Kelantan is shaken and stirred

Reme Ahmad discusses the woes within PAS in Kelantan and why Umno-BN is smiling.

THE stronghold of Malaysia's opposition parties has always been Kelantan, the Malay-majority state in the east coast.

In the 2004 general elections when Umno-led Barisan Nasional was at its strongest - due to reform promises made by the then-new 'Mr Clean' Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi - the opposition was in disarray.

Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) lost Terengganu state, and was nearly wiped out in the Malay-majority states of Kedah and Perlis.

From 27 Parliament seats prior to the 2004 general election, PAS was left with seven. Still, PAS managed to hang onto Kelantan, with a slim majority of just two seats in the state assembly - PAS won 24 seats to 21 by Umno-BN.

If only two PAS assemblymen had defected, Umno-BN would have taken the state. Yet none did despite widespread speculation of multi-million ringgit promises to jump ship.

And after the March 2008 polls, PAS and its two partners in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance won five states.

Now four states are left with PR, after Perak was wrested by BN last February.

PAS has two menteris besar (chief ministers) in Kelantan dan Kedah.

Penang has as its chief minister a leader from PR's Democratic Action Party (DAP), and Selangor a leader from Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

PAS, DAP and PKR made up PR.

Selangor and Penang are the most industrialised of all 13 Malaysian states. Top industries are based there, both states have among the biggest ports in Malaysia and the highest-priced houses and commercial buildings.

Yet Kelantan remains the opposition's stronghold because it is seen as the most politically stable, after being under PAS for 19 years now. Its menteri besar is the aging, but revered, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, 77, who is also the spiritual leader of PAS.

Although cash-poor, PAS, Nik Aziz and the Kelantan government are seen as clean, ramrod-straight and the rock on which PR could build its 'church' (or mosque, if you prefer).

For the sake of opposition politics in Malaysia, everyone knows that Kelantan has to remain rock steady. Never mind the typhoons and hurricanes that have hit Kedah, Penang and Selangor.

But in the last few weeks, Kelantan PAS looks like a train wreck.

There are whispers of corruption, nepotism, back-stabbings and possible defections - albeit to another opposition party.

- First, there was the scandal involving the appointment of the son-in-law of Datuk Nik Aziz as CEO of the Kelantan state investment agency, Abdul Ariffahmi Abdul Rahman.

- Although seen as capable, Mr Ariffahmi has been accused of being pushy and brusque, and allegedly name-dropped his father-in-law's revered name too often to get things done his way.

- And then there was an investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission into the affairs of the investment agency, Kelantan Menteri Besar Incorporated.

- Mr Ariffahmi did himself no favour by getting his father-in-law, Mr Nik Aziz, to recently terminate the employment of a close aide of a top Kelantan politician, Datuk Husam Musa.

- The aide, Syed Azizi Syed Abdul Aziz, uncovered more worms in the state agency, thus putting pressure on Mr Nik Aziz to remove his son-in-law just two months into the appointment.

- There were also questions why Mr Nik Aziz accepted sponsorhip of a RM65,000 ($27,000) haj package by a staunch supporter. The sponsor who is close to the Menteri Besar also has a timber concession in Kelantan, which raised questions over the propreity of the deal.

- Mr Nik Aziz has since said that he will not perform haj this year, though he angrily retorted that there was nothing wrong with the matter only that mainstream media and new media had attacked him

- And now, there are rumours that Mr Husam has asked to quit his post as the economic, financial planning and welfare minister (state ministerial posts are called Excos).

Mr Nik Aziz has denied that his blue-eyed exco was quitting. And Mr Husam himself also denied the wild talk. In the halls of power in Kota Baru, the state capital, everyone knows that Mr Husam is Mr Nik Aziz's protege.

Mr Nik Aziz announced on Monday the removal of his son-in-law as CEO of the agency. This should reduce pressure on the menteri besar and cool the heads of thos in PAS who were angry about Ariffahmi's appointment and alleged bad moves in office.

- But on Sunday the spiritual leader went further, which would add to the intrigue in Kelantan.

- Mr Nik Aziz heaped praises on Mr Husam. Perhaps too publicly. And certainly by too many words.

- This was what he said, according to Malaysian media:

"I had refrained from praising him all this while to avoid hurting the feelings of other exco members who have done equally well in their respective portfolios.
"But truthfully, he is a unique leader who is instrumental in not only changing the Kelantan political landscape but also the national politics.
"Allah did not create Husam for Kelantan, but for all Malaysians."

That last praise: God created Mr Husam not just for the poor state but for all Malaysians, is being repeated and analysed by pro-PAS blogs - both by those who love him and those who don't.

The chattering classes within the conservative Islamic state cannot believe their ears.

And on Monday, there is news that PAS deputy president Nasharudin Mat Isa - who defeated Husam to retain the deputy's post just five months ago in June - has been rushed to hospital. This could only add to the intrigue in PAS at a time when its rock-steady state is wobbling.

On the sidelines, Umno-BN is smiling, amid rumours that Prime Minister Najib Razak might call for snap elections around the middle of next year to get his own mandate.

But that's another story.

Umno's politics of engagement

NOV 21 — “If I were Chinese, I, too, would not support the MCA.”

