Hey Adriene

Legislative Fellows Program is in full swing

The past two days have been very productive for my fellow delegates and I. Our Legislative Fellows Program is in full swing now.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday the 30th of March) , the first thing we did was visit the Museum of American History where we took a guided tour which showed us the highlights of their museum and snippets of the most significant points in American history.

Then, we all had a meeting with Michael Toner, who is a constitutional lawyer specialising in election law. He briefed us on the Supreme Court in the US, the role of judiciary. He is also an ACYPL alum.


Next, we  met with J Cobb Mixter who is Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs, from the Office of Legislative Affairs of the US Dept of Treasury who briefed us on how the executive works with the Capitol Hill in the passing of bills.

Then, my two Malaysian fellows and I had a meeting with Jamluddin Jarjis, the Malaysian Ambassador to the States where our intended topic was US-Malaysia Relations.


We then had the evening off. I scooted off to Georgetown area for some sightseeing and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Pablo's. Highly recommended!

Today, we visited the US Department of State where my Malaysian  fellows and I met with Joseph Giblin, Economic / Commercial Officer from the Office of Bilateral Trade Affairs from the Bureau of Economics, Energy and Business where he briefed us on his bureau's observation of Malaysia's current political and economic situation.

After that, we met with Jason Vorderstrasse who is Global Affairs Officer in the Office of Regional and Security Policy Affairs, also a department within the US Dept of State where we discussed several human rights topics in Malaysia namely human trafficking, deaths while in detention (in relation to police powers).

Following that, we went to Capitol Hill where we met with Patrick Lyden, Chief of Staff of Congresswoman Mary Fallin, 5th District of Oklahoma who shared with us what work goes on in the US House of Representatives and how he and his office operates to support Mary Fallin.

After that, we had lunch with ACYPL alumni at Famous Luigi's. More pasta! :D One of our waiters is an Indonesian student who generously offered to take us out and show us around tonight.

Our last meeting for today was with Jackie Bray, Deputy Field Director, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC). She briefed us on the anatomy of an election campaign and political fundraising.

All our meetings so far have been interactive dialogues, not one-way lectures. All the fellows and I asked many questions at every meeting to clarify, find out more information, learn more. Fast moving and never dull.

Everyone whom we had meetings with, save one, understood the purpose of our meetings, stayed focused on the intended topic, came well prepared to discuss the role of their office and what they do with us, were obviously very knowledgeable in their field, shared their knowledge and experiences freely in a non-partisan manner and behaved with the utmost professionalism and dignity.

I think that this is a level of professionalism, competence and dignity that civil service, legislators, people who work in politics in Malaysia should aspire to, ESPECIALLY our diplomats.

I highly commend them all for that and express my gratitude to ACYPL, especially Program Officer Kristin, who has been fantastic in planning a fantastic learning experience for us.

My time here has been very worthwhile so far, and it's only Day 3 with 5 more weeks to go. I think one of the challenge for me with all this information, knowledge and experience is in figuring out what, where, why, when, with whom, how I can convert what I gain here into action points for Malaysia. I'm glad that there are two other Malaysian Fellows with whom I can discuss and work on this with.

There is also the challenge of retaining all the info, knowledge if what I have leant, seen, experienced so that I can share it with others back home. We Fellows are provided with a lot of information quickly and it takes some close paying attention, notes, photos, finding time for reflection to absorb and retain it all. It's very important to me that what I learn here can be passed on, and that the effects of my participation in this program does not stop with me with my return flight at the end. It must be sustainable or all this work by everyone involved in this Fellowship would have been for nought.