Climate change, sustainability and green in Malaysia - rant 1

1.       I’ve seen quite a few write-ups on this subject within a Malaysian context, and I can say that they have all been a disappointment. There were some that I had high hopes for, but again with all things ghost-written by a management consultant, the format, fonts, graphs are all there in all its pretentiousness, but very little by way of what needs to be executed and with strong courageous statements on what are the things that needs to be done. What was the last passionate, courageous statement that I have heard spoken on this context? The 40% conditional commitment by the PM in COP15 in 2009. And even then, what I’m hearing from the executioners down the line is that this was a stumble, poorly defined policy measure where it should be taken as a conviction to fully carry this through. Now, that in its entirety is what is missing in this country – a true, resolute commitment from the soul of what needs to be done, and then move mountains to do it.

2.       Just to add on to the consultant-speak, I remember my consulting days when we were engaged to help translate the Iskandar Development tome, a massive, voluminous work that promised much and delivered little. I have no idea how much of that tome is of use. Have I also addressed before the prostitution of a consultant that contradicted its own tome when asked to re-do an assessment of innovation in Malaysia just 2-odd years on? Huge frustration is an understatement. But this is what happens when the positioning is that we’ll try to attract attention to the things that we do with glossy write-ups, and then fail to continue that by developing the necessary manpower and expertise to carry it through. And oftentimes, the expertise that comes across are the ones without the necessary passion, but loud-mouthed enough ie articulate to impress, and not enough to understand the real issues. Ok, now that I have got the moaning off my chest, perhaps I can relook at the issues again in a bit more detail.

3.       What are sustainability issues? Again, like innovation, it is systemic. You cant adopt bits and pieces, and hope we are transformed overnight. Look at Liverpool, struggling to reclaim its throne. I’m impressed with Dalglish, that while still marginally not as good in terms of results as good as Rafa had (pre09-10), you can see the imposition of a new philosophy which can only be good in the mid-term. It takes balls to impose a philosophy to something which is already pretty good, and its thanks to Hodgson as it was his failings that meant this new philosophy has to imposed. I digress. But this is the crux of the issue.

4.       We can import Feed-in Tariffs, and have 3 years of solar pv quotas sold out within 2 hours. But beyond making Malaysian contractors some margins on installation, where is the indigenous technology going to come from? How do you effect, rather than impose, innovation? Is there a demand for these productivity enhancements? Are we happy with what we have? Is mediocrity the consequence of accepting a lowered bar? What then drives people to seek a higher bar? Increased profits? What is the motivation? Family? Money? Recognition? What is the regulatory role to raise this bar?

5.       And now back to the climate change and sustainability issues. Where are we after the COP15 announcement in 2009, apart from still chasing our tail? Kyoto will likely expire and we’d need to know what the alternatives can be. If the CDM market is no longer there, where then is our role in the greater scheme of things. Apart from palm oil trying to outdo European lobbyists allegations of destructive practices, and thereby inculcating sustainability principles in RSPO, (again looking tenuous at the moment), what are the other motivating factors to preach and practice sustainability.

6.       Again, the western world and their corporate representatives, are no saints and are just as hypocritical in using carbon footprints and declarations of carbon neutrality. This isn’t a question on moral obligation. This is purely a marketing and business perspective.

7.       To force the issue out in the open is to say that business, finance, profits reward green and sustainability practices, the better you are at this the more rewarded you are. This is the position in Canada when they effectively said they will no longer be signatories to whatever the Kyoto protocol looks like post-2012. The materialistic philosophy driving the corporate world now has driven this position. But that’s looking at the corporate world as the most significant influencer of sustainability issues. I would like to suggest that the biggest influencer is really society.

8.       Just like the Arab Spring is condemnation of dictatorial regimes, it will be a matter of time when the aggravation will be directed to the corporates. And when it does, facebook, twitter, foursquare and what have you will determine which companies will be rewarded for their faith in building a better world, with or without government intervention, with or without discussions on impact to profit margin. In the meantime, I would like to see the building up of capabilities into this area and conversant in the policy-making, techno-economic, financial considerations and societal and welfare considerations.

 

stakeholder management model

Lack of emotional fortitude manifests itself in reticence to communicate and 'seize the day'. this reticence then appears to be one of lack of self-esteem, lack of self-worth and such like, almost unanimously appearing to be 'lacking'. So waht starts off as 'tawadhu' then comes across as lacking. Aggregated as a community / society, it becomes a dangerous stereotype. What is necessary to convey is that we all have our capabilities, and there needs to be an ability to support and cooperate up to a point where threatened vulnerabilities need to be acknowledged and a competitive behaviour needs to be demonstrated.