Those words will ring in the ear of every single MCA member for a long time as the crudest statement uttered by a component party member.

The fact that the statement came from the Deputy Prime Minister and Umno’s Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has made it even more compelling.

It signals a major shift in the sacred policy of non-interference among the Barisan Nasional component parties.

Gone are the days when each component party’s business was theirs and theirs alone.

Prior to this, the camaraderie between BN members have been tested time and again but it rarely caused any shockwave, not to the extent that the sanctity of this policy is challenged.

When Umno was declared illegal by the High Court in 1988, the Chairmanship of Barisan Nasional went to MCA, as the next biggest party in the coalition.

MCA’s the-president Tun Ling Liong Sik subsequently accepted Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s newly formed Umno Baru into the coalition, which then returned Umno and Mahathir as the coalition’s head honcho.

When Umno was rejected overwhelmingly by the Malays due to the sacking and ill-treatment of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, MCA again stood by Umno unflinchingly.

Even though Umno lost many Malay-majority seats, which led to their loss of Terengganu in the 1999 General Election, MCA stoutly defended their partner-in-crime.

Former MCA presidents Ling and Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting have strengthened the notion that Umno is the backbone of BN and that Ketuanan Melayu à la Umno is here to stay.

It is the leaders of MCA that has ensured Umno’s longevity and placed an aura of invincibility in the minds of Umno leaders.

Umno can do no wrong and the false sense of supremacy lingers on in the minds of Umno’s party rank-and-file.

MCA, at its mightiest, was still unable to lift a finger against Umno. What more smaller parties like MIC, Gerakan, PPP and others?

The emergence of East Malaysian parties as a force within BN following the 2008 General Election has further decimated the significance of MCA and also pushed MIC, Gerakan and PPP deep into oblivion.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is running out of time to put everything into place before he calls for a general election, to seek a fresh mandate, in the next 12 to 18 months.

Najib would also want to maintain the pressure on Pakatan Rakyat with continuous attacks on the Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan state governments.

However, the leadership crisis in MCA is proving somewhat a distraction to BN’s upswing following the political tsunami of 2008.

In order to maintain the upswing, Najib needs an MCA that is able to regain its place as the biggest Chinese party apart from DAP.

With the way things are headed, it leaves Najib with no choice but to interfere and meddle in MCA’s affairs as he is running out of options to revive MCA from its deep coma.

The DAP-led Penang Pakatan government is doing well enough to ensure that the state will still remain under Pakatan in the next elections.

On the other hand, opposition leader Anwar has recently shown signs of urgency and taken concrete steps in putting his party, PKR, in order.

Anwar’s appointment as Selangor’s economic adviser is a statement of caution to Najib that he will not take the political bullying from Umno lying down.

If Anwar can effect change by ensuring decisive and prompt decision-making in the Selangor state government, and also bring in badly needed investments as well as increase the confidence of the hard-hit business community, the pendulum will surely swing his way instead of Najib’s.

The political temperature is likely to increase in the run up to the next general election.

However, the impotency of MCA is a drawback for Najib in his quest to maintain his premiership.

Muaz Omar is a consultant with a regional stakeholders management firm based in Kuala Lumpur.

Rediscovering history in my backyard

NOV 15 — We drove to Malacca last Saturday for what was meant to be a whirlwind culinary adventure.

We were prepared for a harrowing time what with weekend day trippers like us clogging the roads, fighting for limited parking spaces and long and snaking lunch time queues at the popular chicken rice ball shop.

Instead we were rewarded with a hassle-free (albeit slow, no thanks to the many traffic lights leading into town) drive straight to the car park, where a kind elderly gentleman directed us to the aforementioned chicken rice shop via a new pleasant-looking riverside walkway lined with cosy cafes.

Here’s what I really loved about the ‘new’ Malacca town: the local council seems to have the struck a balance between rehabilitating the lovely peranakan houses and injecting interest with contemporary cafes and retail outlets without locking out traditional craft businesses.

I loved that there were numerous nonya shops selling handmade beaded slippers and kebaya. The antique shops have always been a dream for treasure hunters, while local products like batik and weaved baskets and kipas still hold their own.

I can’t say much for the many businesses hawking similar Thai-made products but I adored those that proudly proclaim ‘Aik Cheong Malacca coffee’ or food stuff ‘made in Ipoh, Penang and Malacca’.

My favourite was the Orangutan shop that sold t-shirts with cheeky Malaysian slogans and images (I got the ‘Malaysia Boleh! Anything also can one’ one) designed by Malaccan artist Charles Cham.

I also liked that although there are (new) fancy old-style cafes selling durian cendol, the famous cendol stall opposite the Stadhuys was even more popular.

A must do, and I’m proud to say that I did, is the river cruise, tagged at RM10 for a 45-minute journey.

I was chuffed to see that all 30 of us aboard the boat were Malaysians; I was also impressed by how the local council had managed to pretty-up the river side by sprucing up kampung houses with a lick of paint, new roofing and rehabilitating the various bridges straddling Sungai Melaka.

Our ‘captain’, although silent on his part (there was pre-recorded commentary in Malay and English), looked every part the proud local showing us around, standing ram-road straight with a friendly smile on his face as he negotiated the river.

