Happy New Year 2009, and good riddance 2008

I must say I am happy to leave 2008 behind, and can't wait for the prospect that 2009 will be a better year for me.

you can say that I am an optimist as most people are dreading 2009 as a very bad year for the economy, but certainly from where I sit, 2009 can only get better.

Let's review 2008 briefly and you will see why I am more than happy to kiss it goodbye.
1. My boss left at the end of 07 and the big boss decides to give the job to an old hand who then decides to undo everything we had done in the previous 18 months, and still put the blame on those who had left although the new guy was as much to blame.

I left soon thereafter.

2. The promise of a new job turned out to be more hot air. I had a firm offer but was informed that my reputation had preceded me and was giving everyone in the new organization hives. So I felt that pointless to try to change people who can't take dissent.

So I decided not to join and get ambushed. I guess it was a blessing in disguise as that group I was supposed to join had not done much in the preceding 8 months after my decision.

3. More promises of jobs went unfulfilled. I had many "projects" and jobs that did not materialize. I worked for free hoping to gain employment, but in the end, I guess it was not to be.

4. Failed projects. My first try at helping entrepreneurs to raise funding was surprisingly easy, and sure enough I found a funder for the guy, only for the entrepreneur to turn around and screw me. I had burnt some goodwill because of that damm guy, but luckily my friends continue to support me.

I also had other projects fail for the lack of investors, so I have decided to stick with the areas I am comfortable with, and sadly some of these projects are good projects.

5. Well being of family. As with any person with elderly relatives, death in the family is to be expected. This year I lost an aunt and an uncle. In the last month, I've had an aunt getting a stroke, a niece break her leg, a cousin getting shingles, another cousin in an accident, and another cousin almost breaking his back in a fall. Closer to home, i've had to go to the ER twice when my youngest fell and knocked her head and my second borne having to take all sorts of medications.

But overall, I guess it could have been worse and I am glad that most of us and my family is in the pink of health.

So as I prepare to kick off 2009 , I am looking at securing a consulting project (a small one albeit), close an investment and hopefully usher another 2 to fruition.

As the Buddha once said (and I am taking massive liberty at paraphrasing Him:
Dwell not in the past, for it has gone,
Think not of the future for it has not come,
Live and act for today.

And with that spirit, everyday is a new day and a new opportunity to do good and create value for oneself.

Happy New Year. May the year bring bountiful prosperity and luck to you.

Kylie X concert in Singapore

The Missus and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary early by going to Kylie's X concert.

I planned to get us there a bit early, and was wondering if we should eat at home or at the venue. Wisely she said to eat at home, as when we got out towards the venue, the AYE was chockers because of an accident.I was thinking: Murphy's Law. So we took the CBD route instead and got hit by 2 ERPs, anyways, after spending 200 bucks for tics, what's 2 bucks.

The concert doors opened at 8, and the audiences slowly filtered in and there was a DJ to keep the audience occupied playing club music, as if to set the tone for the rest of the concert. I did notice some young kids accompanying their parents, and rue'ed a missed chance of bringing our oldest one with us, but then again if we had brought the oldest one with us, the other 2 younger ones would have kicked up a stinker!

I also noticed a lot of preggie mommas at the concert, 3 within line of sight, so they must be really committed fans. After all, this is the first time Kylie is in town since the beginning of her career 20 years ago. I also noticed a young muslim couple, with the lady wearing tudung, and remarked that if this was in Malaysia, it would have been haram for them to come to the concert (a cynical reference to the recent hoo haa about Muslims doing yoga and it being haram)

There were a couple of people who came in with feather boas, and a few "showgirls" as well. I was telling my wife how Kylie's songs have a big following in gay clubs, and she wondered how I knew ;)

The concert started at 9, straight away with 2 of her hits. I must admit that I am not a real big fan of Kylie (meaning I know some of her songs, but don't follow her religiously). Her 2 number was that infectious tune "Can't get you out of my head", and damm that tune is really really infectious, in fact, it's still in my head now.

I turned around and saw that that young muslim couple were the first to leap out of their chairs and dance like no tomorrow! Kudos! Damm they really know how to enjoy themselves, and I don't think it made them any less pious Muslim.

Anyways, then the pregnant lady in front of me also gets up and starts to dance! WOW! Is this Singapore? I looked around (I was still sitting, engine is still cold) and almost 90% of the crowd was on their feet. EXCELLENT!

There was excellent choreography, and the wife, who has a dance background, remarked that Kylie's movement is all accounted for down to her hand movement (I looked, and it follows the beat of the drum)

The dancers were excellent, and her costume changes were amazing. Her set followed a theme, which jived with the songs she sang for the set.

It was too infectious, and I finally got off my ass and danced with the rest of the party people halfway through the concert.

She bade farewell, and I thought, damm that was it? I glanced at my watch, and it was already 1030 and she'd been going non-stop for 90 minutes. After numerous cheers and claps and shouts, she emerged or an encore.

Not a 1 song encore, but another set for the encore. The encore was a bit less scripted I felt, with a bit more time to banter and all. Actually she had 2 encores, but we all knew she was coming out again for the second one.

The final song for the day pull all of us back to the 80's when she broke on to the scene with "I should be so lucky" and everyone danced, and sang with her.

All in all, I'd pay 500 bucks (but in view of the economic downturn, perhaps could be better spent). 200 was well spent , enjoyed every second of it. It was like a 2 hour rave party.

And it's the closests that we've gone boogeying in a long long time. And hopefully Kylie doesn't take another 20 years before she comes back again.

Patents: quality or quantity?

I had a good laugh the other day when I met with an ex-colleague who told me that the debate on whether an organization should go for quantity or quality when it comes to patent filing is still raging.

Even more incredulous, is this is a premeir organization! naturally I find such debate to be so silly because it is quite obvious quality will trump quantity any time of the day, especially in technology.

However, admittedly there are situations where quantity is more important and one of the situation warranting such a model would be when an organization is trying to create and incentivize their r n d department.

I had gone through this same exercise when I was part of an organization bringing r n d into a traditionally manufacturing complex. Patents were alien to this people, and we had drawn people from manufacturing to man the development teams, with a sprinkling of new graduates like myself. The boss was an old hand in r n d, and had crafted a scheme to encourage disclosures of potential patents by just putting forth a 4 slide ppt.

his scheme was idiot-proof:
Slide 1: introduction and problem statement
Slide 2: your solution
Slide 3: more details of your solution
Slide 4: cost savings as a result of adopting this thingamajig

Not perfect, but it got the ball rolling.

But past the initial 2 years, the internal patenting committee put up additional barriers and lifted the hurdle higher such that we introduced more quality into the pipeline.

Now this was for an organization that at best had basic engineering degree holders with a few graduate degrees and post-grads.

How about for an organization where you had tons of post-grads? Shouldn't this NOT even be a question? (re: quality vs quantity). If quantity ruled the day, would be throwing hard earned money after useless technology patents, or can we afford to play the numbers' game and let fate decide?

In any situation, I'd advocate quality and especially in this tough climate, we need to make tougher decisions instead of molly-collding the egos of these people.

Sound-off : what do you think?

Sound-off: does age matter when deciding value one brings to the table?

Sound-off: does grey hair matter when it comes to doing business?

Recently I have been trying to approach a potential client to offer my services to his organization. We had a good discussion I felt, and I am planning to do a show and tell to the rest of his group come the new year.

But I understood he had some queries on the number of years I have under my belt, ie I'm too young and indirectly perhaps fears on whether I can properly represent what I said to him or not.

While I don't hold it against anyone, but fundamentally the answer should be: does age matter?

arguably I can understand and justify his concern, afterall, he will be the one trying to rally his colleagues to attend the show and tell on his behalf come the new year, so if I am too wet behind the ears, the surely it will impact is reputation and that of his boss as well.

So for this case, I intend to show him what I am made of. If the work I had done had sufficiently impressed the ex-CEO of a listed company, then I think it should do for him, his colleagues and his boss as well.

enough said for my experience, but I would like to expand that to the larger picture of singapore and perhaps the asian countries.

Entrepreneurial activity in the US is mainly done by fresh grads or your people, with a few grey haired serial entrepreneurs thrown into the soup. And yet they are able to survive. I haven't done extensive research into whether they are able to thrive without a grey haired Ceo or not, but google is a good case study. I believe (and I could be very wrong here) that sergei brin and larry page got their start and first customers before eric schimdt came on board (he was the grey haired boss). VC and angels all judged them by the technology they had and as well as the customers. It was only later when they were in the growth mode did the Board bring in Eric.

