Safety not taken for granted

THERE it was, an enormous report card with no red ink, spelling out the achievements of the 38,000-strong New York Police Department (NYPD).

It came about after an unarmed young bridegroom was killed in a hail of police bullets, a tragedy that traumatised the black community and sparked off accusations that the NYPD was trigger-happy.

So the cops fought back, through a full-page newspaper advertisement last month paid for by the NYC Detectives' Endowment Association.

Their message was loud and simple: “Policing New York City, especially in the post-9/11 world, is a difficult and dangerous job” and the NYPD had been “remarkably restrained in its use of force.”

According to them, there had been fewer fatal police shootings in New York compared to cities with police departments less than half the size of NYPD.

The ad stated a well-published fact that crime in the city dropped 4.7% last year. Rapes, for example, went down 7.9% to 1,486. Robberies continued to slide in this city of eight million, totalling 23,538 cases last year.

Dallas, incidentally, is the most violent US city. New York is No. 10 with 1,1,87 crimes per 100,000 people.

Yes, New York is the safest large city in the United States. But like anywhere else, no one takes for granted his or her sense of sanctuary here.

“I feel safe in New York, but there is still a need to be street-savvy. Don't walk around listening to your iPod as you would want to be alert to your surroundings, especially at night,” said Fern Chan, a Malaysian who works for a frame manufacturer.

Once, her bag that was placed on a chair was stolen during a night out in a crowded bar last year.

“Other than that, I have never had any unpleasant experience like being mugged,” said Chan, who has lived in New York for the past six years.

None of her friends or colleagues have been mugged “although they have been groped on the subway and the street!” Chan said.

She has no qualms, too, about taking the subway late at night. “My latest time was 3am,” she said. Or, she would take a taxi home.

Others such as Eve Ng, another Malaysian working here, are more cautious about taking the subway in the dead of night.

“Unless you are commuting with friends, it is more advisable to get a cab during late hours, especially after 1am on weeknights, since the trains run infrequently then,” she said.

Still, Ng finds the city to be a generally safe place with few neighbourhoods to avoid.

“There are only some areas in Harlem, the Bronx and certain parts of the Lower East Side that are considered dangerous,” she said.

She had also been fortunate, unlike a friend who witnessed a shooting in a rough neighbourhood one Sunday afternoon.

“It was pretty scary, since it was my first time hearing it from a friend. He also had another bad experience. Someone broke into his apartment and stole his laptop. He lives in East Village, which is considered a good neighbourhood. So you never know.”

Central Park, the famed green lung of Manhattan, is also preferably avoided after dark. Muggers are at play there, though these incidents are isolated.

But the consensus remains among locals and foreigners that there is largely no clear and present danger where crime is concerned. “After Sept 11, there has been a lot more security; more cops and more plainclothes policemen,” Chan said.

Others pointed to the low unemployment rate and that the big bunch of immigrants here are too determined and busy earning a living.

Locals themselves acknowledge that the police are quick to turn up at crime scenes. “That's because they are often patrolling the streets,” explained one New Yorker.

However, she was put off by what she felt was a quick tendency by the police to issue summonses even for traffic light offences. “They have to meet the quota of number of summonses given out,” she said.

Incidentally, New York police officers have a starting salary of US$25,000 (RM87,400) annually, which is considered low, since the average weekly pay in boroughs like Manhattan is US$1,453 (RM5,081) and Brooklyn US$691 (RM2,416).

Patrol officers' maximum pay is about US$59,588 (RM208,377) annually.

Still, nobody tries to bribe their way out of a traffic summons as the cops, apparently, just won't bite.

A diplomat's life

IN THE wonderful fabled world of diplomacy, membership has its privileges. A black-tie dinner here, a cocktail party there ... and there’s the chauffeur, the fancy car with tinted windows and the diplomatic passport that provides a certain level of immunity.

But beneath the glam and the glitz, there are also the untold stories of toil and sweat.

For one, diplomats live in glasshouses, where their manners and appearance are often scrutinised.

