The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf
The Star Online: Lifestyle: Bookshelf |
| Posted: 19 Nov 2012 07:56 PM PST Two men, two bicycles, a (very) little money and a large streak of adventure add up to an intriguing book. IT sounded like a good plan at first: they would don sarongs, walk around Peninsular Malaysia on foot, mingle with the locals, and return to Singapore enlightened men. The motivation was to get down to the ground and find out what Malaysians think about themselves, about Singapore, and the wider world around them. But this exercise in walking would take too long, so it was eventually replaced with cycling. It still managed to raise a few eyebrows when best friends Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh and Sumana Rajarethnam declared that they would be leaving Singapore for Malaysia with only two bicycles, two sets of clothes, a tent and a daily budget of RM10 each. "Most people said we were crazy! But a few egged us on. Our classmates were all going off and doing internships and we thought we should do something 'different' that might ultimately help to 'better relations' between Malaysia and Singapore. "It was a bit naïve and idealistic, but that's what we were thinking back then," says Sudhir in an e-mail interview. This was in 2004, when he was completing his Masters in Public Policy at Harvard. Sumana was doing the same degree at the University of Michigan. The initial idea was relatively straightforward: to write a simple chronological travelogue of a bicycle trip in one country – Malaysia – but the tale eventually morphed into a socio-economic examination of both Malaysia and Singapore told, unusually, through a travelogue. Achieving this meant that a whole lot of extra research was required, and the entire project ended up taking eight years. Floating On A Malayan Breeze: Travels In Malaysia And Singapore was launched on Nov 10 and Sudhir hopes it will appeal to everyone who has an interest in social, political and economic issues in Malaysia and Singapore. Hoping to make the book accessible to as broad a group as possible, he has purposefully wrapped serious issues around a light-hearted travelogue. "We had to trash a lot of our initial writing from 2004 to 2008, because it was way too academic. The main writing took about four years, from 2008 to 2012. In this final product, you will find writing that is much more accessible," the Singapore-born son of a Malaysia-born father says. The one month Sudhir and Sumana roughed it out in Malaysia was no easy feat, as they survived on bare essentials. "Most days, we would eat roti prata or nasi. Lots of carbohydrates, some vegetables and not much meat, as meat is expensive. We rarely had to buy water, as people would often gladly fill up our water bottles for us," says Sudhir, who is now senior editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit in Singapore. (Sumana is a senior analyst at the same place.) There were times when, in the blistering tropical heat, the two men would long for an iced drink, but they had to forgo this luxury as it would cost them an extra 20 sen, a significant dent in their meagre RM10 daily budget. Taking a shower was also tricky, but they realised very quickly that the most reliable method was to head to the nearest petrol station, squat by knee-high water faucets in the toilets, and sprinkle water on themselves! The tent was utilised perhaps half the time, and Sudhir fondly recalls the beautiful sandy beaches on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. "The rest of the time we stayed in people's houses/shacks/outhouses or in religious institutions – mosques, churches and Sikh temples. We even stayed in the Bandar Permaisuri (in Terengganu) and Alor Setar police stations," he relates. One would assume that cycling into a kampung would automatically endear them to village folk a lot more than if they were to drive a car in. "When you cycle into a kampung, everybody wants to say hello, everyone wants to talk to you. It gives you a lot of access. That was crucial for our trip and our efforts to get to know ordinary Malaysians," says Sudhir. But getting around on a bicycle came with its own set of challenges. "First, it takes too long sometimes when you're trying to get somewhere fast. Second, it is not as easy to lock up as a motorbike or car. We were occasionally worried that somebody would steal the bikes, so we kept them very close at all times," he says. When asked what he would have done differently on the trip in retrospect, Sudhir offers that he would be more open and friendly with the young guys in the kampungs who asked us about their bikes. "They were just interested in us and our journey, and some might never have seen a 24-speed Giant bike before. But we acted like the anxious richer neighbour scared of getting robbed. So we didn't chat as openly with them and I regret that," he says. The two men also occasionally faced some challenges in approaching women to talk to them. "Ideally, we could have also travelled with one girl. Because it was just us two guys, it was always a bit difficult approaching and chatting with women. But if we had a girl with us, that would have been easier," he says. Before embarking on their trip across Peninsular Malaysia, Sudhir says that he and Sumana had felt that Malaysia's system of positive discrimination (or affirmative action) for one group over other groups of people was unfair. However, they were caught by surprise when they found out that Malaysians have similar sentiments about the system in Singapore. "Many Malaysians believe that our exacting