Hasyudeen

A Month Is About to Pass

2012-01-30T08:21:00.000+08:00

We are already at the end of January. For those who celebrated Chinese New Year, they should be back working or running their businesses today. For many of us, one-twelve of the new year will pass. Are we on the right track as far as our commitments and resolutions for 2012 are concern?

Time flies and if we are not committed enough, whatever desire that we have for 2012 will remain hope but never actualised. Perhaps, it is good just take few steps back and analyse how we fare this time around.

One of the challenges faced by many of us is the constraint of time given that we want to do and achieve so many things. Sometimes, we fail to prioritise our efforts and ended up spreading our resources, including our time, resulting in many efforts with not much results.

How do we prioritise? Some will go for the long hanging fruits, some may try to complete to toughest task first. Whatever our approaches are, we must understand how they will influence our big goals for the year. However, if don't care and bother to plan and execute or plans, all this conversation that we have here does not matter.

Just to remind all of us that the clock is ticking, whether we like it or not. Once passed, time could not be regained.

Are PIPA and SOPA really forever stopped?

2012-01-24T08:17:00.000+08:00

Fancy your favorite websites suddenly going blank? This could have been possible if the 2 anti-ponline piracy laws were approved. Fortunately, so far, this effort has been suspended. The voting on the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) scheduled today was called off by the Leader of the Majority in the American Senate.

Is this really a battle between the old and new economies? We have on one side the movie producers, book publishers and recording companies advocating for the 2 laws and they are opposed by internet-based companies such as Google and Wikipedia. I am sure many of us, Netizens, would like internet to remain as it is, free from many restrictive practices.

While the protection of intellectual property has been the foundation of growth and development for many decades there are movements which believe that we could grow faster if intellectual property is shared without barrier. Most of us are familiar with the term copyright but not many of us have heard about copyleft. Essentially, copyleft is the practice of leaving intellectual property free to be shared. One of the examples of this is the Android project where the phone is developed based on the open source concept. It managed to break the domination of Apple in the smart phone market.

When innovation shifts from proprietary-based to a more network-centric approach, the ability to share intellectual property freely is important. This is to enable more brains to work on a particular discovery rather than relying on a small number of experts in a closed environment. I have written a piece on this few years ago.

While those who fancy an open and free internet could appear to have won, this could be just the beginning of a larger battle. Given that the US is going to have a presidency election this year (yes, there is no surprise in the US about the date of election) most candidates are positioning themselves to groups of people who could bring them votes. How could we explain the position taken by the US on Iran which could create risk of increasing the price of oil when the American economy is still at the stage of recovery?

Like it or not, the US is still where many internet-based companies are based and any development there would influence the lives of many people around the world. May the force be on the right side of the debate.

Hail the Dragon

2012-01-22T23:43:00.002+08:00

Happy New Year to all friends and colleagues who are welcoming the year of the water dragon. I trust this auspicious moment would be the best opportunity to celebrate with family, friends and loved ones.

Winning a Race

2012-01-15T11:11:00.002+08:00

I have heard people say that life is a journey. If that is the case it is about going from point A to point B. It could also meant deciding where we want to go and work hard in ensuring we arrive safely. Pushing this point further, some may realize that there are others who are trying to do the same. From a mindset that resources is finite, being at point B as soon as possible could be the next goal. Now we have a race.

How do we win races?

There could be two possible ways, we push ourselves hard so that we could move faster or we could hope that our competitor are not fast enough and therefore would end up second best. Some may event "throw few spanners" towards others so that they are pre-occupied in solving issues which we created for them and don't move fast enough.

If I were to choose between the two options, I would regard those who win on their own merit as better than the other group. To me, winning on one own strength is more respectable than winning based on competitors' weaknesses. I am not sure whether this is shared by others. There are people who consider winning as the most important thing, by hook or by crook as what they would say.

Arriving faster than others does not on its own makes us winners. What if we somehow ended at point C, which was not the our aim. Which this could be a sure loss situation for many some have a solution to it. They just declare that point C is the same as point B and hence, they arrive at the right spot and declare themselves winners.

Some may run in circles as they are not sure where they are heading. As the saying goes, when you do not know where you are heading, any way will lead you there. Off course we have the option of defining our destination when we are somewhere, as earlier alluded.

Some don't have problem in finding shortcuts to reach the destination ahead of others. If we are driving a car, this could mean by not stopping at traffic lights, going against the traffic and many more "intelligent" options. As long as they are not caught, they would be happy. This could be tempting as who defines success is certainly ourselves. If our upbringing tells us that it does not matter how we achieve what we want then stealing and cheating would be ok as long as we are not caught. If we have too much, doing charity with the ill gotten wealth would also make us recognized. Is this not what Robin Hood did?

Given that people are saying that the world is getting more competitive (i.e. we are in a competition) then winning and losing matters. Is it really so, we have to ask our moral compass, if we have one. Otherwise, we could really get sucked into the competition and may fall into the trap of winning matters more than how we won.

Off course we have another group of people who believe winning is their right irrespective of their performance. They have this delusion because this is the only way for them to achieve something and they were not tuned to compete from small. Well, I am not sure whether the world is willing to stop moving just to allow these people to catch up.

So a race could be won in many ways and it is up to us to determine what is the right way. This calls for guidance. I pray that we are shown the right path and arrive there in the right way.

Starting a New Chapter

2012-01-02T17:04:00.000+08:00

When a new year arrives, many people would come up with many new resolutions, targets to be achieved during the year. Many want to change for the better and hope for the better. However, most are not clear enough what they mean by change.

In their book on Blue Ocean Strategy, writers W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne provided some idea on how to change. According to them, change could be defined by identifying:

Things that you would do more
Things that you would do less
Things that you will stop doing; and
Things that you will start doing.

By detailing out what change means to you, what needs to be achieved would be clearer.

Many would hope that the new year would be a better year in many respects. Good or bad is relative. Some hope that others would change so that their lives would be better. However, if we rely too much on others, we may not achieve what we desire ourselves. This attitude of collective irresponsibility, where change must be driven by others and never ourselves, would certainly lead us to nowhere. we need to do whatever little things that we could in order to progress. Without the first step a journey would never start.

A society consists of people, groups of people arranged in many complex relationships. There are formal leaders and there are also informal leaders who could influence many others. If we are interested to have a different year this year, we need to decide whether we need to lead ourselves or allow others to lead us. If we choose the latter, make sure the trust is placed with people who are honest, trustworthy and have high level of integrity. A formal leader need not necessary has all these qualities, especially in circumstances where leadership is determined through popularity.

Many of us will start a new chapter in our lives and I pray that we would end 2012 with great success. Happy New Year 2012.

Is Free Really Free?

2011-12-26T13:43:00.002+08:00

We all like free, I suppose. Free gifts, free meals, buy one get one free and also free to express our thoughts on social networks etc. What about this saying that "there is no free lunch"? Have we ever tried to understand whether what we thought free are really free?

Accountants and lawyers would normally quote you on hourly rates. Time is their cost, as what they we told by senior accountants and lawyers before them. If that is the case, what happens when their employees freely spend their time on social networks exercising their rights of free expression on platforms which do not charge their users anything?

