Rehman Rashid

“I had come to think of Malaysia as a galaxy of stars in a night sky: uncountable motes of brilliance in the dark, each of them shining with an internal light. But each shining alone. Brilliant Malaysians were everywhere: in business, industry, the media, the schools and colleges, the cities, towns and villages. But so many seemed to burn alone, unaware of the existence of others. The key was to link them. Network them. Let each shining light extend a ray of talent and ability to others, conjoining, reinforcing, enfolding each individual seed of potential in a nourishing field of support. When that multitude of stars began irradiating each other, when their light began to mingle, then the night would be transformed into day, and their light would illuminate this nation, and not merely glow in the darkness like a constellation of fanciful dreams.”
― Rehman Rashid, A Malaysian Journey

“Even those who would never go back to Malaysia and would never want to, or those who went back and found they could not abide what Malaysia had become in their absence, would have in their hearts a place of that name, attached to their memories of childhood and youth. If home was where the heart was, Malaysian hearts were everywhere.”
― Rehman Rashid, Peninsula: A Story of Malaysia