yup, autographs too. I think it'd be cool to have one of my photos signed by him too. 
↑ Dr Mahathir's wife greeted by students.
↑ The other pair of hands, the pair that held on through hardy decades.
↑ I think it's quite rare to find Dr. M with a such a smile..** Free use of the above pictures is granted for personal and non-commercial activities provided the author is acknowledged, crediting me (Jin Yang) with a clickable link to this blog, i.e. freeeze.blogspot.com **
6 comments:
Yea, with TDM, it's the subtlety and the in-between-the-lines that is interesting. He rarely gives a fireworks display. You really need to be a thinking man and have some back story in order to understand his speeches. I guess that the singaporeans are not used to his kind of speech. Whatever you may think about the man, he is a good speaker.
PS: Weishen looks damn shen in the photo!
Drawing a comparison, it seems like back in Brunei, racial tension isn't as bad as in western malaysia (or so it seems).
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Agree 100%. I had been telling my friends who's returning to Malaysia for universities. People always think in Brunei, it's all about malays and such (think scholarship application biases), it's really not that bad, if you follow malaysia news regularly.. >.<
it's the subtlety and the in-between-the-lines that is interesting.
yea i agree. i realised that over the course of his speech. clarifying some background info after the speech also brought new light into his argument - i found it quite fun.
weishen.. well, he was damn high after the speech. I think he's still high, now that I've sent him all the high resolution pictures.
Do not trust Malaysian news. Things are not as bad as it seems either. :D
it's really not that bad, if you follow malaysia news regularly
yea i think we're fortunate enough not to have it that bad. Though I would say racial issues might only be a threat when there is not enough for everyone to share - hence the need for the segragation and hording of resources by groups. it's jus convenient that people can identify themselves easier by race.
There are too many issues to discuss about scholarships. At the moment, I think most Bruneians can get their hands on one with reasonable ease, so there isn't that much noise.
Lol, it's actually quite funny caused I wrote an essay about how dangerous "between group" inequality is for my Harvard application. I think everyone all agrees that a too large income divide is not good (except the case when the huge majority are well off and only a small minority are poor). But even then, it will not cause too much social upheaval until the income divide is associated with something that people can identify easily, for example race. I agree with you that it is "convenient"; but what is even scarier is that the "convenience" can be manipulated and easily played upon. I think no matter what, we can't eliminate racial prejudice, so a more logical way is to eliminate the income differences, and I think that's where the New Economic Policy should be applauded. As to why its success is limited, I think that's an interesting mystery to solve=).
Oh Shawn, I won't say that Singaporeans are not used to his kind of speech. Our politicians and civil servants actually also all deliver the same type of speech; in fact, if you remove the word Malaysian and some particular Malaysian references, he sounds exactly like a Singaporean politician. I guess we were hoping for a more fiery display, as TDM tends to make the headlines back home with all his controversial speeches (ha, I guess that's because I don't think Singapore Press is interested in reporting every single speech that he makes). I guess it's similiar for you guys that the more "interesting" LKY speeches are reported. But yea, I agree that is a good speaker, and I am very impressed with how sharp he still is in spite of being 84.
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