This little trip got me thinking about the situation in Hong Kong. My little Malacca there would be Wan Chai, which is one of the first areas to be developed in Hong Kong.

I fell in love with Wan Chai in two stages: the first time was when my friend Karthi gave me a guided tour of the market, pointing out her favourite nooks and sundry shops stocking Malaysian spices.

The second time was after I watched The World of Suzie Wong, which depicted a bustling, colourful and crowded (all of which still apply, including the bargirls, although they are now mostly foreigners) Wan Chai in 1960.

Sadly, fans will never get to see the any of the buildings featured in the movie. The infamous Nam Kok Hotel (its real name was the Luk Kwok Hotel in Gloucester Road) was torn down in the 1980s and replaced with a 196-room hotel.

In a city where skyscrapers compete with each other in a race to the heavens, land prices seemingly outvalue that of heritage.

Locals have seen the death of many neo-classical and Bauhaus-style buildings in the name of urban renewal, otherwise known as the next 88-storey tower.

The most recent passing was the Old Wan Chai Market, a curved two-storey building erected in 1937. Today it is encased by scaffolding awaiting the addition of a luxury residential-cum-commercial multi-storey building atop the old market.

Another casualty was the famous Wedding Card Street, named after the numerous family-run printing businesses, which was completely obliterated in December 2007 to make way for four high-rise buildings to form a modern day Frankenstein-like Wedding City.

While the battle between the Urban Renewal Authority, residents and concern groups wages on, there have been a few gems that survived the claws of development: the Pawn, now a fine-dining establishment, is made up of four tenement houses, one of which was a pawn shop in its last incarnation.

A small development that has me cheering is the Wan Chai Cultural Heritage Trail, featuring 15 historical sites, which was launched in September by the Development Bureau in an effort to promote the local culture, history and architectural style.

The trail is on my To Do list this for winter. I’d best get a move on it; low-rise buildings seem to disappear faster than I can say “Ashes to ashes”

Anita Anandarajah is a stay-at-home-mum who lives in Hong Kong. She longs for the grassy playgrounds of her childhood.

Does polygamy work?

Hazlin Hassan meets members of a 'polygamy club' in Malaysia.

A SO-CALLED polygamy club launched in August has been stirring some excitement recently.

Last month I made my way to Rawang, a town some 50 kilometres from KL city, to meet up with the club founder and some of her followers and family members. It was one of the most unusual interviews I have ever done.

When I arrived, I was taken aback to be greeted by dozens of people. It turns out Madam Hatijah Aam, 55, had gathered most of her husband's 38 children to join us!

"To prove to you that we exist," she laughed.

She is married to Ashaari Muhammad, who has had five wives. One wife has died, and one has been divorced.

His huge clan comprises 38 children, 200 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. All of his children who are married, are in polygamous marriages. The club claims a membership of 300.

The close-knit Ashaari family are based in Rawang, where they run a huge empire of grocery stores, restaurants, publishing companies, clinics and other businesses. Mdm Hatijah says they also have businesses elsewhere in the world such as Australia, Syria and Germany, generating millions of ringgit, which funds their activities.

This is not the first time her family has made headlines. Mr Ashaari was previously known for having led a deviant religious sect that was banned in 1994, due to teachings deemed contrary to the Quran. It was believed to have thousands of followers, including civil servants. The government has said it suspects the polygamy club could be a front for the revival of the religious sect, which Hatijah has denied.

Before the cult was banned, followers wore long flowing robes and turbans for the men, and black robes and face-veils for the women.

But when I met them, Hatijah, Noraziah and their children, wore colourful though modest clothes and headscarves. Their faces were not covered. The children laughed and joked with each other during the interview, like any other family.

Hatijah sounded persuasive enough, saying polygamy could help solve social ills such as prostitution and adultery. But when I pressed her on how a polygamist might be fair and just to all his wives, and how he is able to provide for all of them equally, she was unable to give solid answers. I said that while Ashaari might be able to provide all of them with comfortable lives due to his profitable businesses, other ordinary men earning meagre salaries, might not. Her answer was just that "God will provide." But the club's brochures do highlight a verse from the Quran that says that if a man fears he is unable to be fair and just to his wives, then he must only marry one.

The clan then proceeded to surprise me at the end of the interview by singing two songs extolling the virtues of polygamy, written by Ashaari himself. After that, some of them departed for Indonesia, where they are setting up a chapter. Although I left not altogether convinced that polygamy was for every man (or woman), they did seem earnest enough. And they certainly welcomed me with much warmth and generosity.

Who speaks for Islam in Malaysia?

NOV 11 — Some time ago I was interviewed by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation for a radio feature, and was asked about “… the creeping conservatism of (Islam) in Malaysia)…”. When I responded (to Kartika’s whipping) that this was what many Muslims wanted, even though they felt that an example should be made on the ruling elite who drank and led corrupt and un-Islamic lifestyles, Kartika’s punishment was apt. True Muslims would not or dare err.

I also mentioned that many Muslims believe fervently that by having an Islamic state, the rights and freedoms of non-Muslims will be protected. A prime example of that would be Kelantan. Nobody is stopping them from attending concerts, and so forth. It is just the impressionable young and liberal Malays who want to attend these events and lead “… a hedonistic Western lifestyle…”

I said all this with confidence, because this was what I have observed and been told by my peers. And they were not uneducated and unexposed hicks; my peers have been educated abroad and are successful professionals.

