The U.S. and Malaysia: Separated At Birth?
By Brian Yap
It’s usually pointed out how the pervasiveness of its culture has lead to an Americanisation of the world. McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Levi’s might have been the pioneering batch, but now Starbucks, Paris Hilton, and Heroes are continuing the exponentially growing trend. A Starbucks in the Forbidden City in Beijing was probably one of the most potent symbols of how US corporations have managed to infiltrate every corner in the world, even a historic venue in the communist country.
Thanks to protests, however, the store has since shut its doors. Nevertheless, one tiny battle won doesn’t really mean the homogenisation of culture will slow down. The French have long tried to resist this fast-food, marketing-driven culture the U.S. was exporting, but after awhile it too seemed on the verge of giving up. The forces of globalisation just seems too strong to fight.
Here in Malaysia, the American influence is certainly tangible. Decades after we’ve had our first Big Macs, McDonald’s have become as much a part of Malaysian culture as are movies from Hollywood. In shopping malls all over the country, brands and symbols from the US are ubiquitous, whether Nike, Guess or KFC. All of which is fine by me. Unfortunately, the Americanisation of Malaysia has grown beyond the shopping mall and the radio and TV stations—it’s also visible in other realms of Malaysian life these days.
For instance, like the United States, we have a leader who is generally viewed by many—including former Prime Ministers, no less—as incompetent, full of slogans, and propped up by a coterie of advisors.
Bush was famously playing a guitar given to him by some country singer I’ve never heard of (what, the Dixie Chicks weren’t available?), while people were dying in New Orleans due to Hurricane Katrina. Pak Lah was also caught on camera opening a nasi kandar restaurant in Perth as much of Johor was submerged in the flood.
“You’re either with us, or you’re against us,” President Bush once declared. Americans who dared to ask questions about September 11, the war on Iraq, or about the need for a confrontational attitude towards Iran, are often villified by the media (with Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News leading the way) and other politicians. Barack Obama’s refusal to wear the American flag as a lapel pin was taken as a serious issue, as pundits used it to question his patriotism. Here, Anwar Ibrahim’s criticism of the NEP leads UMNO to call him a traitor and an agent of the Jews.
Much like in the U.S., our blogosphere and other online newspapers are the ones setting the news agenda, reporting and commenting on issues that the mainstream media wouldn’t touch, until it was absolutely beyond their control and spin.
And much like the rise of the Christian right’s strong influence over the current US administration, Malaysia’s policies have also increasingly been subject to the acceptance and approval of the Islamic right. From rock concerts to movies in the cinema, the uniforms of policewomen to food in school canteens, the lines between religion and public life gone from blur to being virtually erased. When the NGO for free and fair elections, BERSIH, called for the use of indelible ink, it was hard enough getting the Election Commission to go along with it. Even after the latter approved, it was still dependent on the Fatwa Council.
It’s not always a case of Malaysia following the U.S., however. In areas where we were ahead, like say, detention without trial, the Bush administration has been quick to catch up. We’ve been putting people under the ISA in the name of national security for decades now, and they’ve also started to do the same. From Guantanamo Bay to Abu Ghraib, the US has also been quick to pick up on torture, much like what Abdul Malek Hussin had to go through when he was detained in 1998. Like Malek, Guantamo detainees have also filed suit against the U.S. government.
So does this mean Malaysia and the U.S. are more similar than we previously thought? In some ways, yes. But you know these Americans, always wanting to be ahead and all. The Bush administration’s use of warrantless wiretapping is by now well known, but I don’t know for sure if they do that here yet. I sure hope we don’t follow suit, however. Listening to the phone calls of others is a Western value that is incompatible with our Asian country.
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