Hey, Malaysia is also Asia

GOOD morning Baltimore; every day’s like an open door. So goes the lyrics of a song from the musical Hairspray which was set here, known also as Charm City.

Well, a trade and investment delegation from Malaysia had knocked on those doors, led by Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Ng Lip Yong.

He came to this city in Maryland on a mission to sell Malaysia to businessmen here, presenting all the facts and figures about the ties that bind the two countries.

The United States, he told them, was Malaysia’s largest trading partner.

“US statistics on Malaysia’s trade through Baltimore port in 2006 showed that total trade amounted to US$67mil (RM222mil), an increase of almost 17% compared with the previous year,” he said.

Exports from Malaysia to Baltimore totalled US$56mil (RM185.5mil), mostly furniture, wood and rubber products.

Ng noted also that US companies in the surrounding states of Maryland have operations in Malaysia, including Johnson & Johnson, Crest Group, GlaxoSmith Kline, The Boeing Company and W.R. Grace & Co, a chemical and materials company.

Even the weather was a topic.

“Now that it is winter, let me tell you that Malaysia is a sunny place,” he quipped to chuckles from the 130 participants at the Malaysia-US Business Opportunitier seminar on Tuesday.

Ng, however, sure took his job seriously. He arrived in Baltimore on Monday evening and worked on his power point presentation till 3am, he said in an interview later.

“Since it is my first time leading such a mission to the United States, I thought I had better get it right,” he said, and tapping his forehead, added: “My minister would have everything up here.”

That, of course, was in reference to Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz who couldn’t make this trip. The Iron Lady is a figure who looms large in such missions.

US-Asean Business Council senior director Marc P. Mealy, who is well acquainted with Malaysian affairs, assured the Americans that they would find the country a pleasant place to live and work in.

“There are malls for your teenage kids. Designer labels are there, so are Starbucks and golf courses,” he said.

Although Ng explained at length about Malaysia being a moderate Muslim country, (“Look at me, I’m not a Muslim yet I am appointed a deputy minister,” he pointed out) no one brought up the issue during the question-and-answer session.

Perhaps the only “controversial” topic was the National Economic Policy, which Ng acknowledged was frequently raised.

“You have to look at the bigger picture. Some of you may not be agreeable 100% with it. But it has been a stability factor to make sure everyone gets a piece of the pie,” Ng explained.

As Mealy put it, the NEP was affirmative action for the majority.

Other questions touched on a free trade agreement, oil and gas development, the legal system, Islamic financing, the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, and the flow of US goods to Malaysia.

Ieasha Prime, owner of a clothing business, was concerned about labour regulations, to which Ng replied: “I can assure you that there are no sweatshops in Malaysia.”

Almost half of the participants were from the manufacturing sector.

This was Malaysia’s second mission to the United States this year. Rafidah led one to Miami, Florida, earlier.

Malaysian Industrial Development Authority director (New York) Wan Hashim Wan Jusoh said that Baltimore was selected this time because it fitted the profile that Malaysia wanted.

“It has good potential in trade. Also, it is an entry point to the mid-Atlantic region. Its proximity to Washington DC is another plus,” he said.

Besides, there had never been a Malaysian trade mission to Baltimore.

“We try not to repeat the cities that we have covered in the past three years,” he said.

Ng’s task, which ends on Dec 20, has two other stops – Dallas and Portland.

But as pointed out by Mealy, the big boys in the business know about Malaysia already.

“It’s the medium-sized businesses where the focus should be on, as they tend to think of China and India when you mention Asia to them.”

“Malaysia is still not sufficiently known to the average American businessman,” he said.

Seeking blessings from the stars

IT'S the place where stars are born and legends are made. Since 1914, it had been the platform for African-American artistes, who include such superstars as James Brown, Billie Holiday, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

That’s the Apollo Theatre, located in the heart of what has been described as the “the capital of black America”, Harlem.

“This is the cornerstone of African-American history and culture,” said Leslie Talbot, an educational consultant, referring to the historic landmark.

When Brown, the Godfather of Soul, died last Christmas, a public memorial took place at the Apollo, bringing together countless admirers who wanted to pay their last respects.

Former president Bill Clinton, a big hit among African-Americans, has kept an office near the Apollo since 2001.

