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Showing posts with label Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Show all posts

Tuesday 7 February 2012

Glooming Davos World Economic Forum 2012!

Davos parties amid the gloom

CERITALAH By KARIM RASLAN

The notable absence of a big Chinese delegation at the Davos World Economic Forum due to the Chinese New Year season gave the South-East Asian nations the opportunity to shine. 

I’M hardly your quintessential Davos Man but I do enjoy my trips to the World Economic Forum (WEF), where I chair the Global Agenda Council on South-east Asia.

It’s not only the chance to hobnob with the global elite, but also get a sense of where the world is heading.

Davos this year was a blur, though. Perhaps it was because my schedule was packed, or maybe it was because I was recovering from the flu.

Whatever the cause, my week in Switzerland was a whirr of images and sensations.

The sense of gloom among the world’s players seemed to have become de rigueur after years of slow growth.

Nevertheless, it didn’t put a stop to the countless expensive networking parties at WEF.

I guess austerity doesn’t apply to the rich and powerful.

Also notable was the absence of a big Chinese delegation because of the Chinese New Year season.

This gave the chance for other East Asian nations to shine.



Thai Premier Yingluck Shinawatra led a large, well-received delegation.

After the twin distractions of political conflict and natural disaster, Thailand appears eager to promote the idea of its economic recovery.

Shinawatra’s good looks more than compensated for the hesitancy in her delivery.

Indonesia, too, had a large contingent despite the absence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a welcome sign that Indonesia’s corporate leaders are ready to engage the rest of the world alone.

I also spent time with a small Burmese entourage.

They were basking in the country’s apparent rehabilitation, and we made plans to meet again in the future.

We Malaysians also hosted our own breakfast.

It was attended by some 20 powerful international corporate and political leaders.

The Malaysian star of the Aung San Suu Kyi biopic The Lady, Michelle Yeoh also made an appearance to add both glamour and intelligence to the event – but I’m a fan and therefore biased.

Still, it was good to see that there was interest in Malaysia, particularly as a services hub.

I also noted that the delegations from African nations were large although they pulled little weight compared to India or Brazil.

The events featuring British Prime Minister David Cameron and US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner caused little stir.

Conversely, Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota had a swagger about him as EU technocrats lobbied the BRICs for help to save Europe.

Still, there was an uneasy sense in the air that Europe’s fall is facilitating Germany’s rise.

You could see German products everywhere, including the shiny Audis shuttling the VIPs between Davos and Klosters and VW vans for everyone else.

I even picked up a special edition Stern magazine celebrating the 300th anniversary of the birth of King Frederick the Great of Prussia, which hailed him as an “uber-Prussian”.

Indeed, there seems to be a growing nostalgia in Germany for Frederick, who solidified Prussia’s power but was also renowned for his intellectual and cultural achievements, including founding Potsdam and patronising Voltaire.

Perhaps he reminds Germans of a time when they too were on the brink of great power, albeit untarnished by fascism.

Is it more than a coincidence that chancellor Angela Merkel has described herself as “very Prussian” and has not shied away from promoting “German values”?

Whatever the case, Berlin with its Prussian milieu will almost certainly take its place as Europe’s premier capital – which means that this tukang cerita (story teller) will have to brave the Brandenburg winter at some stage to get a sense of the city as well as German aspirations.

There were also encounters, whether planned or chance.

At Davos’ Indonesia Night, I wolfed down nasi goreng with Mukhlis of Antara and Uni Lubis of ANTV, discussing the possibility of the republic developing its own “soft power”.

At a quiet bar later on, I gossiped with my Financial Times columnist friend Gideon Rachman about the prospect of a Eurozone collapse.

I even remember trying to locate the Occupy WEF igloos. I spent a good hour trudging through the snow (which was metres high, by the way), before giving up because of the cold and damp.

One afternoon I slipped away from the conference and took the small funicular train to the Schaltzalp Hotel high above Davos.

There – amid the echoing halls of a fin de siecle “grand” hotel – I imagined the world of Nobel Laureate Thomas Mann as well as the immense, enveloping silence of the Alpine scenery, swathed in snow as I stood on the hotel’s terrace.

Finally, there was a moment when I was collecting my overcoat at the Morosani Schweizershof hotel’s cloakroom.

I paused because I remembered that it was here, last year that I saw Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Back then, Gaddafi was the gadfly of the Arab and African worlds, while Saif was his modernising son and the toast of policy wonks everywhere.

Today the father is buried somewhere in the Libyan desert and Saif is in a prison in Zintan.
It’s a sign of how times change, but also how swiftly Davos moves on.

You can be everybody’s golden boy one minute and a pariah in the next. But that’s how the world turns.

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Thursday 2 February 2012

Hang-ups over Malaysian history

Hang-ups over history

Along The Watchtower By M. Veera Pandiyan

It’s time to correct the inaccuracies and skewed viewpoints of historical events that have been ingrained as part of lessons in schools.

AS the furore over the status of Hang Tuah — historical warrior or mere myth — rages on, a notorious mob is conspicuously missing from the action.