Heard about the envoy who quarrelled with his wife inside their car, and the woman marched out of the vehicle, barefooted? Such behaviour is scandalous with a capital S.

A Cabinet minister, another story goes, visited a diplomat at his residence and was greeted by the diplomat's wife, who was wearing slippers. In a reality show, this woman would have been booted out in round one.

Which is why diplomats are coached on how not to become a fashion disaster.

“We were given lessons on colour combinations, right down to matching socks,” recalled Datuk Hamidon Ali, Malaysia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Slap the person who tells you not to judge a book by its cover.

Diplomats and their significant others are also given a clothing allowance depending on factors such as the country’s climate.

Now based in New York, Hamidon is a career diplomat with a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard and 33 years of experience.

“There are many things that go beyond what we were taught; the way you talk, the proper way a house should be kept and so forth,” said Hamidon.

Private lives should be spotless, too.

“No scandals, avoid affairs. You are representing the country,” said Hamidon.

Outsiders may scorn at all the dinner parties and the “golf diplomacy” but Hamidon gave a peek into what actually goes on at such occasions.

“A lot of networking and lobbying take place during a reception. We would pull a person aside, asking him for his help or to find other avenues of cooperation,” he said.

Golf, he said, certainly helps break the ice, as do other games like badminton and tennis.

“You get the best info from these informal sessions,” he said.

In Hamidon’s personal opinion, a diplomat operates better with fewer barriers around himself. He would, for instance, have no qualms shaking hands with the Israeli ambassador.

Also, he would accept it in good faith when a dinner host tells him that the food served is halal.

“You can’t go in and inspect their kitchen. You don’t open their fridge or ask the cook about it. People will take offence,” he said. Believe it or not, some people have done it before, causing much ill feeling.

“I have been invited to a dinner where caterpillars were served because it was their delicacy. I had to decline politely,” he said.

New York was quite an open society that allowed diplomats to do many things, he said.

“I always tell my staff to venture out,” he said.

Still, the No. 1 rule remains: No scandals, please.

“If you have stag party and invite a stripper, you are in trouble,” Hamidon said.

How about dining at Hooters?

“It’s okay especially if you are accompanying someone there,” he said.

This is also a job where the spouse can make or break your career, said Hamidon.

“The way they carry themselves, the way they socialise, that’s important.”

There are many sacrifices required of the wives, he said. For one, these spouses, no matter how highly educated, are not allowed to have a job unless it is in a non-paying capacity like voluntary work.

Apparently, one diplomat’s wife was found working as a supermarket cashier once.

“The country’s image goes down when such a thing happens,” Hamidon said.

Why is the language of diplomacy often so convoluted while saying nothing at all?

Hamidon laughed and showed a plaque imprinted with the message: “We do and say the nastiest things in the nicest way.”

“Most of time, we stress on consensus so that everyone is on board. It is something that we have all agreed upon and the message is subject to interpretation,” he said.

Hamidon, who has served in six other countries, believed that a plus about being a diplomat was the chance of experiencing new cultures in different countries.

“Each posting is never the same,” said Hamidon, who is married and has two sons aged 21 and 27.

Growing up in Johor, he had a hunger to see the world.

His wish has come true. And no matter how strict the code of conduct is, diplomats grow into their job.

“That’s how it is in Wisma Putra,” he said.

The white female convert who became president

NEWSWEEK marked her as one of the 20 people to watch this year.

Certainly, Ingrid Mattson’s profile has leapt since she won an uncontested election late August last year to become the president of the Islamic Society of North America (Isna).

Her story has been well told. Mattson was raised a Catholic during her growing up years in Ontario, Canada. By the time she turned 15, God remained a huge question mark to her.

Her young life turned a new page when she met several Senegalese Muslims whom she found warm and dignified during a trip to Paris. She began reading the Quran and, to cut a long story short, Mattson converted to Islam at the age of 24.

During an interview at Hartford Seminary, Connecticut, where she is an Islamic studies professor, Mattson was a voice of reason and whose photos did her no justice at all.