Here if everyone expects an older boss to always helm the venture, then where does that leave our younger generation of entrepreneurs? Are they then doomed to failure from the onset or do they justify bringing in an older person as CEO and possibly high salary and higher burn rate at the same time?

For my case, I am thankful that my potential client had not raise his private thoughts to his boss, and that he was willing to give me a chance to prove my mettle to his colleagues, I guess some of whom may not be as forgiving.

As I said when the show and tell comes, then the proof will be in the pudding.

But what do you think? is this experience prevalent in this part of the world or not?

How much is the value of track record and reputation?

This is something tickling my mind. How much value do you put on track record and reputation?

Yes, this is part and parcel of the intangible asset but how do you deal with multiple parties with different take on the intangible worth.

For instance, if A has done work in country 1 and B has done work in country 1 and 2, then who has more reputation? Again its hard to qualify because if 2 has done little work (but still some) in country 1, then would A have more leeway in determining leadership role compared to B? Or what happens when the collective (A and B) want to go into country 2?

Now I understand why the concept of intangible asset and brand value is so hard to understand. Makes it even tougher when each have their own definition of it.

A spot of sunshine amidst the gloom

Reading the papers this past days and weeks is an exercise in futility and gloom. Everywhere there's bad news. Even if one is not personally affected by the market and the economy, just reading it makes one depressed.

I saw something this morning that was quite nice and really is a spot of sunshine.

Enjoy.. Best you can.
Thks and brgrds, ken

--
Kenneth Low
M: +65 9088 5988
E: kenneth.tk.low@gmail.com

Does this make America Great or What

Only in America do politicians take a time out and look at themselves in a less serious manner.

Why can't we all lighten up a bit.

Will there ever be an Obama-like person to be PM in Malaysia

I was looking at Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama on Meet the Press. I saw the video and was really moved by the eloquence that Powell showed on why he will be voting for Obama. But the thing that got me most was on the issue that Obama has been mislabelled as a Muslim, and indirectly as a terrorist.

Powell said something to this effect, the right answer that McCain gave was that no, Obama is Christian but Powell said even that was not the right answer. The right answer to him should have been, why does it matter if he's Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist or event a Free thinker? What matters more is that he is an American.

He ended that spot with a touching recall of a photo-essay he saw about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, which he was most touched by this last picture showing a mum crying over her son's headstone at Arlington National Cemetary. The son was killed in action, and had a purple heart and a bronze star. Powell also mentioned that the deceased was 14 when 9/11 occured, and waited until he could enlist to fight in the war. But the part he emphasized most was that at the top of the headstone, there was no cross or star of david, but a cresent moon and star, symbolizing that he was a Muslim.

So his point was that if a Muslim can give his life for America, then why can't a Muslim be President of the United States.

It is with the exact same concept that I reflect on why is it that it is so difficult for Malaysians to allow a non-Bumiputera to be PM? If everyone contributes to nation building, then why can anyone have a shot at being the top guy in the country? Why is that?

And also there is another trait that I see in Obama that I see in someone else in Malaysia today. That trait is inclusiveness, bringing people together instead of singling a class out (the rich and the poor etc) that McCain so fondly likes to do. In Malaysia that person today is Anwar Ibrahim and his concept of Ketuanan Rakyat. It's a pity that the minority of rakyat does not share his vision of inclusiveness.

Lunch or dessert art

had a typical mediterranean lunch, and now wishing for the siesta that comes after lunch, but have errands to run.

The kids decided to be a bit more creative with their dessert, tiramisu laced wit liquor. That ought to put them to sleep soon!

Kids having fun

It's nice to see the kids going out and living out their childhood, although it beats me why they are playing school, when they actually on a short holiday.

Whatever, as long as they get away from the idiot box called television and actually interact with kids in the rough same age group.

I guess this is something that I did not get to enjoy growing up as I was the only kid close to where I lived.

I recently spoke with a friend who lives in a landed property and he too rues the lack of friends the same age as his kids in the neighborhood. For me, I'm just glad that my kids get to enjoy a childhood I did not have.

And I have to run interference and order the kids out as they're equally stuck on the chinese serial that has way too much adult themes for the kids to be exposed to at this age.

Channel 8 listen up. I think your programming needs to be tweaked such that serial being show during the 5 - 7 pm time band needs to be more kid friendly.

Sometimes I am at a loss on how to explain the back stabbing and the adultery to the kids. I think they should have more time to maintain the innocence in this day and age.

Down sick

Have been down sick since yesterday. Imagine the coincidence, falling sick 2 wednesdays in a row. 

And last night, I discovered that one of my lymph node is swollen and I think that freaked the wife a bit, so she did a couple of test on me and threatened to take me to the hospital for a blood test, and reinforcing that I shouldn't have gone golfing over the weekend.

I guess lesson learnt!

Anyways, the missus will check the swolleness again on Sunday and make an assessment if I need to head to the hospital for a blood test.

Today, still a bit woozy, but feeling much better.

Had a very interesting discussion, and I believe a few of us will join forces to see if we can create a small niche for ourselves in this trying times. Unfortunately, the problem in getting numerous parties involved is that you can never satisfy everyone. So one of the people I was hoping to bring on board has decided to opt out because of concerns that there would be a lack of profit to be shared amongst the various parties.

Anyway, will have to try to bring this partner on board into a win-win situation. That is the only way to work. It will not work if one party feels that they're losing out because of the joint cooperation. 

Life is never easy, much less life in business... amidst trying times.. makes it even tougher.

Economic woes

Boy has the market taken a beating this last 2 day, and in general for the past 2 weeks!

Things are definitely not well, and I can sense a lot of anxiety, especially from me.

Have I chosen the wrong time to try to work on my own? Or will this be the best time ever for me?

On one hand, I do enjoy being my own boss, and not having to play office politics; but at the same time, I am feeling a bit pressured to come through with some of my projects. Don't get me wrong, good projects are there, but having to work with funders (whose own funds may be drying up) will be difficult. And also I'm trying to do some consultancy work, and now I am unsure how much these people will pay for such services.

It is almost like deja-vu from 6 years back when I joined a start-up trying sell consultancy services to companies at the time when they're more interested in staying alive. Hopefully, I have learnt from that episode, plus I am paying myself nothing until the first orders come in may help in prolonging my staying power, instead of sucking it all up on HR costs and expensive office costs.

However, it would be nice to enjoy a steady paycheck from an employer, and I know of people hiring. 

Ah.. decisions, decisions. The best for me would be to find something in between, but in these times, it's an employers' market and not the other way around. So unless I can quickly establish my niche, I'd better close one of my projects successfully. That one project will be able to last me for 2 years at my current spending level! So I can either slog forever, or try to hit it once and then slow down for the next 2 years before hitting the pedal again.

No one ever said that living life successfully was easy! I just hope with hard work and a bit of luck (and a prayer), I might just make it!

So I guess my decision has been made hasn't it?

Initial impressions of the nokia e71

I just recently switched over to the e71 as the main working phone, and at the same time engineered a coup d'etat on the wifey's phone number.

anyways, after the fubar with singtel and all my subscriptions related to me switching over to the mio plan, i can safely say that i have been using the phone for the past 5 days.

initial impressions? It's a damm good phone. So far the only snafu i've had to deal with is on the email where i've had to reset the phone in order for the email to start syncing again.

the qwerty keyboard is tons better than the e61i i used, even though it's much closer together in order to shrink the form factor. The key improvement is that the keys have a "click" feel as opposed to the flubbish feel the e61i has, so when i'm banging out an email, i know when i've hit the keys. The only downside to the keyboard is that they switched the "?" Keys and some of ! the other keys to another location.

the phone is fast, and even starting up time is loads improved compared to the e61i. And starting up a program is faster compared to my old phone.

the T9 intuitive dictionary needs some getting used to but nothing that cannot be overcomed.

however email is still a problem with no real push capability apart from microsoft exchange. As most watchers have said, the lack of html support for email is also a key weakness. Nokia has come out with a beta for their push mail, but currentl i cannot use my company email (though sitting on a google server) to push my email, now am i able to push from 2 separate emails. I've decided to live with the installed email client until nokia sorts itself out wherfe push email is concerned.

the battery life is fantastic - so far, as i keep it connected to 3G plus download my emails every 15 mins, plus do about 30 minutes of calls per day, and i still get more tha! n 3 bars of battery life left (this is approximately 40% left). And wo rst come to worst, i can still swap my e61i battery for the e71 as backup.

i have not used the on board gps as yet, so more to come.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Pain with Singtel

I've had a very painful morning with Singtel.

