TIME flies as it has been five years since I left the Malaysian government service. I can still recall the reason I gave for my resignation, “to spend more time with my family”. I think not many among the Malaysian public believed this somewhat commonplace reason for stepping down. And that is understandable, for although I was then but the political secretary to the Malaysian prime minister, to many it was a golden opportunity to be able to work at the political nucleus of the country. Furthermore, under the imaginably imperfect developing-country socio-economic reality of the time, whereby avoidance of conflict of interest was often not strictly observed, such a “core” position could potentially yield a lot of “benefits”, and as such why would any sane current occupier of that position be willing to voluntarily relinquish it? But of course, over the last five years, I tried my resolute best to contribute in a small way to regional peace and stability in a less rigorous manner, and was indeed able to spend more time with my family. I hope these efforts are plain for all to see, and any doubts to the contrary would be automatically crushed.