So when Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama made an appearance at the theatre last week, it was a political sales pitch that spoke a thousand words.

Although the 46-year-old Illinois senator has the endorsement of talk show queen Oprah Winfrey, polls so far show that more African-Americans back Hillary Clinton.

His fund-raising event, A Night at the Apollo, was also a peek into the Harlem tradition, where gospel music is the hallmark.

The 10-member Harlem Gospel Choir, which has travelled the world to share its music and faith, gave a rousing performance, delivering such numbers as Amazing Grace and I Believe I Can Fly among others amid shouts of “hallelujah”.

The choir members sure knew how to tease the 1,500 people at the Apollo that night to donate to the Obama campaign.

“It gives me great honour to introduce,” one singer announced, “... the next song,” drawing laughter from those who had expected Obama to come on stage then.

Later, a local pastor walked up to the pulpit and prayed for Obama, invoking God’s blessing on him (Harlem, by Wikipedia’s estimate, has about 400 churches).

And as reminded by the emcee that night, Harlem was also a top entertainment centre. So, even as the Obama crowd was working up a frenzy waiting for their political star, performers of all ilk also took to the stage.

Kersten Stevens, a professional violinist, proved what a talent she was in jazz and classical music. She appeared twice to enthral the crowd. Still, the night has not even begun. Apparently, the organiser had a mystery guest, and he brought down the hall when he emerged from behind the curtain.

Comedian Chris Rock cracked everybody up when he asked them to be on the right side of history, because they would be “real embarrassed” if they had backed Hillary ... and Obama won instead.

“You’d say, ‘I had that white lady! What was I thinking?’,” Rock hollered.

He also poked fun at president George W. Bush, saying that his presidency had not let Americans down, because he was “everything that people thought ... and worse.”

“It was like a horror movie,” he continued.

The audience roared.

It was not just the African-Americans who turned up that night. A large number of non-blacks were there too.

Finally, at 9.22pm, the man whose face will grace the Dec 10 cover of Time magazine made his appearance, and was introduced by Rock as “the next president of the United States”.

Obama, who is sometimes said to be “not black enough”, started off by noting that it was a good thing Bush’s name would not be on the ballot paper when Americans go to the polls next year.

“And, the name of my cousin Dick Cheney won’t be on the ballot either,” he said. “We have been trying hard to hide this for a long time; everybody has a black sheep in the family.”

Oh, how the crowd loved that. Cheney and Obama are distant cousins.

Obama was plainly seeking endorsement from the Apollo crowd. Explaining why he wanted to be a part of the amazing race to the White House, he said: “I don’t want to wake up in four years and see that we still have more black men in prison than in college.”

Studies show that in the United States, more black men are behind bars than have been enrolled in colleges and universities.

Obama said he was tired of seeing young black men languishing on the streets without employment.

“I am in this race also because I am tired of reading about Jena,” he said, referring to a racially-charged case where six black teenagers were accused of beating up a white student in Jena, Louisiana, last year.

Pouring on more rhetoric, Obama declared that he no longer wanted to see a blue state or a red state. “I want a United States.”

Outside the Apollo, traders sold T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Black House” depicting the official residence of the US president.

Harlem-born artist R. Harper said: “I came tonight to hear his message. People want real change now.”

She believes he could grasp issues confronting the country now “as he is a person of mixed race himself”.

That night at the Apollo belonged to Obama, seeking to write history as America’s first black president.

Kedah boy earns his stripes in Big Apple

HE is from the little town of Sungai Petani. But there is nothing small about the accomplishments of 33-year-old contemporary artist Tan Tatt Foo in New York City.

His latest artistic endeavours are seen in Lower Manhattan now after he was selected by two local organisations which started “Re: Construction” in an effort to beautify unsightly construction sites there.

The outcome? Those boring concrete traffic barriers that surround an ongoing subway expansion project have been given a dash of colour. Orange zebra stripes have been painted on 14 of them, which Tan has named “Concrete Jungle.”

“I could have decided on leopard prints but I preferred something more subtle, more whimsical,” Tan said.

Public art like Concrete Jungle, he said, was meant for people to discover if they had sharp senses in their daily life.