To make things more complicated, if a company issues free shares to its employees, it has to take a charge in its income statement. There is no such thing as free shares reckon accounting standards. Does it mean in a capitalistic economy there is always a catch somewhere for every benevolent act conducted?

Even if we receive free gifts when we make purchases at shopping centres we have to pay first before we get the gifts or discounts. Most of the time, we do not even want the so called "free gift" but the thought of having more by paying less could be too tempting to resist.

On a more serious note, expressing ourselves freely may not necessarily be a free act. If we defame somebody by comments made publicly or on social networks, we could be sue for defamation. That could be costly even if proven innocent later. At least we have to fork out the legal fee to defend ourselves. What about the friend we loss because of our comments or the perception we create on ourselves due to the remarks we made. Some people may not care about these matters. They are free to think so.

For muslims, faith is very important. Our acts and conducts reflect the faith we have in our hearts. Remarks made on social networks could be a reflection of our real beliefs although we may want to believe otherwise. If conducts and beliefs do not jive, could be confident that our faith have not been tainted. This could be a free act but the consequences could be catastrophic, in the hearafter.

So, is free really free? You are free to explore!

Common Sense

2011-12-25T09:28:00.000+08:00

How do you decide what is right or wrong? Some people may just say use your common sense. Sensible. The question is whether is makes sense all the time.

If we have a peek as the meaning of common sense in Wikipedia, it has reference to "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts" or "the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way". Watch the key words - judgments, perceptions, knowledge. If we put all these definitions together, common sense is about making decision based on what we perceive as right based on our knowledge and experience.

Do we all have the same knowledge and experience so that our judgments would be common? It would be very risky to answer this question affirmatively. This could be one of the reasons where we have differences of views and thoughts on every issue faced by the societies we live in. Even a society could be further divided into many sub-groups with differing backgrounds and values.

Another issue regarding making common judgment is how do we make such decision? By show of hands? How many hands do we need to count to decide something even in a small city like Kuala Lumpur? I suppose this is where the representation system like election is adopted. Even in such system we have observed many instances where the so called "representatives" may depart from the sense of the people who elected the person in the first place.

What about if the "common sense" is based of values which are totally against the best interests of the society. If thieves are asked whether stealing is right or wrong, don't blame them if they agree that there is nothing wrong with stealing. If corrupt people are asked whether corruption is bad for the society and those who commit corruption should be punished severely, don't blame them if they say that there is nothing wrong with corruption. What more when these corrupt people live in a society where most people know about their evil behaviours but their hands are still being kissed by ordinary people whenever the go around.

Those who believe in revealed religion may fall back on religious teaching in deciding what is right or wrong. However, for others who have differing belief systems, religion do not make sense to them. This has resulted in the separation of religion and state matters in most developed countries.

What is common sense? It appears that what is common may not be that sensible all the time.

Substance Over Form

2011-12-23T16:22:00.001+08:00

Whenever the results of any national exam are announced there would be many news about how many students scored straight A's. Those who had near miss by scoring single B's or C's may feel disappointed. What more when their friends or elder siblings managed to get into the elite group of people who score straight A's.

On the other hand we have been hearing disappointment regarding the competency of our graduates including their inability to think and communicate effectively, skills which are very important to employers. Is there a disconnect between scoring straight A's at the secondary level and the actual work performance?

One of the practice in modern living is to turn abstracts into something which we could comprehend. Grading which are given to students are basically an attempt to demonstrate their relative performance. The grades do not necessarily mean that top scorers are really top in terms of brain capacity and ability.

Assuming that the grading system is changed where all students will be awarded A's (A1 to A9), then all students would be straight A's students. Does it mean that all of them are excellent? No!

The symbols that we create to reflect the complexity that they represent have certainly clouded our thinking. This result in the race to get our children to score as many A's as possible instead of ensuring they are really 'educated'. Education in my ind is our ability to help our children to develop their faculties especially their minds. Instead of teaching them to be parrots i.e. being able to answer all questions during exams without understanding why the answers are really such; we should nurture their brains so that they are able to wonder, probe, think and reach their own conclusions. Sounds basic but listening to the concerns about graduates who did score many A's before, we have certainly failed miserably in that part.

Sometimes the blame is not just on the students but we as a society should be open enough to accept our own shortcomings. Do we really want the future generation to be smart and able to push the frontiers of knowledge and other things or are we just satisfied that they think in similar ways that we do? Are we brave enough to answer their questions about our own behaviours and conducts or we just prefer for them to praise us for feeding them since they were small (which is our responsibility in the first place as responsible parents)? If we want then to be innovative, don't be angry when they point to us our shortcomings. Some people are ok with this, more people don't.

There are many other things that we do as a society which focus more on the form rather than the substance. Form is easy to be recognised but substance is more complex to identify and comprehend. This article by Ustaz Asri is a very interesting piece about form and substance. He observes that there is a decoupling between religion and god. Sometimes in serving God, people could even act beyond the commands of god and become god themselves.

Another common misunderstanding that I observe is the branding on people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. People like them are branded as university dropouts, giving connotations that they were not smart enough to get through tertiary education. However, if we read the story of their lives, these people were smart enough to differentiate between academic qualification and doing real stuff which eventually changed the world. Again we are caught with our own self-imposed limitation that a university degree is a symbol for 'success'. Too me, a degree is just a certificate that the person could think. Given what I am hearing, that even may not hold that much.

So, going into the new year, we should start to re-calibrate our views on substance and form so that we continue to focus on what really matters rather than symbols which may not be real.

Living With Nature

2011-12-19T10:12:00.001+08:00

Having a break from the hectic city life is certainly refreshing, especially during this period of the year. While many of us would have chosen destinations abroad, a family get together outside the city would also serve the purpose. This is where Lembah Temir or Temir Valley comes into the picture.

Located around 90 kilometers from Kuala Lumpur and near the town of Raub in Pahang, this place is far enough to be away from your busy city rituals. While you may be reachable through mobile phones, the connectivity is rather weak (depending on your operator) which could be an excuse for not responding to any call. Surely, the kids enjoyed the cool water of the rivers surrounding the place.

Lemah Temir is a privately own property within a durian orchid. It has natural waterfalls and rapids which are great for swimming or just cooling yourselves under the weight of the falling water. It has its own mini hydro which generates 81kw electricity.

While enjoying ourselves in Lemah Temir, we were served with local fruits - rambutan, pulasan and off course durians. Having D24 and Musang King on a daily basis could be very explosive! Any food after swimming would certainly taste great, especially in that relax environment.

This place provides a great opportunity for those who have not been exposed to village life to observe trees and greenery at their natural habitat. Off course, insect repellent is advisable as you don't want yourselves to be easy targets for mosquitoes.

A night at Lemah Temir is enough to refresh my tired body. Next time, I will spend more time, perhaps with more activities to recharge my mind and body.

Daulat Tuanku.

2011-12-13T18:47:00.002+08:00

Today is a historic day for Malaysia when Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'azam Shah, the Sultan of Kedah, took oath as the 14th Yang DiPertuan Agong of Malaysia. Historic in the sense that Tuanku Abdul Halim was also the 5th Yang Dipertuan Agong from 1970 to 1975. Additionally, he will reside at the new Istana Negara or the National Palace which in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia observes a constitutional monarchy system where the Yang DiPertuan Agong or King is elected among the Sultans of the nine states in Malaysia. The King is the Supreme Head of State and serves for a period of five years.

