HOW time flies. Was it only six months ago this July that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad made a visit to Senegal?
For those of us on the ground here in Dakar, it seems like a whole lifetime ago.
In public, everything was peachy-keen: the plane carrying the prime minister and wife arrived on time, the president received the prime minister as befitting his status as an elder statesman, movement from place to place was smooth and the meetings were duly attended. Everyone seemed very composed, relaxed and smiling. Things looked effortless.
What happened behind the scenes was anything but.
First off, the visit was scheduled for Jan 16. Government funds are only distributed in the third week of the calendar year, which meant that though preparations continue on, deposits and confirmations can’t be made. But since this was an international conference, those were the dates that we had.
So, reservations and arrangements had to be made based on good faith. Or as the Malays say it — on the strength of one’s saliva. And with only a few hotels to choose from and so many other VVIPs coming for the conference ….
At the secretariat, many had never handled a visit, much less a high-level visit. The last time there was a visit of this stature was 1992 — 27 years ago. So there was little experience from which to draw upon. Add to that the people who either spoke French or Wolof, but not English, and you have a very interesting mix.
For most visits, Malaysian cuisine is sourced either from the Malaysian restaurants in the country or by a group of ladies. In Dakar, there are no Malaysian restaurants, and of the three ladies at the embassy, one was Vietnamese.
Obstacles or no, a visit is still a visit and wonderful for international relations. The fact that this visit of Dr Mahathir’s was very much sought after by Senegal, and that it was particularly significant for the conference, was just extra icing on an already extremely sweet cake.
As the visit loomed closer, suddenly there did not seem to be enough hours in the day (and night) to prepare for the visit. Murphy’s Law kicked in — if something could go wrong, it would choose the worst possible moment by which to do it.
Oddly enough, it was the computers that threw the first tantrum. Small little cars that someone had painstakingly drawn for the motorcade arrangement became corrupted, printers suddenly forgot how to print and the documents that Putrajaya had sent became irretrievable. Panda eyes became trendy once again as the secretariat worked around the clock to put out small fires.
Then the day of the visit arrived. And before we knew it, it was all over, and everyone was waving goodbye to Dr Mahathir and entourage, including Senegal Prime Minister Mahammed Dionne, who had tears in his eyes. There were sighs of relief all around. As far as the guests and those outside the secretariat were concerned, everything had gone according to plan. If only they knew.
Room reservations were handled on the strength of Malaysia’s good standing. Plus, just say Dr Mahathir’s name and doors miraculously opened. In Putrajaya, the officers and staff handling funds worked hard to expedite the financial side of things and Dakar suddenly became first priority.
The problem of key persons in Senegal going on holidays in December were addressed with technology — WhatsApp texts ensured that you could not even go to the loo without being buzzed. Plus, the president of the republic made sure that his people were available to the embassy to iron out any problems we had. Such was the strength of Dr Mahathir’s name.
The computers were brought to heel by a very talented Senegalese information technology specialist, who ended up taking all his meals at the Secretariat and often slept behind one of the partitions at the back.
The motorcade cars lined up perfectly, thanks to a lot of running about, shouting and gesturing by the embassy drivers and chief clerk in the parking lot of the hotel, away from the public eyes.
Six months on, Dr Mahathir’s visit is still the talk of the town here among the diplomatic circle. It was an important visit because it re-established Malaysia in Africa and put us back in the running as a country to be emulated.
But for the secretariat, it was an experience not to be missed. Those small incidents that we shall not talk about will remain uppermost in our minds — from the incident of the secretary who had wandered into someone else’s hotel room because he was too tired to notice the door number, to the security guards who had to borrow suits and man the secretariat because we were shorthanded, and the receptionist who had to pass himself off as different persons in order to get things done. But those are stories for a different time.
There’s nothing like a visit to bring a group of people closer than ever before. Both for the VIPs and their high politics, and for the people on the ground who truly became a well-oiled machine.
It just shows that no matter what, we can always do anything that we put our minds to.
The writer is a foreign service officer who writes on international affairs with a particular emphasis on Africa