SHNEAKO - April 24, 2026SNEAKO interviews Prince of Malaysia TMJ 🇲🇾
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Harmful content
Misogyny
2
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Summary
In this episode, we talk to a man who has been with us for a long time. He is a former Indian military man who now lives in the Malaysian state of Johor. We talk about his life as a military man, his passion for polo, his love for football, and his plans for the future.
Transcript
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What I did was I built youth centers in all over the state.
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So Johor has 10 districts, so every single district I built youth centers for the youth.
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So at least they can have their activities, whether it's sports or any activities, educational activities as well.
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So that's what I do, just to keep the youth active, doing productive things.
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I saw them playing football over here. Was that what this was?
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was my son oh yeah actually it's his youth team so that is one of the ways I get him to interact
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with people closer to the people so yeah because one day is his time oh he's next yeah yeah so
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it's not an easy job and have you always been involved in sports or I have always been involved
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in sports yes what would you say is your favorite sport my my own personal private
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with the people thank you i mean when we have victory or whatever of course it's more connected
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it's more engagement that i can enjoy uh with the people of johore so yeah that's that's the thing
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you spend your whole life here in johore yes but i i did my boarding school i studied in australia
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in perth so i did that for five years and then when i came back here i was thrown into a military
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academy in india and then i served the indian army for for four and a half years so i was like about
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six and a half years there why india good question i think because uh there was a history
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between the johor military forces and india we in johor we're the only state with our own military
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forces we joined the federation in 1943 and then so one of the conditions is we keep our own
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military forces and there were three officers from the Johor military force
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that was trained in India. At that time Dehradun, India, is known as
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Sandhurst of the East, very British. So I was sent there and I think my late
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grandfather wants to keep the history going at the same time there's no
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special treatment there so he wants me to really go through the whole thing you
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know and life there is very tough so I was yes I was there about six and a half
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years in total training for two years serving for four and a half years then
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came back here and joined the special forces is there a strong bond between
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India and Malaysia or Johor specifically with Johor yes with Johor yes with the
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Johor military force I think the more of the Indian army with Johor military
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I mean, we don't have any conflicts with any country.
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I think they're pretty close, especially Asian countries.
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So, Johor and Kuala Lumpur, it seems like they're very distinct.
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I mean, we're the first state to have our own constitution.
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When it comes to governance, yeah, we do our own thing.
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We uphold our constitution and within our rules and laws.
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And how do you... you were in Indonesia, I believe?
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Yeah, I got a little bit of Jakarta belly, but back to normal, yeah, not the best.
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It was crowded. I was a little ambitious with the street food.
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And so what I've noticed out here, it's my first time coming here,
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is that the Malaysians and Indonesians, they go back and forth about the batik.
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So they were saying, like, this batik, for example, I was...
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was i wanted to make sure i look proper and malaysian they're like it looks too indonesian
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so they're telling me to change but and people are talking about the origins yeah yeah but i
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want everyone to i want a little more unity right now with the way the what the world is try to be
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a little more diplomatic 100 100 that's something that i think uh most of us overlooked they're a
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bigger picture for the world to be united right now especially with currently what's happening
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wants all the major choke points you know i hope not i hope not i heard uh the other day
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indonesian one of the indonesian ministers come up with a with a statement about maybe to pay
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taxes in the straits of malacca that's what i heard but i don't know whether it'll come up to
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that hopefully not because it has i mean it has always been very good relationship between
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singapore malaysia and indonesia really yeah very good relationship i mean for a long long time so
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I hope it will stay that way me too yeah so we just don't want anybody to come in
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trying to instigate everything because everything has been good you know we
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coexist with each other I think that's what human being is to do we need to
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coexist with each other respecting one another's belief and religion ethnic
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doesn't matter that's one thing I have to compliment your country on is the way
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that the Hindus and the Indians coexist with the Christians here yeah and the
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muslims there were you talking about the stadium for example everybody will come there the indians
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the chinese yeah and there's no division especially in johor maybe in the future for you to understand
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a bit more um maybe in the future it's not a bad idea if you stay here longer so you can see it
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for yourself i mean here there's a lot of unity in johor especially compared to any other state
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in Malaysia, I believe. If you go, I mean anywhere, whether it's a football match, if you see me
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one day when you're free, if I take you, we go randomly in a mall or any restaurant for that
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matter, you can see how excited the Indians or the Chinese receive me. And I'm a Malay.
