The Eid Open House and The Man

Last Thusday, that was on the 5th.September, I together with Sara went to an Eid open house graced by our former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. It was organized by Langkawi Development Authority (LADA). I've never attended any big scale open house before. It was to start from 8pm until 10pm.

I was contemplating whether to  go or not to go. First, because both of us hated crowd and second, it was raining cats and dogs. But since my deepest respect lies in the guest of honor,the former Prime Minister,  I chose to go. No invitation needed. It was an open house after all, so everyone is invited.

We left the house about 7.30pm. My husband was still working. Both the boys were working as well. However, Ariff, will be based at the banquet center where we were going. He was to man the booth (for their hotel) together with his pastry chef and some other staff providing desserts for all guests and visitors.
Upon arrival, we were relieved to see the that the crowd was bearable. Or perhaps it was still early. We walked around and I met many familiar faces and we started talking for a while. My eyes were wandering searching for my son. I've always wanted to see him in his white uniform while in action. There! I saw him on the other side of the hall. We walked hurriedly afraid he might left for some other things needed to be done. As if on cue, he lifted his face and saw us walking towards him. He looked handsome in his uniform and it made me smile brightly.

We left him to carry on with his duty and started to collect some food (if I may use the word collect since the food is everywhere). Sara and I took one plate of satay each. (satay is pieces of beef or chicken put together on a skewer) Later on I saw my favorite dish, ketupat palas (sticky rice wrapped in palas leaves). This dish goes well with beef rendang. And I can see many booths prepared these two dishes.
There were almost six or more hotels involved in this function. Besides the hotels, restaurants and some private bodies chipped in as well. There were all type of noodles, all type of rice,  fried/grilled chicken or beef, cookies, tropical fruits and plenty more.

We found ourselves a table for ten. It's empty. Great! We had the whole table to ourselves. Both of us were digging in our tasty satay when suddenly a family of five came and asked if other chairs were taken. It's vacant, I told him. And so they joined us. The guy who asked me earlier was friendly but the ladies didn't even acknowledge the existence of the two of us.Not that I am craving for their attention. I should have said the chairs were taken. Snob!  
We ate slowly and looked around to see the quiet room fifteen minutes ago turning into a jam packed room with people thronging and milling about aimlessly. The family that sat with us, were carrying plates after plates of food to our table. There were five of them but the plates were more than ten, I think, I couldn't be sure. I turned slightly towards Sara and she understood what I was trying to say. This was the habit that I am talking about in my previous post (The difference between Malaysian and Westerners, July '12 post). They would dump everything onto one plate. It's as if they were afraid that there might not be any food left for second serving. After a few minutes, the guy turned to me and said, "Oh is that all you're having?" I said we'll get some later. He probably realised how we may have thought about the spread of food they placed on the table and tried to explain, " We took more than usual since there were too many people out there". I nodded and smiled.

We excused ourselves and walk into the other room.
This was why I was at this function on the first place. To see and meet first hand my beloved ex P.M. We made our way slowly towards the center stage. There were some entertainment on stage and there was Malaysian rock singer, Amy Search singing one of my favourite songs, but he failed to entertain me as my eyes were busy searching for Dr Mahathir. Suddenly Sara pulled my dress. "Ma, turn to 3 o'clock. Sitting with his back against us." I turned my head slowly not wanting to appear too obvious and there I saw him sitting at a table with a few other dignitaries. He was cocking his head to the right trying to listen to what his son was saying amid the loud music. Right, now that I see him, I am not about to move even an inch, thinking to myself. After about ten minutes, I saw the crowd started to build up around the center stage but they were not enthused by the artists. It seemed each and every one inside there were trying to catch a glimpse of him. Silly me! I thought nobody would bother about him and leave him alone. I was dead wrong.

By now I was standing inches away from him with my hand holding a book "A Doctor In The House" written by him. I must get him to autograph for me. He looked around and smiled gently at the crowd. Then I saw a young couple (maybe in their early 20's) bold enough to walk over to him and bowed with respect to shake his hand. He looked stunned, never thought anybody would just walked up and shake hands with him during dinner. Even his bodyguard who was slacking in his guard (I like the rhyme) was taken aback. He was more alert after that.
Not wanting to miss my chance, I walked up to the bodyguard and tapped him gently on his arm. "Will Tun (the highest title for a politician in Malaysia) be meeting the people later on?" I asked. He said no but maybe after dinner you can approach him. Sounded good enough for me.

It wasn't to be my night. Tun together with his son was called for cake cutting and later was called up onstage to distribute some money for children under twelve. Seriously? How could they arrange such a thing for an eighty eight year old man. He may look strong for his age but making someone his age standing and distributing money to hundreds of children? I could be wrong but I seriously think there were about three to four thousand people that night.Could be more.

What a way to organize a function. He looked frail to me even though the smile never left his face.
By now, the MC must have realized the pandemonium caused by this money giving. Almost every parents with young children were pushing their way up to get the money for their children. At last they(the MCs) took charge and announce the money will be given later and the former Prime Minister was ushered back towards his table. Half way across the room, people were seemingly inching their way closer to Tun trying to shake his hand. The police and bodyguards suddenly changed course and ushered him towards the exit door.

What does that mean? That means I lost my chance of approaching him and lost my chance of telling him that I admired him greatly. I loved him as a person. I love his personality, his witty remarks, his advance thinking and his love for the country. To me he is and always will be a true statesman. When I write about him like this, I wouldn't be surprised if I were to be bashed and lashed out by those who hated him. Malaysian has become obsessive when it comes to politics. Even the smallest and simplest conversation would be turned into political issue.
Allow me to write something about The Man. He is a simple man. He was a medical doctor prior to being a politician. I remembered long time ago I read, (or was it on TV) his wife, Tun Hasmah, said when she was trying to get adjusted to becoming a Prime Minister's wife, they were in a car to attend something somewhere, the outriders would ride ahead of them to control the traffic. She said she would slide herself down until nobody can see her through the window because she felt ashamed of having the luxury of riding with the road being cleared up for them.
As for him, he was called a dictator, a pharaoh and many more harsh names labeled out to suggest that he was a tyrannical person. Was he? If he was, he could have said or retaliated with some snide remarks when the then, U.S Vice President Al Gore humiliated him and then stomped out during dinner thrown by him (Dr Mahathir) in conjunction with Apec meeting, if I am not mistaken in 1998.

He is an outspoken person and he wasn't popular among Western countries but he cared for his people. And if I were to get the privilege of being his friend, I'd do anything for a friend like him. Why did I say this? Because when he fired his deputy, the famous and popular Anwar Ibrahim, he was bombarded with hates comments and harsh words that wasn't even fit to the most hated enemy. To this day, many still don't forgive him for sacking Anwar Ibrahim from his post. Fifteen years ago, Anwar Ibrahim's wife had written a letter to Tun Hasmah (Mahathir's wife), probably pouring out her misery about her husband's antic. Nobody knows for sure what was the content of the letter. Anyway, what I am trying to say is, both Dr Mahathir and his wife had hold this secret for fifteen years even when he (Dr Mahathir) was at a very thin line in his political career. He never for once used that letter as a weapon to attack Anwar Ibrahim because he was a man that hold true to his words. He kept mum about it and let people attacked his life relentlessly. He could have had the upper hand anytime by showing the letter to public.

For me, it is difficult to find a good politician and a good person combined as one in this modern era.
There were many other things that I'd like to write and share about him but as it is, I've taken long enough of your time, dear readers. I hope Malaysian readers would give me some space to write about the person I admired the most. This is not about politics. So enjoy and stay fresh.

Out for now,
Rose
12th.Sept '13