A Diplomat Arrives in Washington

By Fauziah Mohamad Taib

A Diplomat Arrives in Washington is an account of the insights to institutions, the people, their work culture and the realities of life of the American people seen through the eyes of a Malaysian diplomat. The book reveals the anxieties and apprehensions of an official as well as an individual who carries the responsibilities of conducting the finer details of diplomacy from her homeland embassy in the United States.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 12, 2003
• ISBN: 9781462825653

Fauziah Mohamad Taib

Fauziah Mohamad Taib, Ph.D joined the Malaysian Administrative and Diplomatic Service in 1983. Born in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, she studied international relations at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, l’Institut International Administrative Publique in Paris, l’Université de Paris I (Pantheon-Sorbonne) and the University of Kent at Canterbury. Dr. Fauziah, the youngest in a family of nine was attached to the Prime Minister’s Department upon graduation in 1978 where she was entrusted to be the Secretary of the National Women’s Council – a group of prominent Malaysian women whose task it was to look out the interest women through recommendations to the government. At Wisma Putra, the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she spent several years in the European Affairs Division, the Multilateral Economic Division and served the Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on Sudan. Dr. Fauziah has had two assignments abroad -- in Brussels and in Washington, D.C. A Diplomat Arrives in Washington is her third published work.

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Copyright © 2003 by Fauziah Mohamad Taib.

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Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

WHY I WRITE

GROWING UP WITH "MRS. JANGAN

FIRST FIVE DAYS AS A FOREIGN DIPLOMAT

THE BALKAN DESK I LEFT BEHIND

INSIDE THE EMBASSY

NUMBER TWO MINDS THE STORE

BLACK WASHINGTON

A DISTRICT IN SEARCH OF STATEHOOD

PROFILE OF A SHADOW DANCER

MEETINGS OF FINANCIAL MINDS

WISMA PUTRA WOMEN

SEXISM IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL

MOTHER’S DAY AT THE WASHINGTON HARBOR

CAPITOL STEPS

THE RISE AND FALL OF DOT-COMS

THE BATTLE FOR A LEGAL PRESIDENCY

THAT MORNING OF SEPTEMBER 11

BEYOND THE BELTWAY

GOODBYE, WASHINGTON

REFERENCES

For my sister Zaimah,

Who guarded me from running away from school

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The title of this book should have been Sundays with JB. J.B. McCraw, my tutor, mentor, and friend, spent hours not only reading my manuscript, but took time to show me what America is like. Judith Storm Freeman followed my writings from Kuala Lumpur to New York and Atlanta, where she now works. I thank her for her untiring editing and constructive comments. Pamela Sodhy from Georgetown University pushed me to complete this book to the extent that I became embarrassed and decided to just do it. To Shazelina Zainul Abidin, Thank you for being a friend, for travelling down this road and back again. Your heart is true; you are a pal and a confidant.

This book would not have seen the light of day had it not been for the support given to me by my Foreign Minister, the Honorable Dato’ Seri Syed Hamid Albar. Dato’ Abdul Aziz Muhammad, my Deputy Secretary General who constantly reminded me to hang in there, gave me ample time to experience the things I write about. To these two men and bosses from Wisma Putra, my heartiest gratitude.

Finally, to Ina, my sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews in Malaysia—my gratitude for encouraging me to keep moving forward and for reminding me to never forget my prayers when I am so far away from home.

The description of places, events and people in this book are the sole impression of the author, and is written without malice nor prejudice to any policy, position, or thinking any other entity may have, commercial or otherwise. It is the author’s intention to project her impression of places, events and people as seen through her eyes, in her individual capacity, and not through any official capacity she may or may not have had at the time of writing.

WHY I WRITE

People everywhere and throughout time write home. Writing is a way to connect. When I joined the Malaysian Foreign Service 20 years ago, I knew I would leave home, and, in my case, leave my family and friends. Yet I signed on because the Foreign Service gives me a wonderful opportunity to see the world. In addition, the Foreign Service gives me a platform to speak and write about the world as I see it.