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I mean, it's very different compared to other states, but I think Johor has a very, very
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strong sense of unity well you definitely put in all the effort to make it happen that way as well
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yeah like uh you know he was mentioning as soon as you came in to the stadium or as soon as they
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came to the you know the football activities you took things to a whole nother level yeah not many
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people like it yeah i have to slow down a little well yeah you guys keep winning right 12 league
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titles that's no joke that's the that's the thing i don't know so you said that you're very busy
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and obviously i can't imagine what it's like for a prince but what do you think is the major
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distinction between a elected politician and royalty like yourself all different i mean but
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we both share something in common which is we are here to serve the people and that's it improve
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their lives so the government officials politicians there because they serve the
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people they are voted by the people and I am there making sure that a right
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mechanism or the right effort has been put in to improve the lives of the
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people here in our country especially in my state and for example education for
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that matter education or state infrastructure economy job job opportunities
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as well so these are the things that we're trying to improve and having new
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politicians coming in especially the younger generations which is more
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energetic and they want to put in more I mean implement more new ideas the thing
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is that what I see now the latest trend in Malaysia is everybody wants to be
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popular hmm sometimes you have to take non popular decision in order for things
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to work so everybody can talk about a vision or a theory but I'm more about
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practical what's there on the ground you have to understand it to make it work so
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it's not just a vision because vision without execution is hallucination so the idea is to
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implement the idea try to make it work understand it properly that's what yes because sometimes we
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invite people uh giving talk from let's say holland about youth what does he understand about
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our culture what does he understand how we're going to make things work so things like that
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so we have a lot of qualified people who knows but don't just say things to be popular to get
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the vote or to get people to like you just say things what is needed to be said like for example
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we have a really forgive my language we have a really shitty educational system and we have to
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change that and that's it because in the end of the day when we put a lot of focus on the youth
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these are the future leaders of tomorrow that's why we we put in extra effort for
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them things like that well it's amazing that you know that thought process is
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there to help the people that's absolutely yeah but for example in Johor
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I try to do it in the academic side but at the same time I also not neglecting
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the sports side so that's why I have Sunny Bill here I have so up lately I
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I have Khabib with MMA and then Datuk Lee Chong Wei which is ex former world
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number one badminton player he's with badminton I have our players our netball
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players from Australia international netball players from Australia everyone
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coming here participating also not only trying to lift the quality and the level
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of the sport but also guiding the youth at the same time educating them through
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sports. And sports is an international language as well. It unites people. It is a very, very
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strong unifying factor. Of course. And I know as you talk about the youth a lot, what would
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you say is missing for the youth in Johar? For me, education is one. And more positive
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activities in the real world sorry i mean you know more here in the real world don't just be too
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um obsessed about everything in the internet you know now you have things like cyber bullying
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the other day i was in the university and then they say okay how do we deal with cyber bullying
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i said simple switch off your phone or don't go on the internet just live your life you know
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things like that so sometimes people are too bothered about what people say in the internet
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and it really really worked out and some people can get depressed and things like that and
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so yeah so you're trying to have them adapt that more tough mentality of course and that's we need
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to give birth to real men yes so let's go what do you think was the most controversial thing you had
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to say that was ended up being correct but people were off-put when you first said it
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i don't remember i don't remember but i i said a lot of things i guess that's something like
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the cyberbullying one that's something i say people get rarely really but it's the it's a
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practical solution to a problem that only exists if you look at your phone obviously it's a good
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example of that to me it's like trying to live in the real world and see the bigger picture
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because sometimes we get too hooked up in the um in the small things that we we neglect or
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somehow we take things for granted you know before before i used to care also about what
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people say and things like that because oh my god we're trying to do this but people don't
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understand and they did try to portray another picture of you or a character
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character assassination and things like that things like this happen of course of course
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but then i realized that there are more important things in life like for example waking up in the
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morning after doing fajar then spending some time with your kids before you start your day
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go to the gym you know sending them to school seeing them come back laughing healthy those
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type of things that makes you happy and makes you realize that i'm grateful and then of course
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to see the condition of living in gaza in in palestine what they are going through or in
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any other african countries you just have to realize how blessed and how fortunate you are
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obviously not much we can do we can do as much as we can we can voice out pray giving donation and
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you know pray to Allah and hopefully that those people one day will have a better life but