But this is merely a narrative, an excuse for what is an essentially lazy, reactive mentality. Thus, it is necessary to seize the day, set the agenda, form an opinion, convince the stakeholders, and all other related cliches to demostrate proactivity. 

More rants - Malaysia's development model and talent discrepancy

1.       Emotional fortitude is not something I’m born with, rather it’s something I’ve to continuously work on. I guess the quiet leadership book, the short chats that I need to have with myself to maximize the interval between input and outcome, will have a good reference to continually improve this aspect.

2.       Emotional fortitude should follow principles and beliefs. And as much as these are non-negotiable, the over-riding programme should be one that carefully analyses any benefits, good, to overcome deviations, mistaken beliefs, misguidance. This is where the opening up of channels with the Most Powerful comes in. As long as this channel remains closed and no effort is done to open it, the threat of being misguided becomes very real and very urgent.

3.       This is where this current discordance and conflict comes in. While chugging along becomes an issue when coasting along is too self-limiting, then pushing the boundaries becomes an issue when I see things that I cant influence and I cant agree with. And in the end, a different conflict arises when I become unable to assert my beliefs nor able to resolve the discords.

4.       I’ve seen a lot on how the private sector works, influencing key stakeholders, asking for beneficial treatment (I loathe to use kickbacks here), the all-too ready public sector hierarchy to please selected personalities and people, to know that in Malaysia it’ll be very difficult to change the system. In that respect, I’ll have to place on record the very professional and elegant way of my organization doing its work in working within the system to benefit its only shareholder and main stakeholder.

5.       In this respect too, the key personalities that I work with are very “powerful” people in their ability to leverage influence, either through charm or through sheer weight of argument. The flipside to this is my anathema to using personal influencing behaviours and my belief in letting the truth win its side of the story, or getting the “truth” revised to reveal a more powerful truth. At this point in time, I do need to decide to abandon this dogmatic view of things, and see if I can be a part of this, either representing an organisation or representing the principles I believe in.

6.       The talent discrepancy is so obvious because money pulls talents away into where it becomes a powerful resource to train and develop people. The counter-prevailing argument to that is that ideology is a more powerful shaper of beliefs and character. The death of ideology in Malaysia, together with the impotence of amal Islami, makes the talent discrepancy too obvious and too painful to watch. Needless to say that talent development is a costly affair. But the components are in place. The people and the networks must be nurtured to make this system work. We should be working on a global model of development – and this is not to say that we should all duff our caps to the people in suits and the people in overalls are of a secondary level, but rather an admission to say that characters, beliefs and principles should be compared to some of the overarching belief systems being spouted within the globalization, sustainability, capitalistic dogma is being met head-on and overcome through the sheer force of reason.

7.       Being part of the system clouds our ability to reason, and because of that  there is a real need to stay out of the system and work tirelessly, berjuang, to place an alternate, better reality into the world.

Malaysia on a downward slope...analysis

1.       I’m disgusted with Malaysian Insider’s reporting and the comments that it attracts. It’s shitty articles, poorly constructed journalistic pieces, and the racist one-sided tunnel-visioned comments from the kind of readers that it attracts is just too much for me to take. I can take the time to deconstruct the sentiments (not arguments) of a foolish, uninformed crowd, but I do have other things to do.

2.       So, I’m going to ignore them. But, this should be at the back of our minds to correct this unequitable racial-tinged untruths. At least with Utusan, we can still use it to bungkus nasi lemak and lapik stuff. MI just takes away my time and I cant get it back. So, I should resolve to not go there anymore and leave it to the dogs.. and that should be the way we approach Raja Petra and his likes as well, bearing in mind the Quranic injunction for news borne by people you cant trust.

3.       Is Malaysia really on a downward slide? Only if we pay too much attention to the politician and the disproportionate airtime that they are getting.

 

More navel-gazing

1. What differentiates successful corporates to non-corporates?
*Learnable skills. Continually identifying competency gaps and persistently addressing them.
*Articulation of knowledge. Ability to churn ideas and emit short, wise pointers according to differing scenarios, levels of people comprehension. Effectiveness depends on being able to build up the right perspectives to impart wisdom.
*Attitude- or more should be more correctly termed as intention- niat, ikhlas, ibadah etc- how do they figure here? If it's just moral principles and obligations, it's insufficient as a capital for life's preparation for the akhirat, but could be capital for dunya.

