A Malaysian in BC: Part 4

Since those tumultuous General Elections in 2013, when the political process of Malaysia seemed to be reaching a multi-party climax, our politics has been collapsing into an all-party heap. The rate of degeneration of our national polity, both government and opposition, has been unprecedented. Just today, former law minister and government critic Zaid Ibrahim said of a proposed opposition strategy, “Some Opposition leaders have lost their bearings because their struggle is no longer based on what they wish to offer to the people in terms of policies and political messages. They have become consumed by their desire to win another seat, at all costs.” Further, the 1MDB crisis has cast shadows in every direction and in the eyes of the world, we are looking more and more like one of those tin-pot nations Malaysians had come to regard as lesser in the heady days of the Mahathir era. On the world’s corporate stage, however, particularly from a Western Canadian perspective, Malaysia, in its corporate extension at least, appears much more substantial than a little tin pot… more like a sturdy steel barrel! Or perhaps, turning the metaphor towards an LNG reference, a tripple wall stainless steel pressure vessel storage tank, even!