Background: I recently decied to swap over to the Mio plan, from my individual plans, in order to "save" money. As it turns out, because my broadband contract had not yet run out, they banged me with a 30 months contract with Mio, instead of 24 months. Extra 6 months, I thought it was OK.

THen they insisted on giving me a new adsl modem which I do not need (my current one works just fine), but they insisted, and so I relented. I swore to the counter girl that all the technician will do is to come over, and when I tell him or her I don't want any of the settings compromised, he will switch off and on my modem and declare that I am on the Mio plan. I was giving this innocent girl such a hard time that I agreed to the stupidity of Singtel and made an appointment for the technician to come over to flip the power switch. I mean, the technician has gotta earn a living right?

Anyways, today is the day that technician is supposed to come over to flip the stupid switch, and it is now 1 hour past the appointment time. He was supposed to come between 0900 - 1100 (2 hours of opportunity cost is alright I guess). At 1030, I call up the Singtel Mio hotline to say the technician has not come and that I will be around for another 30 minutes so the tech better hustle. At 11 am, I receive a call from the Singtel call center, and by this time I have had it with the incompetence of the technician (he had not shown up) and had grown tired of speaking to a junior staff at the call center, who could not answer anything more challenging.

So I got put onto his manager Laura, who sounded a bit more capable. She promised to check the backend to see what was needed to be done to get me on the Mio plan, so I agree to hang up and let her check. She calls back to say that I AM on the Mio plan, and that the technician still needs to come by to install the new modem (by this time I could have strangle anyone from Singtel who kept wanting to stuff the stupid modem down my throat!), so I asked what so great about this new modem.

She was ready this time. I was a difficult prick of a customer now, so she brought on her technical guy. Before the guy went any further with his explanation, I interjected that I am an engineer and asked if he was a techie, so which he replied in the affirmative. So I let him do his song and dance, and to my dismay, the best he could do is new warranty and a new power supply. I mean, what the.... I was hoping for better spec, so I asked if I was getting a gigabit ethernet, am I getting the whole wireless alphabet soup of a, b, g and pre-n? No, it was the same as my current modem, just with a new warranty and new power supply.

Really, what the.... so I said thank you, but just get the technician to drop off the modem and we shall all get on with our lives!

Singtel, I know you have a monopoly on the home line, broadband, and mobile phone. You are the big giant that everyone quivers when they come up against you. But heed this. The next time a customer wants to know why that technician have to come to the house to flip the stupid power switch; be prepared with an answer.

When the customer says he is happy with his modem, don't insist on shoving (I meant ramming) a new modem down his throat. Give him a shopping voucher, or better yet, pledge the amount equivalent of the modem (50 or a 100 bucks) to a charity of his choice. Let's not generate more carbon and trash the earth by a) getting a technician down to flip a switch, and b) to get him to drive to my place, and c) to throw away a perfectly good working condition modem, all for the sake of changing to a new plan.

THis is stupidity at its pinnacle!

And since I am on your case, why not give me the 2009 F1 race ticket for my troubles?

The world in turmoil

These past 2 weeks have been pretty sobering, in terms of trying to find peace amdist the turmoil.

malaysia and thailand is in political turmoil.

china had 2 major incidents, the more heart wrenching one being the adulterated baby milk powder, and the other no less serious, the major landslide that killed over 250 people.

the US and central america got hit by 2 consecutive hurricanes.

but i think the closests to home is the world wide repercussion of the financial turmoil, a result of the irrational financial exxuberance of years past.

solid, statured financials companies of the past has rocked to the core, and this "perfect storm" of sorts is making even the studiest of financial companies shaky.

and it's impact is far reaching. Singapore, in its effort to become a financial hub for asia is starting to feel the impact. Hiring and spending is slowing and the domino effect is slowly! being felt by other sectors.

i guess it would take a very brave person to strike out on their own now. This is the predicament i am facing.

as i consider to incorporate my own firm, i am staring what could be the abyss of the future. True they say that in trying times is where fortunes are made, and i certainly hope so.

this afternoon, i got a call from a friend, and he was advising me to take shelter from the current turmoil and get a job. It is definitely enticing.

but what i am working on does present unique opportunities that cannot be overlooked, for better or worse.

and as if to drive home the point, a friend of mine called to say he's just been let go.

decisons, decisions!


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

State of affairs in malaysia, part 2

Continued..

5. Raja petra. I believe he's been locked up not for perpetrating any criminal acts. In fact the only act he has committed is to highlight the misdeeds of the current regime and the immediate past one.

he's been locked up because he has become too dangerous for the BN regime.

and on the charge that he is spreading untruths about Islam, well, why not we let the religious academics debate about that. Learning and enlightenment does not come about by sweeping discontent under the carpet, but the opposite, by encouraging active discourse and debate amongst the faithfull and those not of the religion.

in this case, why call the badawi brand of islam "islam hadhari"? Might as well just call it BN Islam.

sad, so sad to see the country i grew up in descent so such a banana republic and to become the laughing stock of the world!

question is will pakatan save the day, or is it more of the same. For the future of malaysia, i certainly hope for real change.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Dismal state of affairs in malaysia

Oh what the country was and could still be. If only the idiots who run the country leave the land and go fly kites.

the recent flip-flops on the isa arrests show the lack of any understanding on the basic tenets of decision making, the rule of law and the chain of command.

1. How can one arrest a journalist who reported on facts? Even if it flamed the fans of racial discontent. Should it not be the person uttering those statements be locked up instead?

2. And how can the home affairs minister say he was not given prior notice of the arrests? That's not adhering to the chain of command. The use of isa is not a trivial matter because it tramples on the accused's basic right to the legal process.

And coming from a trained lawyer. His alma-mater should disown him!

3. And how stupid can syed hamid be in saying first that the journalist threatened the peace, and then (true to the flip flop nature that is the badawi regime) turn around and say she was being held for her own safety.

minor civil servants would be fired for making such stupid mistakes. Again, one should check if syed hamid has full control of his faculties, in particular his brains.

4. Then for theresa kok, why is it that a malal umno figure - khir toyo in this case and utusan fans the racial flames and yet not even get a warning or show cause letter, when it emerges that the dap mp had nothing to do with the accusation, which was the petition to remove the call of azan from the mosque?

even the chief of 2 mosques in her constituency has come to her defense to say that one, the pa system has gone kaput, and the other, that kok has not set foot in their mosque, much less to deliver a petition!

To be continued....


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Ahmad Ismail

I think that's the name of the guy making such a ruckus in penang right now.

the key question is: will the pm badawi act against such blatant remarks to incite racial hatred, when other have gone to jail under isa before him? My guess is no, because he is an umnoputera. It's a case of damned if you do, and damned if you don't because he'll be accused of giving in to the chinese and be seen as weak if he does, and if he doesn't, he'll be seen as condoning such racists acts in his own fold, thus making his islam hadari as a empty vessel (where is the moderation) much less his declaration that he is pm of all malaysians.

but to further incite hatred and the bring the heat up another notch by mca and gerakan is fool-hardy as it will end up as another may 13, so its a self-fulfilling prophecy.

instead one should follow teddy roosevelt's famous doctrine: walk softly, carry a big stick. That big stick today! is the threat of these parties of leaving bn. For once, the people in gerakan and mca, and what's left of mic should just weild the big stick and leave the coalition. It does not mean that they have to join pakatan (although that would be nice, but it impacts the balance of the pakatan coalition), but become a neutral minority in government. Without mca at least, bm would already loose their majority, even without the east malaysians jumping ship (which i hope they do because umno's culture of devide and conquer will mean the end of the indigenous parties in east malaysia).

so stop harping on ahmad and start walking. One of the bloggers have got it right, no more nato (no action, talk only) as it will serve to confirm that mca and gerakan as just eunuchs to umno.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Heartless mrt riders

As i am writing now, i am witness to a bunch of heartless mrt riders.

in front of me are 5 able bodied young females (they could me males for all i care), and directly in front to them is a young 6 year old girl. And none of them have given up their seat for this young girl.

one is asleep, another pretending to sleep. One i can see if debating within herself whether to give up her comfortable seat or not, but at this time, she's not giving up her seat. Another has buried her head in her psp playing silly games, and finally the last couldn't give a shit!

i guess this is the example the young women of singapore show to their younger generation.

