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FOR LOVE OF KING AND COUNTRY: REFLECTION ON
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS AS A MALAYSIAN DIPLOMAT

participating in international seminars and workshops. T ere were many-
a-times when we were asked to state our positions on issues and not being
very clear about which was which, we were always at a disadvantage to
explain why we had to keep to our side of the fence. At one time we were
altogether a member of the Commonwealth, the Non-Aligned Movement,
ASEAN, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It was not
until Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had become the Prime Minister
from 1981 onwards that we began to be interested in thinking about our
foreign relations with other countries in terms of inner and outer circles
with ASEAN, the OIC and the Commonwealth and the others in that order.
(Camroux, 1994)

For a good while however, we were regarded as ‘neutrals’ not wishing to side
with any country or countries belonging to the Western or Eastern blocs.
We would like to remain neutral and thus moved to position ourselves as
non-aligned. We were happy that we had done so. But we could not easily
wipe out the traces of history. Our attachment to our colonial past made
us look a little bit out of place in most international gatherings. I recalled
how awkward it was for me to be voting for a modif ed British resolution
at one moment while abstaining on another one introduced by Pakistan, at
an International Conference in Vienna, Austria sometime in the 80s. We
were then regarded as a ’neutral state’. I guessed this was what Nicolson had
meant ‘by being diplomatic’. Sometimes we would just have to live with this
reality.

Being Diplomatic – is it enough?
In how many ways can one be ‘diplomatic’? One can commit a faux-pas or
two of course but all too often being just diplomatic can get on our nerves too.
We would also need to execute into an extreme art form the various thrusts
and parry of the smart conversationalist, the knowledgeable geographer, and
the versatility of a seasoned ‘traveller’, and a ‘playing hard-to-get’ purveyor of
much-needed information. To add to all these, we are also expected to be au
fait with what is the latest from home. T is last is the most dif cult part of
our job – how to keep connected with our home capital in the days when the
Internet was not yet in full swing. T en again there is the constant headaches
of feeding the Ministry with current developments in the host country. For
this, what is needed is a good set of mental and physical calisthenics much

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