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it's very very difficult so that's why sometimes when I'm with my kids and they want something and
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I said no and then they throw tantrums and I say hey do you know that it's not easy look at how
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people live there you should realize how fortunate you are so things like that i think we need to
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realize how lucky we are how blessed we are because i realize the younger generations here
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they complain a lot you know oh this is not enough or this is not good enough or this
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minister is not good enough well you must understand realistically speaking for any
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government officials or even myself to fix anything it takes time you can't fix anything
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just like that yes you can implement the idea and then there is a due diligence process of how to
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make it work but younger generations today is a bit impatient in my in my opinion i agree very
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we got tiktok brain yeah we have to we have to say hey hold on i mean there is effort being made
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but just give time so now in in this country it's like if things doesn't work for two years okay
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I realized one thing, this is very controversial about what I'm gonna say,
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This country like to talk about, especially the new generation,
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Everybody talk about, oh, we have to change, we have to improve,
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we have to do this but no one does anything no one does anything and that to me is it's sad
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it's like all talk no action exactly and i'm the only one we come up with our first stadium we're
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coming up with we came up with our first um training facilities trying to improve spotting
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facilities in the in the in our state that hopefully it will be a domino effect which
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education i want to see more qualified people serving the government also state glcs or ngos
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having more qualified people people that can think and make a decision rationally you know
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people can just sit down i mean good self-esteem confidence so that's why i i implement i always
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push education since since the first day i became the region so that's what i want johol to be
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and and obviously i hope other states will also follow they have their own they have their own
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priority which i truly respect but like i said i think we should focus on things which we need to
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focus i love that you focus on education because what they're saying right now is ignorance is a
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disease that's spreading throughout the world and the only thing that could cure
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this disease is knowledge exactly exactly yep
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ignorant is the key to chaos and economically wise does it help having
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Singapore nearby as far as a percent amazing hundred percent I mean we are
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very close to the Singapore government for years you know we share a lot of
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things from Singapore and I think they also have good technology things that
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they can also contribute what do you call it work and collaborate with the
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state as well so yeah it does help because they have a lot of expertise
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that they can share with us for example water management things like that very
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good educational system so yeah I think that it gives out the advantage to be
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closer to Singapore yes amazing the other day I was joking with one of the
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Singapore government officials. I'm like, hey, your foreign minister said there's the
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Straits of Singapore. I thought it's the Straits of Johor. So he said, no, there is
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the Straits of Singapore. I said, yes. And then he sent me the map. He sent me a picture
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of the map and it's true. So there's the Straits of Johor and then behind it, there's the Straits of Singapore.
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I'm very close to them. I like to work like that.
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Not too official. You can work over coffee. But in the end
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of the day is the agenda. Fulfill the agenda. That's it. And do you feel like more gets done
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that way instead of having the whole official way? If you have too much red tape, no, no chance.
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Then it takes too much protocol to make a change happen. Exactly. Exactly. I like that, man. I like
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that. I like to sometimes, even with Malaysian government officials, I just give them a call
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and say, hey, you know, we're getting this issue. Maybe we can have a sit down and have a talk or
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something like that we have a meeting trying to get things done instead of alhamdulillah
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it works really really well yeah you seem to think that the the younger generation
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they spend time talking about change rather than doing change here in malaysia specifically yeah
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this is all over america too this is dominating leftist politics i think and right politics both
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are pretty much the same or people like to voice the problems but what do you think that we could
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do the average citizen can do if we're not politicians if we're not royalty what can we do
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to steer the world in a place that's better i think there must be an understanding or an ecosystem
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which communication is the key right so engagement from politicians or even royal family to listen to
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the people more and not only listening but be very realistic and also educate them if there's
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something that can't be done instead of promising them or giving them an empty promise or a hope
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you just say like look this thing is like this maybe we could do it this way instead of this
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way you know because sometimes not many people understand the due diligence or or the insight
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of how to get things done within the government there's a lot of process financially things like
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that paperwork and stuff so in the end of the day i mean there must be a platform or a foundation
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where you can voice out your opinion and obviously like i said this i mean these people are voted by
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you so they are somehow obligated to listen and to serve the people and to make it work
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whether whether you like it or not so yeah that's that's that's it sometimes even like
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for example i give you just a small example water management it's not just about building
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the infrastructure it's also you have to educate the people of how to use the water not to waste
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it you know so things like that but sometimes what politicians tend to do is like oh yeah but
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If we say this, they might get upset and it might affect their vote.
