Rintihan Lagi Pada Hari Malaysia

Ku termenung lagi pada pagi 16hb September . Termenung terfikir kenapa ku dinasihatkan untuk tidak ke mana-mana atas alasan keselamatan dan bukan untuk meraikan hari yang bersejarah ini.
Isu perkauman dan agama dimainkan oleh pihak pihak tertentu untuk alasan yang diketahui hanya mereka sendiri. 52 tahun telah berlalu, ku terfikir inikah yang diimpikan oleh pemimpin dahulukala semasa menyatukan semua pihak untuk menjadi sebuah negara. Inikah negara yang kita sebagai rakyat mahu?

Pabila tidak bersuara, ku melihat saban hari perbuatan mereka ini semakin berleluasa. Pabila bersuara, ku diseru pula pemimpin yang sepatutnya menjadi teladan rakyat untuk balik Tongsan jika tidak gembira dengan negara ini. Kekadang ada juga terfikir masih adakah masa depan untuk negara tercinta ini dan mungkin kah ada padang yang lebih hijau di tempat lain yang boleh ku pergi.
Ku pernah ditanya samada ku telah putus asa dengan semua ini dan memikirkan untuk mengangkat kaki. Nun jauh ke dalam hati ini, ku tahu tiada lagi tempat yang lebih baik dan jika ku putus asa, ini juga bermaksud ku putus asa dengan negara tercinta ini. Ku hanya jawab, di sini tanah tumpahnya darah aku, di sini lah nafas terakhir akan ku hembuskan. Perjuangan untuk negara yang lebih baik untuk masa depan yang lebih baik terpulang kepada ku dan bukannya mereka ini. Hari yang cerah pasti akan datang satu hari nanti, mungkin bukan generasi ini tapi generasi anak-anak kita.

Selamat Hari Malaysia kepada semua rakyat !!!

Bersih #4

I am marching not because I hate my government, but because I love my country more. I am marching not because I am disloyal to my government, but because I am loyal to my country. I am marching not because I hate my leaders, but because I love my fellow Malaysians more. I am marching not because I want to, but because I need to.

Rintihan Seorang Rakyat Biasa

Di petang sambil menjamu teh dan kek di rumah ku melihat langit dipenuhi awan mendung. Teka teki samada hujan akan melanda atau tidak membuat ku termenung. Termenung terfikir kesusahan harian rakyat masa kini. Terfikir ke mana hala tuju negara yang tercinta ini.

Ketelusan dan amanah seolah-olah umpama perkara yang asing dalam fikiran pemimpin yang dipilih rakyat untuk menjalankan kewajipan mereka. Betapa pilunya hati ini pabila ku melihat seorang emak dipenjarakan atas kesala...han mencuri untuk mengisi perut anaknya sedangkan pemimpin yang terang-terang mengenyangkan perut sendiri dibiarkan berleluasa. Derma, saguhati, ganjaran walau diberikan apa nama sekalipun, pabila jumlah itu menjangkaui kemampuan seseorang itu, rakyat mempunyai hak untuk mengetahui hal sebenarnya.

Hal kebelakangan ini membuat ku terfikir samada keadilan benar benar wujud, terfikir samada benarkah adanya tupai yang pandai melompat takkan tersungkur. Kepercayaan kepada Tuhan membuat ku yakin kebenaran dan keadilan sememangnya ada. Betapa besarnya rumah yang boleh dibeli, betapa banyak kereta mahal yang boleh dimiliki, betapa banyaknya wang yang boleh dimiliki, pabila kita meninggalkan dunia ini, lubang kubur itu tetap sama seperti rakyat marhaen yang lain. Eulogi yang akan diberikan hanyalah berdasarkan sumbangan apa yang berikan oleh yang meninggal dan bukannya berapa harta yang dimilikinya semasa hidup. Walau macam mana susah pun kehidupan yang tidak dapat ku jangka, ku tetap akan berjuang. Berjuang atas apa yang benar, berjuang atas apa yang betul dalam segi moral dan etika
 

Cooking Soup: Analogy of Living Our Life

I'm always drawn to philosophies of life since young, taking them as motivating factor to drive myself in living my own life. Different philosophies give different interpretations & understandings to each individual leading them to be confused on understanding life terminologies such as fate, destiny etc. Looking out for ways of living our own life, is so special that it has interconnecting relationship with everything we do in our daily chores. Giving out an analogy of living our own lives is like cooking our own soup. These are the usual steps we usually do:-

1) When cooking soup, we choose our own ingredients & not let others choose for us.
2) Of course, before cooking, we need to know what soup we are cooking. Otherwise, we will not know what are we preparing the ingredients for.
3) We decide the taste of our soup by using the right ingredients. If we want it to be more sweet, we put more sugar If we want it to be less salty, we put less salt.
4) If the taste turned out right, then we congratulate ourselves & strives to do it on consistent basis. If the taste of the soup turned out not to our liking, we don't blame the ingredients, the small kitchen or the cooker. One question to be asked is who put in the ingredients at the first place? Which is why we need to monitor to check on the taste during cooking process. If it still fails, no point procrastinate & blame ourselves.
5) Fix the problem first. To "repair" the taste, either we put in more of counter-taste ingredients such as more water to cover the too-sweet taste OR we throw it away & cook it all over again. What is the best way, will depends on many other factors like "severity" of the taste problem, time, availabilities of ingredients etc.
6) Sometimes, there's no choice but to learn the past mistakes & to start all over again to cook the a brand new soup. That too, the taste will not be guaranteed. If we need to start again, then there's no choice. We need to keep on trying to get the right taste. No one knows how many times we need to try.
7) No one said we need to cook the soup alone. We mustn't be stubborn & it's not wrong to ask for others help & guidance to get the right taste. Of course, there's easy way out to get others to cook for us instead but which way is more meaningful? To drink others' soup or own cooked soup?

Putting the steps above in explaining in aspect of living our own lives
1) We live our own lives & not living a life's that others want us to be
2) We need to have goals / objectives in life, be it in career, studies, family or relationship. Without having goals / objectives, we will not know our directions & not know what are we doing
3) We decide on our own life directions with our hands. If we want our life to be exciting, we make efforts to turn it into an exciting one. On the other hand, if we want a sad life, then it's going to be a sad one.
4) If life is indeed good & go according to plan, then cherish it. Be grateful for the greatness & beauty of live bestowed to us & make efforts to ensure it maintains as what it is. However, if challenges arises & we have bad times, we don't blame anything else but ourselves. Check point no 3 above & which is why we must not be complacent and must keep making efforts to ensure our life is in order
5) When a challenge arises, fix it & try to minimize the damages. Look into different approaches to fix the problem. The best way will depends on each situation & looking at the cause of it.
6) Sometimes, the problem may turn out to be beyond "repair". We need to persevere & do not be afraid of failure & having the willpower to start all over again. We need to keep trying to get the desired results. Rome is not built in a day. Thomas Edison does not create light bulb with one try.
7) Improving our life need not to be done alone. We must not be stubborn & must be willing to accept our own shortcomings to get help from others. Seeking others help is one thing but not to extent of depending on others all the time for help. It is more meaningful to do it ourselves while seeking guidance from others

A Journey: Analogy of A Relationship

Someone very special recently told me that I use good, practical analogy to present my views/opinions of anything, especially in areas about relationship etc. Not to brag but I really think I do LOL. I don't know how, but its probably due to my exposures in tutoring in college or training of new employees at works, requiring me to give practical real-life examples as a more effective way to explain on something instead of the usual I-say-you-listen style.