opps latest update, the self doubting one has up and left the train, so at least the young girl gets the safety of a train.

shucks, i am glad i take my girls out in a car. With self centered young people like this, i wouldn't want to expose them so such sn! obbery.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Lucky healthy

Yesterday i accompanied the wife to get her foot looked at. It was nothing life threatening but it left her with a lot of pain.

as i sat at radiology, i had a good look at people surrounding me, mostly patients waiting to get scanned.

one particular scene that got to me was that of a sick child, on a drip. The hospital bed looked enormous compared to his size. His arms were not much larger than my 2 fingers put together. He looked barely 2 years old, close to my No 3.

part way through the wait, he had to have oxygen. What ailment he had i don't know but i know he is a brave kid. I then reflected on how luck i am to have normal kids, with all their idiosyncracies.

then i looked at one of the nurse or nurse assistant who had genuine compassion for that sick child, whereas there were other nurses around who took nursing as a job, thus did not show the kind of compassion exhibited by this one nurse.

then i! got me thinking: what makes a good nurse. Is he or she one to exhibit compassion, or is the attitude of the rest a survival skill brought on by experience to to keep the spirit and soul sane from ll the suffering they see on a daily basis around them?

whatever it is, i am glad they are there for i would not be able to do such a job.

to reflect, i am very lucky to have 3 healthy kids and i hope they remain that way for a long time.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Dammed if you do, dammed if you don't

Politics in Malaysia is a funny creature. The old adage of dammed if you do, and dammed if you don't ring true more often that not, primarily because of the state of politics, where religion and race is more often brought up as a bogeyman, usually the bogeyman being non-bumi people.

As statistics would proove, the muslim have nothing to fear but ignorance itself. By itself, it is already the majority. Is it because they fear that Muslims will flock to other religions if suddenly the apostasy ruling is lifted? I think not. I believe most muslims are happy with their religion, and perhaps only a few would want to convert to another religion. However, this balance would hang precariously if other religions become too aggressive in trying to convert "non-believers" into "believers".

So news has been made where there were politicians, both from the BN (not unexpected is it) and the PR (well, religious fevours crosses political boundary) as well. I have always seen PR as the hope for the next generation of Malaysians, and unless Anwar can do something about it, then all hope is lost because Malaysia will never rise above racial and religious politics, and that irrational fevour will never go away, and it will be things as usual.

But the opposition thread a fine line. While trying to come clean as a government in waiting (hopefully still), they potray themselves as competent and above corruption and most of all, a government for ALL MALAYSIANS, not just the bumis, and even within the bumis, the chosen ones. But in their ranks are those who are use to the way of life where grease money is the norm rather than the exception, and as bumis, they deserve more than other equally capable Malaysians.

WHat will happen only time will tell.

A tale of 2 countries

In the month of August, 2 neighboring countries celebrate their Independence day, or national day. These 2 countries are inexplicably tied to each other, in terms of geographic locales to the human connection between its people. These 2 countries are Malaysia and Singapore. I for one, am Malaysian, but have made Singapore my home.

And August usually makes me reflect on the state of the two countries, which I have called home (both of them). On one hand, I always dream about going back to Malaysia, because this will always be home, and then reality strikes, when I read the news, and reflect upon the future of my children, to which then I decide that SIngapore will be home because of my kids.

Crazy some may say as Singapore is such a pressure cooker. And you're right, it is such a pressure cooker, but you know what, at least my kids will grow up being an equal. If they make it here, they'll be recognized for what they have achieved and there will not be a person who will doubt otherwise. As opposed to Malaysia, where my ancestors of 5 generation have called home, have lived and died in the country, and yet, I feel like I am a foreigner in my own homeland. At least here in Singapore, while I do not enjoy some of the perks Singaporeans do, I do it willingly because this is personal between me and the state, and the business I carry on between my business partners are done without fear or favor of who I am. However in Malaysia, if I were to take on some businesses, there will undoubtedly be concessions that I would have to make, though I must say that I could probably find equally capable bumiputeras, but the issue I take is that in Singapore, it is my own choice, whereas in Malaysia, the choice has been made for me.

I read on Lim Kit Siang's blog the other day on this author who wrote a wonderful piece on the difference choice that Singapore and Malaysia has made since Independence. If I may reproduce the entry here, or you can read it at http://blog.limkitsiang.com/2008/07/31/at-84-the-fire-still-burns/

At 84, the fire still burns!

By Ahmad Mustapha

Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore's founding father, has always been very direct in his comments. This was the man who outsmarted the communists in Singapore (with the innocent help of Malaya then and the willing help of the British) and who later outwitted the British and outpaced Malaysia in all spheres.

Singapore practices corrupt-free meritocracy and Malaysia affirmative action. The former attracted all the best brains and the latter chased out all the brains. The Singapore cabinet consists of dedicated and intelligent technocrats whereas Malaysia has one the most unwieldy cabinets. Not only that, brain wise it was below par not even good for the kampong.

With that kind of composition, one that is very brainy, naturally Singapore , with no natural resources could outstrip Malaysia in every aspect of development. Malaysia, on the other hand, was too much preoccupied with its Malayness and the illusory 'Ketuanan Melayu' and was also more interested in useless mega iconic development rather than real social and economic development.

Whenever Kuan Yew utters anything that deemed to be a slight on Malaysia , voices were raised admonishing him. Malaysia would never dare to face reality. That Singapore had shown that it could survive was a slap on those who believed that Singapore would fold up once it left Malaysia . Therefore it was natural that these doomsayers would try to rationalise their utterances to be in their favour to combat on whatever Kuan Yew commented. Its political jealousy.

Singapore achieved its development status without any fanfare. But here in Malaysia , a development that was deceptive was proclaimed as having achieved development status. It was trumpeted as an achievement that befits first world status. This was self delusion. Malaysians are led to believe into a make believe world, a dream world. The leaders who themselves tend to believe in their own fabricated world did not realise the people were not taken in by this kind of illusion.

Lee Kuan Yew believed in calling a spade a spade. I was there in Singapore when the People's Action Party won the elections in 1959. He was forthright in his briefing to party members as to what was expected of them and what Singapore would face in the future. Ideologically, I did not agree with him. We in the University of Malaya Socialist Club had a different interpretation of socialist reconstruction. But he was a pragmatist and wanted to bring development and welfare to the Singaporeans. Well! He succeeded.

Malaysia was so much embroiled in racial politics and due to the fear of losing political power, all actions taken by the main party in power was never targeted towards bringing wealth to all. Wealth was distributed to the chosen few only. They were the cronies and the backers of the party leadership to perpetuate their own selfish ends.

Seeing the efficiency and the progress achieved by Singapore caused the Malaysian leadership to suffer from an inferiority complex. That Malaysia should suffer from this complex was of its own making.

In a recent interview, Kuan Yew said that Malaysia could have done better if only it treated its minority Chinese and Indian population fairly. Instead they were completely marginalised and many of the best brains left the country in drove. He added that Singapore was a standing indictment to what Malaysia could have done differently. He just hit the nail right there on the head.

Malaysia recently celebrated its 50th year of independence with a bagful of uncertainties. The racial divide has become more acute. The number of Malay graduates unemployed is on the increase. And this aspect can be very explosive. But sad to see that no positive actions have been taken to address these social ills.

Various excuses were given by Malaysian leaders why Singapore had far outstripped Malaysia in all aspects of social and economic advancement. Singapore was small, they rationalised and therefore easy to manage. Singapore was not a state but merely an island.

There was one other aspect that Malaysia practises and that is to politicise all aspects of life. All government organs and machinery were 'UMNO-ised'. This was to ensure that the party will remain in power. Thus there was this misconception by the instruments of government as to what national interest is and what UMNO vested interest is.

UMNO vested interest only benefited a few and not the whole nation. But due to the UMNO-isation of the various instruments of government, the country under the present administration had equated UMNO vested interest as being that of national interest. Thus development became an avenue of making money and not for the benefit of the people. The fight against corruption took a back seat. Transparency was put on hold. And the instruments of government took it to be of national interest to cater to the vested interest of UMNO. Enforcement of various enactments and laws was selective. Thus a 'palace' in Kelang, APs cronies and close-one-eye umno MPs could exist without proper procedure. Corruption infested all govt departments, the worse is the police and lately even in the judiciary.