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And where the royal family, I mean, me, myself, or other royalties can also come in and say,
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That's how the check and balance happen in this country.
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it's like the saying you can give a man a fish and he eats for a day you teach a man a fish and
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he can eat forever that's where we need something like that yeah and it's also it's like you're
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saying you know it's like giving them that harsh truth instead of the comfortable lie yeah and then
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getting their hopes up you know just saying that no this is it's not gonna happen it's not gonna
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happen it's impossible for it to happen what is the ideal relationship right now it's a good
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relationship with america there are military bases that the u.s has in indonesia and malaysia
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correct not malaysia not malaysia just indonesia i think even singapore i thought u.s had a base
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in singapore but it's not it's actually a navy naval port that all other other countries can
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also utilize but the u.s is there most of the time so pretty much they just sit there so maybe
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china feels like okay i don't want to go there the u.s is there so something like that i don't
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know okay but no naval base in malaysia i do not know about indonesia okay yeah what would the
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ideal relationship be or what do you think that americans should think of malaysia i think that
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the biggest wake-up call i had it was we were always told malaysia was a third world country
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yeah and then you come here and you're like that's not true that's a lie what's the ideal
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relationship you have with america if you even care that much about the perception that we have
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Because we Americans, we pride ourselves a lot and we believe that our opinions are the most important.
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I don't know if the rest of the world has to follow that, but it does seem like it's our foreign policy doctrine, peace to strength.
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What do you think that that relationship should be like?
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I think how America approached the world is the most important thing.
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About understanding different culture, different country has different customs, different rules, different way of doing things.
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it's not just about you know in some places for example some places um what you call it
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like things i mean certain things that u.s wants to implement doesn't work
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you know um yeah same goes with malaysia as well so i think you have to understand it
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because I don't think people just hate America for no reason.
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I mean, Malaysian people are very, very friendly.
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If you come up with a good idea, okay, but let's do it this way,
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which will not somehow step on NBAD's foot
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still respecting the culture and things like that.
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So I think that's how the approach that the U.S. should do
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because that's what the british did right right with that approach a softer approach to everything
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so i think in terms of diplomacy in terms of working together that's how it's supposed to be
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it that's just my personal opinion well it seems like the british are more cultured
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when it comes to of course different you know yeah different cultures religions stuff like that
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america is just like very hard-headed and it seems like not all country can i mean democracy
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does not work in everywhere there are certain places that will never work when it comes to
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democracy so you cannot just because oh you believe in democracy well other world has to
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accept it it's not that because things are very different like i said cultural very different
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diversity very different religion religious aspect is also very very different and it plays a part
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and it doesn't really seem like america really wants democracy everywhere it's more like we
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just want control over the entire world and if you don't fall in line with our belief system and
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that we should be number one then we're going to regime change and we're going to start some issues
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for now certainly that's how the way it is yeah and so we have to be very very smart dealing with
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it uh diplomatically yeah that's the only way yeah you know every every place in the world
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Yeah. How was your relationship with Anwar Ibrahim, PMX, they call him?
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Good, good, very good. I have a very good relationship with all politicians except one.
