Remembering Pak Lah

This is the 1990 Asiaweek pic of Malaysia's present Prime Minister, Datuk Sri Abdullah Badawi. I cut and kept it while I was at university in Canada because I was hearing stories about him as he was the Foreign Minister of Malaysia at that time in the 1980s and (Tun) Mohammad Mahathir was the Prime Minister.

Frankly, I expected him to be the successor to Mahathir for a number of interesting reasons which I prefer to maintain an elegant silence over.

In those heady days, there were visits from Ottawa's Malaysian consular 'officials' and they were invited to my residence as well. These officials' names and our private discussions on East Malaysian politics and on Malaysia in general have been duly recorded in some of my journals and these are still with some close buddies here and in Canada. I learnt a lot from these extremely friendly guys... Guys, what was that joke again about that particular classy female Malaysian in Eastern Canada? I had better not repeat that joke in Sarawak... Anyway, the free satay at Malaysia Satay House was really tasty!

Having said all this, I pray that our fellow princely blogger Pete of Malaysia Today survives the posse that is coming for him. If it is any consolation to anyone, don't we remember there is a supernatural belief that if a righteous prince with royal blood is harmed, a generation upon generation curse would befall those who impurely dare to perform the thankless task? Is this a myth or a fact?

Well, Pete buddy, as I said the posse is coming and I'm just heading towards the hills just to avoid the effects of the curse from heading my way! It's not true I fear the posse. The sheriffs are even riding with them to ensure there is law and order... Rest assured-I think!

See yer soon pardner! The hills are dead with no sound of music.














By the way, I would like to offer Pete's opponent who has been challenged to a gentlemanly duel a few lessons on how to put on the knight's armor properly.

An English duel seems pretty fair unless it's a movie version and the villain always cheats in a desperate act to win the fight disgustingly, dastardly, cowardly, et cetera, et cetera if I may add- before being killed,
deservedly.

p.s. I've just been reminded that the rajah's light-hearted reference to a duel involves kerises.