When it comes to the Western media, and so-called "progressive", "liberal" Muslims, their idea of Islam is different from the grassroots’ idea of their faith. I have been accused of being a relativist; I beg to differ. I’m a realist.

While this country’s Constitution says Malaysia’s official religion is Islam and that Malays are constitutionalised Muslims, and that Malaysia is not an Islamic state, Muslims in Malaysia, especially Malay-Muslims, do not see a demarcation of the state and faith.

Zulkifli Noordin may be an anomaly to secularists and human rights activists, but there are many Zulkifli Noordins in this country. This is not a pessimistic view of faith in Malaysia: this is a realistic view of Malaysia’s Islam.

In a joint study conducted by Merdeka Center and the Asia Foundation, "National Youth Survey 2008", it was discovered that religious identity was very important to youth today. Thirty-eight per cent would identify themselves as a follower of a certain religion. Identification as Muslim was very important to Malay respondents. Among the Malays, 62 per cent chose to be identified as a Muslim but Muslim Bumiputeras from Sabah and Sarawak preferred to be identified as Malaysians where three in five Muslim Bumiputeras wanted to first call themselves Malaysians. The new generation of observant Muslims are more conscious of their faith than their parents and older generations.

So, who speaks for Islam, globally and in Malaysia?

Anyone who can think and communicate, despite his or her Islamic leanings.

Your Islam may not be my idea of Islam.

One interesting example to see how one version of Islam can be misconstrued is a feature which appeared in the Huffington Post on Oct 24. Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, recounted her television interview on Muslimah Dilema as “…unpleasant surprise, I found out on air that I was joined by a member of Hizbul Tahrir (HT), a marginal but controversial group which denounces Western democracy and calls for the creation of a pan-Islamic state in the Muslim world.”

“The HT representative on the programme dismissed or ‘reinterpreted’ findings I presented so as to not challenge the group's simplistic utopian ideology which holds liberty in contempt as morally decadent. For example, as I regularly report, our research shows that far from denouncing democracy, Muslims around the world say it is among the things they most admire about the West, specifically mentioning 'liberty' as a desirable attribute. Around the world, from Morocco to Malaysia, Muslim respondents described their respect for much of what the West holds dear: freedom of the press, the rule of law, and transparency and accountability of government.

“To them, my crime was that I reported that many Muslim women wanted sharia as a source of legislation. I also explained that Muslim women surveyed by Gallup said they believed they should have access to equal legal rights, free employment, voting without family influence, and even leadership positions in government. This suggests that many Muslim women see sharia differently from those who use it to deny women rights. For simply stating the results of the survey research, I stood accused of ‘endorsing’ Taliban-like rule, and downplaying the abuses done in the name of sharia.”

The law of relativity, et tu?

In Malaysia, the way I see it, the main concerns about the practice of Islam are (1) Muslims in Malaysia are generally from the Sunni school of thought and (2) we are not allowed to challenge and question ulamas.

But in an increasingly pluralistic Muslim Malaysia — we have minority Muslims such as the Shiites, the Ahmadiyyahs (though this may be contested greatly even by progressive Muslims as we believe the Last Messenger was Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and in the Second Coming of Christ, while the Ahmadiyyahs believe that the latter will not happen and Christ or Isa has been “reincarnated” in their “prophet” Ghulam Sarwar. More on the Ahmadiyyahs in subsequent articles) and a growing number of Chinese and Indian Muslims as well as the Muslim migrant community — there will be clashes and different interpretations of Islam. Does that make them any less Muslim than the majority? Is the majority correct? Reading the Malay tabloids and newspapers already shows that some of the majority follow rather strange… leaders or prophets of Islam!

Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin’s rather dramatic religious adventure should be taken positively. The fact that such a personality has challenged the authority of a long-established elite, and given us Muslims the permission to think is a minor revolution, so to speak. (On this note: does this mean that the local neighbourhood ustaz is no longer allowed to lecture and talk about Islam in the private homes of his constituency?)

We still have a long way to go. We have yet to reconcile our religion on racial lines: Malay Muslims versus Chinese Muslims and Indian Muslims (who are not considered Bumiputera by the way), for example. There is a chasm among the minority liberals, and factions among conservative Muslims. We must also remember that there have been political and ideological differences in Islam, which has enriched and also embittered Muslims throughout time. If you read John Esposito’s book “Who Speaks For Islam”, the Muslims surveyed come from different backgrounds. There is only one Islam — all these labels have been created to belittle opponents and ridicule them.

So who speaks for Islam in Malaysia?

All of us.

Now if we can only agree to disagree.

Dina Zaman writes so she can find answers. A lot of times, she doesn’t. When she has free time, she reads literary fiction or very trashy magazines. Her pet causes are Tony Leung, children’s rights advocacy and HIV/AIDS issues.

Winning by default?

Hazlin Hassan wonders if BN will win due to the opposition's court cases.

IN KUALA LUMPUR

MORE than one and half years after the general elections in March 2008, the seemingly endless string of by-elections in Malaysia does not look like it will end any time soon.