Tuanku Abdul Halim replaces Tuanku Mizan Zainal ABidin, the Sultan of Terengganu, who completed his term on 12 December, 2011.

Daulat Tuanku!

One Limousine Ride in London

2011-12-11T09:55:00.001+08:00

There are many things that you can write about London. Maybe to most Malaysians, Oxford Street would be the most familiar landmark as there is where the shopping spot is located. Rather than discussing about London landmarks, I would like to share the experience talking to a limousine driver in London.

I arrived around 5.30 in the morning at Heathrow and my limousine driver was already waiting when I exited the arrival hall. It was a right timing, just ahead of the normal morning jam that Londoners have to ensure daily.

My pick up was the first trip for my driver who drives a diesel Mercedes Benz. He is from the largest operator of limousine in London. Interestingly, the company invests significantly in technology in ensuring its services are ahead of the rest.

For example, it's IT system would allocate jobs to drivers based on their proximity to passengers taking into consideration how long they have been on the queue. This enables a fair distribution of work among the drivers. While the driver related that he has to work hard and has limited time for holidays, he seems satisfied with the income he earns. The company has also launched an iPhone apps which enable passengers to book a limo using the apps and will be picked up within 15 minutes. Payment is also made through the apps.

The Benz which I took uses eco-friendly diesel and the engine stops whenever the car stops at traffic light. This reduces fuel consumption, hence reduces carbon emission. Owners of this eco-friendly car are given incentives by the government. What struck me was how much the driver understands the need to reduce carbon emission and how this will save the world.

It was an interesting short journey and I learned a fair bit about taxi services in London. If this is the baseline expectation to ensure visitors are excited about their first encounter with front line service providers, I was certainly impressed.

By the way, my hotel was located very close to Oxford Street.

Steve Jobs - in ENGLISH

2011-11-07T10:46:00.001+08:00

At lot has been spoken and written regarding Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple that passed away recently. Known for his commitments towards what he believed as right, Steve broke all the rules, challenged status quo and guest what, he was proven right.

He was certainly an innovator. To my mind, innovation by definition is to proof the status quo is wrong and offer better alternatives for the common good of the society. Be that in scientific discovery, business models or social thinking and living. So those who are incumbents, whether in business or politics, people like Steve are not welcomed. This sort of people do not only reduce life expectancy of products or services, but politicians and political parties as well.

The fourty-two chapter book with 599 pages was written by Walter Isaacson, the CEO of the Aspen Institute who was also the Chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. You need to have a copy of it to learn more about Steve.

Sadly, the book is only available in ENGLISH (at the moment) making it useful to ENGLISH competent people. It may later be translated to many other languages but it will take time and sometimes the context might not be the same due to the differences in culture and values.

Perhaps, in some countries, people like Steve Jobs are not welcomed. Who need more of the people who keep on changing status quo and offer something different? Not good for stability and harmony! Insecure and incompetent people with power may believe so.

Further, in some countries, a big number of policymakers are now people who could not comprehend ENGLISH well, due to the policy shift in the 70's. This was the time when changing what was established by the colonials were fancy.

So, instead of acknowledging their deficiency, just create a policy to institutionalise the shortcoming so that everybody would be the same. By doing this, not only Steve Jobs alike will be prevented to exist, the deficiency in ENGLISH does not exist anymore because everyone share the common trait.

Even when writing about Steve, we tend to break some barriers!

Finallly, 787 Dreamliner Takes Off

2011-10-26T07:58:00.000+08:00

This is a project which I have been following for quite a while. Not so much because it resulted in a brand new plane which consumes less fuel but more because of the concept of innovation behind this project. I have been excited about network-centric innovation for a long time and the Dreamliner project is one of the show cases that deserves recognition.

No doubt this project has it's fair share of challenges and did not complete on time. However, the collaborative concept, where competitors were able to collaborate, would certainly be further refined in the future and hopefully enabling more innovation which will make this world better.

Network-centric collaboration is about recognising that there are more smart people outside your organisations. The idea behind this concept is to co-create and leveraging on talents and brainpower that would have not been tapped, had the innovation remains within the typical corporate boundaries. This approach has been applied in many other industries. Perhaps this old presentation of mine would clarify the concept further.

Let us pray and hope the first flight of the Dreamliner today would be the beginning of many more success stories which will offer us, you and me, better way of living and ensure the generation of the future would inherit a planet earth which is livable.

What a Week!

2011-10-22T10:15:00.000+08:00

I was attending an annual dinner when I checked my iPhone for latest news. There it was, Col. Gaddafi is dead.

By now, many of us may have seen many videos and pictures surrounding the dead of someone who has been running Libya for more than 40 years. His conducts affected many lives, within Libya and abroad. Even in this part of the world, I am sure he will be remembered. When I was a little boy, I met many Malays from Southern Thailand who were given scholarships to study in Libya. I believe such handouts were accorded when Gaddafi was already in power. I wonder how these people who benefited from such gesture would feel at present?

At the same time, the movement "Occupy Wall Street" is gaining momentum. It has spread to many other capitals, symbols of capitalism. The dissatisfaction of people on the "main street" over the conduct of those calling the shots at the "Wall Streets" of the world could influence many move events to come. Given the US is going into a Presidential election next year, this movement could be turned into another vote bank. Oh, the people in the US are lucky that election dates are not as mysterious as it does in some country.

Then we have debates in Malaysia regarding the role of academicians and how far they could share their views and thoughts. I am not going into details of this. However, there was also report on state of our higher education by the World Bank. I have not seen the report myself yet but I understand there was a case study of 2 universities, one in Malaysia and another in Singapore. Both universities started from a common root but evolved with different philosophies and approaches. Where there stand in the eyes of the world is now quite obvious. Hopefully, we could also learn something from this as well.

So, there we are, in a week many events could occur, in many parts of the world and with different relevance and implications to many of us. Not everybody will understand and interpret these events in similarly way. How these events are understood would be influence by our own views, philosophies and values. What is important is how honest we are in looking at these event, to ourselves.

Giving meaning to our lives

2011-10-08T08:28:00.000+08:00

I am not surprised many of us are sad with the passing of Steve Jobs. Why? He managed to touched our hearts in many ways through innovations inspired by him and his colleagues. Although it took me long years before buying my first Apple product which was an iPhone 3G, looks like I am not buying anything but Apple from that point onward.

The death of Steve has sparked discussions about him as a person. His commencement speech at Stamford is one of the most quoted after his death. It is all about life from his perspective, given who he was as a child and realising his future would be influenced by the cancer he suffered.

By taking death as a game changer, Steve focused on giving meaning to the balance of his life, from his own perspectives, as determined by him, not others. Ironically, that meaning comes from making a difference to others, through products and services which shape the lives of many people and industries. While some may sense some sort of arrogance in the ways Steve and Apple behaved, it is clear now that such conducts was premised on the thought of living life as he saw it then.

When the technology industry was moving strongly towards open architectures, Apple stood it cause and maintained it's own ecosystem religiously. The essence of this stand is about being able to shape the future rather than the reverse. It is interesting to note that this model has been adopted by many of Apple's competitors lately.