Singapore did not politicise its instruments of government. If ever policisation took place, it is guided by national interest. To be efficient and to be the best in the region was of paramount importance. Thus all the elements like corruption, lackadaisical attitude towards work and other black elements, which would retard such an aim, were eliminated. Singapore naturally had placed the right priority in it's pursuit to achieve what is best for its people. This is the major difference between these two independent countries.

Malaysia in its various attempts to cover up its failures embarked on several diversions. It wanted its citizens to be proud that the country had the tallest twin-tower in the world, although the structure was designed and built by foreigners. Its now a white-elephant wasting away. It achieved in sending a man into space at an exorbitant price. What for purpose? These are what the Malays of old would say "menang sorak" (hollow victories).

It should be realised that administering a country can be likened to managing a corporate entity. If the management is efficient and dedicated and know what they are doing, the company will prosper. The reverse will be if the management is poor and bad. The company will go bust.

There are five countries around this region. There is Malaysia , and then Indonesia . To the east there is the Philippines and then there is that small enclave called the Sultanate of Brunei . All these four countries have abundance of natural resources but none can lay claim to have used all these resources to benefit the people. Poverty was rampant and independence had not brought in any significant benefits to the people.

But tiny Singapore without any resources at all managed to bring development to its citizens. It had one of the best public MRT transport systems and airlines in the world and it is a very clean city state. Their universities, health care, ports are among the best in the world.

It is impossible to compare what Singapore has achieved to what all these four countries had so far achieved. It was actually poor management and corruption, and nothing more. Everything is done for the vested interest of the few.

Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and the Sultanate of Brunei need good management teams. They would not be able to do this on their own steam. I would advise that they call on Kuan Yew to show them what good governance is. Why look East to Japan when it is just next door across the causeway.

Nrf gives funding to early stage VCs in singapore

Finally, my complaints have been resolved.

today the national research foundation, or nrf has awarded $60 million to 6 early stage VCs, in hope that they will in turn kick-start the start-up entrepreneurial ecosystem here in singaore.

the VCs have to raise at least 10 million each to enjoy the matching funds from nrf, so in total the pot available to start-ups is 120 million, over 8 - 10 years.

but realistically, entrepreneurs have only 5 years max to try to vie for the VC's funding as in the latter half of the fund life, the VC's will be more interested in liquidating their portfolio.

but out of the 6, only 1 is a biotech VC. Doesn't there need to be more biotech VCs in the pool to help stir up competition to find the best deals, and how does that jive with the amount of funding poured in by nrf, a*star, nus and ntu, collectively? There seems to be a disconnect.

but something is better than nothing.

however, one thing did catch my eye, some of the awardees are outfits i have not heard off, and one does not even have a website. How's that for web 2.0? But at least the nrf did not repeat the debacle that was the original tif funding, which was splash money all around except singapore. At least this time, there's money but nt big enough to get the pretenders into singapore.

i expect the entrepreneurial scene to liven up a bit more with this announcement.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Sandiwara

The longer the Anwar saga drags out, the "looney tunes" the government is made to look like.

It is as if the entire government machinery is run by a bunch of idiots, from the top to the bottom. Now, it is probably unfair to label every with a broad brush, but the sheer ineptitude of how the case is being handled is ... awesome!

So is he guilty or not? Is RPK's copy of Saiful's medical check accurate or not?

While in all respect, the government cogs are right in saying that the medical examination report should not have been sent out of the hospital as this document is labeled secret (all patients information is labeled as such, FYI), but here, it' not all black and white. Is it not wrong for the person to send it to an "ally" if he or she knows that the report could prove the guilt or innocence of the accused, and that the authorities will move to seal the document forever, or that the due process would be tampered with?

Why is this secret when the newspapers have all reported that Saiful, when checked by the KL Hospital, was indeed sodomized? Why the double standard? THis would lead to more people being confused and sadly for the BN government, that the case against Anwar was fabricated to prevent him from taking office, and to fracture the PR alliance.

So if in the event both reports are true, did Saiful get sodomized on the way to KLH?

No wonder Malaysia is not being mentiond in the same breath as Zimbabwe, the only difference is that in Malaysia, people still have some shred of dignity and are keeping their anger from turning physical, whereas in Zimbabwe, the fear is quite physical. But in essence, both governments are corrupt, and the people are no longer beholden to their promises, lest the uneducated or the brain-washed ones.

Perhaps when Malaysia Day comes, and PR does indeed form a sitting government, Malaysia can move forward for the benefit of all, not just the Malays. But if this continues, in a few years, the Tourism Department can no longer use the slogan "Malaysia.. Truly Asia" as the demographics will clearly show that it will become a mono-racial country.

I like this article!

I had a semi-serious discussion with my 7 year old daughter about a family friend who is doing his in-camp this next 2 weeks as part of his National Service reservist obligation as a Singaporean male.

To kick start the discussion, I had to qualify that I am a Malaysian and our friend, Singaporean, and for the typical Singapore, what is National Service and what is the purpose of his NS obligations years after he has served his full time national service.

"Why did uncle have to go back to become a soldier?", she asked; to which I replied in the event any country were to attack Singapore, they could defend their country.

Then the big question popped: "..and what will we do?"

At a lost of words, I said the first words that came to mind: "We will also fight to defend our home"

Funny, I now consider Singapore home, and would be willing to lay down my life even though I carry a different passport. Why? Because Singapore has given my opportunities that I otherwise would not have gotten had I lived back in my home country, and the only way I can repay the country in times of need to make the ultimate sacrifice (though I doubt very much if the armed forces would want a middle aged man with a broken knee - I would have been downgraded had I been SIngaporean)

And I guess this article lays out the reason why I feel more affinity to this country that my own. Though theoretically a foreigner, I was never question about my loyalty to the country in my previous line of work as they had judged me to be professional enough to make the right decision, without prejudice - period! Whereas, in my home country, I would always have to play second fiddle to the bumis and to the mass bumis, I would always be questioned on whether I am enriching myself or the country (why can't it be both)

http://themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/headlines/42-lead-stories/2180-sold-out-at-the-altar-of-malay-unity

The china allure

And no, i am not talking the women.

i am talking about the busness potential of china. One word: massive!

lately i have been involved in more than 1 china project, suprising as i am a "banana" in all sense of the word (instance: i try to speak mandarin and still flub up by interjecting cantonese words into madarin - that's how badly i suck in speaking the language).

i was with a partner to discuss one project and i finally saw how immense the country is, and how incredibly lucrative that market is. If you thought there are a lot of 7-11's in singapore, there are millions of such provision shops across china!

but at the same time, the go to market strategy for each region is different as there is no one national chain (ie like our cold storage or fairprice) that has coverage across the country. Instead one finds provincial or regional autonomous companies, each with their own chief exec and p&l responsibilities.

from an investment perspective, sad as it may seem, any start-up without a china strategy would be awfully uncompetitive in chasing investor dollar unless there is a clear niche. Perhaps i should qualify that statement as companies targetting mass consumers and not nice b-b or b-prosumer markets.

and what differentiates china from india is that there is a very strong middle-class, thanks to the liberal communist rule over the past 20 or so years since deng xiaopeng opened up the country. For india, its democracy i would say is also its downfall as the country is somehwhat hampered in reforming the country by constant threats of coalition partners jumping ship. But i guess they (the indian government) is playing catch up.

simply amazing!