By-elections are truly becoming a dime a dozen in Malaysia, amid widespread voter fatigue and apathy.

The ruling Barisan Nasional has won only two out of nine by-elections held so far, but with the opposition in a state of disarray, the BN could still end up with the upper hand.

Now up to eight Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers and two state representatives are likely to lose their seats if they are charged over their participation in illegal assemblies in the past.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat MP Tian Chua was found guilty this month of biting a police officer during an illegal assembly two years ago.

He was fined RM3,000 and jailed for six months. It is unclear if he will be disqualified as a parliamentarian pending an appeal which he has filed.

Any elected representatives jailed for more than a year or fined more than RM2,000 has to vacate their seats and cannot contest in elections for five years after serving the sentence.

Seven of Tian Chua's colleagues could also face similar charges, warned Bersih, a coalition of political parties and NGOs which campaigns for free and fair elections.

They include Azmin Ali (PKR), Sivarasa Rasiah (PKR), N Gobalakrishnan (PKR), Tony Pua (Democratic Action Party), Dzulkefly Ahmad (Parti Islam SeMalaysia), Hatta Ramli (PAS) and Lo' Lo' Ghazali (PAS).

If they all get stiff fines or big jail sentences from the courts, although these perhaps are just a remote possibility, it would mean a big disaster for the opposition.

On paper at least, this means PR could be left with only 74 seats in Parliament, enabling the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to regain its traditional two-thirds majority. PR currently has 82 seats in the 222-seat Parliament.

Getting back the two-thirds majority - or at least 148 seats - would be a big morale-booster for BN, which is still struggling to win back voter support lost to the opposition in last year's general election.

BN has, in the half century of Malaysia's independence, always won two-thirds majority in Parliament, until the 2008 general elections, which threw up shocking results.

Additionally, an ongoing crackdown by Malaysian graft-busters, which began this week, may also lead to more charges against politicians, and eventually lead to even more by-elections if those involved are found guilty and forced to give up their seats.

On Tuesday, an Umno MP and five others already witnessed corruption charges filed against them by the Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission.

While by-elections have already fatigued Malaysians, the thought of more to come would make them numb.

FACTBOX: Five political risks to watch in China

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has so far weathered the global economic downturn with its growth rate staying robust and no sign the government faces any major challenge to its rule.

Following is a summary of key China risks to watch:

* GOVERNMENT STABILITY

China's government has so far maintained general authority and control, despite predictions that the global crisis could spark widespread unrest among laid-off workers. Outbreaks of unrest have remained brief and localized, and recent economic data point to robust growth for the rest of the year and into next year. But with China's ruling Communist Party and global markets all treating political stability as a crucial issue, even limited challenges to the Party's control could have a impact on investor sentiment. A longer-term worry could be that the recent rapid economic growth cannot be sustained, as a burst of government-encouraged credit shrinks, leading to a rise in joblessness and investor disquiet and sapping government spending-power and ability to cushion these problems. Ethnic tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang have distracted the central government and drawn international concern, but not seriously threatened national stability. Calls from some activists and intellectuals for greater openness and democracy have so far failed to gain much popular traction.

Key issues to watch:

-- Emergence of any regional- or national-level protest movements. So far, protests in China have been tended to be localized and directed at local officials, rather than challenging the central government. Given China's strict controls, it is also very difficult for any organized movement to emerge beyond the local level.

* TRADE AND CURRENCY DISPUTES

Simmering disputes with the United States and other nations over trade barriers and the level of the yuan have the potential of escalating into more serious confrontations that could unsettle investors and capital markets. Most analysts believe that Beijing and Washington have too much to lose from a major escalation of trade and currency disputes, at a time when much rests on how these two big economic powers navigate the adjustments brought by the financial crisis. China has signaled that ultimately it wants a global financial order that is less dependent on the U.S. dollar. That remains a distant prospect and China is likely to maintain its huge holdings of U.S. Treasury debt for a long time, but currency markets have shown acute sensitivity to any signs, however mild or misrepresented, that China is looking to reduce its holdings.

Key issues to watch:

-- The rhetoric on trade from Washington and Beijing. Both sides want to avoid any serious economic dispute but also want to protect their domestic industry and maintain popular support at home. Signs that positions are hardening would hurt markets.

-- How disagreements are handled. The imposition of trade barriers usually results in retaliation from other nations. The key issue is whether a tit-for-tat spiral of protectionist measures gets out of hand, or whether diplomacy stops disputes from escalating and doing serious damage.

* SECURING STRATEGIC SUPPLIES

China has been scouring the globe for energy and commodities to feed its economic growth, and has sought to secure strategic long-term supply deals. Its resource needs have major long-term implications for commodity and energy prices. And across the world, China is not just buying raw materials but is seeking to invest in countries and companies that produce them. This has transformed China's global economic and political role -- and many other nations are getting worried.

Key issues to watch:

-- Reaction to Chinese foreign investment. The U.S. decision to block CNOOC's takeover of Unocal on national security concerns, and the acrimonious aftermath of the collapse of Rio Tinto's deal with Chinalco, demonstrate how political issues may undermine China's economic aspirations. Markets will be watching to see if more major deals are blocked -- and how China responds.