Coming to explain about the way to handle relationship matters, you can have 1001 ideas to present your views really but who are we to judge which way is better than the other? Each relationship situation & condition is different & that itself, requires us to have different ways to handle them. Imagine this analogy, being in a relationship is like being on a road journey to outstation with your partner. Lessons to learn:-

(1) Knowing you will be on outstation road trip, you ensure your car will be in good working condition & you have standby accessories such as jack/tyre changing kits/water bottle etc. Safety is always be made a priority. You yourself need to be in good physical condition to drive, if you're not, either get your partner to drive or postpone it to other day or get other transport alternatives
(2) Not everyone can talk all day long during the journey. Look to keep yourself & your partner occupied throughout the journey to avoid getting tired & boring. You may listen to music & your partner may read book/listen to music/playing games etc
(3) No one can guarantee there's always sunshine & smooth ride all the way. If it's raining or have traffic jams, no need to get angry over things that beyond your control & you adjust your driving style accordingly
(4) If you notice or feel something is wrong with the car along the way, don't ignore it. Stop & check it out to avoid any problems later. Rectifying it at early stages could save lives
(5) If the car indeed break down, no point complaining & procrastinating for it could results in arguments etc. Calm down & fix the problem of the car first. Find alternatives to continue the journey if car cant be repaired.

Put these road lessons above in explaining the relationship aspects

(1) To get into a relationship, both must be mentally ready. If you or your partner are not ready to commit, don't get into it. Getting used to each other better & time will tells if you are ready into a relationship
(2) Being in a relationship does not guarantee exciting times everyday, especially after a certain period. Do things to keep the sparks alive. Find out your similar interests, or anything that both people can explore together
(3) Being in a relationship does not guarantee happy days together everyday. No point getting angry over each other. Communicate to one another & each of us adjust our ways if need to
(4) If you notice signs of impending problem with your other half, do not ignore it. Communicate with your partner & fix it before it's too late. Rectifying the problem at early stages could save the whole relationship
(5) If indeed problem still happens, no point procrastinate & playing blame game for it will cause situation to get worse. Calm down, sit down together, find out the cause of the problem & fix it TOGETHER. If problem persists & both unable to solve it, do not be afraid to seek outside help from relatives/friends/counselor etc.

MH370: Lessons to Learn

This will probably be the biggest news this year although it's still March. No need for me to elaborate further on what happened on that fateful day, 8th March 2014 as this been covered daily since then. You are probably staying in Timbuktu if you've not heard of this. Dammit, there's even a Wikipedia page on it already.

I refrained from posting anything about this earlier for there are too many unconfirmed, wild rumours pertaining the incident to the flight MH370 and not wanting to join the bandwagons of self-appointed military experts, conspiracy theorists & aircraft investigators. On the cause of the disappearance, you have stories from alien abductions to pilot suicides. On its whereabouts, they even said the plane landed on the moon. Yes, u read me, landed on the moon !!!! And of course, the unrelevant news of the pilots' & passengers' private lives. Don't even mention the incompetencies of the related authorities in handling this crisis. Don't quote me. Irregardless of the outcome of this crisis, there's few lessons to be learned on crisis management, hard knock style by everyone.

LEADERSHIP

(1) Your true leadership character will be revealed during time of crisis. Delegation is one thing but people will be able to read your body language / actions if your are plainly avoiding or not. Ensured to be seen by your stakeholders (in this case your country citizens) during crucial time
(2) Speak if you're required to so. Silence is not golden each time as during time of crisis, people expect to hear voice from the highest authority for comforting reasons etc.
(3) The crisis should be made the main priority & any other unnecessary social appointments such as visits to the market, launching of new store etc should be cancelled or to get representative to attend instead.
(4) Give instructions from the start and get the tasks done immediately.

PUBLIC SPEAKING

(1) Have only ONE single voice (the most 2 people) of who knows what's going on and not having many unrelated people talking on different tunes/directions
(2) Be adaptable to the situation when facing the public and present yourself accordingly. Laugh when u need to and don't, if it doesn't requires you to do so.
(3) Get the concrete facts right before presenting it to the public. Providing assumptions or giving unimportant information will cause more frustrations.
(4) Being protective of your own is understandable but being defensive is the opposite. Know the differences of both and project yourselves accordingly with your words & statements
(5) Your words & tones carry different messages. Enrich your vocabs and brush off your spoken language to ensure you say the right words with the right tone, at the right time
(6) If you don't know what to talk, don't talk. Don't make yourself looked like a bloody fool when u said the wrong stuff at the wrong time

What's my stand up till today? Announcing of the plane "ended" in Indian ocean based on "conclusion from analysis" done is not a convincing answer to give to the families of 239 passengers on board. Specific explanation on how do you make the conclusion and giving concrete evidences are required here. We are facing international medias here and not any half-past-six journalists who will willingly accept all the answers given. It's mentally torturing really. Instinct tells us it has crashed but we don't have the proof up till today to substantiate the claim. This explains exactly, why I didn't give out any condolences or obituary messages till today.

One thing that hurts me individually on how we Malaysians manage this situation of getting the bad publicity from overseas people and medias. And here, we have people wanting to denounce their Malaysian citizenship. As much as we are frustrated on the whole scenario, we must not let our emotions cloud our rational minds and be confused on the differences between government and country. Mark Twain said "Loyalty to the country always, loyalty to the government, when its deserve it". We may be frustrated with the current government incompetencies in dealing with the MH370 crisis but this shouldn't shake our loyalty and love to the country. Everyone around the world may be cursing us like hell now but this does not mean we should be embarrassed to call ourselves Malaysians. Perception by others is created by humans and it can be changed too by you and me. We can't stop others from condemning us, which is why we should reciprocate by educating the unawares. Otherwise, if we, Malaysians don't do it, then who will? Protect our nation if you need to and let Almighty God deals with the uncontrollable factors.

