An Explosive 2011

The adoption of the resolution by the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya is another milestones in what has been an explosive 2011. It was adopted a week after Japan was hit by a triple whammy - earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. 


 

Many people in the Middle East or West Asia, depending on which part of the world you are, have been making efforts to have more democracy from those who are in power. This caused 2 governments to fall, so far, and what is happing in Libya today looks like a work-in-progress.

Japan in now enter into a rebuilding process after a 9.0 earthquake hit the north east pat of the country of the rising sun last Friday. The whole world saw how houses, cars, ships and many others were swap away like little toys by the tsunami. While most reports suggest how prepared and disciplined the Japanese are in facing one of their worst catastrophe, the stories about hunger, lack of food supply and ATM machines which failed to work demonstrate the real magnitude of this whole episode.

The world is now anxious to see whether the rebuilding of Japan will destabilise the financial market, particularly if funds are remitted back from abroad to finance the rebuilding. Would this reduce the growth rate of the world as a whole and derail whatever recovery that is taking place? A lot of people are also worried that this will affect the roll our of iPad 2 as some of the critical parts come from Japan.


The first quarter of 2011 certainly has been very "explosive" where many events that had happened so far could be reflected in the future as critical milestones. One clear lesson is that things could suddenly happen where the effect could be far reaching. Those leading organisations, or even nations, must be prepared to make swift decision in response to these types of situations.  This makes foresights to be key in modern management for those who anticipate challenges may have a better chance to come out "intact".

Lost and Found

What is the odd of losing your wallet and finding it again for 2 consecutive days? It happened to me over the weekend!

I had lunch with a friend who migrated to Sydney and now taking a job in the UK on Saturday. We were joined by another colleague who eventually paid for the rendezvous. It was at Sari Ratu in Kelana Jaya.

The last time we met up was around 3 years ago and it was great to know that he and his family are doing fine down under. As usual I heard the same story of having better pay, better lifestyle and quality of life; and need not be worried about expressing oneself as popular reasons why he and many others Malaysians choose to live abroad. At least they are rewarded on meritocracy, claims my friend, although admitting that discrimination is still felt even in developed countries.

I only realised that my wallet was no longer in my pocket when I reached home. I quickly googled for the phone number of the restaurant and was told that the wallet is in their safe keeping. I quickly rushed back to the restaurant. It was really a great relief when the casher opened a locked drawer and took out my wallet, sealed in a plastic bag. As there was no contact number anywhere in the wallet, they were not able to contact me earlier.

The way the wallet was kept while waiting for me to turn up impressed me, indicating the culture of integrity and customer service of the workers at the restaurant. A part from reminding me of not to be careless in the future, this episode serves as a reminder that they are people who are honest and proud of their honesty.

While some may feel that lighting doesn't strike twice, I did drop my wallet again while having breakfast at Nasi Lemak Tanglin, the next day. This time, one of the workers picked up my wallet and handed it over to me while I was having breakfast. Again, another demonstration of people who are honest is their work and did not take opportunity from other people's carelessness, me in this case!

If the culture of integrity and honesty could be developed and sustained across all strata of our society, I am sure this country will fly towards future success. One of the lessons learned from the recent global financial crisis was that people tend to forget the basic of being human in the race of creating wealth for themselves, even leaders of large global organisations.

The experience over the weekend certainly humbled me as a person. Not only I need to enhance my risk management (read to be more careful with my wallet), I also observed ordinary people assuring me that there are honest people out there and we as a society should be proud of them.

Are You Dealing With Real Friends?

How many of us will switch on whatever gadgets that we use to access the Web in the morning before even brushing out teeth? I am not sure how many hands are raised but many of us are becoming more dependent on the Web to keep our lives going.

Part of this addiction is through various social network platforms, Facebook, Twitter to name a few. Lately, I have been receiving invites to join a lot more of new platforms which are fast crowding the cyberspace.

One important feature of social networks is our ability to connect with "friends". This feature allows us to be in control of who should be allowed to share their views, thoughts and even telling us what they eat on a real time basis. As much as we analyse (I trust we are doing this even now) the identity of any person requesting to be our friends, others are doing the same on us. This brings us to one important challenge, how do we profile ourselves on these social networks.

Loss of privacy is a main concern to most of us, especially if our data is stolen and used by unscrupulous people who are scanning the web for such opportunities. Some of us may be too careless by revealing private information that allows crooks to take advantage from it. As a way to mitigate this risk, people may camouflage their identities using nicknames or even false identities. They are also people who prefer not to use their real identities just for fun.

The group function on Facebook has been used in many occasions as a mean to shape public views. Discussions posted on such pages reinforce the points advocated the the group initiators. What I observe as an emerging trend is the existence of cyber-trolls, people using false identities posting intimidating comments on such pages to turn the tide to other directions. Given that it is very easy to create a new Facebook account using fake identities, cyber-trolling appears a new mean to counter opposing view on cyberspace. 

This could also be observed on popular blogs, especially on matters involving public debates. For example, in the past, articles in English on such matters did not attract many opposing comments. Nowadays, it appears that "the other side" are becoming more interested to counter the posted views, using good English as well. Is this a sign that there are groups out there who are investing substantial resources to hire profession cyber-trollers to fight their cause?

Somehow many people tend to be too trusting when dealing with people and information on the web. Some even take the information as wholesale truth, without any attempt to verify them. Developing a more skeptical attitude may be a wise idea as there is no effective filter on the web. I normally try to triangulate news or information by considering what are said on websites where the writers' identities are known. Reading comments and feedback from other readers would also provide some idea on the issue being discussed. In fact this skepticism should also be applied on all information, including what we watch on TV, listen on the radio and those found in daily newspapers.  

Given the risks of dealing with people whom we do not know, screening our friends on social network is something for everybody to consider. I do not have criteria for safe friends but giving this issue more attention would certainly avoid unnecessary problems in the future.