KL and Ambition

Each time Paul Graham comes up with an essay, more often than not I would feel like doing a write-up on it. Whether or not you agree with his ruminations, he makes you think.

(Paul Graham is a well-known programmer who likes to write essays. He’s also one of the founders of Y Combinator, a company that does seed funding).

His latest essay is Cities and Ambition. He says:

New York tells you, above all: you should make more money. There are other messages too, of course. You should be hipper. You should be better looking. But the clearest message is that you should be richer.

What I like about Boston (or rather Cambridge [Massachusetts]) is that the message there is: you should be smarter. You really should get around to reading all those books you’ve been meaning to.

When you ask what message a city sends, you sometimes get surprising answers. As much as they respect brains in Silicon Valley, the message the Valley sends is: you should be more powerful.

Tell me who would be able to resist applying this to his or her own city. So: what is the message that KL is sending out?

Money is the answer that springs immediately to mind. The only reason people live in KL is because of the opportunities available: to be a manager in a multinational, or to be an officer in a top banking institution, or to have a shot at being made partner in a prestigious law firm.

But I would qualify further. KL is telling you: you should make more money, faster. The cost of living is shooting up; RM5,000 today is perhaps just slightly more than half of what it was worth five years ago. Try buying a new house within 30km of the city centre: a plain vanilla double-storey is RM300K, easy (and I’m being conservative here). Add in petrol, highway toll charges, diapers, milk formula, Montessori, maid agency fees – just to survive, you need money, and lots of it, now.

Rarely would you find a person staying in the same position for more than three years. If you can’t get promoted internally then find another job that would allow you to make that jump. Or just make that move because it’ll be more rewarding than your measly annual increment. The question you would ask someone whom you haven’t met for some time is, “so are you still with XYZ private limited ..?”

KL is a place where people are obsessed with making the most money in the shortest time. You have to; you do want to send your children to university, don’t you? Different kinds of people talk about different kinds of ways. One way revolves around the corporate ladder and promotions and increments. Another is about knowing this Datuk or that Tan Sri and who is rumoured to be getting the latest big project. Some buy and sell property and are continually on the lookout for the next hottest housing development. There are a growing number of people (especially in the service/knowledge industry) who do freelancing while also keeping their day jobs. And there are those who sell insurance and promote multilevel marketing schemes during their spare time.

So what about other cities, e.g., Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, Shenzhen? I’m sure it’s the same story everywhere; what makes KL different? I would think that, given all the bad news, life in KL is not that stressful and might even be happy. The huge majority is from the middle class so inequality isn’t a problem. Eating out is cheap – the cost of a quick teh tarik with friends after work is quite negligible. As Malaysia is relatively small, migrating to KL is no big deal; the kampung is at most a few hours away so family ties can be kept strong.

You should make more money, faster, but you should also hang out with friends and see Mom often.

28 May 2008 | Uncategorized | Comments