-- Attitudes to China in developing world. Chinese investment has given a boost to many developing economies, but there are also signs of a backlash emerging in some countries.

Obama plays China card, but who holds the ace?

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - Although U.S. President Barack Obama has never set foot there, China cast a long shadow in the Pacific region where he grew up.

Obama, who will visit Shanghai and Beijing for the first time on November 15-18, spent much of his childhood in Hawaii, five time zones away from Washington, D.C.; and beginning in 1967, when he was six years old, he lived in Jakarta for four years.

At the time, China was in the throes of Chairman Mao Zedong's bloody Cultural Revolution. Abroad, the nation was less interested in selling widgets than in promoting Mao's brand of radical communism -- a force the U.S. saw behind communist movements and political upheaval in Vietnam, Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

In 1979, Obama's senior year at Punahou school in Honolulu, China and the United States normalized diplomatic relations, launching a three-decade period in which ties between the two grew inexorably tighter and deeper -- and complicated.

"Think of what China was in 1979: It was an autarkic, insular, inward-looking country that was preoccupied with its own internal things," said a senior U.S. official. "Even 10 years ago ... there was still a sort of sense of 'We're not a part of these global rules, we're not doing this stuff.' Now they see themselves as sitting at the table."

If there were any doubts that China would have a seat at the table from now on, Obama dispelled those when he sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton there on her first official trip abroad -- not Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other foreign policy hot spot.

"That the first major visit (was) to China, and to Asia as well, is symbolic of where the locus of international economic activity -- and to some degree the locus of international activity, period -- is going to be in the coming years," said economist and author Zachary Karabell, whose new book "Superfusion" posits that the U.S. and Chinese economies have effectively merged.

Beijing, once considered a wallflower on global affairs, is in turn warming to its more prominent role, though it's unclear that will translate into greater cooperation with Washington on issues like climate change and the nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea -- not to mention human rights differences.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg highlighted the tension at the heart of the relationship in a speech in September. "Given China's growing capabilities and influence, we have an especially compelling need to work with China to meet global challenges," he said.

But Steinberg added that there was a tacit bargain in which the United States expects China to reassure the rest of the world that its growing role "will not come at the expense of security and wellbeing of others."

That of course includes America's.

"The big challenge there is going to be to maintain a competitive U.S. economy, and at the same time to maintain a high degree of stability and equanimity in the U.S.-China relationship," said Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute think tank.

Indeed, even as the United States and China have grown closer diplomatically, their economic and trade ties have deepened to the point of mutual dependence. Not only does China depend on the U.S. export market to fuel its highflying economic growth rates, the United States relies on China's vast savings to help finance its burgeoning budget deficits.

"It is clearly unsustainable. This relationship helped give rise to global economic imbalances," said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist with Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong. "If we are ever going to free ourselves of these imbalances, we need to reverse this relationship, get China to buy things in the U.S. and the U.S. to invest in China."

Differentiating indifferences

Zohra was 18 when she started to work as an administrative officer with the United Nations. She was bright, innocent, hopeful and idealistic. Her country, unfortunately wasn’t.

She could maintain her feeling of hope and sense of idealism because she spent nine waking hours of her life with foreigners who told her that human rights is for everyone, even if she’s a woman.

One day, she received a fully-funded scholarship to study in the United States. I remember her smiling shyly as she approached me humbly to look at her scholarship application a few months ago. I thought to myself, how proud and confident she must be, now that she had been accepted to study abroad.

On the contrary, she was forced to turn down the scholarship because her family refused to allow her to travel alone, unaccompanied by a close relative. Losing her would also mean losing a huge income for her family since she was earning more than any other average Afghan men.

No reward for chivalry

Afewark and I became friends when I took a trip to Bahir Dar in Ethiopia two years ago. We met in a rambunctious local bar playing live traditional music. He was there celebrating with his best friend who had just graduated from the local university.

Perhaps it was his age, or perhaps it was mine. Either way, he came across as a young, vibrant and idealistic man. He was well-mannered, polite and engaging, all the essential criteria which gained my trust to meet up with him again the next day.

While we were walking along a busy but dimly lit alley in between two strips of restaurants, bars and clubs, a dark figure grabbed my mobile phone from the back and disappeared into the darkness. While I remained immobile and speechless, like the rest of the unperturbed spectators watching from a close distance, Afewark made a quick dash after the culprit (no wonder Ethiopians are famed for their physical endurance in long distance running).

After about five minutes, Afewark appeared crest-fallen and ashamed for not being able to rescue my phone and most importantly for me to experience such an unfortunate incident in his country.

When we reported this to two policemen who were patrolling within the vicinity, they accused Afewark of masterminding the whole crime. He argued with them but they insisted that he plotted with the snatch thief since it was uncommon to see a local man with a foreign woman. By then, not only was he ashamed, he was also defeated.

No pride and a lot of prejudices

Walking into Tom Dy Centre in Phnom Penh, I was confronted by a lush garden and an extremely clean and neat environment. So clean that it was difficult to imagine I was in Phnom Penh. Inside, there are about 60 girls from the age of 16 to 25, faces and names I no longer remember because there are so many of them and each one looks the same as the other — long jet-black hair, dark skinned and petite.