So, who shape the lives we live?

Many of us want others to change so that our lives will change for better as well. Does this make sense? Well, such attitude generates societies which demand a lot but do less. As a result of this, they get exploited by people who are in the position of power or influence. Instead of trying to change the way they think and behave, they expect the exploitative people with power to change, what a wishful thinking. Off course once a while, they will be given goodies and handouts, especially when big major decisions are to be made.

I suppose the meaning of our lives is determined by ourselves based on our beliefs, values and desire to decide how we will be remembered when we are no longer around. While it could be ironic that to have more meaningful lives we make meaningful differences in others, achieving such a state requires strong personalities and desire. Steve did.

Will our lives be more meaningful when Steve is no longer with us?

Right Vs Popular Decisions

2011-10-01T09:32:00.001+08:00

We make many decisions in our daily life. From deciding whether to step out from our beds early in the morning, the food that we eat for breakfast and decisions that we make at work. None of us are free from deciding things for ourselves. In all cases, deep in out hearts we also know exactly why we decide what we decided. Whether or not we share those reasons with others could be a different matter.

When we make decisions which will affect others or more people, things could be more challenging. Some people fully understand how our decisions would affect them, some don't. Sometimes, we ourselves may not be able to exactly project those implications.

If we could agree that people are inherently selfish, it could be easily assumed that people will react to the decisions we make based on their self interests. For example, if our decisions provide them with better benefits, I am sure nobody would complaint. If however, our decisions restrict their behavior or require them to make more effort, some may not support our decisions.

The higher we are in the hierarchy of our society, the wider the impact of our decisions would be. Naturally, the response to such decisions would be stronger, especially when a larger segment of the society are unhappy. Another challenge is about balancing the immediate needs of people with a more sustainable future i.e. ensuring our children and theirs would not suffer from the consequences of the downside of what we decide today. From experience, we tend to look at a shorter time horizons and may let the future be dealt with by others. This is perfectly selfish.

The impact of any decision is also influenced by the values of the decision maker. If we as a society could not be bothered about corruption and abuse of power, we would not give much attention towards governance, rule of law and justice. I ma sure we could look at many other part in the world where compromise on values and ethics, at the societal level, eventually lead organisations or even countries towards bankruptcy, both financially and values. Without the pressure from the society towards good governance, it would be very difficult for the rule of law and justice to prevail. So, we decide the kind of environment that we live in, by deciding who should be making decisions on our behalf.

This is where leadership comes into the equation. A leader would have to decide what is in the best interest of the society and balance the needs and demands of many pockets of people with different interests and wants. A leader who is weak would normally be indecisive, as balance those needs, as his personal needs and wants, would not be easy. For every decision, many people would be unhappy. So, a weak leader tend not to decide, prolonging the problems rather than taking responsibility for his decisions.

If we could accept that not everybody would support any decision, the guiding principle for any decision would be what is in the greater good of the society at large. For example, if by sharing more opportunities, we as a society would be more competitive, then a more merit-based system should be preferred. Off course, those who are benefiting from any golf-liked system where some are given "handicap" would not like to compete more to proof their worth. A great leader would recognise this challenge and would proceed doing the right thing.

In essence, a right decision need not be necessarily popular and a popular decision need not be necessarily right.

Being a rat for a day

2011-09-21T08:00:00.001+08:00

It took me 8:57 minutes to complete 1.45km at The Edga Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Rat Race 2011. I participated in the CEO category, saving me from running a more punishing distance in the open category. I burned 108 calories as well!

The race is a charity event to raise funding for the needy. According to the rat race website, more than RM 1.8 million fund was raised. A respectful amount indeed.

The rat race has been an opportunity for corporate Malaysia to show how much they care about the unfortunate while participating in a rather competitive event. It was not just about running but participation of the whole organisation. There we runners, cheer leaders, supporters etc. Judging from the level of competition, many companies came well prepared.

On a bigger picture, we are certainly more than just mere rats. Although the race could have portrayed us in that sense, I hope in our real lives, we compete with each other for good causes and reasons, not just to have more zeroes in our bank accounts. Yes, life is definitely more than about having more zeroes.

I did some preparation to ensure I would not make full of myself during the race. I intend to continue exercising, just to remain healthy and able to do more for myself, family, society and the world at large.

A country going bankrupt?

2011-09-20T08:19:00.000+08:00

Can a country goes bankrupt? Never! I suppose that would be a natural response to his question. We are used to see what happens when a person fails to pay his debts. Even companies will be liquidated if the does not settle its borrowings. The creditors could petition to the court and a liquidator will be appointed. Assets of the company will be sold and creditors will be paid off, based on certain priorities. Those unlucky creditors will have to suffer "haircut", getting paid less than what was loaned earlier.

Countries are different kind of stuff all together. They are sovereign on their own, print their own money and able to extract resources within its borders and sell off to finance themselves. They could issue bond with better credit ratings than some of better companies.

Those were the thoughts of the past. I am sure we are familiar with the present days' scenes in Greece. Under pressure to implement tough austerity measures imposed by the EU, Greeks are suffering from the consequences of living beyond their means for a prolonged periods. They had more flexibilities when they were outside of the Eurozones. The had devalued their currencies many times in the past, burning the hands of many creditors. However, being a member of Eurozone, it is a bit more sticky now as the risks of its misbehavior will affect other countries in the monetary union.

Watching how Greece's civil servants having to suffer salary cuts, uncertainty in terms of retirement benefits and additional taxes to close the gap in government spending are certainly unpleasant. I am sure this scenario was not even imagined years back. How could a country goes bankrupt?

Bankruptcy is just a technical term. It could mean differently to a person, a corporation or a country. What matters is the consequences. Like people, when a country spends more than what it earns, over a prolonged period, the people will eventually have to pay for the consequences. Unfortunately, decisions for a country are driven by politicians who may not suffer as some of the consequences are only experienced much later.

When times are good, even the most stupid decisions would be branded as the greatest. What more in many cases, popular decisions which may not necessarily smart, are preferred to tough measures which may not be popular. Politicians are in the business of winning elections and elections are held within a very short intervals. Naturally, the focus would always be on short-term glory and letting the tragic consequences to be suffered by those who inherit their positions later.

Citizens who don't care about future consequences of their demands are equally responsible to push countries into bankruptcy. If they elect politicians who promise the moon and the sky but has integrity of none, don't blame the politicians for doing what they are "capable of" later.

So, remember. People will suffer when a country lives beyond it's means. That includes you, me, our children, their children and many more.

Undilah, we are the BOSS.

2011-09-16T15:12:00.000+08:00

A brilliant effort in voter education. Something that we really need in Malaysia at the moment.

The Double Words

2011-09-16T07:48:00.001+08:00

We are celebrating Malaysia Day while those, especially in Kuala Lumpur, continue to organise open houses in celebrating Aidil Fitri. So, technically, we are again having a double celebration. Not really a surprise given Malaysians consist of people with diverse ethnicity and religion.

Another "double" that we may face frequently in our lives is doublespeak. According to Dictionary.Com, doublespeak is a noun which means "evasive, ambiguous language that is intended to deceive or confuse". People who are so desperate to be popular may choose this method to say something which many people want to hear but do something else later. That is my impression about double speak.