Being A Sibling to the Disabled

We've heard of experience stories from parents of the deaf, children of deaf adults (CODAs) & educator for the deaf. However, there's not many experience stories shared by sibling of the deaf. I'm still trying to figure it out too & sharing bits of my own personal experiences here.

I was six years old when my sister Daphne was born deaf. When my sister was 2-3 years old, my brother & I were brought to YMCA Brickfields to attend a 1 hour sign language crash course where we learned to sign alphabets & numbers. Later in the day, Dad came & told both of us "You cannot talk to Mei Mei (our sister), she can't understand you. Now, both of you must learn sign language to communicate with her". Still blurred on the reason he said so, I obliged. Naturally, our whole family accept Daphne's deafness & learnt sign language thru daily communication and participation in deaf-related activities organized by YMCA.



Group photo with some of the deaf kids in Kuala Selangor, I think

Group photo in Penang, one of many YMCA-organized family trips

There's a Malay saying "Kalau hendak melentur buluh, biarlah dari rebungnya" which means "It's better to bend a willow when it was young". This is one proverb which makes me felt passionate when helping to train the youths when I was leading a Mahikari Youth (Tai) group then. Being single, I may not be qualified to say this but a kid must be properly taught the basics of life when he/she is young. The youth spiritual & mental foundation must be strengthen while they're young & this also applies to the sibling of the deaf & even to other people with different disabilities. The sibling of the disabled must be taught by the parents to learn to accept the disabled & live with it. This is one important area I felt, was neglected by some parents of the disabled. Otherwise, when the parents are no longer around, who will be next person willing to take care of the disabled person, say a Down Syndrome person?

When I say a kid accepting his/her sibling's disabilities, it means accepting it with open heart and willing to make the sibling's disabilities a part of family life. You can really see their level of acceptance towards their disabled sibling, judging from their body language & behaviours. Is the kid willing to learn sign language to communicate with his/her deaf sibling? Is the kid willing to accompany & help out his/her Down syndrome sibling in daily chores? Is the kid willing to tell other friends that he/she has a disabled sibling? I've personally seen some teens did not willingly accept their disabled sibling & given choice, chose to stay away from the disabled sibling as much as possible. It's probably not cool to have a disabled sibling or perhaps it's a burden to have the disabled sibling around.

Many parents have the thoughts that they do not need to tell too much to the able kids on issues of having disabled kid in the family & how the able kids should deal with it. My say? Not being diplomatic but it depends on situation really.  Basic explanation given by parents for not giving reasons for way of treating their child is that the child is too young & not matured enough to understand the complexity of the situation. I do felt its okay for parents to be more open. Kids are intelligent nowadays to understand it really. The kids could sense it thru observations & your treatment towards them. Seeing the parents treating the disabled kid better creates jealousy & as a result, resulting in cold treatment towards the disabled kid.

Forging great sibling relationship, especially if one of the siblings (in some cases, there are more than one in a single family unit) is about starting it young. Give all the children (able & disabled) memorable childhood. U can bring the children round the world or buy them the most expensive toy in town, but giving memorable childhood to the kids isn't about providing materials. A child not necessarily will enjoy a great childhood in a rich family. It's about treating all kids (able & disabled) fairly , ensuring them to live in an environment, rich with love & care and getting them enjoying each other company. When the kids have the "siblinghood" in them, you don't need to be worry about them taking care of each other when you're not around anymore.


The Eng's
 



Now, adding a sister-in-law & a brother-in-law (deaf) into the group

 

I had & thoroughly enjoyed my childhood & clearly remember the wonderful moments till today. This is why I'm thankful to my parents for exposing my brother & I to the world of deafness at young age, in order to make us accept our sister's deafness as part of our life. Boy, I can still clearly remember Dad's constant reminding words to us, on accepting our deaf sister till today. Not bragging but I have no qualms on telling others that I have a deaf sister. In fact, this was made part of the topics discussed when dating..:P

The Arrogance of Authority & The Impertinence of Stupidity

Got this great story to share with all

A DEA officer stopped at a ranch in Texas , and talked with an old rancher. He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs." The rancher said, "Okay, but don't go in that field over there.....", as he pointed out a distant location.

The DEA officer verbally exploded, saying, " Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me!" Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removed his badge and proudly displayed it to the rancher. "See this badge?! This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish.... on ANY land!! No questions asked or answers given!! Have I made myself clear...... do you understand???"
The rancher nodded politely, apologized, and went about his chores. A short time later, the old rancher heard loud screams, looked up and saw the DEA officer running for his life, being chased by the rancher's enormous Santa Gertrudis bull...…

With every step the bull was gaining ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that the officer would be gruesomely gored before he reached safety. The man was clearly terrified. The rancher threw down his tools, ran to the fence and yelled at the top of his lungs.....
                         (you will love this part….)

                        "Your badge........ show him your BADGE!!"

Patriotism in Unity - The Name of The Game

Now that August month is here & in conjunction of the coming Merdeka (Independence Day) in 2 days time, the theme of the month is none other than unity. I mean what other theme is there to talk about besides unity? It has been 4 years since my last post about this topic, titled Merdeka & how much things has changed since.

Racist remarks, threats to people of other races, acts that showed disrespect to other religions/beliefs, all well publicized all over the medias over the past 4 years & it's still ongoing. Done not by ordinary people like u & me, but sadly by people holding prominent roles in the society, people who are supposed to be the role models for the society, people who are supposingly upholding the law. And the blame game goes on & on. I don't need to specifically mention any here since most of you, readers of this post are well savvy enough to know what's I'm talking about.

That's talking about the present. Speaking about future, looking at the youth & kids' behaviours today, we are bound to be worried about how can they help shape this country. U see children mixing only with other people of their own race in school canteen. Go to a mamak restaurant, u see groups segregated according to races. That's not all. Blame it on plain ignorance or lack of awareness or whatever, u see youths today (and matured adults too) don't really understand the culture / beliefs / practices of the other races. True story accounts, some people still cant differentiate a tosai, a capati & a poori. Some still don't understand why a Chinese can celebrate both Chinese New Year & Christmas. Some people think Deepavali is a celebration of Indian new year. Many people have never attend a Malay kenduri. Some people think dialects like Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka are all the same besides Mandarin.

The point is, if we don't know the other customs & beliefs, how are we to know how to respect them? The rule in the corporate world is, if u don't know about a topic or don't know what to talk about, u keep your mouth shut. And here, u have some people (prominent ones at that) trying to be too smart by telling the public about their standings, without thinking of the consequences. Best part is, even if we try to follow other customs, we will get a certain look from them as if it's abnormal for us to do it. I still got stared at, whenever I use my hand to eat banana leaf rice. Many people are surprised when they know I can speak pretty good Malay.

