Delving into the Malaysian Chinese psyche

I turned the bottle of french table rouge upside-down and shook it like the contents of a milo drink-to-go before realising what i'd done. Anyway, too late. i uncorked the vino and we finished it within the hour - me, mostly, doing the honours. I haven't had rouge vino in quite a while now, so the feeling of drunkenness felt good.

Earlier yesterday (it's past midnight now as far as i can tell) i had lunch with the boss and a client and some bankers. the client was a fellow-countryman and he spoke candidly (as was his style i have come to appreciate) about how he makes his pile. Stocks and properties, he opined, were what made a man rich. You bought property in prime locales where tenants line up for letting, and no matter how expensive it was, you'd got yourself a winner. Or dividends from stocks. Which was pretty decent and honest of the towkay to share with us, i thought. And to think that before this i had thought him rude. It appears now that i'd been too sensitive.

Malaysian Chinese businessmen/entrepreneurs have gone a notch up in my ladder of respect, offically, as of today.


And i ain't lying.