WanSaiful.com

What a tiring day! I stepped out from my hotel room at 8.30am, and did not get back until about 9pm. Well, part of it was because I went to a few tourist attractions, but it was a busy day nonetheless.

The day started with a meeting with Radwan Masmoudi, President of the Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy. I have been wanting to get to know CSID better for quite a while but never got the chance. So this was an opportunity that was not to be missed. We had a long chat about the state of democracy in the Muslim world and the challenges faced by democrats in those countries. We also spoke abut how Malaysia in the 1990s was the beacon of hope for many Muslim majority countries. But we have lost it – Turkey has clearly taken over. I now know a lot more about what they do and how they do it. It is all good. We should have more organisations like the CSID. They are doing a conference on “Political Islam and Democracy: What do Islamists and Islamic Movements Want?” in May. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend.

Also met with Dr Samih Teymur, President of the Turkish Institute for Security and Democracy. This is a newly established (about 6 months) institute and the model, and the type of work, that they do is quite different. They are funded by the Turkish government and they have quite a number of postgraduate students (in the hundreds) that they support. The model of operations that they use is an excellent example of a what a government could do if they are serious about projecting a positive image globally. I would add that the same could also apply to any serious political movement – if you want to be taken seriously at the international level, you need a lobbying “agent”. We didn’t have enough time today (the 2 hours was not enough!) so I am meeting him again tomorrow.

Also met with Angela Wu and Bennett Graham of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. I didn’t know much about The Becket Fund before but I am always keen to know more about how organisations working on sensitive issues like religious freedom operate. So this was a great eye opener. Just two weeks ago Angela briefed American policy-makers on the effect of the recent Malaysian general election and the briefing can be found here.

After all that, it was time to turn into “tourist mode”.

First stop, Union Station. Quite a grand building for a train station. And inside it was more like a shopping complex than anything else. I found the biggest donut I have ever seen at the Union Station’s foodcourt – it was larger than the circumference of a football!

Then, a bus trip to Lincoln Memorial. This is a must see for anyone visiting DC. The statue was one thing, but what attracted me the most was the tiny exhibition room at the ground floor. They have some of Lincoln’s speeches engraved on slabs of stone, and you can see how his ideas evolved. He started off as someone whose mission was to defend the Union, but gradually, as he was refining his philosophy, he became a defender of equality. I snapped some pictures which I will upload later.

After that, another bus trip to Capitol Hill. By the time I got there, it was almost 7pm. Everything was closed. So, I thought it would be a good opportunity to just walk slowly along Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White House. It has already been quite a long day and so it was a very slow walk. With various stops along the way, it took almost a full 90 minutes before I reach the White House. Too tired to do anything else after that, so I took a taxi back to the hotel.

I have more meetings tomorrow but I want to try to get to the National Archives, before departing to Atlanta in the evening.

Filed under: Misc