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Ugly people

And i am not talking about physical appearance.

this happened to me just now. My family and 2 other families decided to have lunch at kuishinbo in suntec as our weekend gathering, and to allow all our kids to hang with each other.

what was a happy event was marred by a small event with a lady and her family. What happened was that both our families (i had 7 in mine) and her (she had 5 incl an elderly lady in a wheelchair) waiting for the lift. When the lift arrived, it was large enough to accomodate both sets of families, if the pram and the wheelchairs were arranged properly.

so my wife asked them to kindly move the wheelchair to one side (instead of being in the center) so that our pram could go in the other half of the lift. This evidently infuriated the lady, and when it was time to get off for them, she shouted rudely "get out!" at her helpers.

i think this show the lady in very poor light, as the lift is a common lift and if it were possible to share it, why not?

i don't know if this lady is singaporean on or not, and i don't think it matters. What matters more is that people need to be more compassionate and respect each other. What this lady has shown is a lack of compassion and repect for us and her helpers (by shouting at them to get "back" at us.

ugly. I think graciousness needs to be a subject to be taught in school since there seems to be a lack of it amongst adults in singapore.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Corporate social responsibility

This word is plastered in many a corporate websites and annual reports.

however for the case power generation companies (gencos) and oil companies, what does this exactly mean?

many governments, including the mother of all governments (the US if you want to know) have recently hauled up chief execs of these companies to explain why is it that these companies are reaping huge profits, and at the same time consumers are suffering higher pump prices.

so for these comapnies, how much profit can they make before it is too much? Do these companies not have a right to make the profits? In many areas where they operate, there is a co-sharing with the local governments, so the local theoretical should benefit as well, but as in the case of malaysia, it has lead to a series of problems because the government have long subsidized the pricing of gas.

so now it becomes a cruel circle, the oil companies cannot be seen as making too much profits, so they will cut back on oil exploration projects, and only pump from old wells which would make recovery cost more expensive, thus while maintaining some certainty in the pump prices, it would shave off their profit margins. But in the long run, it would lead to even more expensive pump prices.

perhaps the challenge then is to make the consumers less reliant on fossil fuel, as al gore has advocated.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Entrepreneurs

In my line, i deal with a lot of entrepreneurs with me being one of those aspiring entrepreneurs.

without prejudicing myself, i have come to the conclusion that in my small circle of entrepreneurs that i have come in contact with, a lot tend to overvalue their companies and technologies. Sometimes it's good, but most times it starves the company of needed investment.

because i am both on the buy (entrepreneurs)and sell (investor) side, i see a disconnect between the 2, which makes life interesting and difficult.

how do investor value a company? There are known methods like pe multiples, discounted cash flow etc. Of course there is a premium on technology but you'd be surprised how much (or little) that premium is. Customer orders, unless it's already in hand means zilch in calculating the value of the company. Counting on the future does not manage the risk.

on the other hand, entepreneurs tend of overweigh on the utility of their technology, and also potential customer orders, and thus value their company accordingly. And also some of them hang out for 'name-brand' investors.

sometimes, the gulf isn't too big that it cannot be bridged, and most of the time, it.s not even worth putting in the effort to close the gap.

the reality is that in the land of the have and have-nots, the haves win it, and unfortunately, the investors hold a commodity that the entrepreneurs desire: money, thus relegating entrepreneurs to the have-nots category.

and if you can get an investor interested enough to to listen past the first 10 minutes, the entrepreneur should take any offer or advice being given seriously.

in singapore, both side have a lot to learn though.

n


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Ren ci

I read with dismay the recent revelation on the possble wrong doing of the venerable ming yi and the ren ci organization.

assuming he is convicted of the said wrong doing, and i will be very dissapointed with him, as a buddhist and as a person. As a person belonging to the sangha (or the clothe), he is expected to hold himself higher than the rest of us. This is important because how else then can he impart the dhamma to the rest of the people?

leading by example is key. If me as a layman sees a monk abusing his role as a monk and community leader, then what sort of morals will that imply to me.

sadly he is not the first and neither will he be the last, which is why i believe in monks and people joining any reigious order take a vow of poverty, but even that did not stop joseph kang where a vow of poverty was explict.

does that mean more policing, or forcing all religious trusts and charities to submit to audtng on a yearly basis? While i believe the these people will reap what they sow (karma), i think they should be audited yearly to mantain the public's trust.

to


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Anwar arrested

Is this a prelude to crowd problems in malaysia? Judging from history, the presumptive answer would be yes.

but can malaysia and the surrounding countries afford it? The answer is no.

is this also a prelude to the government suspending the constitution and declare an emergency if they can't put a lid on the public outcry?

i dread the answer.

there's no need to accuse foreign powers of trying to undermine the country, the ruling party is pretty successful in doing that all by themselves.

it is times like this that make you go " LKY was a freakin genius when singapore gained independence!"


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Tough Job Market

I have been sniffing around for possible job openings, and although there have been many "let's do it", but none yet has returned with a firm commitment to hire me.

And if I want to get into the Financial sector, I understand that industry is slowing down rather rapidly due to the tepid markets since the sub-prime blowout, and now sky-high energy prices.

So for the moment, I will continue doing my freelance project with the hopes that at least one or 2 of them will materialize in some sort of monetary rewards.

What a shitty time to be "in between jobs

Conspiracies abound

I read with alarm the latest SD twist afflicting malaysia.

the indian pi who is at the center of the controversy has gone missing with his family. Not unexpected is it?

the internet media is buzzing with the news, and to me, it lend credence that there is a conspiracy behind all this, be it from the government or the pr front.

with such maneuvours, how is one to distill which is the truth when everything is so muddied. How is the country going to drag itself out of the funk? The people, i feel, no longer trusts the government institutions meant to police the government because there is no proper separation in reporting?

come on, we all know the judiaciary is not independent and neither is the aca, and these are the main 2 institutions meant to provide the check and balance.

i salute those still trying to live their lives in malaysia and fight for their principles. I hope soon, makkal sakthi will prevail and justice served to those have wronged and those who have been wronged.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Malaysian heat is risng

The news headline on the screen shouts: malaysia troops may be used to help with quell the protes, or someting to that effect.

if that occured, it wuld beunprecedented and would relegate malaysia to an iron state.

since the emergency, i can't recall if troops have been used against civlians, and it is thoughti shudder at.

but instead of calming the population down, musa hitam is turningup the heat, which is contrary against convetional wisdom.

the saga continues


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Aiyoh so drame aka malaysian politics

I have come to the realization that watching malaysian politics is much more interesting compared to watching soap operas.

the plot is even more sordid than dynasty or dallas in their peak season.

what will happen next? My worst fear is another may 13, this time it will not be inter-racial but intra-racial.

let's hope cooler heads prevail, but in a country where there is effectively no separation of court and state ie check and balance, determining the truth will be harder than mulder trying to solve the x-files.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

How prophetic - anwar ibrahim

When i wrote this morning about the BN spin meisters turning to singapore to be their whipping boys in the event the tide turns against them vs anwar???

well one of the pkr people just said that a neighboring country is feeding them intelligence about potential assasination attempts on anwar.

well, what more justification do the spin miesters need to start another to keep the pressure off aab amd ntr?

self fulfilling prophecy?? My guess is as good as yours!


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Nitpicking

I caught a glimpse of an ST forum letter that was published over the weekend, where the writer alledge (sp?) that the upcoming circle line does not benefit the western population, because it links to the north-south line at ang mo kio and does not pass through orchard.

i'd say this write is not really objective about the whole matter and is just putting his/her shopping hat on. The line passes buena vista, and will be the main conduit for people travelling to fusionopolis and nuh/nus, and that to me is benefit enough.

if he had travelled through the london tube he will also have noticed that not all lines mirror the circle line, and people live with it. If you happen to live close to the circle line tube stations, lucky you, else transfer like everyone else.

then on the other end of the spectrum is my beloved penang. It can't seem to get out of a funk. Anyone who has been to penang islan will bitch about its public tranport system and the haphazard traffic woes.

a rail system is needed, no doubt about it, and i beg to differ that it does not benefit the people. Yes it does as much research have noted that the cost of doing business increases with traffic jams, and penang need to get its act right to maintain the inward investments. So i don't this there is any choice to this.

but how do you convince the private sector to participate? Definitely not when there is the potential of the federaland state government going to court to resolve jurisdiction. Until there is actual agreements btw the federal and state, i believe that this project is dead.

another sign that patronage driven politics is depriving malaysia of needed development, and pampered singaporean residents will only want public transport if it takes them from their front door to wherever they want to go.

opps that's called a cab!


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Villification of anwar ibrahim

Most of us would have been glued to the various news channels over the weekend after news broke that anwar ibrahim sodomized another guy.

my impression: c'mon guys this is getting old, and soooo uncreative. To the spin doctors of BN, you should employ good screenwriters to do the plot and scripts because its more interesting on the idiot box.

why do i think this is a character and olitical assination? Because:
1. He would done so in prison and word would have leaked out.
2. Since he has been overseas quite often, anyone with half a brain would have done the deed overseas where discretion would be easier to obtain.
3. Why would he have done the deed in KL where everyone recognizes him. Did he not learn from the past experience himself, and that of chua soi lek?

and to this saiful, the world in which we live in is far different from that when anwar was first caught. The internets is far more wide-spread and now, there's alternative news channels, be it they spread the truth or lies (the same could be said of malaysia's traditional news papers and networks)

i see this as a desperate measure to take the pressure off aab and ntr + wife, using the familiar tactic: create anoter fire elsewhere as people like sensationalistic news. Believe me, if thus anwar issue is put out quickly, singapore beware and the spin miester will surely find fault with the country.

silly silly. Wonder why the people of malaysia vote anyways? Might as well vote some actors into parliment.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Parenthood

I was doing my usual grocery shopping round at bukit timah plaza when i saw this couple and their baby daughter, and a thought made me smile.

if you do not already know, we have 3 princesses of our own, and from the look on this couple, this baby is most likely their first.

how do i know?

simple, they tend to be more loving, affectionate and devote an obscene amount of time cooing their baby. It was the same with us and our first one.

add 2 later, our family outings (even for grocery) is longer spent oohing and aahing but more like sessions of be carefuls, don't runs and stop shoutings.

but we still love our brood just the same and wouldn't change a thing, even the slightly elevated blood pressure levels. It is priceless to see all of my princesses play and laugh hysterically together, at least until the older 2 get too rough and someone eventually cries.

so to all young couples with a baby, enjoy your time. And to those planning more, there will be more priceless moments to come.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

How big does a big contract need to be?