Indeed, those zebra stripes struggle to be noticed amidst the chaos, especially if the passer-by is in too much of a hurry to take note of his surroundings.

But the creativity of the project has caught the attention of the local press.

The New York Times noted that the two organisations – Alliance for Downtown New York and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council – “have transformed commonplace street impediments into objects that are meant to be more aesthetically appealing.”

It briefly mentioned that Tan was the man behind the idea of painting zebra stripes on the barricades, which are also known as Jersey barriers. (There was, however, no mention of Tan being Malaysian.)

Besides Tan’s artwork, the two organisations also adopted other ideas from two other participants for the Re: Construction project.

New Yorkers were divided over the beautification effort; some loved the refreshing change, others saw it as an exercise in futility, while the rest could not be bothered.

As for Tan, it was another project he has undertaken with enthusiasm.

“I found out about it through the website of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). So I sent in my proposal, which was later accepted,” he said.

Artists like him often refer to the NYFA site. “Whether you are a dancer, poet or painter, NYFA is a good resource that offers grants, support and information on all sorts of subjects such as studio sub-letting, workshops and exhibiting opportunities,” he said. “I check the site several times a week.”

Malaysia, he noted, had something quite similar in kakiseni.com, but it was not as extensive.

Trained in graphic design at The One Academy in Selangor, Tan prefers to describe himself as a contemporary artist.

“This means that I have ideas and concepts that I want to convey. I do not sell you the tangible product as I may not necessarily have the know-how to carry out the agenda,” he said.

Tan undertakes commercial work as well, such as designing business cards, posters and menus. His next art show, titled “Cuisine du Jour”, will focus on the food of immigrants from Latin America, Eastern Europe and North Africa.

New York City, he said, was truly a melting pot made even more diverse by immigrants who introduced their cuisine here.

He worked with 10 immigrant students on this project, asking each of them to bring a personal memento and photographing them holding it.

“Each picture will be placed inside a jar. It would be like making pickles. We are preserving memories in that jar,” he explained.

“Cuisine du Jour” will go on show for six months beginning next month at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, a national historic site that was once the home of working class immigrants arriving in the United States in the 19th century.

Tan, who came to New York seven years ago upon being offered a job as a senior designer with an advertising agency, worked for several companies before branching out on his own.

“I use multiple mediums and platforms to engage the audience, to explore ideas about individualism and communities, thus continuously blurring the boundary between art and life.”

He feels that he is still young in the art world and that he has much to learn. “Hopefully, I can go back to Malaysia one day to contribute my knowledge and resources to build a more vibrant art scene back home.”

Tan, whose Malaysian wife is also an artist, said his parents were pleased with the achievements of their only child.

“Like most parents, they are proud of me, but they don’t understand what I’m doing,” he quipped.

More than meets the eye at this salon in Chinatown

IT is a nondescript hair salon on a forsaken corner of Chinatown in New York City. Open daily from 9.30am to 8pm, it offers services like haircut for US$8 (RM26), colouring for US$25 (RM84) and, according to its signage, “shave only US$8”.

A flight of stairs leads one to the smallish salon. With its TV set, a stand fan and Mandarin numbers cooing from a karaoke player, the shop is a reminder of the ubiquitous “kedai dandan rambut” in any Malaysian town.

There are exceptions, though. This one has a TV camera to monitor people coming up the staircase.

“And have you ever been to a hair salon that has not a single strand of hair on the floor?” whispered “Mr X”, a businessman who patronises the shop quite regularly.

There are just three seats meant for customers. But walk further inside the shop and there are 10 cubicles to service clients seeking a massage or a facial for US$50 to US$60 (RM168 to RM201) an hour. Sauna rooms are available, too.

On a recent visit, the three chairs were empty. But there was the occasional glimpse of a male customer wrapped in a bath towel, having just completed a massage session.

Mr X feels there's more than meets the eye. Once, he saw about a dozen girls at the salon. They were mostly from Fuzhou, China, and Malaysia, he said.

Nevertheless, he asserted that he patronised the saloon “strictly for a facial or a massage”.

“There is no hanky-panky at the shop itself because it would be shut down by the authorities if there were,” Mr X said.

Any arrangement, he believed, was strictly between the client and the girl.