I write A Diplomat Arrives in Washington to share my thoughts about Washington. Not many Malaysian diplomats will have the opportunity to work or even to pass through this important capital of the most powerful nation in the world. Whether we agree or disagree with what the United States has to say about the state of affairs around the world, we cannot ignore that the decisions made here in Washington are the decisions of the sole economic, military superpower in the world. I hope that my writings would give an insight to institutions—the people, their work culture and the realities of life of the American people. The writings are my impressions, seen through the eyes of an outsider who passes through this corridor of power. My short spin in Washington does not permit me to understand wholly what goes on in Washington. My stories are not based on empirical research; they merely represent my personal thoughts of the happenings that take place in this capital, as I work and interact with people in and around Washington.

When I write from the District, I write to share with my fellow Malaysians, as well as my diplomatic colleagues elsewhere, my impressions of the city and the people I observe, meet, and deal with. I write not to convey a political message but because I want to contribute to the understanding of things that happen beyond our national borders.

While many Malaysians love to read, few like to write. I was one of them. I remembered during my first years joining the Foreign Service I was sent to the United Nations General Assembly in New York as a junior member of the Malaysian delegation. My head of delegation, Ambassador Renji Sathiah, told us that it would be a shame if we spent three months at the United Nations and did not deliver a speech. But in order to deliver a speech, I had to draft one. I drafted and redrafted my speech on chemical weapons. When Ambassador Sathiah thought it suitable, he allowed me to speak at the First Committee on Disarmament. The Malaysian media picked up my speech and according to my sisters and friends back home, it was reported over the radio and television from daybreak to midnight.

Such was the power of writing, I thought, and I asked myself why it was so difficult for me to put words on paper. At the United Nations cafeteria where I ate lunch daily, I often had to share my table with a stranger, as there were not many tables to accommodate the many hungry UN participants. Each time I sat to eat or simply to have a cup of coffee, I found myself sitting beside a woman, presumably an American, who either was reading a magazine on How to Write a Best-Seller, How to Be an Accomplished Writer, How to Get Your Work Published, or something of that sort. My first impression of these women was one of wonder. Why were there so many aspiring and accomplished writers in New York? There I had to struggle to draft a simple speech and all around me were people who were already 10 steps ahead.

When I talk to young Malaysian officers who want to join the Foreign Service, I often tell them that if they want to join Wisma Putra, the Malaysian Foreign Service, they must first and foremost love to read and write. If they do not like to do either, then Wisma Putra is not for them. Of course, other aspects such as acquiring the skills to express, negotiate, and influence are important, but a basic skill in writing must be there. To be effective, a Malaysian diplomat must draft political, analytical reports, memoranda, letters, aide memoirs, diplomatic notes, communiqués and records of conversations and speeches. The foreign ministry has its own style of writing where precision, clarity, and accuracy are essential. To acquire effective writing skills, one must read. Therefore, a reading habit is an essential prerequisite for officers who want to make the Foreign Service a lifelong career.

I once attended an event on publishing and marketing at Washington’s National Press Club. I was most surprised at the big crowd that turned out that cold winter evening. People of all ages and walks of life crammed into a packed hall to listen to a panel of editors, agents, critics, and publishers from New York to describe what it takes to publish and to sell. Among the things the panelists said was that successful people and organizations of the new millennium would be storytellers. Human beings have generally preferred stories to numbers, mathematical models, or technical explanations. Stories can humanize a point more vividly and are more entertaining. In this era of knowledge in which information flows from all directions, one gets more attention by telling a story. Whether you work for business, the government, or a voluntary organization, you will answer one basic question: What’s your story?

The points expressed by the panelists made me rethink my own style of writing. As the second in command at the embassy, working in an important country as the United States, I take a lot of pride in my work, spending a lot of time to meet people, to read, gather information, and write reports to the Desk at the home office. However, I sometimes wonder if I have sent my reports to the Dead Letter Office because, sadly, I never receive reactions or acknowledgements about my reports. At times, I even thought of sending the same piece with a different title, just to see if anyone on the other side was actually reading them. I also wonder that perhaps it was the style of my writing that disinterested them, and so I took it upon myself to improve my writing skills and meet people who love to write.

Unlike Americans, the reading habit is not second nature to many Malaysians. The habit of reading to your children at night in bed, as do many Americans, is almost unknown to Malaysians although many of our parents are storytellers who tell us stories without a book to guide them. During my student days in Britain, I noticed that the Brits