The memory lives on...

4 years have passed...

But memory lives on...

A new jurisdiction

In my current role, I am given the opportunity to participate in formulating the strategy for our function globally.  Our strategy is to be in line the overall strategy of the company; and we call it “the collective agenda”.  Essentially, it aligns the focus of the whole department.

One item within our collective agenda for 2011 is geography focus.  Apart from the usual suspects, 1 particular country caught my attention.  This jurisdiction is certainly not in the same league as Hong Kong, Singapore, China, India, Dubai but is now considered as a “geography in focus”.

It is the first time this country made it on the list.  As far as I know, Malaysia has never made it on the list before.

Since the beginning of the year, I have travelled there once and foresee more business travels to this said jurisdiction.  I have had numerous meetings with business personnel about big plans for this jurisdiction and will be having another one next week to talk about more exciting plans there.

Last week, I dialled into the HR call centre of my company to clarify some queries and I can choose to continue in English, Cantonese, Mandarin and was very surprised to actually hear that I can continue in the language of this jurisdiction in focus.

The global head of the function I am in was here in Singapore yesterday for a business visit.  Today, he is in this new jurisdiction in focus.  No, he didn’t visit Malaysia.

The country that I am talking about is…

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Indonesia.

The reason why I decided to break out from my blog hiatus to talk about this is because I just came out from a hot debate with someone saying that current Malaysian govt is doing a good job as Malaysia’s economy is only behind Singapore in this region. 

One can choose to ignore the fact that Indonesia has already surpassed Malaysia in foreign direct investment and continue to derive a false sense of superiority based on the notion that your maids and construction workers are from Indonesia. 

But the reality is this… Indonesia’s economy is moving at a speed much quicker than Malaysia and while huge capital is flowing out of Malaysia, it’s flowing the opposite direction in Indonesia. 

Of course, many Malaysians are not impacted by this phenomenon.  Will they be ever impacted? Is this a really bad thing to Malaysia?  As some quarters have mentioned, will Malaysians end up being maids and construction workers in Indonesia? The honest answer is that I don’t know.  My attempt to answer those questions may be rather bias.

One thing for sure… the statement of Malaysia’s economy being only behind Singapore in this region is incorrect.  Besides Indonesia, Philippines is also gaining substantial ground on the economic platform.  The Malaysian media may say otherwise but from where I work… right here on this seat... reality paints a very different picture.  

1 year go... When Kilkenny became 'kill Kenny' (recommended)

2 years ago… High what?... It felt like shite... A new trend with the couples

3 years ago… Some general modern slavery comparison

Between Egypt and us

When I attended a conference last November, I was seated next to a gentleman whom I have been exchanging emails in the last couple of weeks.  You would have guessed the content of those e-mails when I tell you.... he is from Egypt.

We are of the same profession and he heads a similar function of mine in a French electric company based in Cairo.  We kept in contact after the conference mainly because I would like to know more about the industry happenings in that region but the conversation soon deviated into what is now a global headline, albeit a brief period of mail silence due to a halt in internet service there.

If you do not know what headline I am referring to, you ought to put your head in a used toilet bowl and flush... might just clear up some blockages.

It was very interesting to know the perspective from a local, of which I believe offers a more un-bias view compared to deriving information from the media.

As I mentioned, my friend (I consider him one) is an educated professional who has a good stable career, possibly considered the upper class in Egypt... did he participate in the protest? The answer is a big "No". 

Just like someone in similar shoes in Malaysia, he has too much to lose. 

Those who have taken to the streets, burned down buildings, destroyed the police stations, etc.  are those who are unemployed, those with nothing to lose.

Many people started flooding facebook statuses with statements such as "the govt should take note of what is happening in Egypt and beware..."... "PM, if you don't reform, what happened in Egypt or Jordan may just happen here"... etc. etc.

Will what happened in Egypt can ever happen in Malaysia? Definitely not... at least not in that magnitude.

Do Malaysia have a population of "nothing-to-lose"? Yes... however, a big portion of this population thinks that is it not that govt's fault that they are in such situation.  Worse... some of them think (or being propagated to think) that they are in such situation because the minority population has 'stolen their wealth'.

What about those in middle or upper class, those who drive nice cars, live in fairly comfortable house... those who have "too much to lose".... those like my friend... those the likes of you and me?

Throughout the ordeal, I asked my friend about the socio-economy impact but my friend never complained about the protest, he never thought about the impact to the economy, he never whined about the inconvenience caused by the event.

Malaysian in similar position of my Egyptian friend.... the very first thing that will come out of the facebook statuses of these people would be... "fuck the protest, I am in a fucking jam!". And that is actually a good sign because at least such people is aware of the protest... because I would think many will have statuses such as "OMG... why is there a massive jam, what is happening?!!??"

