If You're Not Outraged

Natalie Shobana Ambrose (30th July, 2009 - theSun)

There was a little girl sitting on a high chair next to me. She was at that age where everything was meant to be in her mouth- the cup, fork, teddy bear, napkin were all meant to be eaten. As I watched in amusement, her mother quickly stops her hand from causing a glass of hot tea to spill all. Each time this girl got reprimanded, she frowned, wailed a little and picked up the nearest thing she could find. She didn’t take too kindly to the word ‘no’.

In a way I understood this little girl’s frustration. I myself am not fond of restraint or reprimand and I suspect a lot of us aren’t too. In the case of the little miss, it was important that she be taught what was good for her, what was wrong and what was acceptable. Though, she might not agree that teddy bears aren’t to be eaten, she will soon realise that there are far better tasting things then fluff.

But the word ‘no’ is a powerful reprimand and a huge part of our socialization. What we can do, what we should do and what we can’t do, we learn though observation, interpretation and many a time by a slap on the hand. Later we’re taught about boundaries and perhaps correlate a better society to why we have jails, set up anti-corruption agencies, have a police force, laws and so forth. After a while, we learn what is acceptable and what is not or in some cases we are closely monitored to ensure good behaviour. But are some of our country’s boundaries in place to limit or liberate and is there room to deliberate?

The United States is going though a season where its leaders are being scrutinized. A Supreme Court nominee was questioned about her racial bias because of words she uttered 8 years ago. Then a few days later their President chided the police force over a racial incident. His words were immediately scrutinized. What I admire about that society is that these two highly accomplished civil servants are not being given any special treatment. Negative news of their conduct has not been suppressed or forbidden and there is a maturity of openness with the ideal of reprimand no matter who you are.

We here in Malaysia have had our own share of politicians who in their outrage say the most damaging things. So much so that there are 2 volumes worth of faux pas in our bookstores of their darnest quotes compiled by Amir Muhammad. Yet there isn’t an ethics committee in place or the allowance of reprimand allocated for bad behivour.

In fact, quite the opposite happens and the news is suppressed and any mention that is deemed negative, banished and punished. So as a people we observe the prejudice , interpret the bias and probably self censor our thoughts, reprimanding any form of critical thinking going with the flow and become numb to the injustice allowed for the privilege of the powerful. I don’t need to spell out the injustices, you and I can see them for ourselves and if we aren’t outraged, we’re not paying attention.

Our ministers are now tied to their KPI report cards. Will it be open and transparent? Or will the numbers be fudged? We have many structures, and mechanisms to make Malaysia a better society but are we valuing privilege over principle?

Dwight D Eisenhower in his inaugural address in 1953 said ‘A people that values its privileges above its principles soon looses both’.



Natalie is sometimes quiet because she’s practicing the art of holding her tongue in light of being considered intelligent.

Comments: letters@thesundaily.com

My 9 o'clock in KL

Natalie Shobana Ambrose (16th July, 2009 - theSun)

Morning appointments at the heart of KL scare me. As soon as a 9am appointment is scheduled, alarm bells start to ring and feelings of panic, worry, anxiety, trepidation creep up. Maybe it’s just the whiner in me but I find myself in a Hamlet moment.

In times like these I wonder …“To ride or not to ride, to drive or not to drive, to taxi or not to taxi, to bus or not to bus?” That is the question.

I know it’s not a matter of living or dying like in Hamlet, but in some ways it is because the potential of death is quite real ... snatch theft, crazy drivers, scary taxi and bus experiences all have the risk of death as a common factor.

So I mull … what to do, what to do?

If I were to take the LRT to work, how would I get to the nearest station? I could wait for the feeder bus. After all there is a bus stop 50m away from my bed. But one can wait hours before the bus actually comes and it’s probably not the right bus.

I could wait but I’d probably have to get there a couple hours earlier to ensure a seat on the bus – if it actually comes. While I wait for the bus,

I’d be clutching my handbag and laptop bag tightly making it hard to pay the irate bus driver. So that would take over an hour. Then I’d get to the LRT station and join in the hustle and bustle of the morning work crowd.

Hopefully I don’t miss the train. It’s not just a seven-minute interval between trains, it’s a seven-minute difference of a more crowded train. Now to line up for a train only to be cramped like sardines.

I must be careful that my belongings are close to me and make sure I don’t answer the mobile phone if it rings, but hey, who am I kidding? I wouldn’t have any more hands to answer a phone because I’d be concentrating on my balance. Also I might have to stare down irky characters that try to brush up on unsuspecting passengers.

If I’ve not fainted from the lack of oxygen during that long hour’s ride, I’d rush out like everyone else at my stop. Swap trains and repeat. Now to get a taxi or a bus to my destination which is about a five-minute drive but not close enough to walk.