Today, I had my first experience as a small fry trying to pitch to a big organization.

Background, I had a project land on my lap. This project is small, about 40 K a year for 2 years, and the best part was that everything had been set-up for the client, so the client need not do anything further (well not that much anyways as I had done all the hard work)

Today I had a meeting with the senior management to seek their view, and I was frankly disappointing by what was said: We're not going to do it because its peanuts. If it's 40 million, then it's worth doing.

I was pretty hurt by that high and mighty comment, because I have done this project on a pro-bono basis, looking to build quanxi with this organization. Instead I was asked to go suck eggs.

For the first time, I finally felt how countless of start-ups felt like when they approach big organizations to buy their product etc etc, and I got to thinking, surely this is NOT the way.

But instead of seeking revenge (which I could easily), I think it' best to move on and look for like-minded people to work with

Changing fortunes

Last week, i had the opportunity to reconnect with an old friend, jeff, in penang, and i got to wonder, how life moves in funny circles.

when we were roomies in college, he had this DAP banner hanging on his side of the wall, while i had a poster of an atomic blast on mine - not sure which was more politically incorrect then. I used to kid with him that he's gonna get me in trouble with the govt in malaysia.

recently with the political change in penang, he is now part of the state machinery, and somehow it is quite comforting that the state has this brilliant chap on the payroll.

the job ahead of him is not easy, which is to look at how to sustain and increase manufacturing investments into the state. I know it first hand as i used to debate about the situation here in singapore with my colleagues when i was a civil servant.

but the good part is that jeff is still very much rooted and has not changed one bit or taken his new position into his head.

and on the other side of the coin is another friend we know who had for many many years championed the cause for MIC. Unfortunately his fortunes were less good as the leadership team there had overlooked his services. He's not a bad guy, he's got charisma and he's put his career on hold for the party.

wisely, i've been told that he's reconnecting with his career again and screwing MIC, which was just about what ever other voter did during the march 8 elections.

then i look at myself, from an employed person with 3 degrees to an unemployed one. Of course i label myself as freelance, but to be honest it's starting to get stale when project don't pan out and with it, the promise of some windfall.

perhaps i am not an entrepreneur, or perhaps the windfall has not come. Perhaps the problem is within, in that i can't begin with the end in mind because i don't know what the end is. One of my professional mentors once told me, long term goal, short term wins are needed.

to paraphrase mulder: i want to believe. But it gets harder before it gets easier.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Mana Boleh - Where Can??

I read in dismay today that the Malaysian government (read BN government), instead of tackling the issue of fuel subsidy has decided to close part of the fuel market to foreigners.

And how much stupider can they get?

Their ruling is that the gas stations sited within 50 km of the border of Thailand and Singapore will not be allowed to sell gas to foreigners.

Now I am deeply troubled because I am planning to head north to Penang for the holidays, to be with my in-laws. While going up is not the issue, my beef is with the journey back.

When will I need to fill up before I get into the 50 km ruling? And how is it counted? 50 km radius or via the roads? Technically, it seems quite impossible to monitor this and worst of all the only people to suffer from this is the gas stations adjacent to the highway both in JB (Woodlands and Second Link) and also in the north of Kedah, Kelantan, Perak and Perlis.

I recall in the Second Link, direction towards Singapore, there was a Shell gas station that just opened perhaps a year ago. I pity them because they will most likely take a long time to recoup their investment because hardly any Malaysian cars use the Second Link (mostly Singapore based cars).

It would be interesting to see how long this effort will last before they figure out money speaks louder than words.

The best solution to this is to remove the subsidies, or find a way to channel the subsidies back into the pockets of the poor. The middle and upper class can surely "tahan" the raise in fuel prices.

In the mean time, all I can say is..... THIS SUCKS!

Racial politics and roadblocks to reality in malaysia

I read in the papers about Mahathir's latest outburst about IDR (or whatever its called now) and Singapore's investment there and how the Malays will loose their birth right if all this noise made by non-Malays continue.

frankly I am getting a bit sick of all this paranoia pandering. So far i have not heard of any one or party asking for the malay special privileges to be removed. What the PR states and officials are asking for is for a transparent way of doing things, which can still abide with the NEP.

right now, so many things are done with no transparency that the rakyat does not know how much exactly of the nations coffers have leaked out to areas where it is not supposed to.

like how can state assemblymen use up 2 million of their allocation in 2 months. I find it had to fathom such things.

BN for all intent and purpose has made Malaysia into their own cash cow, using up its resources for their own benefit. I'd say that they are only slightly better than the British colonials as the colonials took the money back to the UK, whereas, there are actual work being done here, but as we have seen in szechuan this past week, if a malapetaka were to happen, how many of these buildings are built to standard?

but i guess things are getting desperate for certain quarters who have made it their life work to harp of the racial divide, unfortunately i think their efforts would have been put to more use if they had used all that energy to heal the racial divide rather to make it more jarring.


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

In memorium

Over the past 2 days, I have had bad news delivered to me about close friends passing on.

Lee Hertzberg

I got to know Lee, or Pops, as we all fondly called him about 15 or so years back when I was a student in the US. He was my foster-dad's dad, so in essence my Grandpa when I was in the US.

He was an electrical engineer and was on the forefront of many things. He also belonged to what is termed at the "Greatest Generation". His contribution to the Great War (WWII) was his expertise in radar technology, which was in its infancy then.

He and his late wife, Viola or Lala told us how they had to study under armed guard because all the textbooks and reading material was then classified as top secret.

I also fondly recall that he told us the story about Christmas or Thanksgiving during the Korean War when he was deployed at a radar station. There was a storm, and there was supposed to be a delivery of turkey for the troops, except with the storm, the plane could not land. So the flight crew just chucked the turkey out of the planes, determined that the men on the ground would not have to spend the holidays without their traditional turkey. Except that one turkey crashed through the roof of the radar station, and luckily no one was injured.

After many years (and Lala's death) I finally got a chance to go to San Francisco about 2 years back and made a trip to see my foster Dad and mom, Lanny and Jane. Together we journeyed to see Pops, who was still fit as a fiddle at 91. Driving himself around town and to the air force base where he got his medical treatment.

2 days ago I received a sad email from Lanny saying that Pops had passed away from a major stroke. I was in shock, but upon reflection, I do know I have that last photo I took of us from 2 years back and the stories he told. 

Cheryl,

An ex-colleague from my workplace just passed away from Cancer. She was younger than me, lived life to the fullest and had so much potential still to be fulfilled.

Even though she was sick, she didn't kick up a fuss about it. She did her job and she did well, and more importantly, she took my jokes and character in her stride, which many of a good people couldn't.

I guess there's so much more to write, but we only worked together for a short while, and didn't get much more time to interact outside of the office.

To Lee and Cheryl, Rest in Peace!

Is malaysia regressing

I read with great interest (and with incredule) the proposa put forward by dr ras yatim where women traveller, if travelling alone, would require a letter from their respective families or company attesting to the natureof ter travel overseas.

i really find it hard to believe a seasoned politician and respected member of the community could put forwad such a proposal. His proposal was based on some statistics where malaysian ladies were caught smuggling drugs into other countries, ie used a drug mules. If i recall the news article, he said, no insinuated that a large percentage of ladies were being used as mules.

i used stats can be used to argue both sides of the same arguement, and this the perfect case. If you had wanted to push for the legislature, of course, you'd dig up some silly stats. But the reality is that those who got caught or even engaged in illegal stuff is a small small percentage over the larger number of legitimate women travellers.

also it reeks of chauvinistic values, ie the women are dumb and like frog in the well. Chances are, those who engage in this illegal activity know full well what they are doing, and this include males as well. They do it because of some reason that they only know. Feigning ignorance is a sure way of claiming innocence.

who knows, perhaps the next step would be to disqualify single female malaysians from holding a passport, or better yet, why not stop them from going to school altogether.

i always malaysian politics is interesting, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

out!


