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Malaysia Story, Part I

Anymore it seems like the only time I have to reflect on or write  
about the places I've been, is on an airplane to someplace else. John  
and I just got off the plane from Malaysia, spent 2 days in Idaho  
unpacking and packing, drove two horses and  our LQ trailer from  
Idaho (where Merri is taking care of things for the winter) down to  
Arizona (where our friends Kevin and Rusty give us a place to park  
ourselves during the winter), took a day to get organized, take a  
short ride in the Sonoran desert, and then board a plane for  
Argentina. We're in transit now, and will soon see our friends Miguel  
and Celina Pavlovsky for a day in Buenos Aires, and then off to El  
Reparo - where Mercedes Tapia and Eduardo Becar Varella have their  
home and Endurance training center on the pampas. They are hosting  
Argentina's National Endurance Championship this year, at the Cazon  
Endurance Village which they built in the nearby town of Cazon - with  
the aid of their Polo friends and contacts. Mercedes and Eduardo are  
both veterinarians, and have strong lasting friendships with their  
clients.  But more of that story to come, as the adventures of the  
next couple weeks unfold - including joining Malaysian riders in  
Uruguay and Chile as they hope to increase their stables of Endurance  
horses and qualify for their place in the 2008 WEC.

But this story is about Malaysia - about this small country's   
determination to host the FEI World Endurance Championship of 2008. A  
truly amazing story about dreams and determination and commitment,  
and an uncanny drive and ability to do whatever needs to be done  
along the path to success. This small country is full of highly  
educated and talented people. Centuries of cultural mixing - from the  
invading Siamese armies in the south to the introduction of Islam  
into population which previously embraced various types of 'ancient'  
religions, as well as Hindu/Buddha.  From decades of British colonial  
rule to years of Japanese occupation during WWII.  Complex cultures  
and dialects, tropical climate, fishing traditions and ocean bound  
societies - centuries of rebounding from occupiers and invaders - a  
very nationalistic people with a deep understanding of the best - and  
the worst - that the rest of the world can offer. In everything the  
Malaysians do there is a strong sense of art - of beauty - a fullness  
of color and form - and a precision of line.  The Malaysian people  
have a kindness and calmness about them - a quick smile and genuine  
warmth and an easy going manner- but a very strong and determined  
core. They seem to be able to adapt to and understand the western  
ways as well or better than other 'developing' countries.

They can build the cities and the industries and the academies, they  
can pump the oil and produce the electronics, they can play in the  
global market - but they don't seem to jeopardize their unique  
culture in the process. They revere their royalty - the King, the  
Sultans - the art and dance and textiles and crafts of Malaysia are  
strongly supported and proudly displayed. The society is quite  
complex. Generations of Indian, Chinese and Malay cultures seem to  
have settled into roles in society (apologies for my stereotypical  
categories - this is my personal observation) with a large segment  
of  business owners and trading companies being of Chinese descent,  
Indians as professionals and educators, and Malays as the core of  
government and cooperative business growth.  And of course the  
underlying friction in a society that has a wide range in  
socioeconomic status, a  range of religious and ethnic factions, and  
conflict between the desire to maintain traditional values and the  
need to adapt to modern ways in order to be a player in the global  
economy.

 A classic example of the dicotomy - the tension between traditional  
and modern - is in the definition of 'weekend' in Malaysia. In most  
of Malaysia, the 2 days per week allocated to 'weekend break' are  
Friday and Saturday. Friday is the muslim holy day (comparable to  
Sunday in Christian cultures) and Saturday is the 2nd day of  
'weekend' holiday. Government and schools resume on Sunday. But in  
Kuala Lumpur - the capital city of Malaysia and center of business  
and economy - the weekend is composed of Saturday and Sunday, as it  
is in most of the rest of the world. Basically businesses and  
national government cannot afford to lose a day of trading and  
communication with the rest of the world in order to survive, and  
surpass.

So yes, I am a tremendous fan of Malaysia - a place I never ever  
would have imagined going to, much less becoming involved with to the  
degree that I have! I'm fascinated with their beautiful people and  
beautiful tropical climate, with their politically ambitious society,  
with their balance between religion and industry, art and economy,  
royalty and parliamentary democracy, poverty and wealth, and gentle  
but effective persuasion.