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But yeah, very good. I was very, very good. I mean, we work together. The good thing is
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I realized that he's a more elder person, but he listens. That's the good thing. Listen
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meaning if i give my opinion or give my advice he does listen and sometimes you know senior
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politicians when we are younger when we speak to them some they do not care what we just i mean
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what we're talking about some they pretend to listen and actually know they completely do not
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even remember what you just said but pmx always come back to me i mean if we do not see each
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other for months and then come back to me and say hey regarding thing you said your highness
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a few months back um it's like this now so at least shows that he cares and then he does listen
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and he does take it into account your thoughts um for your ideas yeah he was he met uh my father
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and then he was here with me yeah i like the abbreviations of pmx uh they have tmj what do
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you prefer your highness should we call it your highness tungku they were also saying in the chat
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they have a lot of nicknames for you the malay yeah yeah yeah there's too many actually
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good and bad but i haven't heard any bad ones i hope not or didn't repeat any
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people call it i mean people call it tmj because it's a short abbreviation yeah and like uh the
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call sign between the palace if they my father and me is joe one and joe two or j1 j2 okay that's
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call sign that's our military call sign so j1 just landed or j2 things like that you know
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the security protocol yeah so yeah but we are the only one with the military forces
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we're the only one with our own military forces since 1886
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malaysia's independence is 1957 yeah 1886 johor's uh recognition as a sovereignty uh sovereign state
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was 1885 a long long time ago and then we joined malaysia and your position as a royalty especially
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in the muslim world is a very important crucial role especially right now we've never been more
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divided but there's also more muslims than there's ever been it's the fastest growing religion
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we don't have a caliph but we have positions of power like pmx like yourself
00:29:47.320
what can the muslim world do beyond just malaysian politics to find some more unity right now
00:29:53.320
I think deep inside, every single Muslim have that, what do you call it, priority when it comes to unity.
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But every country has to tackle it very differently.
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So we have a lot of, like I met a lot of people who said, oh, how come our, you know, these Arab leaders, they don't do anything.
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I understand they have to micromanage the situation
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I mean you think they are happy with how things are right now
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They're not happy with how things are right now
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They have to act in the best interest of the country and their people.
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But when it comes to you say, oh, the Muslim world has to be united,
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But when it comes to doing things and dealing with the United States of America
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I mean, every single country has their own plan and their own ways
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i bet you it's not easy i bet you they're not just saying okay we have a good life
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and yeah whatever happened happens for sure they think about it but it's just that they must find
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a solution on how to deal with it you know but obviously unity that's what we want that's what
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we want we want we want unity but let's not also forget about how islam is about all being
00:32:28.420
different narrative when it comes to Islam.
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And it's so interesting, when you're in Muslim countries
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00:32:57.820
The other religions are dominating the Muslims
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But you must understand how does that mechanism work
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Because that is what happens when you put politics involved when it comes to race or religion.
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You know, anything you're involved in politics, that's it.
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that's how the check and balance happened because now you have if you see whenever elections coming
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close you will see a lot of people okay we have to save the malay the malay has been oppressed
00:34:16.160
the chinese is going to take over yeah and and i'm like what the hell are you talking about
00:34:22.120
that that is basically hate speech that is like basically giving a completely different narrative
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I mean, there's still a lot of respect amongst other religions and also other races, and we have to acknowledge that.
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But you see, whenever politicians speak, they always speak about, oh, we have to do this for the Malay.
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We have to, the Malay must do this, the Malay must do that.
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Whether they try to get you playing the religious sensitivity or the racial sensitivity.
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And here comes the royal family trying to say, hey, hold on, relax.
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So the politicians are feeding their own selves.
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or they're feeding you know whatever their desires are and the royal family is trying to
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help the people and make everything good for the people 100 that's amazing that's how that's how
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it works i've seen that around the world since trump won the election in 2016 he used this
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rhetoric that uh white supremacists yeah you're coming in from mexico they're going to come and
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kill and do all this you create an us versus them and this is how you galvanize the people
00:36:12.280
create a populist movement we saw this happen in england and obviously you could see it i've heard
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about it in bosnia they always talk about this looming threat that there's this invasion going on
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this particular formula works as well it does work it's very politically people use it in sports
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people use it in sport people use it in sports here in malaysia you don't have to talk about
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internationally here how do they use it in sports here well for example play victim play victim
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trying to portray that there's another superpower that you being attacked that you've been
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you know there's a higher or bigger entity oppressing the sport so that we cannot win
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instead of admitting that oh we cannot win because we're not good enough or we we do not win because
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we do not plan to win or plan properly when it comes to spotting structure or any project for
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that matter just be more very open with your with your fans so they try to shield themselves or
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the whole thing so that's why we're not winning
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that's the only way they can get fans on their side
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those particular organisations are just not good enough
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about them being Johorian, you know, so I, football was, at that time, the biggest, what
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do you call it, the biggest vehicle to get people together, of course, so I just say,
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hey, don't forget, we're Johorians, you know, sometimes we're mistreated in this, mistreated
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in that, and everything, and that's get people, everybody goes like, oh, yeah, you're right,
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People see it as a sport, but I see it as a movement.
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It's like, you remember there's a movie called Invictus?