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Testing from mobile

Testing.

let's see what mobile blogging looks like, and with my mobilem@il subscription


Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

A new life

I am experiencing a second wind as a freeagent (short for being unemployed)

I must admit its a bit scary, with 3 kids to feed and no regular income. But it sure as heck beat what I have been doing for the past 4 months in my previous job where I took a regular pay, but did nothing at work.

Some may say this was the ideal job, but for me, I fear that any longer and it would dull my "edge" and make me into a complacent chap.

But now, it's quite exhilarating and yet scary. I am more busy than ever (so I will keep this short) because I know if my projects do not move I will not get paid. So in a funny way, I am unemployed and yet stressed out for tight timelines that I have put myself on.

As compared to no stress and regular pay.

You may think I'm a sado-masochist, but I would prefer to think of myself as driven.

Sent by SingTel MobileM@il. Dial *36245 for FREE email access!

Political Baggage

As one who likes to watch Malaysian politics from afar, I was pleasantly surprised the government in Penang is coming together, and more importantly, one member (or rather ex-member) of the BN component party has decided to cross the unsaid line to work with the DAP government.

What is wrong with that, I ask. If the guy believes he can contribute the well being of the state of Penang, then all the more better. I would like to commend the CM of Penang for putting politics aside and welcoming Lee Kah Choon into the state government to head up the InvestPenang team.

What should matter more is:
1) He is the right man for the job
2) He is willing to work for the people
3) He does not mind working for people, who just weeks ago were considered his opponents.

Like a good lawyer I know likes to say: Let's call a spade a spade. If he's the right man for the job, then no one else should say anything to the contrary.

But his motivations must be sincere for I believe Penang will be in for a hard time getting assistance from the federal government until the next election.

And I say to the people in BN. GROW UP! Don't bite the hand that feeds it. Penang needs all the help it can get to continue to attract high tech jobs into the country, it is still a state of Malaysia and has not annexed itself out of Malaysia.

But with the childish approach that the BN government has done so far, I would not be surprised if the PR states will hold a referendum to annex itself out as independent states since it will not be getting any help from Putrajaya.

But back to Kah Choon. I can sincerely emphatize with him, for I have just also experienced a similar situation. But I laud Kah Choon for bravely taking on the position, for I took the opposite direction and declined to take the job.

But perhaps that is what that sets me apart from Kah Choon. He aspires to help all Penangites on his shoulders, whereas I just want to go on making a living and hopefully provide my family with an above average lifestyle.

No backbone.

I am most amused recently by the news of the BN (Barisan Nasional to non Malaysians) big wigs jumping on the blog bandwagon, after it was announced that BN lost the cyberwar.

It's like the MasterCard ad, where the tagline is priceless, as prior to the election, the bloggers were heaped with insults. Now, everyone in the government is on it, and I am really curious what they have to say, or perhaps there isn't much to say anyways.

Then even more amusing is how the knifes are finally out in the UMNO circles asking Pak Lah to step aside. THis is politics to the max. Before its all for one and one for all, and now with a wee bit of encouragement, it's everyman for himself!

With this kind of leadership, I am glad that 60% of Malaysia's GDP is now in the hands of people not accustomed to such idiocy. Or is it?

We'll have to wait 5 years to see if my Philosophy prof was right in saying, absolute power corrupts absolutely. I certainly know it be true for the BN government.     

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The new wave - part deux

After I wrote the piece, I keep seeing the current effort to re-engineer the food chain for the future.

But unfortunately, not many investors have caught on.

Is biofuels to blame for the recent price increase in food commodities.

Yes and No

Yes because the world has only such a defined amount of feedstock available. It is not an ever-growing pie. So when it becomes more lucrative for the middle mens and farmers to sell to biofuel customers than to food customers, you bet they will do that. That is the beauty and the horror of the free market.

No because if companies wayyy back had come to realize the even oil is a limited commodity, they should have pushed harder to develop technologies such as the hybrid, fuel-cells etc etc.

Yes, it is a bit simplistic, but I do try to keep it short and simple.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The next big thing in investment?

I met a friend over the weekend, and one of the more interesting topic of discussion was the recent press on food shortage, and the increase in food prices plus food producing countries taking steps to ensure they have enough to feed themselves before exporting.

It seems that a big shot consulting firm forecasted sometime back that food producing countries are producing more efficiently, coupled with improvements in the supply chain, that soft commodity prices would stay depressed for a while.

Companies, having paid mucho bucks for that piece of report, naturally under invested in their technologies and products that form the basis of agricultural usage, such as fertilizers etc etc.

What the consulting firm did not envisage is crop disease, weather that have gone amok and competition from another sector for the raw feedstock: energy.

So today we see the following trends (this is by no means exhaustive and represents my own view OK?)
1) Biofuels: government subsidy meant that the farmers or middle men get more money to sell their corn, sugarcase, palm oil etc etc to biofuel makers than to traditional food processors. As a result, soft commodities have seen their prices increase, which naturally leads to increase cost for end processed material such as flour, rice etc etc.

I advocated once back that I thought Biodiesel would partially offset the world's hunger for energy. I still do, except now, I advocate that the suppliers seek out alternative feedstock; in particular feedstock that does not compete in the food chain. There are aleternatives out there, one of them being jatropha.

Jatropha does not need as much maintenance palm oil, plus it is able to survive in inhospitable land. Therefore, in theory, it would be better for the citizens of Beijing (or the outskirts) to plant jatropha to prevent the yellow desert from encroaching Beijing and the reduction of sand storms in the capital.

But I digress.

2) Due to global warming, we have seen the weather turn upside down. At least in Singapore, what was dry season is now innundated with rain. In Australia, when there was supposed to be rain, it is dry as a bone. Recent pictures have shown the Artic shelf shrinking, thus leading to increase in the sea level.

3) Diseased crops. Because of the factors above, plus the liberal use of pesticide, I believe that the insects have grown resistant to the pesticide, plus leaving the crops prone to more diseases

4) There are genetically modified plants available, but due to the bad press and lack of legislation (or progressive, sane legislation) it meant that these GM plants are not getting into the food chain. To some it may be good, but to other, it would be bad as investment into GM food research would be channeled elsewhere, and we would never know the long term effects of consuming GM foods.

But these GM foods hold the promise of better yield and shorter growth cycles and hardier plants. Does that not justify additional research into GM foods? Who are all the people making noise about GM foods? People with a full stomach and more than enough food on their plates, or the poor and hungry in Africa?

5) Under investment from suppliers. Chemical companies supplying into the agricultural industry have been under-investing in their product segment due to the misguided belief that the soft commodity market would remain soft, therefore the margins would be kept in the lower range.

But now, they have been pressured to produce more, and manufacturing efficiency can only increase the output by so much. Additional facilities need years to build and tool-up and tested before they too can come online and produce at great volumes.

Therefore as I see it, the next growth cycle in investment would naturally go into the soft commodity business sector.

Where are areas of opportunity?
1) Green pesticides. Many of these plants have in-built mechanism to keeping itself safe from insects and such. One key items is how do we find and couple these defense mechanisms from different plants to achieve the ideal outcome.

2) Green fertilizer, or at least greener ways of fertlizing the ground.

3) Hardier seedlings. TO be quite honest, the fastest way to get results is through genetic modification (GM), but the GM monster is still very prevalent among the learned and noisy. What I do not advocate is a chimera seed, where animal gene is inserted into plantform (if at all possible - I am no scientist), but in between plants I believe should be OK. I could be wrong. Also along the same vein would be seedlings that grow faster, and yield more end products.

4) Improving the production efficiency. Simple and yet impactful. Can Statistical methods and efficiency programs such as TPM and 6 Sigma be used in the harvesting and later on, producing process? I bet there are  areas of opportunity.

I had the opportunity to learn a bit about social entrepreneurship, and I think this could be in line with what I am advocating. So in essence labs like Temasek Life Sciences, AVA and a lot of Malaysian Uni should gear up their research to reap the returns in a few years time.

Will I be right, will I be wrong. Only time can tell. I'll revisiting this again in a few years and perhaps so a post-mortem!

End.

Blogged with the Flock Browser