Bill Clinton... you’re talking to the deaf

James Chin, You are really good man....

By James Chin

DEC 11 — Two of the world's biggest icons were in town last week; Bill Clinton and Shah Rukh Khan. One came to pick up US$200,000 (or RM700,000) for 40 minutes of talking and the other made a day trip to Malacca to collect a Datukship. We Malaysians are such a generous lot, always giving stuff to foreigners. (Is that the reason why there are more than 2 million undocumented foreigners in this country?)

Anway, before I proceed, let me declare my interest. I was given one of the rare tickets to attend Clinton's talk. Bill is one of the best speakers around, and the message he gave was a worthy one. Essentially he was saying that we live in an interdependent world and that all of us are humans. He gave the example that the difference between all the ethnic groups around the world is less than 0.5 per cent of our DNA. In other words we are divided by ethnic categories which are essentially man-made.

I'm sure many of us know that racism and ethnic identity is constructed and not something natural. Yet today Malaysia is more divided by ethnicity (and religion) than at anytime in our nation's short history. Every politician is trying to tell us that "ethnic solidarity" is the only political game in town. It's always an "us versus them" attitude.

Clinton was reminding us that we have a choice to make — we can either work together and become prosperous or fight between ourselves over the >0.5 per cent DNA difference between us.

It was interesting to note that Clinton's message, which is so obvious to all the members of the audience, did not sink in. All the mainstream press did not report what he said other than the minor points about making money from green technology. His message that we are all similar was either not written up or given a short paragraph.

It's a real shame that reporters and their editors are so dead set on the race mindset that they cannot bring themselves to print something else.

Which brings me to my point.

Bill was paid more than RM700K to talk for less than one hour. An average worker in Malaysia makes RM26,000 annually. Simple calculations will tell you that it will take Ali Average 27 years to earn what the former US president got in less than one hour.

Put in another way, I would have been happier if Clinton had announced that he was donating the US$200,000 to some charity homes in Malaysia. He does not even need the money — in fact, the fee he charged, the US$200,000, is much less than what he normally gets for such speaking engagements. He commands up to US$1 million or more for a speech.

If Clinton wanted to make a real difference to Malaysia, I would have urged him to give the same speech to members of Umno or the BN supreme council, and Parliament. These are the people who need to hear the message about inclusiveness and not divisiveness. These are the people who decide the worldview of Malaysians. These are the people who continue to divide the nation. The Ali Average on the street is doing no such thing.

Does Shah Rukh Khan deserve a Datukship? The answer is obvious. Yes, why not? We have given out Datukships to people who are obviously less than the King of Bollywood. Mind you, the Datukship we gave him is an honorary one because he is not a Malaysian citizen. So don't hold your breath waiting for him to use the "Datuk" in the movie posters or when he signs for a bill.