2. How to squeeze 300 ppl into a 3600sf lot?
Need to do a layout plan for this. I'm sure it can be done.

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Financial management 101 thoughts for Anedge

Expenditure management

1.       Pay for the best quality possible at the best value possible in critical missions ie marketing, sales generation and product development activities. This means scouting, also getting the best networks to source for the best possible value. If it’s non critical missions, consider satisficing on quality, but do not skimp on value. If it’s talent or people, we should consider generously performance-oriented payments, and should be linked to realisable  returns where possible.

2.       Expenditures should only relate to returns. Allocate upfront budget for benevolent works, and this should be topped-up with realizable returns at the end of year tallying. Personal related expenses should be separated, or tagged only to drawn salary. Salary should be minimum, and not exceed RM500 per month. End of year performance related allocations is possible, as is equity-related dividends on realizable valuation.

 

Capital expenditure

3.       CAPEX should be considered where value of PPE in the event of depreciable asset should be asset-backed, and never be less than outstanding loan principal at all times. This is in regards to possible fire sale valuations.

4.       Investments should always consider exits as impossibly unrealizable assets only lock up cash flow, unless there is a possibility of additional refinancing.

 

Revenue generation

5.       Credit terms should be used sparingly. 30 day terms should be max. Take good care of government related clients, as they could be a source of pain. Delays in bureaucratic agencies, or too smart for their own arse clients withholding payment because of perceived inadequate deliverables. Insist on milestone payments, with at least 50% up front, and indulge in 5-15% delivery-related issues.

6.       For services, per hour rates should be consistent with top-range professional advice of at least RM800 per hour in terms of advisory work. Training delivery can take RM1000 per day. For specific engagements, consider ranges between RM5,000 to RM8,000 for specific 2-3 day work. Engage clients with these ranges, then address discounts up to 15% for repeat work. Consider ranges at 50% rates as introductory rates.

7.       For products, tally up costs first, including overheads – including sales and marketing expenditure which could be quite hefty, then add in a profit margin of 80% to final costing.

 

Cash flow management

8.       Ensure cash burn is at 9 least months. Between 6- 9 months should be at crisis level for revenue generation and realizable accruals. Below 6 months and emergency options should be activated. Below 3 months, exit solutions should be considered and damage limitation exercise put in place to prevent corporate liabilities from encroaching into personal liabilities.

 

Financials management

9.       Ensure at all times that the P&L and Balance Sheet items look as clean as possible. This is in anticipation for possible and potential scalable, step-wise growth of company. A strategic review must be done every quarter as short-interval reviews mean easier manipulation of problems and challenges. Opportunities to grow company 10x should be evaluated at same short intervals in the interim stages of 12-18 months.

10.   At all times, doa dan tawakal pada Allah. Refer to all the ayah on charity. And Anedge should pledge first and foremost its duty and commitment to charitable deeds while ensuring its sustainability over the long run. Target should be between 2.5% minimum to 15% max.

11.   Personal mindset should be that success of Anedge automatically becomes personal success for everybody involved. It is about devolving personal agendas to the success of an organizational agenda.

12.   At end of day, net profit allocation should be as below, in order of importance:

·         15% to benevolent causes

·         25% to directors, management and staff

·         15% to capital sources, either equity partners or loan repayment

·         30% to be reinvested

·         15% up to RM150,000 to business owner and founder

 

 

 

 

Institutional lack of self-pride

Has it come to this. A total lack of self-pride? A groveling, pleading… nay begging, letter for a large US firm to come here? Institutions representing national interests should have some common decency not to agree to everything thrown our way by others, foreigners, locals, bosses, employees, stakeholders doesn’t matter. There is a need for self-pride in what we are, what we do. Others with interests should make it a point to come here on their own free will, and because we are smart enough to provide “pull” policies that encourage them to come here. By the way, I’m not referring to my organization here.

The murky and immoral world of global finance

1.       Following on from the US downgrade by S&P on Friday, which incidentally is the right call as the US can’t be having a 4,000 bn debt and keep on adding to it by another 1,000 bn every year, the markets yesterday and today are crying like lost children pinched by savages. (sorry for such a bad metaphor.. it’s been a long day already)

2.       Looks like the US is going to be battered, at least in the financial markets for the next couple of days. The outstanding factor will be what Bernanke does.