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and that's when i took football i said okay this is what football brings because when you speak
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about it politically it's different when you speak about it the school is different but when you add
00:39:40.420
sports into it it becomes different there's a story in world war one i think the german soldiers
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and the russian soldiers there was christmas day and they had a ceasefire and instead of killing
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each other they decided to play a football match in the snow yeah or was it world war ii was on
00:39:55.900
the eastern front so this is a good you know show that amidst a deadly war sports can unify the
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people and get people on the same page about the beautiful game 100 i mean look at india india and
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pakistan they hate each other but then cricket bring them together yeah great example together
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you know and it works sometimes a bit more different i mean dramatic oh man cricket in
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India. Parliament stops. Everything stops. You know, people love their cricket there.
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Not that big. Here is more football, but here is more English Premier League. Everybody
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Manchester United. Okay, you're a classic guy, Ferguson era.
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That's why those people who grew up in that era
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everything is tactic everything is very very tactical so academy also play a part in that one
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so there is no creative creativity in football um but yeah i mean before the quality was
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top top level it's still top today it's still very very interesting today
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i find that players are much more fitter because of the technology the training
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I gave you an example, the Brazilian national team.
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You see, the Brazilian national team has always been top,
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I mean, today, yes, you still have world-class talented players,
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boom you made it yeah and that's it so there is no more fire in you to achieve more that's why
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people like Messi people like Cristiano Ronaldo those are all very very unique individual who
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have always had that hunger of trying to pursue even more trying to achieve even more when they
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have already reached a certain platform which is very very high but they try to do even more
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So Ronaldo or Messi, as a Man U fan, it should be easy.
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I don't have any relationship with Messi, but I'm a good friend of Cristiano.
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I'm in different position, different players, different type of players.
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you can see how he creates players and everything
00:45:12.780
How do you think the World Cup is going to be in America?
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With all things going on right now in the world,
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Usually, before World Cup, people are so excited.
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Okay, the World Cup, we're going to go for the World Cup.
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And now you have people who are maybe not interested even.
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Because the World Cup's not the greatest football,
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Right now, the administration, what are they saying?
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Yeah, Trump just said the Pope is weak on crime
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And Trump threatened to bomb Iran back to the Stone Ages,
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Well, they're pretty much just us at this point,
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my car collection yeah that's how you know it's a major collection it must be the nicest collection
00:46:50.180
I love cars I love cars okay which one's your favorite top three top three tough
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And then I have the Mistral, which is the gold one.
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I still have the Tobillon coming, which I have not decided fully about what color I want.
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So I love cars, but I am not as crazy about cars as my father and my siblings
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My my brothers are just fanatic over cars and my father as well, but me I'm okay with cars, but I
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Like I have different hobbies. For example, I like building things. I like building gym
00:47:43.380
That is a beautiful gym. I like to I like I like to build places that I can
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Spend time with my family or my friends like the stadium like this where I can have coffee or a meeting and chill
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here and have coffee in the morning and then go for a gym and then do work and then go home i like
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to build i like to build but i like to build nice places where i can spend time with my loved ones
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instead of buying cars i like cars don't get me wrong i love cars but it's just that
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things like this uh it's nicer they sent me a video that uh your father had a gifted car
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is that still here? Gifted car. There was, um, I don't know. I don't know how old. I think it was
00:48:27.020
a Volkswagen. I have no idea. No, I have no idea. Okay. I know we have two cars that was presented
00:48:32.720
by Hitler. That's what I was asking about. I didn't want to say it. There you go. Mercedes,
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not a Volkswagen. It was presented to Sultan Ibrahim, my late great, great grandfather
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And Mercedes wants it back because World War II,
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So Mercedes have always wanted to buy the car back.
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I think they offered about, if I'm not mistaken,
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Yes, yes. A lot of people have sports cars. Everybody has sports cars in KL. Every influencer
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has sports cars in KL. Every people who owns a restaurant has sports cars in KL. You can
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be selling shoes and suddenly you're driving two Lamborghinis. I just hope they pay their
00:49:54.500
Can I ask, what was that relationship? How did your grandfather receive that gift? How
00:50:00.960
The art of diplomacy. I think at that time, the Jehoi royal family was traveling everywhere.
00:50:05.540
For example, in 1860-something, I have to get the specific date, we were already in Chicago World Fair, in Chicago, at that time.