Most recent news is about how an act of kindness shown by Raven Murugesan towards a Muslim cashier, has created a big buzz in the Net. Not undermining what Raven has done but during the time of our parents, what he has done is an usual random thing to do then & there's nothing to shout about really. Today, it's seems to be a BIG deal for a person to show kindness towards another person of other race. We just fail to understand that when we see a person beyond the colour of his/her skin, all we're looking is just another child of God. If we're to put one finger each from ourselves & that person & cut the fingers, what we're bound to see is only red coloured blood from both fingers. I've said this before in previous posts that if the Americans take centuries to accept a black as a president, then this young country of ours at 56 years old, has a long way to go to be able to progress as a nation for all.

We can complain for the whole day, telling about what's went wrong and have brainstorming session with the who's who on how to do better as a nation. Will things improve? Merdeka is not about who fly the most numbers of national flags or who hoist the flag the highest. Merdeka is not about having to stand up to Negaraku each time I go to cinema. Kee Thuan Chye hit the bull's eye in his blog when he said patriotism is what u carry in your heart - your love for your country, if u want to put it that way. It is something that make you decide you will fight to protect it, perhaps even die for it.

And it's not the question about what other should do to make things better but instead, it's about what can we do to make things better. Our forefathers has fought their lives for this country & it is us, who should be making efforts to preserve peace and unity in the country. We show the others how to become a better Malaysian by becoming one ourselves. A divine teaching said, life around us is a reflection of ourselves. And we change others by changing ourselves. And me? Life has never been better, having great friends from all walks of life and I truly thanked God for this. And these crazy, memorable experiences will definitely be shared with my children in future to inspire them to help create a better Malaysia.

The Akurians

Happy Merdeka everyone !!!!

Language - The Power Tool

Language, they say is the most powerful tool to succeed in getting your message across to the audience. The utmost important must-do way is by using normal conversational language as a tool. When I say, conversational language, it doesn't need to be perfectly constructed sentences. The infamous Manglish (English spoken in localized Malaysian slang with localized words) is one conversational language. Same can be applied for other local languages as well. Knowing the language is one thing. Being proficient in it is another thing. Being able to use it to appeal to the right audience is another whole new level.

I usually train my Customer Service personnels to adapt to customer's language level to be able to create a rapport with them. Giving dummies example, if a German is working in Japan, he can't speak German to the colleagues. Of course, they can speak a common language, such as English. However, if he's to learn Japanese & speak to the colleagues, it brings the rapport & relationship to a higher level. Even, in any tasks in our working environment, we can use this method too. This can be demonstrated in below some real-life scenarios below:-

MESSAGE: To check driver status & to inform him on the urgency to deliver the goods to customer

Speaking to Malay driver (Malay language)
Me: Bang, ko kat mana ni? (Bro, where are u now?)
Driver: Aku kat Shah Alam ni, dekat roundabout JVC. (I'm in Shah Alam now, nearby JVC roundabout)
Me: Barang Canon tu, ko hantar cepat pi sana ya. Aku dah kena marah teruk dengan customer ni (U  know the Canon goods, please deliver it urgently, okay?? I've already got scolded by customer)
Driver: Ya ker? OK, lagi 10 minit sampai. (Is it?? OK, be right there in 10 minutes)
Me: OK, timo kaseh ya (OK, thank you)

Speaking to Indian driver (Malay language)
Me: A-ne, lu sekarang kat mana? (Bro, where are you now??)
Driver: Saya kah? Saya dekat.....tol USJ. Kejap lagi sampai. (Me?? Me now nearby.....USJ toll. Will arrive there shortly)
Me: Itu macam kah? Itu barang Canon ahh...lu bawa kan? Itu manyak urgent lahh. Lu cepat-cepat hantar sana ahh. Itu customer sudah manyak marah lahh (Is it??U know that Canon goods? Ur carrying it right?? It's an urgent goods, could u please deliver it urgently. The customer is very angry now)
Driver: Ya kah? OK, OK, nanti sekejap sampai (Is it?? OK, OK, will arrive there shortly)
Me: OK, thank you ahhh. (OK, thank you)

Speaking to Chinese driver (Cantonese language)
Me: Tailo, yi kar lei hai pin to??  (Bro, where are you now??)
Driver: Yi kar ahh?? Yi kar ngo hai USJ toll kor to (Now?? Now. I'm nearby USJ toll)
Me: Tiew lo !!!  Ko ti Canon for ha mai, ho chung yu ka. Ngo pei hap chai tiew to ho sai lik...Fai tit sung hoi kor to, ma fan lei. (Fu**!!! U know the Canon goods, it's very urgent u know. I got fu** nicely by customer. Could u please deliver it urgently?? Thanks)
Driver: K&%%& !!! Ho lah ho lah. Ngo chun leong ahhh (K&%*!! OK, OK, will do my best)
Me: Mmmm koi lei ahh, ha si cheng lei yamcha (Thank you very much, will buy u drinks next time)

I'm truly grateful to be able to grasp the local conversational language, be it in Malay, English or dialects like Cantonese, Hokkien etc thru exposures in my education years in national schools & current working environment. My only regret is not learning Mandarin properly during my schooling years, which I promised myself not to let it happen to my children. Not undermining some people putting priority for their children on learning internationally recognized language such as English & Mandarin, but many of us may have forgotten about the having language skills required to work in a Malaysian environment.

True, learning English & Mandarin is important & in fact, should be made a priority for all children. Unless, we're training ourselves to work in oversea country for all our life, we mustn't ignore the other languages as well such as Malay & local dialects such as Cantonese, Hokkien, which sadly I think is slowly dying. As what I mentioned earlier, grasping the conversational language (not necessarily need to master) to survive in a Malaysian environment. We took for granted on having a home country with cultures so diverse that we forgotten that it's actually a free training ground for our children to learn multiple languages, all at the same time. Something to ponder on for the parent wannabes or for those planning education for their child....

A Peek Into Japanese Education System

Sharing with what I read from a Japanese source.

1 - Do you know that Japanese children clean their schools every day for a quarter of an hour with teachers, which... led to the emergence of a Japanese generation who is modest and keen on cleanliness.

2 - Do you know that any Japanese citizen who has a dog must carry bag and special bags to pick up dog droppings. Hygiene and their eagerness to address cleanliness is part of Japanese ethics.

3 - Do you know that in Japan students from the first to sixth primary year must learn ethics in dealing with people

4 - D you know that the Japanese even though one of the richest people in the world but they do not have servants. The parents are responsible for the house and children -

5 - Do you know that there is no examination from the first to the third primary level; because the goal of education is to instill concepts and character building, not just examination and indoctrination. -

6 - Do you know that if you go to a buffet restaurant in Japan you will notice people only eat as much as they need without any waste. No wasteful food.

