Research inch by inch

Last week a colleague told me that doing research in Malaysia was a very humbling experience. He put it exactly right. So far I have met very interesting, dedicated people who work in NGOs, but other than that not much to show. On Monday after class (10 pm) I met with Befrienders, who run a hotline. We had an interesting conversation - I learned that middle class problems/issues are probably the same everywhere. (Specifically we talked about the calls they get about relationships and stressed out over-acheiving kids.) Alas, they do no collaboration.

Yesterday I sent out two requests to leading human rights organizations - nothing yet. (Malaysian NGOs don't seem compulsive about opening their e-mails - a great trait from an efficiency stand point but lousy for a researcher) Currently human rights groups are seriously distracted by the current political situation. (A blogger is being detained for religious education/re-education(?) which seems creepy.)

Today I contacted about 1/3 of the members of the Malaysian AIDS Council - the good news is that the Dean wrote my cover letter. I'll finish those off tomorrow (at least the ones I can e-mail). Then next week is Hari Raya - so the campus pretty much closes down and the country might too. I'll check the bus schedules & ticket availability; perhaps I'll visit a Malay friend for the holiday (Festive Season)

Back to the research - there is the ever present issue of race.The survey has the USM letterhead. One potential respondent pointed out that his group did not like USM (an issue related to racial quotas and getting into universities). Another person read my cover letter and balked when she saw the name of a "bumi" (which refers to a Malay). I then heard a long, and familiar, discourse about the access of Malays to various privileges. Some else ready my cover letter and thought that I should down play my role, b/c I am a "foreigner." So there you have a vivid example that you can't please all the people all the time.