There are many people out there who need to be popular but are so hopeless that they could not be so on their own merit. So, using doublespeak could be very tempting, particularly if they have ways and means to amplify their messages to wider audience. Innocent and ignorant people may buy this kind of trick. Some, although cautious that they are being conned, choose to play along as they may have personal stake in the popularity of the doublespeaker.

Off course, later, when people realised that they have been double-crossed, they would be very upset and beginning to have double-vision. Unfortunately, double speakers have the skill to manage such situations, more double-speaking and those upset people would be happy and start clapping and smiling again. Slowly but surely, the whole society would move towards unpleasant circumstances but being addicted to soothing words keep them in-check.

This vicious cycle will go on and on as many people, somehow, are able to endure the consequences of living in an environment where double-speakers are cherished and glorified. Some may decide to have enough of having this sort of nonsense would emigrate to different places with the hope of having less double-speaking and having more real life based on their merits and hard work. This is what we refer to as "brain-drain", another term coined to sound complicated and camouflage the simple meaning of the term, again.

Another outcome of the lost of integrity?

Teddy bears anyone?

2011-09-12T20:29:00.000+08:00

This is a very interesting findings. Adults would behave more ethically if reminded by their childhood friends, teddy bears. I am sure you will find the following interview with Sreedhari Desai, assistant professor at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School very interesting.

Looking forward to cuddle my long lost teddy. Did I have one when I was a kid?

Shades of Truth

2011-09-11T07:46:00.000+08:00

Today is September 11 or 9/11. The significance of this date depends on who you are. Even if it is about the attack on the twin towers in New York. A lot has been discussed and written. While the world widely accepted that it was a calculated attack engineered by Osama bin Laden, they are also alternative views regarding the event. Similarly, there are alternative views, theories and explanations to mostly everything.

While this world is beautiful? I suppose because we see things in shades of colours, not just black or white and something in between. Just imagine if out sight could only process primary colours, that also would change how we see the world.

The concept of "truth" is also somewhat complex and not as straight forward as what we may have thought. For example auditors have been signing off on the "truth and fairness" of financial statements for many years and yet we have issues around whether those financial statements were really so. Even today we could read different versions of truth on one single event. Just pick up a subject in a newspaper and google about it in the Net. I am sure you will find many other viewpoints and angle provided by many other writers. This worries a lot of beholders of status quo, who normally benefit prom the present 'truth' and will lose a lot if other 'truth' is accepted by the society.

During the time when a small number of people dominate what the public consumes and reads, truth was, perhaps, more absolute. However, in the day and age where people can read, hear and watch more analysis and discussions regarding certain facts, the interpretation regarding the facts becomes more diverse. At the end of the day, truth will become like beauty, always in the eyes of the beholder. This means truth will depend on our values, upbringing, beliefs etc.

In an discussion on whether a university could shape the values of students, somebody told me that a person brought up in a family of thief will live the values, whether or not he goes to universities! Perhaps, this explains why many countries are struggling to fight corruption and abuse of power because there are so many people who believe that it is OK to be corrupted as they have been living with such family values.

So even in "right or wrong" issues, there is no guarantee that people could agree whether a simple but disgusting behavior is bad or otherwise. If someone benefited from their corrupt practices, it will be tough for them to categorically proclaim that corruption is bad. When can see this irony towards corruption even within ideologies. In China, which practices communism, you will be shot to death if you are a corrupt leader. In democracies, such a person may be able to buy his way up and eventually become a leader.

When I was thought about economic theory during my university days, the students were reminded about cateris paribus. A theory works only when all other things being equal. This is like taking a snapshot at things and say that "at that moment, this is what I observe". In reality,all things will never be equal. That said, the theory will be observable, in many shades.

Let's recall 9/11.

From office boy to oil minister

2011-09-07T22:03:00.000+08:00

I heard about this story on my way back from office today. I was so inspired by the story that I quickly did a research and ended up doing this posting. I suppose the lessons from this story should inspire us to look forward to a successful future provided there is a willingness to work hard and persevere in pursuing our dreams.

It is about an office boy working for an oil company in Saudi Arabia. One day he felt so thirsty and went around to find water to drink. When he found what he was looking for he was abruptly stopped from drinking it by an American engineer. The water was meant only for engineers, not a lowly ranked employee like him.

That incident really woke him up and he committed himself to work hard and eventually was sponsored by his company to continue his studies. He went to study Beirut, Pennsylvania and Stamford before coming back to be an engineer in Aramco's Exploration Department. Eventually he became the company's President in 1984 and it's CEO in 1988.

This is the story of H.E. Ali Ibrahim Al-Naim who was appointed as the Minister of Petroleum and Minirel Resources of Saudi Arabia in 1995. He eventually became a very influential personality in the oil industry as such that the rumors regarding his retirement caused a record crash in the price of oil.

Remember the American engineer who prohibited him to drink? One day he went to see Ali to ask permission for time off and said, "I want to ask permission for my holiday. I hope you do not take revenge, for my rudeness and bad behavior in the past when I prevented you to drink the water"

Ali responded "I want to thank you from bottom of my heart because you forbid me to drink. Yes, I used to hate you. But, because of you I am in this position"

Ecosystem matters

2011-09-05T22:09:00.001+08:00

I first learned about ecosystem in my biology class when I was in Form 4. Not sure whether there was any question on this subject when I sat for my SPM (Malaysian Certificate of Education) a year later. I did not take biology when I did my Year 12 in Australia and never thought of re-visiting the term again.

So, why am I writing about something that is taught in biology classes? Well, ecosystem is about how living and non-living things live together in a defined environment. The action of an element would influence others, positive or negative. The dynamics in the ecosystem will lead towards many possible outcomes. Although rain will help tree to grow, too much rainfall will cause flooding and may kill the trees. If we chop down trees to build houses, the monkeys will turn our neighborhood into theirs.

Life is too complicated. To help people to comprehend life, the complexity is simplified by many into simple, linear relationships. In business, such approach is used, for example, to explain the connection between the transformation of raw material into goods in the form of supply chain analysis. The concept of chain suggests that one event will lead to another, simple.

Such simplicity may, sometimes, lead us to believe in the simplified concept rather than the real life itself. This will lead to problems if the simplified concept is used to solve real life problems. For example, more money will make us happy. However, if the money is obtained through illegal means such as corruption, we may not enjoy our money as we have to pay additional cost due to deterioration of services and other inefficiencies. Although some people may escape paying the total cost of corruption, other may have to pay more. The net effect is that our society will be worse off.

The points is events in life is not necessarily linear. Sometimes it goes into a cycle, sometimes it will move in a totally opposite direction if the elements in the ecosystem are not as what we had assumed. Therefore, understanding the character of key players in any ecosystem would be crucial in anticipating possible outcome of a given event.

Too complicated? Yes, life is not meant to be easily understood.

The New Certainty - Uncertainty

2011-09-03T10:54:00.002+08:00

Some of us were brought up in the "era" of stability. In fact stability has been the mantra to gain support in many ways. Some are so scared of uncertainty that "stability" has to be attained at all cost, literally.