7 - Do you know that the rate of delayed trains in Japan is about 7 seconds per year!! They appreciate the value of time, very punctual to minutes and seconds.

8 -. Do you know that children in schools brush their teeth (sterile) and clean their teeth after a meal at school; They maintain their health from an early age

9 - Do you know that students take half an hour to finish their meals to ensure right digestion When asked about this concern, they said: "These students are the future of Japan."

10 - Do you know that everybody in Japan will be taught & trained about practicing "kaizen" or what we called continous improvement in every stage of their educational & working life

All these above clearly show what can a good education system & guidance from parents do to empower & mould the children into spiritual-centered beings. Reflecting this with the current education system in the country, everybody know the root cause of the declining state of our education level. Its just the matter of whether the policymakers have the political will to make the changes for the betterment of the country. Nevertheless, Rome is not built in a day & it's all take one person to make a change. Look into life of Jesus Christ, Siddhartha Gautama, Confucius or Prophet Mohd. Make the change u want by changing ourselves first....

Election Watch: Analysis...All Is Not Lost Yet

5th May 2013, it has to be one of the saddest day in my life & I'm sure the same goes to many other Malaysians too. The incumbent BN got the mandate to form a new government with 133 parliamentary seats against PR's 89 seats. Almost immediately after Najib Tun Razak, BN chairman announced the win on TV, a significantly large numbers of the Malaysian Facebook users changed their profile pictures to all black screen. I will not dwell much on the controversial incidents happened on the election days since they have been widely discussed / shown in Youtube, Facebook & other social media sites. Check it out yourself.

Any right thinking Malaysian has the right to be angry with all the going-ons on the election day. Took me 2 days to fully recover from this but some people still not got over it & even writing petition to demand intervention from Obama administration & United Nation to investigate the electoral process. Even if we can do it, the best they can do is to advise the newly elected PM to look into the alleged irregularities of the electoral system. General election is deemed an internal matter & other parties have no rights to interfere.

After the 5th May, people pondering what's went wrong for Pakatan Rakyat coalition (PR) & where was God during this time when we need Him? Not trying to be Dalai Lama to preach about spirituality here. Forget about the frauds & cheatings but there's a saying "Everything in heaven & earth is the voice of God". Everything happens for a reason, really. Getting people to accept the change of government is like going into marriage with a potential partner. We can always say we're ready & we can never know actually until we get into it. Even if we are, the other partner-to-be may not be ready & not willing to take the jump. The result this time could be a message saying PR is not ready yet to govern, or perhaps the people is not ready yet to accept a new untested government. Which answer is best to explain the loss? Check this below.

Mourn for now but we need quickly go back to the drawing board, reflect, find out the root causes of the fall & rectify it from there. Looking at the GE13 results, statistically it was the best achievement by Opposition against the ruling government in the history of the Malaysian election. Check the parliamentary seats won by both sides since 2004. It's safe for me to say that in terms of political maturity of the people, this country is moving towards the right direction for a 2-party democracy system.

Malaysians are one of the highest users of social medias in Asia. We are now made aware of all the political-related events around the country within minutes of the happenings. It was just too heartbreaking with the loss this time, when electoral frauds & gerrymandering happening in front of our eyes & yet nothing can be done to stop it. However, several wins by PR leaders proved that the impossible can be made possible when the people votes strongly for the candidate. Even with additional ballot boxes coming from no-man land, phantom voters etc, it's insufficient to take away the rakyat's choice of candidate, Nurul Izzah Anwar for Lembah Pantai parliament. With large majority, buses filled with foreigners voting could not stop underdog Michael Jeyakumar (PSM) to win Sungai Siput parliament. This reinforced the pleas why all Malaysians are urged to come in droves to vote. Although PR has lost credible leaders such as Mohamad Sabu (PAS), Dr Dzulkefli Ahmad (PAS), Saifuddin Nasution (PKR) & many others, be thankful that we managed to vote in highly qualified newbies such as Rafizi Ramli (PKR), Wong Chen (PKR), Kasthuri Patto (DAP) as replacements. Parliament sitting is bound to be interesting really with more check & balance.

For PR, despite of many assurances, it's a fact that many voters (even in urban areas) still skeptical of having 3 parties of different ideologies in a coalition governing the country. Coupled with mainstream media branding of DAP being anti-Malay, PAS wanting an Islamic state, PKR with full of scandals etc; it requires patience & perseverance to make the majority understand. Look at this, if a certified racial bigot like Zulkifli Nordin can afford 38,070 votes (which is 43.7% of total who voted) in Shah Alam, the capital of Malaysia's most industrialised state Selangor & some jokers like Bung Mokhtar, Tajuddin Abd Rahman can still be elected into Parliament, we ought to look into the voters' thoughts about having a new government. Leaders from all 3 parties should avoid making contradicting statements, especially sensitive issues of religion, race etc. Politic is about perception. With the mainstream medias, u can be assured of "twisted" information given to the public with a single blurt of word which can sparks hatred & anger. This GE13 results proved mainstream medias are still the main communication medium to the people, even with rise of Internet medias. All PR parties are to have common understanding of having single seat allocation to stand against a single BN opponent for a seat. Semenyih, Sungai Acheh & Kota Damansara are example of state seats lost unnecessarily to BN, because parties unable to have conclusion of allocation causing split votes.

On the voters side, reports confirmed that PR has the popular votes of 5.3 million voters, more than the victor, BN coalition. Sad truth is, with current electoral system, u cant win the Parliament even if ur popular. This is not an American Idol contest. Area delineation in the constituency system makes it more difficult to get the votes possible to gain control of Parliament. Teresa Kok (DAP) thrashed her MCA opponent with majority 51,552 votes but that still only contributed 1 parliamentary seat from Seputeh, KL. This amount itself, however is sufficient to win at least 3 parliamentary seats from Sabah. We cant deny that PR lost out in rural constituencies, which actually hold more power votes than the urban areas. This gives PR no choice but to penetrate the rural areas.

It is very important to take note that the aspirations of rural Malaysians are very different from those in urban areas. Rural Malaysians are more concerned about their next meal while urbanites are concerned more about the bigger picture & the next generation. Read up on Abraham Maslow's Hierachy of Needs theory to understand this. Penetrating the rural areas does not mean just having regular talks (ceramah) & elaborate about the manifesto.  A lot of PR party branches are not strong enough in the constituency, causing the rural voters to choose the devil that they know, rather than the angel that they don't know, borrowing a phrase from a certain doctor originated from Kerala. Have service centres in reaching the locals & identify the potential candidates (who are locals) to expose him/her in serving the people. People in rural areas are more comfortable with people they are familiar with & this will break the ice before informing them about issues. Parachuting outsiders into an area for the sake of getting better chances to win, will not helps although DAP played their cards right by sending their big guns to semi-rural areas in Johor.