Her tiny office was crammed with books, mostly in Arabic.

“Yes, I can speak the language. I had to study Arabic for my PhD. I do most of my research in it,” said Mattson, 43.

To her own surprise, there was little opposition to her becoming the leader of Isna, the biggest umbrella body for Muslim groups in Canada and the United States.

“There are the more conservative ones who feel that a woman should have a lesser public role. Some have been silent, others supportive. I have received calls from those who expressed support despite their own personal opinions. There had been very few explicitly negative critique. I was surprised. I thought those who opposed it would be more public about it but they haven’t.”

These days, more Muslims are coming to the United States. In 2005, 96,000 became permanent residents, the highest ever in two decades.

“Our community is ready for the next stage of growth. The majority of us have been born in the United States or are second or third generation from immigrant parents. These are Muslims who feel that this is their home. We want to be engaged in the society which we live in.”

Why do they view America as the Promised Land?

“Most Muslims can distinguish between the political policies of any particular US administration and the country as a whole,” she said.

“They know there is a lot to offer here, even compared to Europe. The US is a country open to diversity; it accepts public expressions of religion. Here, it is very common for people to thank God in public and wear some religious dress that is different.”

More importantly, she said these people heard from their friends that “this is a good place to be a Muslim despite the fact that we had some difficulties in the last few years”.

How about starting anew in the rich Gulf states?

“There are Muslims going there, where there are many jobs. But the experience of some Muslims is that they don’t feel they have the freedom. They don’t have the hope of ever becoming a citizen in those countries because of their laws.”

“In the United States, if you are let in, you can make this a home for your children. They can be educated in the best schools. This is the beauty of the country for those who come legally. There are so many opportunities not just to make money but to be part of a society.”

Despite several post-Sept 11 “over reach” administrative measures which sent out wrong signals that Muslims were guilty until proven innocent, Mattson noted that the US government had also been very good in prosecuting hate crimes.

“I think we are starting to reach a better balance now,” she said.

Mattson believes that the biggest problem for Muslims is the enemy within.

“It is our own ignorance of our scholarly tradition; the failure to understand the broadness of Islam. Muslims have narrowed it; they have become judgmental, intolerant of others. They want to look at things in a uniform way; they want Muslims to look and act the same way.”

Mattson, who wears a headscarf, said the veil was just one out of 1,000 things that Muslims needed to do.

“I believe that women should wear the hijab but at the same time, they must also be kind and not gossip with others. I am not going to judge those who do not wear it. I have a friend who’s a hairdresser but she doesn’t wear one. She cuts men’s hair and some people think she’s a bad Muslim. But I swear that she is a better person than I am.”

Mattson and her Egyptian husband, an engineer, have a daughter, 17, and a son, 15.

Her daughter was 12 when she wanted to wear the headscarf.

“I told her to consider it as a practice and if she did not feel comfortable about it later, she could take if off without thinking that she had broken a promise to God. She has decided to keep it on,” said Mattson.

She also disputed views that Muslims did not laugh at themselves often enough.

“Anyone who says that hasn’t watched Arabic TV. Egypt, since the invention of the TV, has been famous for its comedians.”

Little Mosque on the Prairie, a new Canadian hit sitcom about Muslims, was also proof of that, she said.

All a-twitter over British celebs visiting the Big Apple

A DAZZLING Elizabeth Hurley was in town to promote a jeans collection, in what seems to be a mini-British invasion of late.

The English actress charmed the men and women who lined up for her autograph at Macy’s, often billed as the world’s largest department store.

“We did a survey, asking our customers who they want to see as the new face of Jordache Jeans. Hurley’s name came up the most,” said its president Liz Berlineer in a brief interview on Thursday.

That, she found, was not surprising because “Hurley is sexy, she’s a mother and she’s real.”

Ronald Rogers, a captivated fan who got her signature, couldn’t agree more. “And I love her accent,” he gushed.