It’s a surprise that the Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera) hasn’t joined the fray by claiming him as an Indonesian icon and accuse us of stealing yet another piece of their heritage.

Hang Tuah and his sworn brother warriors (Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi, Hang Lekir and Hang Lekiu) are also exalted in Indonesia.

While our hero purportedly hails from Kampung Duyung, Malacca, Indonesians believe that he was from Bintan in Riau or various parts of Sumatra.

There are roads named after him in almost every Indonesian city and town, along with universities and hotels. The Indonesian navy even has a frigate named KRI Hang Tuah.

Perhaps, Bendera, which gained infamy for throwing human faeces at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta two years ago, is too occupied with internal troubles these days.

Its leaders, Mustar Bonaventura and Ferdy Simawun, are being sued for claiming that members of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s inner circle took 1.8 trillion rupiahs (about RM608mil) in kickbacks from the bailout of Bank Century in 2009.

As critics rebuked Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim — who sparked the debate in saying that Hang Tuah and princess Hang Li Po are purely the stuff of folklore — the Bendera bunch were reportedly busy creating a ruckus in a Jakarta courthouse.



But let’s not digress from the ongoing hullabaloo over our mythical or otherwise hulubalang (commander).

In spite of the lack of studies as proof, a host of experts and academics are defending the existence of Hang Tuah,

Archaeologist Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Nik Hassan Shuhaimi Nik Abdul Rahman, for instance, pointed out the existence of Hang Tuah’s tomb in Tanjung Kling, Malacca.

“We can’t deny that it is not. Although there is no specific name written on it, it is from the 15th century,” he said last week.

Though not a historian, I beg to differ. For generations, locals only referred to it as makam tua (old grave).

Based on stories handed down, it was the tomb of a revered Gujerati Muslim who preached Islam in the area.

But in the early 1990s, an overzealous museum curator suggested that it could be the grave of Hang Tuah. Among the grounds cited was, it dates back to the era and a grave facing the sea is fitting for a laksamana (admiral).

He succeeded in convincing the then Chief Minister, who was actively promoting tourism as Malacca’s main industry.

But this is not the only grave of Hang Tuah. The man, said to have vanished after failing to bring back the princess of Gunung Ledang for his Sultan, has “graves” in several places in Sumatra.

Hang Tuah is also famous for wells and footprints embedded in various places.

The most recognised well is, of course, in Kampung Duyung, a thriving tourist site, now set to undergo a RM132mil makeover.

Another legendary well is located in Cape Rachado or Tanjung Tuan, a promontory near Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan.

Along a trek below the oldest lighthouse in the country, is a well reputedly dug by Hang Tuah. Close to it is his supposed footprint embedded in rock.

There was once also another footprint next to Batu Menyabong (cockfighting rock), near Kuala Sungai Baru.

Legend has it that Hang Tuah stomped his foot in joy, leaving an imprint, after his gamecock won. Alas, the area was quarried in the late 1880s, leaving only a village to bear the name.

Many academics believe that the 1537 version Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) offers proof of Hang Tuah’s existence.

But the problem is the people’s perception of him has been coloured by the fictional Hikayat Hang Tuah.
But it still won’t be a big deal if Hang Tuah turns out to just a myth because his legend has grown too big to be wished away.

The bigger issue is the many inaccuracies and skewed viewpoints of historical events that have been included as part of lessons in schools since the 1980s.

The Education Ministry’s 10-member panel to review the History syllabus, set up in May last year, has a crucial role to set things right.

If nation-building is the agenda, the syllabus must be based on veracity and fairness with regard to the contributions of all races and cultures.

The panel should also consider the findings of Kempen Sejarah Malaysia Sebenar (KemSMS), the alternate group comprising parents, academics and non-governmental organisations.

As Datuk Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim, who chairs the group said, our textbooks should portray an inclusive picture of Malaysia’s past and there should not be over-emphasis on Islamic civilisation at the expense of information about other religions.

A glaring example of down- playing important history is the scant attention paid to highlighting Bujang Valley in Kedah — arguably the richest archaeological place in the region.

Researchers believe that there may have been a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom here possibly as early as 110 CE.

Kedah’s name comes from the ancient Hindu kingdom of Kedaram (Tamil), which was also known as Kataha Nagara (Sanskrit). The valley was also called Bhujanga (Dragon or King of Serpents).

History has to be rewritten to give Kedah its rightful place as the oldest civilisation in the Malay Peninsula.

The Kedah Sultanate, dating from the first Hindu ruler Maharaja Derba Raja, also known as Merong Maha Wangsa, is perhaps the oldest monarchy from the same family line in the world.

There were eight successive Hindu Maharajahs of Kedah before the ninth, Maharaja Derba Raja XI or Phra Ong Mahawangsa (1136 to 1179) converted to Islam and changed his title to Sultan Muzaffar Shah.

The Yang diPertuan Agong, Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah, is the 27th Sultan and the 35th ruler of Kedah, counting the Hindu predecessors.

> Associate Editor M. Veera Pandiyan likes this quote by Oscar Wilde: Anybody can make history. Only a great man can write it.

Related post:

Malaysian History & Legend; facts & fallacies; myths, heroes or zeroes?