While the environment surrounding them looked and felt clean, the girls don’t. In fact, most of them carried a vacant expression on their faces, which also explains why I find it difficult to distinguish or remember them. In conclusion, they looked as if their spirit had abandoned them.

These girls are rescued victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Most of them have been sold by their own families as sexual slaves. With their innocence, trust and dignity robbed away at such a young age, what’s left are their bodies. Some have even died from AIDS. I often wonder, how many of them still have hope in them as they hang on to each day of blatant uncertainty and a life-long of undeserved stigmatisation.

Pause, rewind and play

I’ve started work again in Kuala Lumpur recently. Being used to working in the fields of Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Cambodia, I must confess that this is a huge shift for me. My current work pace is nonetheless hectic and demanding, more so than in all my previous jobs. I am confronted by a different kind of challenge, more bureaucratic and professionally driven in nature — one which I would have to subsequently learn to deal with.

I spent my first week relearning how to operate technologically advanced office machines, something many of us have taken for granted. When I informed the chief executive officer that my work performance is somehow hampered by my inadeptness to operate such sophisticated equipment, he quipped, “You know, we have had this machine since three years ago. It’s not sophisticated. I think it’s you since you’ve worked in countries like….” Point taken.

Then, I’ve had disgruntled office members who are not pleased with my “slow” performance while I try to deal with 10 other priorities. I try to handle all of them as calmly as I can, sometimes more calmly than others would like me to be.

I’ve sat in meetings and observed discussions and debates about issues, what makes people upset and what causes such urgency. Sometimes, I do get riled up, but often I don’t.

When my friends look away uncomfortably at a beggar standing by our dining table, I look at them in the eyes and smile politely before turning them away.

If I don’t get upset when someone screams at me unjustly or when I don’t seem to be moved by the ugliness of my surrounding, does that mean I’m heartless? Does it mean I don’t care when I don’t get frustrated with what others feel as an urgency?

It may seem that way but it’s not, because at the end of the day, I’m able to sit back and think about the countries where I’ve been, where there are real people with real problems. The pressure we’re succumbing to in our daily professional environment is driven mainly by the notion of cost and benefit.

Do I use this as an excuse not to take action for every single request I’ve received? I hope not because I do go to bed soundly every night, feeling satisfied that I have done what I can and to the best of my ability. Trying to behave like a martyr when I’m not is not my style.

Today, my best friend who works in Afghanistan text-messaged me. It says: “Just to let you know I’m OK. I’m still in Sri Lanka on holidays.”

Six UN staff have been reported dead after a Taliban shoot-out and bombing in Kabul. It could have been her. It could have been me five years ago.

Whenever I feel the urge to dramatise my life unnecessarily, I pause for a moment and think about what I can achieve today, instead of worrying about what I can’t. Then, I’m being reminded by people like Zohra, Afewark and the Tom Dy girls how easy and blessed my life has been compared to theirs.

All names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals mentioned in this article.

Lim Ka Ea is a traveller who sees travel as the answer to all the world's woes. Writing is a grand love. Ka Ea has had NGO and legal experience.

Spend that RM1 billion wisely

OCT 30 — In his recent Budget 2010 speech, our Prime Minister announced that RM1 billion will be spent to help the police beef up their enforcement services. He targets a reduction of 20 per cent in snatch thefts and robberies by the end of 2010. The initial response to that proposal will of course be positive — crime levels have escalated to such alarming heights in Malaysia that any effort or initiative towards crime reduction and prevention will be warmly embraced.

But spending RM1 billion in order to achieve police excellence is by no means a “kacang putih” sum. That money will apparently be utilised, among other things, towards providing more mobile police stations in crime-prone hotspots, increasing crime-prevention campaigns and to create greater integration between the police with the community.

I suffered a snatch theft back in 1997, just as I was opening the front gate of my parents’ house. My father gave chase in his battered old Proton Saga, but the crooks were obviously more nimble on their kapcai and gave him the slip. That one experience traumatised me so much that until today, I get paranoid when I am anywhere that is within snatching distance of someone on a motorbike or in a car.

It’s been 12 years since that snatch theft I suffered, and the horrifying fact is that since then, the frequency and gravity of snatch theft crimes has been escalating rather than decreasing. In fact, the criminals are more daring now, carrying parangs so that if you refuse to let go of your handbag, they’ll slash your arm or face until you release it, or to teach you a lesson if you don’t! It is not uncommon to now hear of grievous hurt or even death resulting in the process.

Now we not only have to defend ourselves against snatch-thefts but also those car-window smashers on their motorbikes, who will smash our windscreens whilst our car is stationary at a traffic light, thrust their arm through the broken window to grab our handbag and then dart off on their kapcai, while we flail our arms in despair because we can’t give chase due to the stationary traffic.

Sometimes, there is divine intervention. Or poetic justice. Remember the two brothers in Shah Alam who died after crashing their motorbike as they tried to escape from the woman who gave chase after they smashed her Mercedes’ car window and stole her Louis Vuitton bag? But how often does that happen?