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We have a guy, I mean, a person here called Datuk Rahim.
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He knows a lot of Johor history, and he taught me as well.
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so yeah i mean we have good relationship with the british as well and my grandfather
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my great-great-grandfather was friends with the tokugawa family from japan the emperor of japan
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at that time that's why i mean in johor you do not have british residents during the
00:50:53.380
When we were colonized by the British, all other states have a British resident, but in Johor we only have British advisor to the Sultan, no British resident in Johor.
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We were never colonized by the British, and at the same time when the Japanese was here, we were also never taken by the Japanese.
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Because my great-great-grandfather was awarded by the Emperor, which is an Order of the Rising Sun Medal.
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Yeah, so when the Japanese was here, they gave full respect to the Sultan of Johor and not to disturb Johor at that time.
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How does it feel being part of a family such a rich history?
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it feels good but that also um somehow taught me that's how when you manage things well the
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art of diplomacy and how managing things well you know because at that time i mean we we don't have
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like huge military force or a lot of money but somehow they survive at that time so it's just
00:52:06.800
managing it well having that good engagement with diplomacy and see how how you can make a deal of
00:52:19.580
it seems like that's where you succeed very well
00:52:41.120
i feel like when i speak among leaders it's very important to touch their heart and make them
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understand because if you build a relationship a form of foundation of friendship there's a
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there's automatically there's a respect there like okay for example yes i respect where you're
00:53:02.440
coming from you know but this is where i'm coming from things like that so once once you have that
00:53:08.260
foundation of friendship and that relationship people tend to be more
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respectful and not trying to hurt your feeling because there is already a bond
00:53:17.320
of friendship so that is how I say when you when you do things that engagement
00:53:22.120
that communication and that art of diplomacy also plays a part so that's how
00:53:28.060
that's how I like to for example if I speak to any world leaders or if I speak
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to any leaders for that matter I like to put things on the table I like to be
00:53:35.680
very straightforward i am not too diplomatic i like to be very straightforward get the point
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across and then see and then after that you have to read the room and see how do you react
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and try to uh try to manage from then um how do we go on to the next step you know so from your
00:53:53.040
experience doing that do you think that worked out well for you like so far yes okay so far yes
00:53:59.460
100 percent like have a good working relationship with singapore government when it comes to
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supporting our educational system or water management things like that so once you have
00:54:11.800
that relationship like i said once you have that relationship which is a french very friendly
00:54:15.620
relationship it's very easy to to work together i'm pretty sure other people appreciate it because
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yeah you're just speaking what's on the heart nothing is like hidden in the chest when you
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have that when when you start giving the impression of distant or being very too
00:54:32.740
diplomatic when it comes to negotiating or giving that talk almost makes you
00:54:38.620
fake right no I mean that gap is already somehow not good enough because you
00:54:45.040
can't get anything you can't get any deal done so it's always very very good
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just to be very very relaxed just to be very very open that's why I don't like
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having too many people in my meetings when I when I meet any leaders I like
00:55:19.880
rather than just being, if you have so many people here.
00:55:32.320
have you had to meet with any Israeli officials?
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is I went to this gym called a touch palace it was a hotel so whenever I was
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when I was in the 61st Cavalry in New Delhi I go to this gym because 61st
00:56:07.260
Calvary have two squadron one is called alpha squadron which is in Jaipur in
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Rajasthan desert and the other one is in New Delhi Bravo squadron Bravo
00:56:16.380
squadron is a very small military camp so we don't have our own gym so I have to
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to this hotel touch palace and do gym there so i was in the gym and i see this old man every day
00:56:27.320
coming in he's singing he's in a good mood he does his gym and then one day we start talking
00:56:32.280
where are you from i'm from i'm from israel right okay yeah i said where are you from i'm like i'm
00:56:39.640
malaysian oh and you here you're serving the indian army yes yes yes yes he never say who he was
00:56:44.200
whatever and then so every time we see each other we pass remarks to each other hello hello like
00:56:49.720
Like normal thing, I do my thing, he does his thing.
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And then one day he just said, hey, anytime you want to, so what do you do?
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I said, I'm in the military, I'm doing my training here.
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So we just start having a conversation and then before he left, he just gave me a card.
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And then I look at the card, it was Director General of Military Intelligence.