COMMENT | Last week I was in a Bedouin restaurant in the KL suburbs and I was intrigued by the dynamics of the interaction between the waiters serving our table and the guy manning the counter. They seemed to be switching back and forth in a mixture of Arabic and English with a third language I couldn’t quite place occasionally thrown in.

“Where are you guys from?” I finally asked one of them.

“I’m from Yemen, my two friends are from Syria and Pakistan,” he replied enthusiastically.

I nodded wisely as if in sudden comprehension of the horrors they must have escaped just to come to live and work in Malaysia.

The exchange reminded me of the words of another expat/refugee – an Iranian musician who told me: “You in Malaysia, you don’t understand how good it is here. I don’t know why some people want to follow my part of the world. Don’t allow Malaysia to be spoiled by chasing extremism of any kind.”

I wish I had that kind of power, buddy.

And yes, I am keenly well aware that for all our gripes, this is still a fantastic place to live in. And also that it won’t continue to be one forever if we allow ourselves to shoot down those who challenge us to aspire to greater achievements while we simultaneously build up a negative self-image.

What’s clear is that we need better leaders, leaders who don’t go around squandering our advantages and fritter and waste our opportunities.

The old man on top has ...