Many people I speak to will blame the increasing spate of crime on the foreigners, especially the Indonesians. Only they can commit such “hati kering” crimes, some have claimed. Next on the list will be a tie between the drug addicts, the majority of whom are probably Malay, and the Indian drunkards. The Chinese won’t get involved in these small-time crimes, apparently, as they will apply their business acumen to the bigger, more lucrative vices like money laundering, gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking and the illegal DVD trade.

But as a citizen, I honestly don’t care to know who’s committing what type of crime or what race or nationality he/she is. I’ll leave those demographics for the statisticians to pore over.

What I do care about, however, is the fact that crime has reached alarming levels in Malaysia and that the police have been unable to rein the menace in. Televised broadcasts of drug cartel busts, illegal nightclub raids and the confiscation of gambling machines are about the only solid proof we have as to the fact that the police are “actively” fighting crime.

But what about us — the ordinary, law-abiding citizens of Malaysia who go to work each day, pay our taxes, have a family to feed, and don’t indulge in the vices of gambling, drugs or prostitution? Why isn’t more being done to fight the heightening crime which comes in direct contact with the public? Who is looking out after our interests and the security of our families and properties?

Last I recall, it was supposed to be the Polis Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM), not the Myanmar or Nepalese security guards that’s costing us an arm and a leg to look after our neighbourhood.

How many times have we personally experienced or heard stories of the uncooperative police personnel at the police stations and beats, who move slower than the most placid of sloths in attending to our complaints? Or having been turned away by the police with statements like “Cik kena pergi ke Balai Polis XXX kerana kesalahan tersebut berlaku di bawah bidangkuasa balai polis tersebut” or “Inspektor keluar — tak tau bila dia balik. Datang balik esok atau lusa”.

The majority of people who go to a police station only do so because they have suffered a grievance. And in that harried mental state, is it not the duty of the attending police personnel to help alleviate the predicament? Not to listen half-heartedly to our accounts whilst swivelling on their chairs, fiddling with their mobile phones, chattering amongst themselves or stealing glances at the WWF wrestling video playing on a TV screen behind the counter. And when we finally get them to pay attention to our complaint and to get working on it, it isn’t uncommon to see this being done with a scowl, as if we had stolen precious time from them.

Inefficiency is already bad enough, but what more when we know for a fact that the services police personnel provide to the public can often be selective. Political rallies (at least the ones the opposition tries to hold, anyway) bring out the full spectrum of efficient action from our police force, but when it comes to the daily crime which involves the regular citizen, our men in navy blue simply react too slowly.

I am sure many of us will have our own personal experiences in this regard, as do I. Over the years I have had my fair share of having to deal with the police, from my snatch theft incident, to the time when my car was broken into, when a burglar broke into my office and when I was involved in car accidents. It was common for me to receive apathetic responses from the attending police personnel like “Kita tak boleh buat apa-apa. Area tu memang tempat ‘hot’ untuk benda macam tu” or plain sluggishness and disinterest.

On their website, the PDRM’s Piagam Pelanggan (Client’s Charter) boldly declares that “Anda adalah pelanggan kami. Dalam melayani anda, kami akan sentiasa berusaha: … Menyediakan Pegawai Dan Anggota Polis Yang Terlatih, Berdisiplin Dan Cekap Dalam Memberi Perkhidmatan Yang Setia, Mesra Dan Berkesan”.

Those members of the police force who seem to continuously draw our ire with their sluggishness and inaction are either not aware of this oath or, more likely, are simply ignoring it.

Over and above increasing mobile police stations, the PDRM must ensure that the police personnel on duty will provide their fullest cooperation to the aggrieved parties. The police are there to serve the public, to maintain peace and to enforce security, not to come up with bureaucratic excuses whenever someone seeks to file a complaint or report.

More police personnel must be deployed on the ground, not just at the mobile police stations but to perhaps implement something similar to the British Bobby system. The rampancy with which crimes are being committed nowadays can certainly justify having police personnel stroll our streets. Wouldn’t the recruitment of a larger number of police personnel to act as our very own Bobbies have been a better utilisation of police funds rather than to have purchased Mitsubishi Evo cars costing millions of ringgit to serve as high-speed patrol cars?

So what I’m saying is this — if that hefty RM1 billion windfall to the police force will be substantially used towards retraining our police personnel to change their mindset in order to be more efficient, people-friendly and cooperative, and to build and equip the police force with the required intelligence and arsenal in order to fiercely wage war against the rising levels of crime and halt it in its tracks (not just by purchasing high-speed patrol cars), then it will be money well spent, as no price can be put on having the assurance of safety and security.

Anything short of that, however, will be a farce.

Time will be the best evidence, and if the Prime Minister’s targeted 20 per cent snatch thefts and robberies reduction rate is not met at the very latest by end 2010, then a whole billion ringgit would have drained down the gutter.

To pour salt to the wound, it also means that we will continue to have to fork out exorbitant sums on alarm systems, security guards and all types of security devices to protect ourselves, our families and our livelihoods, just for some peace of mind.

Now what did PDRM’s Client Charter say again?

Sazlin Daud was once an overworked corporate lawyer. She quit practice, became a homemaker (no maids, this is the real stuff), trailed her husband to Egypt for a few years and gave birth to her most difficult client yet - her son. In between ironing, changing diapers and cleaning the cat's litter box, she reminisces about the Egyptian winter, rice pudding and fresh strawberries.