Indeed, Americans have a thing for the British tone. When English supermodel Naomi Campbell pleaded guilty recently in a Manhattan court for hurling a cellphone at her maid, the New York Times described that she had a “mellifluous British accent”.

Besides Hurley, another British celebrity came a fortnight ago to hawk his memoirs titled Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins.

Rupert Everett, who made his name playing Julia Roberts’ gay friend in My Best Friend’s Wedding, turned up at a Manhattan bookstore to sign copies of the book for a group of non-squealing fans, but who were keen enough to bombard him with questions ranging from his childhood to his career.

The gay actor, who looked good with a five o’clock shadow, pulled no punches when someone in the audience posed a query using a term which nobody was familiar with.

“What’s that?” he asked, sounding exasperated and promptly dismissed the question. “Next!” he called out.

Everett also appeared earlier in a talk show, saying that he simply adored Madonna, the Queen of Pop.

Blue-blooded Brits hit the road here in the United States, too. Charles and Camilla dropped by for a two-day visit to a decent amount of buzz from the American media.

Besides Philadelphia, the royal couple made a stop in New York last Sunday.

It was a low-key affair when they arrived in Harlem to visit Harlem Children’s Zone, a non-profit community organisation.

Just a small group of curious onlookers stood to watch them. No red carpet, no siren, no road closure.

They have their fans, though. “She looked lovely, much better than what we see in the papers which usually show her in an unflattering light,” said college student Sara C., who lives in Chelsea, New York, but who came to Harlem just to catch a glimpse of the prince.

Sara, who studies international relations, however, acknowledged that few Americans were taken up by the British royal family.

The newspapers were cheeky, naturally.

Someone recollected that back in November 2005 when Charles and Camilla came to attend a Sept 11 memorial, a tabloid had observed that the prince did not make eye contact at all with his second wife.

“Maybe they’ve just grown accustomed to sneaking around,” was the tabloid’s naughty remarks.

But the biggest British export to make a splash here was David Beckham, no doubt.

When news broke that the soccer star had signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy, one producer of a celebrity TV show was quoted in the press as saying that “this is a big, big, big deal. The office here is a-twitter this morning.”

According to him, scores of people were already volunteering to be on a “Posh and Becks watch.”

Comparisons have already been made between Beckham’s US$250mil (RM900mil) deal and the 10-year contract of US$252mil (RM907mil) signed by baseball player Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.

What kept coming, though, was the ribbing.

Much was made about Beckham’s impact on the sport in the United States but comedian Jay Leno summed it best: “He could change the way Americans ignore soccer.”

As for Beckham’s eldest son, the seven-year-old Brooklyn who was named after a New York borough where he was conceived, a columnist had this to say:

“Thank God he wasn’t born in Queens (another borough in New York).”

Hillary and Obama among presidential hopefuls

THE winter is raw but the race to the Oval Office is warming up already, although there are another 22 months before Americans decide on their 44th president.

Last week, the biggest name so far threw her hat in the battle, to nobody's surprise.

Just two days before Hillary Clinton announced her bid for the White House, Frank M. Newport, editor-in-chief of The Gallup Polls, spoke to a group of foreign journalists in New York.

“It's inevitable,” he said of the former first lady's intention to join the race for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.

She constantly topped the opinion polls, and as Newport puts it, Hillary is one of the best-known politicians in the United States today.

“She already has a strongly chiselled image,” he said, unlike newbie Barack Obama, the Illinois senator, who is a blank slate to Americans.

It will be a long-distance race as the primary elections, where voters pick the candidate to represent their party, are still another year away.

And one year in politics is like 1,001 Arabian Nights, only 10 times over.

It's a fact that the Gallup organisation, which studies human nature, most readily acknowledged.

Newport looked to history; around this time 16 years ago, Bill Clinton ranked low in a Gallup poll for the Democratic nomination with just 2% support.

Gradually, his profile rose and by January the following year, he had emerged the frontrunner.

Meanwhile, the entertainment begins for the observers as public scrutiny of the presidential candidates intensifies. Nothing, and nobody, is left out by the eagle-eyed American media.

