In November 2015, I submitted an earlier version of ‘A Malaysian in BC’ to the editors of two leading Malaysian alternative news portals – Free Malaysia Today and the recently defunct Malaysian Insider. To my great disappointment this article, titled ‘Malaysian Cash is King in Canada!’, was not published. This could have been because of the style or quality of my writing, or rather the lack of it. Nevertheless, I was left wondering if it was my topic. Were Malaysian news portals too partisan and involved in domestic issues to raise their eyes over the horizon? Are Malaysians uninterested in the impacts of their nations corporate interventions abroad? I have so many questions … Would materialistic Malaysians not be interested in the the Lax Kw’Alaams, who seem willing to sacrifice cash benefits for ecological, cultural and spiritual balance? As a people accustomed to native mastery (ketuanan) of the land (bumi), surely Malaysians must hear the call for native land rights British Columbia! Do British Columbians in turn, understand, as BC Premier Christie Clarke claims to understand, the Malaysian way – when asked, in an interview, about the implications of the ongoing 1MDB scandal for the future engagement with Petronas, she is reported to have said ” it’s just a different way of doing business, I guess…”. BC alternative media insinuations of corruption aside, the ‘Malaysian way’ is today the subject of scrutiny and investigation, both at home and abroad, and Malaysians themselves do not know where they stand. Does the premier really know what she is getting us into. Image from The Tyee.
The Koboi Project 
You must be logged in to post a comment.