Another hour just to get a metered taxi only to join the massive traffic jam and pay a hefty fare. I’ll probably reach my destination haze-struck, drenched in sweat or wet from the rain due to the lack of covered pedestrian walking areas.

My mental state cluttered while I looked deranged from trying to protect my belongings and reeling from a derogatory whistle from a passer-by. All in all probably be wise to get a three-hour head start.

So maybe it’s better to drive to KL for my 9 o’clock.

I’d probably have to leave my home before 7am for a 30km drive into town. Morning traffic is a killer though. Also I think many road-users wake up on the wrong side of the bed and can be quite nasty on the road or maybe they too are half awake from battling traffic the day before.

So two hours in the car, paid some tolls and got into another jam. I’m hoping no one rams their car into mine or causes me to hit someone and most importantly, that I remain calm and don’t cause accidents myself.

Praying that there are no broken-down cars needing to be towed or that a container/ lorry has not gone through an area with height restrictions and caused a massive jam.And please, please let there not be a VIP motorcade, an accident on the opposite side of the road or an earth mover caterpillaring during rush hour traffic.

Destination reached just over two hours of strategic-defensive driving, but where will I park? Parking rates are pretty steep in town and parking lots are far from my meeting venue.

Can’t triple park on the road unless it’s Friday, so RM10 an entry will have to do even after all that petrol wasted in the jam.Well, now to cross the road and get to that 9 o’clock. Clutch the bag, and let’s hope my heels don’t give way on the potholed roads. Where’s that pedestrian crossing?

A few hours later, I’m back in the office, physically fine, emotionally exhausted. Now to actually get some work done before the balik rumah jam and another day of Hamlet questions.

I wonder how everyone else copes…

Natalie might not feel the pain if she had a personal driver :) though on a serious note, the overall consensus is that transportation in KL is beyond dreadful.

Comment: letters@thesundaily.com

A Quiet Revolution

Natalie Shobana Ambrose (2 July, 2009 - theSun)


We’ve come to the middle of the year. July 2nd means that we’re right smack at the midpoint of 2009. It’s been an interesting 6 months. We’ve got a new leader, a new cabinet, lots of new by-election candidates, new court cases, interesting bills and even a brand new slogan. We’ve also had quite a few revolutions in the form of colours- yellow, orange and even black.

Revolutions have been going on for a very long time. If you believe in Adam and Eve, perhaps you’d agree that their behaviour in the Garden of Eden was the beginning of a revolution which sparked an extensive list of change - political, social, cultural, technological, intellectual and philosophical change that have served as markers in our human history.

In Latin, the word revolution means “a turn around” which is really a turn around in the way we think. So I’m wondering since it’s the middle of the year, maybe we need a turn around regarding our fetish with race.

We in Malaysia speak about race in subterfuge. We’re so concerned about colour even within our own races that we are doubly wrapped in prejudice within our own communities and against other races. We’re so immune to it that we don’t realize that we ourselves might be the culprits of spreading racism and be closet fascist. It’s easy to see and speak in vivid colour when every time one picks up the newspaper there is talk about race which though meant for good ends up offending and pushes people further away from the bridge of unity, hence my call for a quite revolution.

Throughout history, revolution has started with a resolution. I think it’s high time we decided for ourselves how we want to see ‘others’. After all it’s our legacy that we leave behind not the policies and slogans of our country.

Yes there are structural inequalities in place but isn’t that the case all around the world? What we need to realise is that it’s structural issues and cultural problems that are at the core - not race. Sometimes its not a quota system that stops us from being the best, it’s our lack of determination. We’ve given up before we even tried. If you’ve been discriminated against because of the colour of your skin, the best thing you could do is to succeed, because that would be the biggest slap in the face for the people that tried to oppress you.

So perhaps we could start a quiet revolution - one that decides to check our thought, and stop ourselves from indulging in stereotypes and prejudices as we look kindly at one another because that is the essence of being human.

A couple weeks ago, I attended a race relations forum with two good friends. Half way through the forum we realized we were all ethnicly different. To us it didn’t matter what race we were, it mattered that we enjoyed each other’s company and believed more in humanity that race.

I recently came across this poem by Saadi an Iraqi poet who aptly says;

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.


Maybe the resolution for the next half of the year would be for us to turn around our prejudices, look at ourselves and make a change instead of waiting for policies, politicians and slogans to change our circumstances. It will take a while before our policy makers realise that being one means not dividing unity by race. So in the mean time, we can start by being part of a quiet revolution that values life more than race.

We have to start with ourselves and if we stopped our own prejudices and consciously decided to get to know people who are different from us, then we could be part of a quiet revolution towards the unity of humanity that values one another based on the sanctity of life and not colour.

There is no room to be passive victims of racism … we should really be the change because there is too much to loose if we remain silent.



Natalie is echoing an MJ song and resolutes not to live her life being a colour and hopes that you might too.

Comments: letters@thesundaily.com