Do not underestimate the power of the people. Has we forgotten what's Makkal Sakthi means?

Nation building is a tough, long winding process. Americans take centuries to learn to accept the blacks as equals after Martin Luther King's legendary speech. Comparing to Aung San Suu Kyi, Nelson Mandela & Mahatma Gandhi who spent their entire life waiting to see a country built with their dreams, what can we say about waiting for another 5 years to realize our dreams for our country? The battle may be lost but this must not shake our faith & beliefs. The world is watching. They can deny but they can't hide. With the power of the people wanting a change, I sincerely believe with God's grace, change is imminent even with the existence of the dirty tricks & all the election machineries, police, medias controlled by the current ruling government. It's just a question of when it's going to happen. We must reflect & musn't stop now. For the sake of our children & future generations, the show must go on.

"Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength. No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful the experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster"

- Dalai Lama -

 

 

Election Watch: Being Apolitical & Non-Voter

Read some articles recently in Star newspaper & MSN website about youths today who are being apolitical & non-voter. A non-voter means he/she is not a registered voter who is not eligible to go to the ballot box in his/her country's general election. Main reasons are either they are not qualified due to age etc or they are apolitical. Seems there are confusion on the actual meaning of being apolitical. Oxford classified it as "not interested or involved in politics" while Collins classified it as "politically neutral, without political attitudes, content or bias".

My understanding? The first one hit the bull's eye straight away although the latter meaning showed a more reasonable explanation which will be accepted by any rationale person. Sad truth is that many citizens of this country, the eligible voters did not have themselves registered as voters due to their apolitical stance. I used to be one too, for not registering myself as a voter. I was just frustrated with the political circus going around, frustrated with things such as economy, civil service etc that should have been managed better, frustrated seeing how other countries overtook us economically & socially. Even with all that, I was still contented as long as I can still earn enough to survive in this country. Moreover, what can a vote do to change a country?  However, the last election in 2008 totally changed all that.

No one expects voters in 4 states (Selangor, Penang, Perak & Kedah) will vote out the state government of the day & elect parties from "the other side". From 2008, u can see for yourself it provides the people a stronger voice in Parliament debating against controversial government projects such as one-sided toll concessionaires, implementation of GST, the installation of AES & Lynas plant etc. Whats the benefits of these projects? Check out all the sources in the Net & u decides urself with ur rationale mind. This forced the ruling government, to temporarily suspend the implementation till further notice. The ruling government themselves initiated some changes & gave goodies to the citizens such as BR1M etc. Without strong opposition voice & with 2/3 Parliament majority, do u think this is possible?

Reasons often given by apolitical people are as below:-

1) My one vote wont change anything
Theoratically & numerically, u may be right if ur speaking as one person. 10 people saying this means a group is saying it. 1000 people saying this mean a community is saying it. Election Committee estimated that 5 million of eligible citizens did not register as voters, which means one third of eligible voters (of total 16 million eligible citizens) have been denied of the right to vote (or rather chose not to vote). Does these numbers big enough to make a difference then?

2) Nobody approach me & give me the registration form
Voter registration campaigns been carried out for past 5 years in many places. Even though ur not being approached, post office & the political parties service centre are the next best places to register urself.

3) I can't stand the long queues at polling stations
Utter bullshit. If u can patiently wait for hours waiting to get free McDonald meals or to buy the latest editions of Iphone on first day of launching, then what's holding u back?

4) I can't stand the heat
Get an umbrella, sunblock, battery-operated portable fan & ur sunglass. By the way, Vitamin D, derived from UV rays benefits ur calcium metabolism, boosts ur immunity & has regulatory roles in cell proliferation & insulin secretion.

Message to the apolitical people, the question here is not about who are you voting for but what are you doing to improve the situation? If ur not happy with ur current handphone line service provider, u don't just sit still. U complain to the customer service call centre. If service still suxx, then its time to change to a new provider. When we change, its only then we are able to compare the service between the old and the new.  However, if u keep whining about how bad is the service etc but yet, nothin is done to improve the situation. Maybe sounds little harsh here, but its solely ur fault then & no one else.

So, April 5 is the judgement day. If ur a registered voter but chose not to vote last time round, do it for once this time. If u need to take a flight, do it (By the way, Air Asia & Malindo Air having promo fares). If u need a friend to tag along, get one then. If u need to work on Sunday 5th, perform ur duties as a employee & then go perform ur duties as a citizen of tis country. If ur not a registered voter, go talk with people whom ur comfortable with, who are voters & ask. Then, reflect. Its never too late to register for next round.

 

"Loyalty to country always, loyalty to government, when it deserves it"

- Mark Twain -



Election Watch: Parliamentary & State Seats

Now that Parliament has been dissolved & election date will be announced anytime soon, will post on opinions & views on the local political scene and today will be the first one. Approximately 3 million newly registered voters (not inclusive of the phantom ones) are going to the polls for the first time.

However, based on my observation & talks with the people, apparently many are still confused or have different knowledges about voting for candidates at parliamentary level & state level. Let me explain in few bits here. 1 parliamentary constituency usually consists of minimum 2 state seats, with the exception of Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya & Labuan. For example, at my place, Kelana Jaya parliamentary constituency consists of Subang Jaya & Seri Setia state seat. Below are the current incumbents with their parties:-

P. 104 KELANA JAYA
LOH GWO BURNE (PAKATAN RAKYAT - PKR)

N.31 SUBANG JAYA
HANNAH YEOH (PAKATAN RAKYAT - DAP)

N.32 SERI SETIA
NIK NAZMI NIK AHMAD (PAKATAN RAKYAT - PKR)

Look out for your polling & voting areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malaysian_electoral_districts In the election, I will be voting under Kelana Jaya parliamentary & Subang Jaya state seat. How to know which area ur voting for? Go check your voter status at Election Committee website www.spr.gov.my. Some telecommunication company offers sms service for u to check the status. Users can also sms to 15888 & type "SPR SEMAK xxxx (IC no)" to know their areas. Once checked, dont panic if ur areas are not supposed what it should be. For example, u could be staying in USJ, Subang Jaya but instead of voting for N.31 Subang Jaya state seat, ur could be assigned to the nearby N.30 Kinrara. Some are worst, being assigned to areas that they never set foot on. Dont need to be panic as this is a result from factors below:-

1) U did not update your latest address in the electoral roll with Election Committee
2) Election Committee had area declination process (usually this is unannounced), separating the zones into few areas.