One of the shop co-owners made it clear there were no shady dealings going on at the salon. The shop has a business licence to operate as a hair salon.

“Nobody fools around here,” said the 39-year-old woman, who is known by her moniker “Fei Mooi” (Cantonese for fat girl). She is by no means plump, but can be described as voluptuous.

Fei Mooi, who hails from Pusing, Perak, is an unmarried mother of two teenagers. Her children are in Malaysia, being cared for by their grandmother.

Her life has been a series of struggles. “I started working when I was 13, as a shampoo girl.”

She came to the United States 18 years ago, barely speaking or reading English.

Gradually, she picked up the spoken language. For the past eight years, she has been working at the hair salon, which employs about 10 women from Malaysia.

“We get many regular customers here. It is a place so familiar to them that they treat it like home.

“And yes, women do come here to get their hair done,” she added, as though to dispel the notion that only male customers frequent the hair salon.

The last time Fei Mooi went home was in 1993. Her parents dissuaded her from returning for good, believing that life in America was inherently better.

Fei Mooi has an American boyfriend, but she expressed no interest in marrying although they had been dating for seven years.

“Why get married? I am happy with my life. There is no one to control me,” she added.

She declined to tell more about her boyfriend, whom she met at a karaoke joint, merely saying that he works for the government and that he is 12 years older than her.

She works seven days a week, seldom going out for leisure.

“You need money to jalan-jalan,” she pointed out.

Besides, she is too tired by the time she gets home from work.

“Sometimes, I can’t sleep because my hands hurt from all the work that I do during the day,” said Fei Mooi, who wants nothing else in life than to be left in peace to earn a living.

Like her, the other women in the salon were friendly, bidding you a warm goodbye as you leave.

“Going off now? Come and have tea with us next time,” one of them chirped.

“Generally, Malaysians here are law-abiding people,” consul-general Mohamad Sadik Gany said, when contacted.

He has not received any reports from US authorities about Malaysians being involved in illegal activities or vice, he said, but acknowledged, however, that no one knows what goes on behind closed doors.

Getting up close with the candidates

HILLARY Clinton is getting less awkward about hugging people. Barack Obama and Bill Clinton are big on hugging, but not Rudy Giuliani.

Bill can be very defensive when it comes to his wife. Mitt Romney (a Republican presidential contender) is “more head than heart” on the campaign trail.

These were the observations made by senior journalists of The New York Times (NYT) during a public forum organised by the newspaper last week on “Inside the 2008 Presidential Campaign” where they shared their insights into the race to the White House.

The pressmen remarked that Hillary, as a New York senator, viewed the NYT as her hometown paper and would relay her comments about stories on her through her aides.

“She cares a lot about what’s on page one and the blogs,” said Patrick Healy, who covers Hillary’s campaign. “She would needle me sometimes, saying if Adam (another reporter) were to write the story it would be on the front page.”

Her aides seem to know newspaper deadlines very well. Once, they called Healy at 11pm, asking if there was any way for him to insert certain words on paragraph nine in his story, which they had read online.

“I try to hear them out but you would want to keep the relationship on an even keel,” said Healy, who recently wrote that Bill sometimes could upstage his wife “simply by breathing”.

He acknowledged that his ties with the Clinton camp could be complicated at times, referring to an article he wrote last year about the state of their marriage.

In that story, he pointed out that “since leaving the White House, Bill and Hillary Clinton have built largely separate lives – partly because of the demands of their distinct career paths and partly as a result of political calculations... they appear in the public spotlight methodically and carefully: the goal is to position Mrs Clinton to run for president, not as a partner or a proxy but as her own person”.

Spouses have indeed become very important in the 2008 race.

“Michelle Obama and Elizabeth Edwards are very appealing in their own way,” said national correspondent Jodi Kantor.

How accessible are the candidates to the media?

“John Edwards is pretty accessible. But I don’t find Giuliani accessible at all,” said political correspondent Adam Nagourney.

He also felt that the Democratic Party had its strongest line-up of contenders in years and that he personally found Mike Huckabee, a Republican contender, very appealing.

Nagourney believed that Huckabee would have made a greater impact had other factors worked for him, such as more money for campaigning.

These political journalists were of the view that the 16 candidates eyeing the White House were all very driven, ambitious people.