A tabloid even noted how tall Michelle Obama is.

The 43-year-old Harvard-educated wife of Obama is 1.8m, and that the two of them watched a movie called Do the Right Thing on their first date.

Her dressing, naturally, is placed under the microscope and she seemed to pass.

“She keeps her wardrobe strictly no-frills, her shoes are sensible and her jewellery, minimum.” That was how New York Post graded her.

Hillary also received high marks from image consultants, who apparently liked her Nehru-style jackets and her haircut.

However, her best asset remains hubby Bill, still wildly popular among Americans.

Voting for her means you get two-for-the price-of-one, as some people say.

But critics believe that she won't even be a senator if not for her last name and that she mirrors all that is wrong in politics.

Others are already jumping the gun, trying to predict the replacement as New York senator, should Hillary succeed in taking control of the White House.

One Democrat contender, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, is said to be a Guinness World Record holder. His feat? He shook 13,392 hands in one day during his campaign for governor four years ago.

The 2008 race will create a record of its own.

Hillary, 59, will be the first female president of the United States, if she's in and she wins, to borrow her own quote. At least eight other Democrat candidates are eyeing the presidential nomination.

Among them, Richardson, who will become the first Hispanic in the White House if he triumphs.

No prize for guessing the record that Obama will create if he wins.

Over at the Republican side, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, a potential contender, will be the first Mormon president, if he's lucky.

“Americans are not ready to vote for a Mormon yet,” Newport said.

As Time magazine noted two months ago, most Americans are still not comfortable with the Mormon faith, although its followers are very much family-focused.

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is heading the polls among Republican hopefuls, followed by Arizona governor John McCain.

So far, 17 politicians from both parties are in the race to the White House, although some of them have not made that formal declaration yet.

“One reason why this election is fascinating is because this is a truly open election. There is no incumbent running and at this point, everything looks more positive for the Democrat Party. This is one of the reasons why the Democrats are scrambling for it,” said Newport.

Hillary or Obama, they are not the only game in town.

Asian enigma in U.S. varsities

IT IS a timeless question, one that invites much debate and sees little agreement.

Asian students here often have the distinction of being academic achievers, so much so that US campuses are reportedly beginning to sport an Oriental look.

There is no end to the dissection on why Asians are scoring top marks.

Is it the Confucian tradition? (Those who do not study are only cattle dressed up in human clothes, according to the philosopher.)

Could it be the immigrant outlook? Or is it the acknowledgement of their parents’ struggle, hence the need for payback time?

The jury is still out. In the meantime, Asian-Americans – who number about 12 million or four per cent of the US population – are clawing their way into universities.

Scores of campuses, including some from the Ivy League, have recorded at least 13% Asian-Americans in their undergraduate student population.

In a free newspaper here, someone remarked rather smugly that if American universities practised meritocracy completely, half of their enrolment would be Asians.

Try telling that to John C. Liu, a New York City councilman who isn’t thrilled at all with such assumptions.

“That is a model minority myth. The fact remains that many Asian-Americans are struggling economically and academically,” said Liu, who became the first Asian-American to sit on the city council when elected in 2001.

To him, the typecasting of an Asian-American as the poster boy of good grades will do more harm than good for the community.

“It sounds great, but it actually hurts us more,” he said in an interview.

He explained that the stereotype, no matter how seemingly positive, could be used as a divisive agent among the minority groups.

And Liu is not way off the mark.

Questions have been raised as to whether Asian-Americans are impinging on the chances of African-Americans and the Hispanics.

A study called “The Opportunity Cost of Admission Preferences at Elite Universities” has been cited to show that if affirmative action were done away with, the admission rate for blacks and Hispanics would be lowered as Asian-Americans would sweep up four out of five seats that would otherwise have gone to the other two groups.

An article in The New York Times entitled “Little Asia on the Hill” said: “In California, the rise of the Asian campus, of the strict meritocracy, has come at the expense of historically under-represented blacks and Hispanics.”