Most of the time, this incident happens due to the 2nd factor. Whether its permissible or lawful or not, up to u to decide, which is why much-criticized Bersih committee is fighting for the Election Commitee to clean up the electoral roll. Even if ur assigned to vote in areas other than where are u living now, for once, make an effort to go and make your vote counts. If u need to take a flight, do it. If u need to tumpang in a stranger's car, do it. If u think u need a GPS to help u to find the place, do it.

Bear in mind, if u dunno, the federal government Cabinet will be formed from candidates, from the party with most seats and these are the people ur putting ur votes to shape our country's political, economic & social environment & so forth. Meanwhile, state governments are formed with candidates sitting on state seats. Looking at seat composition in Kelana Jaya, all seats belong to Pakatan Rakyat (PR). The 2 current state assemblymen above sit in Selangor state assembly & helped PR to rule Selangor since they hold the majority state seats in Selangor state assembly, refer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selangor_State_Assembly Our Kelana Jaya member of parliament (MP) represented PR at federal government level but BN still holds the majority shares of seats in Parliament. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_Parliament This gave them the mandate to form the current ruling government.

Now, back to the voting of the candidates in the next election. In the past, most voters' tactic of having check & balance factor while voting is to vote for the Opposition for the state seat while voting for BN for parliamentary seat. It could also be the other way round, depending on how do they look at the whole picture. Problem is many people still dunno what are they voting for & how can their local concerns being disseminated. U see, if ur rubbish not collected by the local contractors, the increasing crime rates at ur area, increasing sights of illegal immigrants etc, u go to the local service centre & see ur state assemblymen (or rather women) for immediate solutions. Its their duties to look into this & bring up to the local municipal council, local police authorities etc or worst, the state assembly to be debated if problems still unresolved.

Its ok to inform the MP too but this situation is like your office toilet often ran out of toilet papers & instead of complaining to ur departmental manager, u tell your general manager to highlight the issue in the directors' meeting. Ur MP's job is to look & highlight the issues which may need to be addressed at national level. Eg, the increasing sights of illegal immigrants at ur area could be result of failures of Immigration department staffs to check their identities & monitor their movements etc. This, could caused increased crime rates & many other social problems.

Check the background of the candidates & the appearance. He/she doesnt need to be an orator but check out Youtube during the campaigning period or better still, go check out the campaign speech expected to be held near your place. A MP also needed in debating Bill in Parliament which will may affecting us in our daily life. Think AES, GST etc. Look out for his/her abilities to give public speech & present his/her points well. Bear in mind, being loud does not mean having charisma. Think Datuk Ibrahim Ali, Datuk Bung Mokhtar, Datuk Tajuddin Abd Rahman etc. Bear in mind also, we are looking at people who can become Minister material & not racial bigots, sexists or people with big egos. Now, if ur having a problem in ur area & ur state assemblymen is from one camp while your MP is from another camp. It will be alright if both have the same goal of wanting to serve the people. What if one of them is just not interested?

My view? Vote for changes in both seats & ensure all are given to same camp. In my area, I wont change the incumbents parties of course. Your rationale will helps you in making your choice. Happy Voting !!!!

"Ask not what the country can do for you, Ask what can you do for your country"

-John Fitzgerald Kennedy-

Marriage Made in Heaven

This is slightly late. OK, it was wwwaaaayyyy too late since this event was held last December. Never thought tis baby sister of mine, the lil princess of the house will be married. I mean, all of us in da house were always hoping she never grows up & remains the cute, little gal that everyone loved. By the way, for those who dunno, this sis of mine is born deaf. Reflecting upon this, her deafness has actually brought the whole family closer. Letting go can be tough, judging from the sight of Mum's tears & the way Dad hugged sis tightly when sending her off on the wedding day.

And boy, she has now turned into a beautiful Korean-looking lady & married to a nice & kind chap, who is also deaf. With his shoe designing job, Imelda Marcos would have made him her toyboy...:) Never got the chance to say a thing or two about them on the wedding nite. I must say the first moment I saw both of them looking into each others' eyes & signing to each other, something in my head (still dunno wat izzit) told me that they are really meant for each other. And it was saying to me like "Yes, tis is the guy my sis gonna get married to!!!".

The event of da day



The man & the lady of da nite



The setting

A gathering of sorts for all the deaf attendees



The wedding nite went on, just exactly what everyone was asking for. Great company, great booze, great music & great ambience. I could really felt the vibration of love in that hall. Not forgetting also the showcase of deaf culture, blending nicely with the hearing people that nite. How I wish i could upload a deaf music performance here by Lily & Rahmat if not for the large sized file.

To Mei & Mike, this is just the beginning of a new journey. Do enjoy the ride of life together. It's not gonna be easy but faith, the care for one another & efforts of both parties will make the journey worthwhile enough to last u a lifetime. Just a piece of a bro's mind.....

 

Demo = Democracy or Demonstration??

Somebody was asking again if demonstration necessarily needs to be done in order to send our message across instead of just putting our votes into the ballot boxes. Not being diplomatic but my answer is yes & no, depending how's the local political condition is. Yes, if the lawmakers & decision makers are not doing the necessary steps to rectify the worsening issues, which need to be addressed urgently. We cant afford to wait till end of parliamentary term each time to say no. No, if everybody (including the voters, incumbent & opposition parties) are politically matured enough to handle the situations in a democractic system.

Analysing the local scene, one of the tactics is to beat the drums to build up the momentum towards general elections. This is definitely one of the most important political tools to gain people's votes with the existence of so many govt's controlled challenges. Watch dramas like The West Wing, Commander in Chief etc to understand tis. U see, people have short memories actually. At the polling day, if no issues been highlighted earlier, basically people will decide based on happenings during poll campaigning period & not during the 5 years ruling term. Taking into accounts that all mainsteam medias are being controlled by ruling political parties, u can be assured of "controlled information" to the people during the period. Of cos, situation in 2008 proved that Internet has played a critical role in shifting the votes to the PR coalition. Still, mainstream medias' roles cannot be downplayed due to rural people still referring to mainsteam medias as source of information.

Lots of countries used demonstrations to great effects in changing the ruling governments. I dont need to mention more about the Arab Spring. At regional front Taiwan, Ma Ying Jeou's Kuomintang party used continous pressured demonstrations to force out Chen Shui Bian's Democratic Progressive govt, tainted by corruption. Remember how Suharto fell from his grace, back in 1998? Here, we have Bersih NGOs playing big parts to pressure the Election Committee to buck up. And then, Lynas issue, continued with AUKU university act, then the PTPN vs free education issue,  Kelantan oil royalty, Felda's FGV listing, Sabah's illegal immigrant issues & finally, the mother of em' all, summarising all issues into one HKR 112 last January 12th.