As an example, Healy cited one occasion when Hillary was suffering from a horrible sore throat but went ahead to deliver her speech.

“It showed how much she really wanted to do it.”

On a lighter note, an exception could be Republican Fred Thompson. The general perception is that he is lazy and perhaps not even enjoying the campaign trail.

When Thompson gave a talk to locals in a restaurant in Iowa last month, the crowd was quiet when he ended his speech.

According to Nagourney’s story, Thompson had to ask: “Can I have a round of applause?”

When a member of the audience quizzed the NYT panel on why the newspaper often merely reported about the leading candidates from the two parties, thus neglecting the lesser known contenders, assistant managing editor (news) Richard Berke said: “We can’t give equal coverage to everyone. We do make choices.”

As pointed out by Nagourney, the press had reported all about the thrice-married Giuliani’s estranged relationship with his children, his stand on abortion and so forth.

“Everything is fair game when you run for president,” he said.

Making downtown friendlier

IT IS gradually cementing a reputation as New York City’s greenest neighbourhood.

That’s Union Square, with its endless list of vegetarian restaurants, spas, yoga studios and gyms besides organic dry cleaners and a furniture gallery that sells products made from reclaimed wood.

Shoppers at Whole Foods Market, a retailer of organic food, are given a 10 US cent (33 sen) refund if they reuse their shopping bags.

Union Square is also the site of the city’s first Greenmarket, where local farmers gather four times a week to sell their home-grown produce, while bakers whip out their jams and cheeses.

Free yoga classes are offered at the public park during summer.

More significantly, Union Square is Gotham’s first Business Improvement District (BID), which began in 1984. Its mission: to improve the neighbourhood’s quality of life through better maintenance, beautification and sanitation to ensure cleanliness and safety for all.

Funds come from a special assessment paid by property owners in the area. The BID is essentially an organisation of property owners and commercial tenants who are determined to promote business in their neighbourhood.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg had been a big proponent of BIDs, said Commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services Robert W. Walsh.

There are now 58 BIDs in the city; some small, others run on a multi-million budget.

“It is the private sector coming together, getting people to make the neighbourhood better,” Walsh told a group of foreign journalists last week.

Such collective efforts had led to the changing face of Union Square, which was not a pretty sight in the 1970s with crime and prostitution.

“There was almost a sense of desperation back then,” he said.

Today, the Union Square Partnership (a non-profit organisation that acts as a liaison among residents, business and government leaders) has a glowing report card to show.

“It has become a crossroad of the city. About 30 million people travel through the subway transit point here every year,” said USP executive director Jennifer Falk.

Although its shady past is history now, Falk said they were still on the look-out for things to do to improve the neighbourhood.

To ensure clean sidewalks, a sanitation team will check the area seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Garbage is collected and the streets are swept, illegal signages and flyers taken down. Graffiti is removed once a week.

Another eight teams are in charge of security. These public safety officers patrol the district on foot from morning till night, keeping an eye on any unlawful acts.

Last year, the USP collected about US$1.4mil (RM4.7mil) in assessment revenue besides spending about US$518,882 (RM1.7mil) on safety and US$462,094 (RM1.5mil) on sanitation efforts.

A host of community events are planned all year round. Besides “Art in the Park” where artists show off their creativity, there are also free walking tours provided every Saturday, focussing on the history of Union Square, which includes the original home of Macy’s and Tiffany & Co.

The latest BID, set up in 2006, is the Flatiron/ 23rd Street Partnership in Manhattan. With a US$1.6mil (RM5.3mil) budget and about 4,500 businesses, it has emerged among the top 10 BIDs in New York City.

Flatiron, of course, is the famous building so named because it takes the shape of a clothes iron. (It was also the location of the Daily Bugle office in the Spider-Man movies.)

“It is one of the most photographed buildings in the world,” said Jennifer Brown, executive director of the Flatiron Partnership.

The neighbourhood boasts now of a wide range of restaurants and retailers. “It is also a fast growing residential area,” Brown said, citing a 47-floor condominium block currently under construction, which some celebrities are said to have shown interest in.

H. Alper Tutus, the Turkish owner of a souvenir shop called “Memories of New York”, readily testified to what he said were amazing changes to the area.