meritocracy is unfair because it allows the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. We think Malaysia's system is unfair; and Malaysians think our system is unfair. "We even felt Malaysians were wrong at that time, but in a sense they were very perceptive – income equality is now a big problem in Singapore," he says. The most challenging chapter to write, he says, was the one on race and ethnicity, given the sensitivities in both countries. "It is a taboo subject in both our countries. I still wanted to talk about important issues but in a direct and sensitive way, and I think I just about managed. A couple of people have told me it's their favourite chapter in the book," he says. By the end of the trip, Sudhir and Sumana had cycled approximately 2,000km – and Sudhir is convinced that there are more similarities as well as more differences between Malaysia and Singapore than people realise. "It's just that we don't have the chance to think about these things too much because discussion and dialogue in our countries have always been mediated by our governments. It's changing, of course, especially since the Internet, but it's still broadly true," he says. On a more personal level, Sudhir is pleased that they managed to have such an "exciting, invigorating and stimulating experience" costing relatively little money on this journey. "In today's modern, consumption-driven world, we sometimes assume that we need a million and one things just to survive. But you don't – all you need is basic food, water and your best friend!" Related Story: |
| Posted: 19 Nov 2012 07:56 PM PST This is a must read book for those interested in a view of Malaysia and Singapore in transition. Floating On A Malayan Breeze: Travels In Malaysia & Singapore THERE is a time-honoured practice among a group of Singaporean poets that involves travelling up-country into Peninsular Malaysia to reconnect with the hinterland. This involves leaving behind that psychic break of nation states and getting into a Malayan state of mind. Here, among people of different citizenship yet culturally so familiar, the poets find inspiration and the meaning of being Singaporean. For the poets, the journey is sacred, for it allows them to rise above the "reality" of political divisions and to connect with cultural and human traditions built in the period of sultans and feathery colonial plumes. Being a student of public policy and political science, Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh's observations are inevitably more about politics and less fanciful. Yet, Floating On A Malayan Breeze belongs to that special category of books that uses travel as a lens to examine the "nation". Predecessors include Henri Fouconnier's Soul Of Malaya (1931) and, more recently, Rehman Rashid's Malaysian Journey (1993). Fouconnier's book traces the beauty and madness that characterised the colonial project that was Malaya. Rehman's work entrenched the urban middle-class view about modern Malaysia, full of ambivalence and angst. What Rehman did for 1990s Malaysia, Sudhir does for Singaporeans now, using the travel motif to describe the "nation" in a distinctively personal fashion that defines his generation. Malayan Breeze is a young man's perspective on how 50 years of the nation state experience has transformed ancient ties, giving rise to two distinct groups of people living in an age of political transformation. Readers may be expecting a travelogue and, indeed, there are very fascinating impressions of peninsular B-roads (the old trunk roads) and towns gleaned from the vantage point of a RM10 daily budget. This 2004 cycling experience, undertaken with best buddy Sumana Rajarethnam, forms the bedrock of the book, to which later impressions are added that lifts it out of the strictly travelogue genre. The narrative moves easily between adrenaline-fuelled youthful, almost naïve, enquiry to more mature eyes trying to make sense of the contradictions that make up modern life in Malaysia and Singapore. This is a book that spares no one and, refreshingly for a work of its kind, takes no prisoners no matter what the sensitive issue may be. Race, religion, the sacred and the profane are all dissected and discussed with little self-censorship. There are three interesting insights that make this book a must-read and why it will be a generational classic. For one, Sudhir is a Singaporean who continues to have familial ties in Malaysia, and this gives him a rare advantage. Apart from practical knowledge – knowing the old trunk roads in Peninsular Malaysia very well, thus making navigation easier, for instance – he maintains a deep understanding of Malaysia and Singapore on the cultural level. Using this shared history and cultural understanding to frame fundamental questions makes Sudhir's observations invaluable. He is also able to debunk stereotypes by asking probing questions about issues involving Singapore's "meritocratic" system and Malaysia's "affirmative action" policy. More importantly, the book reveals how these policies have translated into shaping people's lives on the ground. At the level of the RM 10 daily budget, a lot of the rhetoric surrounding this one contentious issue quickly melt away leaving behind the bare bones. The final verdict: governments are fallible even if led by Lee Kuan Yew and Mahathir Mohamad. Secondly, Sudhir is singularly lucky to have been in the right place at the right time. While earlier books of its ilk were written in the pre-digital information age, Malayan Breeze was composed at a time when digital technology was rapidly transforming both countries. Within