There are a number of reasons why stability is something which may not be enjoyed by many countries anymore.

First is about how far the interconnected our economies are. Flip an iPhone or iPad and you could see the remark "Designed in California, assembled in China". So here, we have the brain in one part of the world and the hands and legs in other part. This perfectly reflects China's problem with the falling US dollar, as it is the largest creditor to the US. So, even if we are exporting to China, the exposure to the economic slowdown in the US and Europe needs to be factored in as China is also exposed as well.

Second is about information that moves at the speed of electricity through the web and cable televisions. With some caveat off course, CNN and BBC news are received few minutes late in Malaysia. Not sure how much this make sense in the world that moves on a real time basis. The free flow of all sorts of information to a certain extend break the monopoly of information in many countries where traditionally truth or otherwise comes from a central source.

Although this not not yet applicable everywhere, the new versions of thinking is sipping through various social media such as Facebook and Twitter, which reflects how real people think and act in real time. This has weakened those who has been enforcing "the unreal" on the masses. Many more people are also able to express their thoughts and views which could be different from the old "truth". Then, the so called Gen-Y love something new and are willing to take the risk of thinking! This is pretty scary for those who do not want people to think, even when those people are graduates from universities. This is the third element which influences actions on the ground faster than before.

Now, everything is being challenged. How could the developed world (read the US and Europe) reflate their economies using economic theories conceptualised when the world was less inter-connected? The free floe of information enable people to react to new information on a real time basis. Just look as how the global stock market move and react when good or bad news from one part of the world get transmitted across the globe. To a large extend, control is something that many government have at the moment. Hence, they can't really deliver "stability" as what they used to do in the past.

When uncertainty is the new "stability, our interest (and those of our children and theirs) would be protected when people who we could really trust are in decision-making positions. This requires smart people with high integrity to be in such positions. The problem is, integrity is a boring stuff. It is an anti-thesis of excitement, especially when money making is concerned. What more when selfishness has been the main driver of economic activities. How could banks lend money to people who were not able to pay back? This was what happened and why the developed world is in trouble now. Unfortunately, when the lack of integrity is felt, it could be already too late. And another problem is whether we ourselves value integrity?

About History

2011-08-31T08:26:00.003+08:00

Poetry is nearer to vital truth than history. ~ Plato, Ion

If we search the topic of history on Wikipedia, the answer is not as straight forward as what we expect. To some, history is a factual recording of events that happened in the past and, as they say, those facts never lie. However, my understanding of the discussion on the philosophy of history suggests that history also has the speculative dimension.

A case in point would be the events unfolding in the Middle East, dubbed as the Arab Spring revolution. Are they efforts to liberate people from opression or problems created by terrorists and troublemakers? It depends on which angle you are looking from, the people or those with power. To a certain extent, your values, philosophy and preference would influence how these events are understood and related to others. As the saying goes, there are two sides of the coin!

Then I did another thing, I googled about quotes about history. Interestingly, few examples that surfaced appear to be more cynical regarding what history represents. Something that I never thought of until now. Perhaps deep reflection on these historical events would allow us to be closer to the "truth", how painful they would be. Unless we only want to read what we want to read and don't really bother about "truth".

Perhaps this quotation from George Orwell (as reported by Wikipedia) summaries the debate about history:

"George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is a fictional account of the manipulation of the historical record for nationalist aims and manipulation of power. In the book, he wrote, "He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future." The creation of a "national story" by way of management of the historical record is at the heart of the debate about history as propaganda. To some degree, all nations are active in the promotion of such "national stories," with ethnicity, nationalism, gender, power, heroic figures, class considerations and important national events and trends all clashing and competing within the narrative"

A good topic for reflection as we move into another day of historic significant.

World competitiveness in 2011 and beyond with Stéphane Garelli

2011-08-28T16:50:00.000+08:00

At the eve of Aidil Fitri, all Malaysians are preparing themselves for a long break. Most Muslims will be heading towards their hometowns, leaving cities like Kuala Lumpur, not really empty, but to be enjoyed by close to 2 million foreign workers.

This celebration is at the middle of many crisis, felt around the globe. We have a very critical economic crisis in the US and Europe. Adding to that is the political crisis, predominantly lead by those in the Middle East, a hangover of the Arab Spring revolution.

For those who have time and perhaps wondering what is going on in the economic front, I believe this presentation by Professor Garelli of the IMD would provide some light of the reality of things. It was made in a very interesting way and certainly very insightful.

Happy learning.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

2011-08-26T07:48:00.003+08:00

This is not a new news. Steve Jobs has relinquished his position as Apple CEO. I am not going to write a review about Steve but I thought his speech 2005 Commencement speech at Stamford is worth a while for us to reflect upon.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

Fall of a regime - Live on TV

2011-08-24T07:58:00.002+08:00

In the last few days we had the opportunity to observe the final surge of the Libyan rebels towards the capital, Tripoli. Some of us may agree or disagree with such action but the bottom line is the Gaddafi regime appears to have ended. Like other regimes built on fear and oppression, it crumbled at a double quick time when the fake support from the people was ultimately unveiled.

The reputation of Gaddafi as somebody who opposes the West is well recorded. Not until when he decided to join the "was against terrorism" he was considered a terrorist himself. With his iron grip over most everything in Libya, his was very powerful. As in many other placed, a concentrated power would certainly lead towards abuses and cronyism.

Do doubt the success of the rebellion or revolution, depending where your view comes from, was assisted by NATO who had been bombing the Gaddafi regime to "protect civilians" even until the dying days of the regime. Suddenly, an organisaton which acronym is synonymous with No Action Talk Only was very active militarily. I suppose the proximity of Libya to Europe and how much Libyan oil is consumed there were among the factors which motivated NATO to protect Libyans.

Well, we are in the Web 2.0 era where information flows at the speed faster that we could have imagine even 5 years ago. The inter-connectivity of people through various platforms and devices make censorship very archaic. There are still places where the official line is out of line with reality, as what we heard from Saif al-Islam, Gaddafi's heir apparent. Even when the whole world knows the opposite, we was still adamant that they were in charge. Perhaps, this is one of the traits of any dictator, blinded from reality because of the power held.

Looks like to avoid another Libya, citizens much ensure strong check and balance exist in the society to prevent any leader to grow into a monster which has no problem in abusing the power entrusted in him. Yes, ultimately we need to trust somebody. However, the trust must be complimented with effective institutions which are loyal to truth, justice and ultimately the people, you and me.

Wastage during the month of moderation?

2011-08-21T07:50:00.001+08:00

In the Muslim world Ramadhan is celebrated as a month of moderation. Muslim refrain from eating and doing other things which will nullify their fast from dawn to dusk. This is also a month for generosity where donation to the less fortunate persons are encouraged.

While Ramadhan in this modern days does not change in its essence, how Muslims manifest their eagerness to seeing through Ramadhan has caused some concerns that the spirit could have been tainted. A news report from BBC on food wastage is an example of such concern.

Most hotels and restaurants see Ramadhan as an opportunity and offer various "Buka Puasa" or breaking the fast packages which could reach more than RM 100. While it is fair for people to spend their hard earn money wisely, sometimes the leftovers could be something that we need to worry about. On the other hand, there are people who may not have descent meal. I suppose we need to reflect which is the ways that reflect the essence of Ramadhan.

