March 13, 2013
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Driving back to Melawati after our conference
today, Amoi and I looked at the picturesque
post-rain surroundings of the hills where she
lives and sighed, as girls tend to, at the sight.
I recounted my days as a kid walking to and
from school in post-rain weather, breathing
in cold misty air. She said the same of her
childhood hometown in Port Dickson.
It sure doesn't feel like that anymore.
Carpooling trips with Amoi over the last
couple of days have been really telling
about what's been going on in her life
over the past year or so. Things have
changed so much from the first time
we met at my Eid openhouse in 2010.
Bits of our conversations were, to me,
very enlightening. There are several
sides to her that I never knew existed.
I suppose we realise that continuously
about our friends as the years go by,
but it is always surprising each time.
I made a mental note to catch up with
the newlyweds once work is bearable.
xx
Sebastian Saez was back in town for the
Trade Competitiveness conference. 'Twas
reassuring to see his familiar face again,
even more so after that sensational week
in Jakarta that comprised of dramatics
by the old fogues from the World Bank
(and an equally amazing show by Benjy).
Whereas before I had a lot of respect for his
work on services trade and the nefarious effort
it takes to actually document and monitor its
effects on countries around the world, after
the conference ended his status in my head
had been elevated to godlike. He is the Man.
xx
Newsweek's writeup on Chavez was such
a good read. It's scary to think about how
much people want to continue his strange
21st-century socialist/autocratic leadership.
Chavez passed on the 5th of March.
That evening we were dining in a random
pub in Jakarta when Martin tried discreetly
announcing the news: "My journalist cousin
tells me that Chavez is dead."
"WHAT!" we thunderously replied.
"Shhh. It hasn't been broken to the public
by the media yet. Keep it down, you guys."
We fell silent for a while, thinking about
what happens to Venezuela now after a
person as magnanimous (and demented)
as Chavez leaves behind a government.
Martin shared with us his experience while
watching Chavez's last televised appearance.
"It was this sense of foreboding. Everyone
in the room who was watching it with me
knew he was going to go pretty soon."
From there on our conversation took on
a thematic turn on dictatorships and,
soon, of systematic genocide. Khmer
Rouge, Bangladeh's war with (East)
Pakistan, Kashmiri killings under
India, and Mongolian tribal wars.
Sebastian made an effort to thwart
the direction of conversation towards
Genghis Khan and his tomb - which,
I only realised soon after (lembab)
that it was to stop us from going
any further and risk making our
German researcher - born and
bred in East Germany before
the Wall fell, uncomfortable.
There was no closing to our talk on Chavez.
Fittingly, like the fate of his revolution.
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