On Dr Mahathir
You know, I don't think of myself as a very patriotic person. For example, I'm not the type to get very emotional about Dr Mahathir retiring as Prime Minister. (He left office on Friday.)
But I was just thinking: he was our PM for 22 years. I'm 25 years old, which means Dr M, as he's affectionately known, has literally led the country for as long as I remember.
Other country's leaders have come and gone: I've watched as the UK's Margaret Thatcher gave way to John Major, and remember being excited when the Labour Party rose up and Tony Blair came to the Prime Minister's seat — that happened in the middle of law school; we were studying British Law and the British Constitution, so I felt like history was unfolding in front of my eyes. Labour had not won an election since 1979! Could they do it? They could and did.
As far as Australian presidents go, I'll always remember Paul Keating for calling Dr M "recalcitrant" when Dr M refused to attend the 1993 APEC meeting. Boy, did that spark off a row! Now, John Howard's in his place and, although our nations might not exactly be best buddies, things seem to be much duller compared to when Keating was in office.
As for the US, there was George H.W. Bush, then Bill "I-didn't-do-it-oh-wait-I-did-and-I'm-sorry" Clinton, and now George W. Bush, whom, I fear, will be remembered for the Iraqi war.
But through it all, Dr M has been there. Leading Malaysia all the while. I think I took for granted that he'd always be there. I never thought I'd see a day when he wasn't at the helm. It was like he was synonymous with the name "Malaysia", y'know?
For all people have been raving about his many achievements and all, I respect Dr M because he's a visionary. He was forward-thinking (in most things) and he always had a vision.
I'm not just talking about Vision 2020, the aim to become a fully developed country by the year 2020. It's more than that. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like Dr M didn't see Malaysia as she is, he always saw Malaysia as she could be. And he worked towards bringing that vision into reality.
I guess to me this is amazing because I tend to "settle". To say, you know, "Oh, that's the way things are," and simply live with it. But Dr M was not content to do that. That's what I really respect him for.
Unfortunately, along the way, I think we all might have gotten a little caught up in the idea that we have to prove ourselves to the world, resulting in a national obsession with symbolism. I mean, did we really need to have the world's tallest towers? — yet at the same time I can't help but admire Dr M and the country's leadership for having the guts to dream such a big dream and the determination to make it happen.
A Malaysia without Dr M at the helm is feeling rather alien to me right now. In a way, our new PM has always been in Dr M's shadow, so it'll be interesting to watch what happens in the coming days.