its pages, the book captures the governing mindset still caught up in a top-down approach to governance with obsessive developmental targets and a youth bulge in cities and rural areas with aspirations for greater equality finding an outlet in the Internet. In the case of Malaysia, the "ground" moved ahead of the ruling elite with the resultant political tsunami in 2008. In Singapore, the book similarly captures the quiet revolution that reverberated from across the Causeway in the form of greater demand for participatory politics. This was translated into the 2011 People's Action Party electoral setback. And once again, from his new position at Singapore's Economist' Intelligence Unit, Sudhir had a rare perch from which to dive down to the ground as political transformation swept across Malaysia and Singapore. Finally, the book tells us just as much about the author's generation as it reveals about both countries. Malayan Breeze describes the restless souls who would design and carry out a project involving cycling up-country on a self-imposed budget. If in the colonial era such wonderlust only afflicted the middle-class white outsider, and if a generation ago it was the car that symbolised forward movement, for this generation, it is the eco-friendly bicycle associated with healthy living and environmental stewardship that propels the narrative forward. But there are drawbacks to travel on a self-imposed budget. It seems less real and less committed, almost like highly paid executives going on a road-trip to reconnect with the ground. Perhaps we of this new generation should be aware that our obsession with self can sometimes lead to views that are laced with large doses of self-imposed liberalism. Switching between the core 2004 travelogue and more contemporary experiences (in terms of form) betray this mental state. It is a reflection of ambivalence, very much of minds in the process of development but not quite made up. Nonetheless, Floating On A Malayan Breeze is on its way to joining the ranks of "must reads" for those interested in both these nations in transition – it is, perhaps, the last word about the Malayan experiment as a new generation clumsily leaves history behind. > Neil Khor is a Social Historian and Senior Fellow at Think City, which manages the George Town Grants Programme. Related Story: |
| Posted: 19 Nov 2012 03:51 PM PST Get your fill of the final instalment of The Twilight Saga and more. HAVING enjoyed phenomenal success, The Twilight Saga takes a bow with its final instalment Breaking Dawn – Part 2, which will hit Malaysian cinemas on Thursday, but it is not going out quietly. The first film may have been a sleeper hit, but Breaking Dawn – Part 2 is set to be the biggest of the lot yet! The all-consuming finale, with its climactic action-filled battle scenes, vampire love child, new characters and plot twists will be unforgettable. At the film's premiere at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California, hundreds of shrieking fans greeted the stars, Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, as they made their way to the 7,000-seat venue to bid farewell to the end of a supernatural era. According to reports, fans were still cheering as the credits rolled. To commemorate the magnitude of the film, the Nov 16 issue of Galaxie has devoted six picture-filled pages on the movie that has compelled millions to the silver screen. Breaking Dawn – Part 1, which was released last November, grossed an estimated US$701mil (RM2.1bil) worldwide, making it the highest grossing film amongst all four movies from The Twilight Saga franchise. But the final film might just surpass that mark as it was reported that advance tickets to the show raked in a total of US$1.17mil (RM3.51mil) on its first day on sale! With all the hype surrounding Breaking Dawn – Part 2 and the excitement that has been building up, it is no wonder that Fandango named it the "most anticipated film". For once, the accolades are well deserved and the numbers support it. In its current issue, Galaxie explores why cinemagoers are flocking to watch the conclusion to the series. Besides the highly anticipated battle scene that brings action to the romance element of the film, there is also the introduction of 12-year-old Mackenzie Foy who plays Renesmee, the hybrid child of Edward Cullen (Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Stewart), that has heightened the audience's anticipation. Galaxie also features interviews with Booboo Stewart and some of the cast members who share their experience of being part of The Twilight Saga legacy. To top off the fanfare of Breaking Dawn – Part 2, Galaxie, which has in the past produced keepsake covers like the double cover for New Moon featuring Pattinson and Lautner, is sticking to its tradition of releasing special cover features. This time, however, Galaxie goes "Augmented Reality" with its iSnap capabilities. This enhanced feature, which is Android smartphone and iPhone compatible, allows users to gain access to additional content. In this case, it reveals the second cover which features Lautner. Other pages too have been made iSnap-able, so do check out the iSnap me icon and have fun with this spiffy new feature. Galaxie, which is owned by Star Publications (M) Bhd and voted Entertainment Magazine Of The Year for two consecutive years, also has a presence online at galaxieblog.com.my. For updates on the magazine and the entertainment world, follow Galaxie on Twitter (@galaxiemag) and visit its Facebook page (facebook.com/GalaxieMagazine). |
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