My favourite Malaysian Datuk once said to me that, “Look at
the people who are your friends. They were probably your friends 10-years ago.
Look at the people who don’t like you. They probably didn’t like you 10-years
ago too.” The good Datuk argued that people either liked you or didn’t and there
was nothing you could do to change that.
I’m also reminded of the fact that people often judge you by
the company you keep and you’re often bound to view yourself by the same
company. This has become especially true in the context of social media, where we
do much of our socializing. For example, whenever I get a friend request on
either Facebook or Linkedin, I usually check to see if we have friends in
common. This helps me to gages the context of my relationship (did the mutual
friends come from school, army, family, workplace etc). Chances are, if you
have a mutual friend with someone, you’ll have a mutual interest and more
importantly, mutual values.
It goes without saying that I enjoy the company of the
people I like, and I like to think that the people who like me back also enjoy
my company.
However, while friends often enrichen your life, the people
whom you don’t like and don’t like you can often do more from you than your
friends.
One of the biggest pleasures I get is reading the comments
from the readers of TRemeritus, which picks up various blog pieces. My critics
enjoy calling me names, especially eunuch – one who criticizes the President of
the USA but doesn’t have the guts to criticize my own government. I’ve also
been accused of name dropping and claiming to do all sorts of things which they
claim are impossible.
I always simile because these guys are doing me a service. For
all the angst they have towards me, they’re reading whatever I write and
TRemeritus republishes from my blog. The second point one should notice is that
while I’m being pilloried for not having the courage to blast the Singapore government,
I’m posting under my actual name rather than behind a self-created identity,
specially used for the internet.
While reading the criticisms leveled against you by the
online crowd is fun, the real pleasure in life comes from being in the cross
hairs of people who have the power to make life downright miserable.
I’m reminded of a friend who asked me whether I would like to be “F*** blue,” by the late Lee Kuan Yew. If one thinks with a sane mind, the answer is no. While Old Man Lee has been credited with making Singapore what it is, he was by many accounts a nasty bastard who took pride in ruining anyone who crossed him. He was particularly hard on journalist and being summoned to the Istana for a dressing down was usually the fastest way to end one’s career. The logical answer to my friends’ question would be a resounding “No are you crazy.”
However, my friend did point out that I was someone insignificant
and if Lee Kuan Yew, the man who shaped Singapore was ever to summon me for a
dressing down, it would mean that I had finally done something worthy of his
notice.
For the record, I’m still too insignificant to enter the cross
hairs of the Singapore government. However, I can claim to have needled a few
interesting people.
The first one was Mr. Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the Lee
Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and the persuasive voice of top-down-government.
It was at talk by Carlos Gutierrez, former Treasury Secretary under Bush II. The
Secretary had given a speech on following the business principle of “doing what
works.” I asked him about whether government would “stop doing what doesn’t
work” – the Cuban Embargo as a case in point. Secretary Gutierrez did give a
nice PR answer (which only enforced the point that the US Embargo had kept both
Castro Brothers in power) and the moment he finished; Mr. Mahbubani rushed to
shut down the discussion.
The second instance was a French Ambassador who was giving a
talk at Institute of South Asian Studies. His Excellency was talking about nuclear
proliferation and somehow decided to brush of a question on Israel’s refusal to
join the IAEA. I pressed the challenge that Western Powers have consistently
rushed to fight Muslim leaders who may have the bomb but have ignored Israel’s
refusal to play by the rules and when North Korea proved that it had the nukes,
everybody rushed to negotiate.
My most recent achievement came from the CEO of Centurion Corporation,
the largest dormitory owner in Singapore. I had written a letter to question
why the government had chosen to underwrite the bill in increased costs that the
dormitory owners were facing. My published letter can be found at:
When this letter was published, a friend of mine had
dismissed the fact that Centurion Corporation would not bother to respond to
me. Well, the CEO himself has put a name to “clarify” what I wrote.
I’ve submitted a rejoinder and submitted it to the press for
their publication. Not sure if they will be it was nice to be noticed.
Whatever I’ve achieved in pissing off certain people, I’m nothing
compared to Tenzin Tsundue, a Tibetan activist who has become a pain in the
side of the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Tsundue, was born in India as a
Tibetan refuge and has made it his life’s mission to regain Tibet’s independence.
Mr. Tsundue is a good writer and his writings have caught
the attention of people in Beijing. His actions are such that whenever there
was a visiting Chinese delegation, the Indian Authorities would lock him for
good measure and only released him once the visit was over. This is an
achievement. A major world government locks you up to stay in the good books of
the leaders of the second largest economy on the planet. As Tsundue himself
says, “I don’t even know where my next meal is coming from and they’re scared of
me.”
While its generally best to be friendly with everyone you
deal with, pissing people off can be a rewarding experience in terms of your
personal branding and standing in the world.
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