We have long way to go, comparing with USA or UK's 2 parties system where the democracy spirit is so much alive. Watch any of the Obama vs Romney debates & u will understand what I meant. I truly believe we will finally embrace true democracy one day. We may not live long enough to see it happens here but we are definitely taking steps to reach there NOW to ensure our grandchildrens & generations beyond witness it. This, needs supports from both political sides. Under the current situation, the current ruling BN government needs a heavy KO from the people & needs to be taken off for them to wake up from their slumber to initiate changes within themselves. Look at how Congress Party reflects & rise after being knocked out by BJP in India. LDP regained back the power in Japan in 2012 after ousted by DPJ years earlier.

HKR112

A BIG wave is coming. It strikes the country in 2008. This time, it's gonna be a BIGGER one. For those who still dunno, I'm referring to a people's revolution, being angry with the ruling government for many issues. Indians called it "Makkal Sakthi". Corruption, misuse of powers, cronyism, nepotism, racism, uncontrolled usage of people's money n many others. All got worse after the last election held in 2008, causing the rakyat to be angrier and those peeps are hell bent on kicking out the present government in the next election. Now that election is looming near after the 5 years term is coming to the end, its the battle between incumbent BN government n the opposition PR coalition to get the votes from the real power, the people of Malaysia.

Many demonstrations were held to tell the government to meet up to the demands. I participated in one, Bersih 3.0 rally last April 28. Truly an eye-opening experience. Being on the streets with hundreds of thousands of Malaysians from all walks of life, for the same common goal which is for the Election Commission to BERSIH (clean) the electoral roll to have a fair election. Experienced the teargas too. Not a proud thing to boast actually but its the feelings after that....Being offered water n salt by unknown strangers from different races, calming u down n advising u. This, I say is priceless. Sadly to say, nothing was done to meet the demands besides many other human rights, n even environmental issues cropped up along the way. Another bigger rally was held, called Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat - HKR (People's Rise Assembly) was held on 12th January in the capital city. Hence, the title of tis post.

Proud to say I was there together with larger crowds than last Bersih 3.0 on the historical day, held in a historical place, Stadium Merdeka. Rais Yatim said attendance was 5K. The PM said it was 10K. Police said it was 40K. Note: Stadium seating capacity is 45K, not taking into consideration countless people assembling outside stadium n around town. Google the images, see my hp photo below n give your estimation.

Waiting to enter stadium

Full capacity

What's so great about being in a full capacity stadium then? Long story indeed. Being an avid local political observer, my fault for not sharing the issues n thoughts in here earlier. It's a touching scene where u can see countless people of different races in a single place under hot blazing sun wanting to make themselves count for a common goal. Trust me, tis is not like gathering with everybody in a stadium, rooting for Dato Lee Chong Wei versus Lin Dan. U can really see in the people faces that they want a better-managed economy, a better environment, a better welfare for the people, a better way to live their life, & most important of all, a better future for the next generations. Never before I've sung Negaraku so proudly in my life, singing it in a stadium full of proud citizens, it goes deep straight into our heart, causing even the toughest of men to shed tears. Who say singing national anthem is boring??

Singing of Negaraku before the start of the assembly

Doubters ask is it necessary to attend rally of this kind to send our messages across . We should support on what is right & make ourselves count. Giving real life example, if no one attend & listen to the famous Martin Luther King speech, do u think there'll be changes & he be revered as a legend? Going back to local history, if there's no demonstrations & agressive opposition by locals towards the formation of Malayan Union, will the British be pressured to give independence to us? Will I do it again if there's another one? For the sake of my future generations, I just need to. No hesitation about it....

A Resurrection Again???

Maj was saying tis blog now has only 2 posts a year. One to wish all a happy new year & one more posted on December to summarize all activities & close up the year. True indeed. Can I say it's dead? Technically, maybe. Its only after being resuscitated, moved a while & dead again. Blame da writer...

At the age of Youtube, Facebook & Twitter where u can express ur feelings/thoughts just with a single post of a photo/video/sentence, writing seems to be a time-consuming, hair scratching activity. Happened to browse the old posts today, made me realised about something. It serves also as a reminder to myself about my own thoughts, my past mistakes, my own resolutions which I've actually forgotten along the way. Men has the shortest of memories really. Cant even remember what I had for dinner yesterday nite. And then, realised that there's so many personal experiences (good & bad) last 2012 that could be shared with all to inspire people, to remind people, to tell people, to share with people.

Too late to start it all over again?? Me says no such thing. A football game final result is decided by the blow of referee's whistle at 95th minute & not when the clock ticks at 90th minute. Let's roll it out...Do support & keep tis going by leaving comments ya...:) Have a great year ahead, everyone...

Meeting Etiquettes

Sharing something I learned from a signboard in Western Digital. Great culture there !!

BEFORE MEETING
- Define objectives & desired outcomes
- Develop agenda & preparation required
- Determine participation, empower representatives
- Define date, time & venue
- Define meeting deliverables

DURING MEETING
- Keep to time limits- start & end of time
- Review & stick to agenda
- Agree on responsibilities & establish ECDs
- Arbitrate conflicts & take control of meeting
- Challenge ideas, not individuals
- Do what you say you'll do

AFTER MEETING
- Distribute minutes / meeting notes / action items
- Follow up proactively with action owners
- Brief team / subodinates on actions taken, suggested solutions & overall outcomes

Resurrection...

I know, I know this blog seems dead and almost one year since the last post and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 everyone !!! At least, Im here and making efforts to resurrect it rite? What make me to do this again? Not really sure but judging from daily hits received despite da blog being dead for a year, its kinda encouraging here to revive it again. Posting a review the year 2011 below, and yes Maj, this seems like ur format and yes, i said it is. At least it gave me an inspiration to write again after a year hiatus..:)

Beginning the rainy new 2011 year in Cherating with the usual Akurians gang

With the management team of ma current company. Got a news of being promoted to manager. Been a roller coaster ride really as there's many things need to be done to improve the team but still hanging on there....Pray for me

At Great Wall of China, Beijing during annual trip with family & close family friends

Best activity enjoyed: Going "jalan jalan cari makan" all over the country which I called a food haven. Posted the photos on my FB album

Enjoying King of Fruits at a durian farm in Penang. This has to be one of the best random decision I've ever made, driving all the way to Pearl of Orient with buddy just to have a taste of it. It's now been announced as an annual pilgrimage trip

Brother got married to a wonderful lady on Boxing Day. Great wedding celebration & the best wedding dinner I've attended. Welcome to the family, Janice !!

Ending the year with "u know who" gang at the place where its all begins, Pangkor. Seems routined now but I personally enjoyed every moment really peeps & thank you for allowing me to be myself....:)