The feast of Ramadhan or Aidil Fitri is when Muslims celebrate the success of suppressing their temptations during Ramadhan. Although Aidil Fitri is started with prayers in the morning, what happens after that reflect more of cultural practices rather than religious prescriptions. To a certain extend, the commercial elements of Aidil Fitri distract Muslims from the essence of Ramadhan even when the month is not even completed.

In Malaysia, Aidil Fitri songs (more of a cultural practice) would be played at the shopping centres more as a signal for people to spend their money to celebrate Aidil Fitri. Towards the last 10 days of Ramadhan, people would be patronising shopping complexes which offer all sort of sales. I suppose this is one of the reasons why a half-month bonus was declared by the government for Malaysian civil servants recently.

Given that Ramadhan is a period where Muslims are supposed to suppress their temptations and practice moderation, our actions, at times, may not jive and in line with the meaning and teachings of Ramadhan. It is not too late. We have more than a week to go.

To English or Not to English

2011-08-17T08:06:00.000+08:00

This is an interesting topic, depending on your perspectives of course. Some want their kids to be trained in this language, some prefer the national language or their mother tongue. And the debate goes on.

To me this is a simple decision about the future of our kids, and the country as well. What drive success in the future and how we plant the ingredients in or own flesh and blood? Unfortunately, parents are not the sole decision maker in this subject. We have the state which decides what language should be it be for the main stream education system.

Must kids know how to use Microsoft Words, Excels etc, etc? Yes, most of them are better and more proficient than their parents. Any major complaint regarding the computing skills of kid? I am not aware or any. Maybe the likes of Microsoft and other IT companies may complain.

Why not consider English as a platform for success just like Words, Excel etc? It is not about re-colonisation not it is not about loyalty to the country. Like it or not, it is a platform to access knowledge on a real time basis. Maybe some of us are not used to leverage on knowledge to be successful, they may rely more on who they "know", perhaps. Here again, why are we not passionate to ensure our flesh and blood to be proficient in the language where knowledge (as wall as garbage) is stored most?

Are we scared that our kids will be more knowledgeable and will not be scared of the ghost stories that we have been preaching to them to ensure their obedience? Who is really misguided here?

Let the Show Begins

2011-08-14T15:25:00.000+08:00

I was hopeful for a better start for Liverpool in their Barclay Premier League season opening match at Anfield. While Luis Suarez was spectacular during the opening stage despite missing a penalty, Liverpool was finally held to a 1-1 draw by Sunderland. Interestingly, 2 teams that won yesterday were Bolton and Wolves, not the so called Big-4 of soccer in the league.

While the support for the Malaysian Harimau Malaya has been very impressive lately, our soccer fans look outside for their weekly dose of excitement. The English premier league is one of the many places where their needs are fulfilled. Another attraction could be the La Liga in Spain where global stars like Messi and Ronaldo are displaying their arts. This is what globalisation is all about, you create value, you will be appreciated. Reliance on sentiments and nostalgia could only carry one so far. Beyond that, only performance counts.

Another observation that I have with our soccer is that in Malaysia the coaches are more popular than the managers. There are a lot of philosophical differences between the two roles. Coaches are more on the technical and mechanical parts of the team whereas a manager look beyond what happens on the pitch. A manager looks at the acquisition and disposal of players and even his tactical team members. A coach only takes what is given and try to get the best within the imposed constraints. It is because we need to split the two positions so that one additional glamourous position is created, notwithstanding how this would affect the build up of the team as a whole. Maybe this is the Malaysia Boleh way of soccer management.

Another observation is that the format of our league keeps on changing where sometimes teams are not even sure which part of the league they would be playing. It this an indication we have a very innovative soccer leadership who has to review the format every year?

While there is some success with some teams in Malaysia, they don't appear to be sustainable except for one or two teams. The involvement of politicians is also more significant. Not sure whether all politicians in Malaysia are born with sports leadership skills?

I am sure many of Malaysians will be more local to their european teams then the local ones, as displayed when Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal were here recently. Can't blame them as they want the best. In a globalised world, mediocrity will not lead to anywhere, even when protected by legislation.

Enjoy the show.

The Missing Tiger

2011-08-13T07:55:00.002+08:00

Yes, Tiger Woods will miss the weekend at Atlanta Athletic Club. Though not really a surprise, he missed the cut at the 2011 PGA Championship, the last major of the year. This could be his last appearance in the US for the year although he will be participating at the Australian Open later this year.

This year is definitely a year which Woods would prefer to forget. Without a win for quite a while and still recovering from his divorce, the injury to his knee was not helpful to his effort to regain his career. I suppose Woods would be wondering himself where would it go from here.

One may not be far off in suspecting that his problem is mainly in his mind rather than his golfing skills. No doubt he changed his golf swing but judging from the few great shots that he made, he is still very much a great golfer. The forth stroke at the 18th, when he was no longer under pressure, demonstrated that fact. Some people even suggested that Steve Williams, his caddy for 12 years, was fired just because he wanted to break away from the past. Not totally from success, I hope.

Too me what is happening to Woods is just part of being human. What goes up must come down but this does not mean that it could not go up and higher again. Perhaps this is the differentiating line between those who give up easily with those who persevere and live on to be successful.

I for one would like to see a roaring Tiger Woods again, breaking more records and secure his rightful position in the history of golf. At least Woods should be comfortable to know that at least there is one human being that has a full believe in him.

Keep on roaring Tiger! Looking forward to seeing Tiger 2.0.

Re-visiting Pak Pandir

2011-08-07T07:55:00.005+08:00

Pak Pandir is a character in a Malay epic which represents somebody who is extremely stupid and naive. When I was small, the stories of Pak Pandir will be narrated as an entertainment (no dvd, internet and Facebook yet) as well as for us to learn the moral behind the stories. While some of the Pak Pandir stories appear to be extreme, nevertheless, they reflect live in those days and how simple people's thinking could be.

One of the episodes in Pak Pandir's epic was when his child died because he over feed him with porridge baked by him wife, Mak Andih. He wrapped the dead body with mengkuang (tried to find the English translation for this but failed) mat and brought his child to the burial site. Somehow, the body was dropped without Pak Pandir realising it. He went on and buried the mat without the body. On his way back, Pak Pandir saw the body of his child and said to himself, I am not the only one with a dead child. That pacified him, sort of.

When Pak Pandir returned home, he told Mak Andih "We are not the only one who lost our kid". This statement sends a very powerful message. For Pak Pandir and alike, knowing that others have a same problem makes the problem not a problem. This is not much different when we discuss the issue of corruption. Quite a number of us would dismiss corruption as something which is practiced everywhere, "So, where is the problem?". Sometimes I just wonder whether we as a society really feel corruption is a disgusted sin or entitlement for some people whenever they appear to have done some good deeds.

Then, to me this story was just about a stupid fellow who are too naive to understand the facts. I suppose having lived longer and seen many more things in life, I realise that the story has deeper meaning than just that. I am sure we had occasions in our life when people like Pak Pandir are looked down, used and abused. Given their naivety, they could be easily manipulated. In a more complex world where truth could be manufactured and disseminated over the media, people with Pak Pandir's character become very important to those who rely on numbers to maintain their interests.