The racial and social demography of Malaysia makes it a little complicated to initiate such united effort.  The BERSIH rally was impressive, but it was only one off.  And it probably had more non-participating critics that support.

According to my Egyptian friend, the protest in Egypt gathers both participating and non-participating support. I just can't see that happening in Malaysia.

And just to close... my friend also specifically mentioned that the level of corruption and poor public service in Egypt has resulted in the collapsed of the healthcare and education system.  Sounds familiar isn't it?

But then... we all found through the highly publicised 1Malaysia evacuation that there were 11,000 Malaysian students in Egypt (possibly on govt scholarships). Such high participation in what Egyptian deemed as "collapsed" education system is... mind boggling.

2 years ago… An origination pick-up line

4 years ago… Respect for Malaysian drivers

Short & Sweet: Episode 9 - That cabbie statement

I don’t know what gave us away but as soon as me and my wife got into the cab and told him our destination, he asked “Where are you from?”

His next question was… “So is your country going to was more money to build that tower?”

I responded with a cynical smirk.

His next statement was bold…

“If Lee Kuan Yew was to rule Malaysia, you all will be first world country already!”

And the interesting part?

He was a non-Chinese cabbie.

1 year ago... The father, the son and a birthday party

2 years ago... Do spare them (recommended for CNY reading)... The bau-thai experience

3 years ago… You pee, I pee, he pees, she pees

4 years ago… How was your weekend?

That... is efficiency

I received the e-mail from the Singapore external consultant on a late Monday morning. They requested for quite a number of documents to process my Singapore employment pass, after I have agreed to take up my current role.

It was a very lengthy mail and as I was rather busy at that time, I only browsed through it briefly at the point of receipt.

As the day began to slow down, I managed to read the mail in detail and it requested me to complete and sign on 2 lengthy forms, scan it and send them over together with scanned copies of my certificates, passport and to process Jules’ dependent pass, scanned copies of her passport and our marriage certificate.

The deadline to revert was Thursday in that same week, and since I only read it on Monday evening – that gave me 2 days to work on the documents.

Everything was pretty simple until I noted 1 additional requirement – a certified English translation of the document(s) is required in the event that the document(s) is in a foreign language. 

For those of us who have 1… I bet you never notice that our marriage certificate is entirely in BM.  Yes – it is, and I needed a translation.

Firstly, to find a certified translator in KL was like Malaysia winning the Suzuki Cup – you deserve a holiday if can actually find one.  I only managed to locate a commissioner of oath on Wednesday and he informed that I will need to translate the marriage certificate myself and he will only certify it. I did that but he disappeared from his office on that Wednesday afternoon.

Sensing that I may not be able to meet the Thursday deadline, I sent a mail to the Singapore external consultant asking whether I could furnish the translation on a later date. 

The reply was short and simple – Sorry sir, the deadline is not negotiable.

I was like… what the f**k is wrong with these people?!!? Can’t you just give me another day? Not like I submit the stuff on Thursday and I get the approval on Friday!!  Further, it was specifically written on the e-mail – “The Ministry of Manpower takes 1-2 weeks to process each applicable”.  Judging by that statement, I thought they wont even be submitting my application on that week itself!

But since I don’t really want to make a scene out of it and it was in relation to my employment pass, I stalked the commissioner of oath’s office right after lunch on Thursday (he was not around in the morning!! !!!) and got it certified. 

I sent everything over on Thursday evening.

I got the scanned copy of the approval letter Friday after lunch.

3 years ago… Trustology

4 years ago… Speak the right tongue

Letter to thyself – Round 3

15 people entrusted me with their letters in the first episode.  2 years ago, only 6 subscribed to the idea with 2 asking me to send the letters back to them only after 2 years. I hope they are surprised by what they have written 2 years ago.

As another new year looms, I reckon it’s time to resurrect this again. 

It’s a pretty simple exercise…

You write whatever you want to write to yourself in a word document. Typically, people tend to write about their new year resolution but you should use your imagination.

You save the word document and password protect it (and remember the password).

You send it to me via e-mail telling me how long you want me to keep it.

I will send that e-mail back to you after your prescribed time.  Preferred time is 1 year, have received 2 and I am hoping people will send me asking me to keep it for 5 years.

The best effect is that you have forgotten you have sent me this e-mail and when I return it to you, you will be in utter shock reading what you wrote to yourself years ago.

For the first blog entry about this exercise, read here.

Hope to receive many many many mails… and Happy New Year!

1 year ago… The squid story… Chicken ass

2 years ago… Loved or pampered or spoilt

3 years ago… One for the girls… Talking to the dead… Are you prepared?

Social Network - Christmas version

Spent some quality time catching up with family and friends back in KL during Christmas break... Dread going back to work tomorow but one must face reality...

My pastor showed this video and I think it's really cool... thought you should watch it too...