The article picked California because the Golden State, with an estimated 36 million population, has a very diverse face: Asians (12%), African-Americans (6%) and Hispanics (35%).

Others beg to differ, however.

One report pointed out that many black students who got into university under affirmative action failed to complete their courses.

The writer argued that these undergraduates would be better off if they were placed in campuses where their academic qualifications were on par with everybody else’s.

So, would there be an Asian invasion if universities practised meritocracy strictly?

Ng Hock Min, a scientist who previously studied in Boston University, does not think so.

“There tends to be more Asians in fields like science and engineering but fewer in the humanities such as literature and history,” he said.

Based on his experience, Ng found the majority of Asians diligent and serious about their studies, particularly foreign students.

“There was definitely a lot of competition amongst us. When I was an undergraduate, there weren’t scholarships available, so most of them were self-funded.

“There was a lot of pressure to do well,” he said.

To these people, there are no short cuts in universities, so there really is no mystery surrounding the rising Asian enrolment.

Wacky start to winter

IT’S no small talk when it comes to the weather here. In fact, it is so serious that broadsheets like The New York Times devote one page on the topic every day and bloggers write nothing else but the weather.

Last week, when the mercury went up abnormally high this winter season, the subject was all that people could talk about.

Normal January temperature should hover around 2°C but last Saturday, it hit a peak of 22°C. New Yorkers were scandalised.

Where’s winter, they wondered. Others made sardonic comments about “back in those days when we had winter.”

This wacky winter, as the tabloids called it, evoke both applause and alarm from the Americans.

“I haven’t had a chance to wear the sweaters that I bought during the Christmas sale,” a staff at the Borders bookshore complained to his colleague.

But his co-worker disliked getting frozen so the warm weather was delightful news to her.

For her, it was a winter of content. “The biting cold will come soon enough.”

She was quite right. By Wednesday, it turned frosty and New York experienced its first snow of the season, albeit a mere 15-minute flurry, which meteorologists said was too little to measure.

News reports pointed out that here in New York, the last time that snow came so late was on Jan 4, 1878. That means 129 years ago.

Global warming got the most blame so far. Others accused El Nino. The weather guys had a more plausible explanation, which they attributed to an unseasonable air mass that was further warmed by strong winds.

“Weather anomalies are constantly occurring across the globe. The warmth in northeast United States was much remarked over because it happened where many millions of people live. However, countless weather extremes go unreported because they happen over sparsely populated areas or oceans,” according to one forecast.

Last week, newspapers published pictures of people wearing sleeveless T-shirts. Joggers ran about in shorts.

Cherry blossoms at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden made an unscheduled appearance and dolphins were spotted in the East Hampton town of New York state.

The balmy weather led to gloomy faces among retailers.

A week before Christmas, they were already complaining about the slow sale of winter coats and accessories such as gloves and scarves.

Weather reports are heavy-duty stuff here where it doesn’t just suffice to say “hujan di satu dua tempat.” Reports on the TV and newspapers will provide the condition in Central Park the previous evening, trends in the last 10 days, and also a comparison with the corresponding day last year.

The time of sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset is available as well besides ozone reading and UV index.

There is an endless list of indicators such as C (clouds), F (fog), I (ice), Sn (snow), SS (snow showers), H (haze), PC (partly cloudy) and T (thunderstorms).

Most news programmes will show the current temperature in a little box below the TV screen.

Americans, by the way, have not embraced the metric system yet. So, the report says: “Much cooler, sunny. High 53.” By our definition, that’s 11.7°C.

Few people pay scant attention to the weather report. Their attire and activities are governed by the temperature of the day.

They need to know how much, or how little, to wear before stepping out of the house. It also settles the question about the umbrella. An outdoor event organised by one company recently came with the caveat “subject to inclement weather.”

Still, the days of warm winter are numbered, as the mercury isn’t rising anymore. By the middle of last week, it was a different story as people began to bundle up again.

On Wednesday, the temperature dipped to below zero.

In the words of the weatherman, it was frigid.