“I have been here for almost 14 years. Back then, there were many homeless people. Security and cleanliness were a big headache,” he said.

The revival of the neighbourhood had led to better business for him. As Brown put it: “You won’t see overflowing bins here.”

Surveys are carried out to detect cracked sidewalks, broken streetlights, malfunctioning traffic lights and potholes.

Regardless of weather conditions, a clean team makes sure the place is cleared of litter and graffiti.

Other projects include beautification programmes and reaching out to homeless people.

They take care of their backyards; never mind that the streets are not paved with gold.

Niki’s furniture fit for success

AS a little girl, Niki Cheng often abandoned her schoolbooks, preferring to draw instead. That invited the rotan from her mother. “I wasn’t that thrilled even though she won many prizes in drawing competitions,” said Lee Sau Then, 56.

Like any pragmatic Asian parent, she told her daughter that lukisan wasn’t going to put food on the table.

But mothers, uhm, are not always right.

Today, Lee glowed with a quiet pride as her creative daughter, armed with a degree in interior designing, owns seven furniture stores in New York and New Jersey.

Cheng, together with her Taiwanese husband, are franchise holders of BoConcept, a furniture chain from Denmark that began in 1952.

The home furnishing brand, which takes pride for its urban and modular design, is sold in 350 stores and studios in 47 countries.

Cheng’s distinction? Her seven stores, which recorded US$20mil in turnover, are constantly ranked among the top five performing BoConcept stores in the world.

Even celebrities are known to shop at her place.

“About three months ago, Susan Sarandon came to buy a bedroom set which costs about US$3,000,” said Cheng, 34. Others who have made their purchases included R&B singer Patti LaBelle, and rappers Sean “Diddy” Combs and Lil’ Kim.

Even Crown Princess Mary of Denmark made an appearance on Sept 19 to launch the 2008 collection at her store in SoHo, New York City.

Still, Cheng remained a modest Ipoh girl who attributed her achievements to good old-fashioned luck.

She came to New York in 1998 to study interior designing. But she could not find work upon graduation and for two years, she took up various odd jobs.

“Then I got lucky. I found work at a furniture shop in 2001 where I was the salesperson, besides helping the owner to run the place. I spent two years there,” she said. Meanwhile, Mr Right came along and they tied the knot in 2002.

Eventually, the couple got tired of their respective jobs (her husband was an IT manager) and they began dreaming about setting up their own business.

Opportunity struck when they spotted an advertisement looking for BoConcept franchise holders. By 2003, they opened their first BoConcept store in New York.

Long story short: four years later, their initial US$300,000 investment had paid off, logistics nightmare was over and they were no longer the green horn in business as they used to be.

As she reminisced about her schooldays, Cheng paid tribute to her parents for never stopping her early habit of always rearranging the decor at their home. “I would also suggest to my mother about changing the curtains and cushion covers.”

However, Cheng noticed a change in herself as she grew older. “After I finished my studies, I realised that I had become more sales-driven, more competitive. I am very much into numbers.”

The young girl had grown into a businesswoman.

She drives a hard bargain, too. The rent for all her seven stores are way below market rate, thanks to her haggling skills. “It’s probably something that I picked up from all the bargaining that I did back at our market in Malaysia,” she chuckled.

Private companies often approached Cheng to design their venues. At the New York Fashion Week in 2005, she designed the Olympus studio where celebrities such as Mary J. Blige took a break between shows.

Her furniture business has become a domestic affair for the Cheng family consisting of five siblings. Except for Cheng’s oldest sister who is a nurse in Malaysia, all the three younger ones are working at the various BoConcept stores.

Their parents are in the Big Apple as well.

Cheng, who has a one-year-old daughter, believed that BoConcept had been a success story here because New Yorkers put a high prize on individuality.

“The furniture can be customised to your preference. The dresser, for instance, can be purchased with or without the handle,” she explained.

BoConcept, she said, looked very high-end but with medium range prices.

Cheng attributed her triumph to her 52 staff, saying that she had many good employees working for her. But at the end of the day, she uttered that word again: Luck.

Good fortunes aside, Cheng, whose last trip home was in April, also declared: “I am 100% Malaysian.”