Just wondering whether there is any person who behaves like Pak Pandir without realising it? I am not also sure whether Pak Pandir realises this himself. Perhaps to him he was just an ordinary person going through life and any offer to make things better would be appreciated. Damn with the intention of the offerers and the consequences of the trade off. In this modern world, things may be more sophisticated and such episode could be more complex than those days. Therefore, there could be more Pak Pandirs now than then.

Could we be having like Pak Pandir ourselves?

Entertaint yourselves with a song from Pak Pandir.

Are We Living Sustainably?

2011-07-03T16:07:00.002+08:00

The subject of sustainability, living in the ways that allow the earth to last longer, is becoming more important. As the human population on this earth grows and resources are consumed at faster rate, the interplay between people and the environment could no longer be ignored. Many parts of the globe had experienced the impact of climate change, induced by the release of carbon into the atmosphere as we mine minerals and chop down more trees.

More forests are cleared and swamps reclaimed to make way for buildings and other facilities as human population increase exponentially. Such activities resulted in more carbon is released, pushing us closer towards the day where the tipping point is reached. Some are of the view that we are already beyond the point that this earth could reverse climate change.

Despite this, some of us may feel obliged to make whatever difference in this struggle to keep this earth to continue to be livable. Thus, we explore various means to educate, inspire and motive others who have not developed such conscience, yet. This could be an uphill battle but it is better to try to do something rather than watching helplessly further degradation of this planet. We could plan mangrove trees to ensure the mangrove swamps, wherever they are, could act as buffer for erosion and other calamities which sometimes are self-inflicted by us. The question is whether this will be enough.

The tension between the needs of human to seek better life and the need to maintain a sustainable earth would continue to shape the debates in our communities. Those who are benefiting from the present way of living will not easily forego what the believe as their entitlements, be it the right to destroy the future of the next generation. Nowadays, we tend to plan and do things for immediate or short term gains and less worried about what will happen t our children, their children and the rest. It is this natural selfishness that drive us further and further towards our own extinction.

Some people do bad things just to meet their end needs. For example, selling protected corals and other species to pay for basic stuff like food and shelter. While divers may try even not to touch such amazing sea creatures, others may not even feel guilty selling them at weekend markets.

While they live in forest reserve or marine parks as there are no other choices, could we simply accept such excuses?. Who will be worried about these people and how they further drive the destruction of our environment? Maybe once every 5 years somebody will promise something in lieu of votes in elections.

Perhaps this is what we need to think about as we start a fresh week tomorrow. Maybe we could find silver linings on the horizon.

Borobudur - A Pictorial University

2011-06-27T21:27:00.002+08:00

Borobudur is a Buddhist temple located not far away from downtown Yogyakarta. A stunning architectural work constructed from mountain rocks, the temple stood solid despite being located in an earthquake prone area. We could notice the traces of volcanic ashes from the recent eruption of Gunung Merapi when we visited this historical site recently.

The teachings of Buddha is permanently embedded on the walls of this huge complex, in the form of pictures. Having a good guide, which will be provided to foreign tourists, would enable you to understand more about the moral and stories behind the pictures. It is a sort of a pictorial university, something which remains relevant across languages, time and civilisation.

Volcanic ashes do not only pose threats to this complex but also act as natural nutrients to paddy plantations which could be found around this temple. This provides the people in this area with fertile ground to plant food stuff for their own consumption and well as for commercial reasons.

Merapi - The Mountain of Fire

2011-06-25T07:41:00.006+08:00

The city Yogyakarta is one of the interesting places to be visited in Indonesia. Not only Jogja, the nickname of the city, offers you the history of the Hamengkubuwono Sultanate and great choices of local cuisine, it is located close to a mountainous landscape where Gunung Merapi or Mount Merapi is located.

Literally translated as the mountain of fire in Javanese, the last eruption happened in late 2010. This is a must visit place as we are not only able to appreciate the elegant of Gunung Merapi which stands tall and surrounded by beautiful landscape but we would be able to understand the effect of its latest eruption and the human tragedy that came along with it.

While most of the volcanic ashes had been cleared and cleaned, the bare surroundings, especially along the pathway of the lava flow, tells a heart touching story of the sufferings of the people who lived in that area.

The effect of the eruption could also be seen kilometers away from the mountain, especially places which are located close to the flowing lava which carried large rocks together with it. At the same time, observing how people moved on with their lives after the tragedy is certainly inspiring.

The tragedy also claimed the life of Mbah Marijan, the official keeper of Gunung Merapi. He demonstrated commitments towards the cultural values and beliefs of the people in that area when he refused to be evacuated even though he understood the fatal consequences of such decision.

The clash of the two east coast enemies

2011-06-11T09:11:00.001+08:00

The rivalry goes back to the good old days, they say. Yes, whenever Kelantan meets Terengganu in any soccer match, the temperature will go up few notches. Tonight's FA Cup final between Kelantan and Terengganu at the Bukit Jalil stadium would certainly live up to such expectation.

Surely I could not hide which team I'll be supporting. However, I look forward to an entertaining match, given the traditional rivalry between the two team although Kelantan had recently beat Terengganu 3-0 in the Malaysian Super league. Well, as in other thing in life, history need not necessarily be a good indicator of the future. It is about how we perform in the present rather than the nice sweet memory of the past which may not recur.

I hope the result of the match would be determined based on the performance on the ground rather than somewhere else. The arrest of a match-fixer recently should be a signal to other bookies not to fix this match. In fact a tainted soccer match is the last thing that we need at the moment.

The fans should also ensure there would be no untoward incidents, given the history of such between the two group of supporters. I have to admit that I first tasted tear gas during a match between Kelantan and Perak in the 70's.

Let's enjoy the FA Cup final tonight and may the better team wins.

Got You!

2011-06-04T06:35:00.002+08:00

Ratco Mladich made his first appearance at The Hague to face charges with the crimes during the Bosnian war, including the massacre of about 7,500 people in Srebrenica. I saw him making a salute with his left hand, his right hand has been affected due to his illness. This is a huge contrast of him during his peak days where he was able to do what he liked with the full sense of invincibility.

I am sure we also heard about what happened to Hosni Mubarak when he eventually succumbed to the "people's power" to surrender his power which he held with tight grip over the years. Now, his heart conditions appear to save him form making public appearance to face humiliation for what he did when he had power.

The same story is repeated in Tunisia and many other places when people with power, and abuse them, fell from the throne.

As the saying goes, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. These cases demonstrated how close this is to reality. These events in human history also tell us how power could be abused to conceal illegal acts of these people. Worse was how they were treated when they were at their peak. Most would be revered, off course mostly by people who were hoping to benefit by such show of allegiance in spite of knowing the truth.

Perhaps selfishness is the main driver of this sort of behaviors, camouflage with "noble intentions" such as protecting rights or re-engineering the society.

While the stories above also tell us that finally these kind of people will have to face the consequences of their misbehaviours, I wonder how much we have to pay in terms of human life, social injustice and sufferings before this happens?

Some may be able to avoid this worldly justice although I believe they could not escape justice from their creator. This applies to everybody, including the face that we see in the mirror everyday, you and me.