Diplomatic training in Malaysia - some observations on the "people of the south"

Kuala Lumpur

By Linford Andrews

From September till November 1995 I was in the fortunate position of winging my way to fascinating Malaysia, upon the nomination by their government, to participate in a Diplomatic Training Course for Foreign Participants. The course, held at the Institute of Diplomacy and Foreign Relations (IDFR) in Kuala Lumpur, was intended for junior diplomats from developing countries, particularly those countries of the South with which Malaysia enjoyed close ties. The presence of a South African on the course wascertainly a sign that we, South Africa that is, have come a long way in improving our relations with previously outspoken critics such as the government of Dr Mahathir.

The course had also been presented to ANC officials in 1993, and subjects covered included protocol, seminars on ASEAN, a course on group dynamics, international organisations, etc. While the 1993 course had mostly South Africans in attendance, the origin of the 21 participants this time around would have confused a cartographer a few short years ago ... Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Cook Islands, The Gambia, to name but a few! Languages that could be heard in social gatherings included Russian, Laotian, Burmese (or Myanmar as they prefer to call it) ... en natuurlik ook Afrikaans, en gelukkig kon niemand my verstaan nie, want dan kon ek mos skelm-skelm kommentaar maak(!) ... nevertheless, I digress. Suffice to say, we were from a total of 17 countries, which made for some interesting experiences indeed!

My first impressions of Malaysia were ... get me out of these clothes, I'm hot! Upon leaving Subang Airport in KL (as the locals refer to Kuala Lumpur), the stifling heat and humidity hit one like a lightning bolt! To add to it all, we were all required to wear Western dress for the lectures ... all smothered up in collar, tie and jacket is not my idea of "cool" when the temperature remains a constant 32 degrees Celsius! Nevertheless, one acclimatised very quickly, and the stunning exotic beauty of the country made one soon forget about the heat (as long as we had air-conditioning of course!).

The one thing that really struck me about Malaysia is how FAST it is developing ... construction work going on everywhere, and the existence of fabulous resorts such as the Shangri-La Tanjung Aru in Kota Kinabalu (Sabah, on the island of Bomeo) .... where our training group were taken to, and cocooned in six (not five, but SIX) star luxury!

Being a born-and-bred Capetonian myself, and knowing the "Bo-kaap" area of the city intimately, it also struck me that many of the people I came across in Kuala Lumpur could have stepped straight out of the Bo-kaap. The culture and dress of the Cape Malays still bear a strong resemblance to their Malay ancestors ... so nothing has changed over 200 years! Even the language bore traces of similarity: in the Bo-kaap the slang version of thank you ("terimah kasih"), which many Capetonians have assumed to be a Cape Malay peculiarity, with no real linguistic basis, IS actually a Malay expression ... and means "thank you"! Also, the slang for "excuse me", or "tamaaf", which is popular in the Cape Malay community, is actually "saya minta maaf' in modem Bahasa Malaysia (literally, the "language of Malaysia").

It was an irony that South Africa had a thriving Malay community, who somehow managed to maintain their ancestors' culture, while at the same time SA-Malaysian relations were virtually non-existent during the Apartheid years (with Malaysia being one of the most vocal anti-apartheid supporters).

Another impression, and I think the one that is strongest in my eyes, is the extent to which Malaysia has gone to promote its involvement in international affairs, mainly through ASEAN, APEC and its leading role in the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC), augmented by Malaysia's strong commitment to enhancing South-South cooperation with countries in Africa and Latin America. In fact, the diplomatic training programme I was on was an initiative from the Office of the Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir, as one of Malaysia's contributions to assisting countries of the South.

Finally, I have on many occasions been compelled to highlight the great similarities that exist between SA and Malaysia, and I would like to repeat them here: we both share a similar history of development, and the subsequent challenges to address our socio-economic problems (the New Economic Policy in Malaysia, and the RDP in SA); we both have (or had, in the case of Malaysia) the same linguistic/ cultural problems that seem to plague multi-cultural societies, and the Malays seem to have addressed this well with their efforts towards nation-building; and we are both middle income countries well on the road to fully developed status ...

On the whole, Malaysia presents SA with remarkable opportunities for cooperation and learning from each other's experiences. I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to visit there, and strongly recommend it to other aspiring young diplomats who wish to learn from a microcosm of that which represents the whole of Asia. At the very least, go and enjoy the fantastic cuisine ... a mixture of Malay, Arabic, Indonesian, Thai, Portuguese and Chinese influences!

Published in the Meintjeskop Courier, Volume 1/1996