My first trip to Malaysia was in May 2005, thanks to Dr. Nik's  
impulsive notion to bring me over to his country -  to experience,  
first-hand, Endurance riding in the tropics, Endurance in Malaysia.  
Which then gave me the opportunity to use the internet to share  
Malaysia and Malaysian endurance with others around the world. (Dr.  
Nik's clever ulterior motive!) . I received an invitation to come and  
ride in the Edaran Classic, the country's premier and most  
professionally run Endurance event at the time. Tansri Tajuddin,  
owner of Edaran Electronic Systems, is a patron and supporter of  
Equestrian sport, and an equestrian himself. As Malaysia began to  
embrace the sport of Endurance riding more strongly, so did Tajuddin.  
He brought a high degree of professionalism to the sport by guiding  
his staff in the creation of a first class Endurance event. Located  
at Tajuddin's Ar Raudah Equestrian Center (north of Kuala Lumpur) an  
Endurance training center evolved, and a network of trails was  
created to offer a challenging event.  Tajuddin created a first class  
Endurance event and invited his network of friends and associates to  
support the sport - and further it's growth in Malaysia. My first  
experience was amazing - I fell in love with the country, with the  
people, and made lasting friendships. And was tremendously impressed  
with the organization and professionalism of the event coordinators.  
The venue was excellent and the trails were challenging - and  
interesting! Through palm oil plantations, and villages with curious  
children and farmers, past farms with goats and dogs and water  
buffalo, past quarries and ponds with bull frogs piercing the night  
with loud exclamations. Experiencing amazing heat and humidity and  
rain and the vivid colors -  silk batiks and men with brightly  
colored clothing and bold signs and banners and the overwhelming  
jungle greens of the day,  and the reds and purples of a sunset on a  
tropical coast. It was absolutely amazing and captivating and I fell  
in love with the country.

Malaysia's first dabbling with the sport was in the 1990's on the  
coast of Sabah (west coast of the island of Borneo). Peter and Penny  
Toft of Australia helped pioneer the sport, and their stories of  
tigers and jungle trails  and seeking relief from the oppressive heat  
and humidity by riding in the ocean- and all the growing pains  
associated with a new equestrian sport are amazing. Malaysia entered  
the world endurance stage in 1998 by sending a team to the World  
Endurance Championship in 1998. An intrepid group of riders,  
including Dr. Nik and Dato (Awang) Kamaruddin who are still  
passionate endurance riders, came to Dubai with an assortment of Polo  
ponies and race track thoroughbreds. They managed to qualify for the  
event by completing a 120km course set up with the guidance of the  
FEI, consisting of lap after lap around a race track. That's all they  
could manage at the time, and that's all that they needed. I recall  
seeing the group from Malaysia in Dubai, and was delighted and amazed  
that they were there - with boundless enthusiasm and an odd  
assortment of horses. And I believe 2 of the riders actually  
completed the event! (those were in the good ol' days when the FEI  
actually allowed  24 hours to complete a 100 mile course).  That was  
in 1998.  A slow and steady growth of the sport followed - with more  
individuals taking on the challenge, adding venues, buying horses,  
competing abroad, carrying the sport forward.

Then in the fall of 2005, the year that Dubai hosted their second  
WEC, the year that I rode at Edaran and many of us first became  
familiar with Malaysia as a place where they really did have  
Endurance rides... in that year Malaysia submitted a bid to the FEI  
to host the 2008 World Endurance Championship.  2006 had already been  
granted to Aachen, Germany - and the 2008 WEC was a choice between  
two bidding nations - Bahrain and Malaysia. Both countries were  
relative newcomers to the sport, both countries had national support  
but had not yet hosted a major international event, and the bid went  
to Malaysia.

By this time Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, the Sultan of Terengganu and  
next in line to become Malaysia's King in fall of 2006, had also  
taken up the sport. HRH Mizan was already an accomplished equestrian,  
with years and family generations of polo and jumping, and he took to  
Endurance naturally and enthusiastically. And also in 2006,  
construction of Malaysia's venue for the 2008 WEC, Terengganu  
International Endurance Park, began. Terengganu was the obvious  
location for an International venue in many ways - it is one of the  
few places in Malaysia where there are flat, sandy trails. Tropical  
climate and mountainous terrain do not combine well to produce a  
venue appropriate for a world championship - too tough, too  
dangerous, too hot, too long.   Terengganu was the perfect location,  
and as the home of Malaysia's King, it was a go. Construction of the  
Endurance village began - the FEI had granted Malaysia the bid, now  
they had to do it right - and in typical Malaysian fashion this meant  
the best of everything, as good or better than any other  
International venue - and not just functionally perfect, also beautiful.

-more later -

Steph




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