3.       Amazing what a bunch of investors with ‘herd-like’ behaviors will do to the global financial system. It rally begs the question of what a regulator does, just sit by and see people losing their shirts, pants, and in the aftermath, losing their lives in a suicide perhaps?

4.       The key issue is still regulation. If the large banks are just too babyish about it, too bad. You shouldn’t be making obscene money by being an intermediary or a middle-man for anything, not even for money. That’s the only realistic, right thing to do. It’s what Islamic finance does.

5.       Perhaps it needs to be said, just like what Tun M said re: the obvious and for which he was branded as anti-semitic. Bernanke, Greenspan et al. The jews are getting their hands on the money and the others will just have to grin and bear it.

Leadership needs - Tun M, Green Education, Durian runtuh

Leadership and Tun M

1.       I’m reading up Tun M’s memoirs. I have my deepest respect for what he is and what he has done. It’s clear how decisive he can be, how clear he is about getting things done. And the cycle goes on after displaying clearly what a fantastic decision maker he is under the worst possibly circumstances. But it also displays his thorny, spiky, ..spiteful?... personality. It just goes to show that you don’t want to mess with him. At the same time, his limitation maybe his lack of scruples to do what perceives to be the right thing to do. This will be a subject of a later blog. All in all – always well-intentioned, but perhaps not quite the best in personal, values and morality development department.

2.       I do agree with his assessment of Malay virtues, loyalty and fealty, and weaknesses, gullible and meek. Exploit this information well, and you can really lead the community to achieve pretty extraordinary things. I do need to ascertain whether this is still true of the Gen Y though. On a personal level, I’d think there is already this shift going on. So, a leader’s work is now even more complex than before.

 

Green Education

3.       This could be my break. It seems Allah had pre-ordained many things in the past few months to facilitate this decision – Alhamdulillah.. the return of Maysaroh, and as yet still unfilled position of helper at home, the frequent reminders from conversations on the need to leave our rizq to Allah, the focus on green AND education! (masyaAllah!), and so many others…

4.       Yet it comes with risk, and which my wife has alluded to time and time again. There is this lack of confidence in my ability, resilience, strength to fulfill my role as a breadwinner and thereby subjecting her to unnecessary pressure. There is a need for me to really execute the plans, but above all change my ways and place my faith in Allah in the truest sense of the word.

5.       Acting as a leader. Learning to think and act as a leader. To be able to understand sensitivities of others and responding accordingly. These are some of the things that I’m not natural at, but it can be learned. To be ruthless and firm in the most important and red-lined items. To show good character and akhlak.

6.       Bumping into Cat Stevens / Yusuf Islam’s biography has given me the perfect model to look at.

 

Durian Runtuh

7.       There are some priorities in life that takes precedence above all others. Family is one.

8.       I would say I hadn’t spent wisely on the last payout. I intend to do so this time round.

9.       Items on the list include: 1. Medical insurance, 2. Education fund for all 4 kids, 3. Money for mak to spend.

 

 

 

 

Disappointment islamic-based NGO's and the malay political parties in Malaysia

I sent this out earlier but I guess the IPv6 migration of blogspot rejected this. Anyhow, outdated and I changed my mind re: attending Bersih, but here goes.

1.       Much has been said about the malaise of the Malays. Whilst the proportion of the hardcore poor has decreased tremendously using pre-Merdeka numbers to the present, we see that the concentration of wealth is, according to numbers contentious by the biasness of Malay institutions, does not yet correlate with the still predominantly Malay majority population. Add to that the highly disproportionate negative hygiene figures of unemployment, dropouts, mat rempits, drug addicts, baby dumping murderers and such, and there is a real worry for the malay community. The overriding focus on establishing economic domination has unfortunately clouded the fact that on the social front, the malays have regressed in so many dimensions that to push the malay economic agenda now becomes a near impossibility.

2.       I’m veering towards the development of a proper world-view, educated, socialized and respected malay-muslim race that allows the malay-muslim agenda of economic and community building to take root. Unfortunately the political machinations of the various malay-muslim factions have put paid to many of these noble aims to uplift the fate of this majority community.

3.       At this moment in time, the malay-emphasis faction is digging its heels in and justifying the priviledged nature of the Malay, falsely using the evidence of the malay political elite – where the majority are not blue blood (and has no aspiration to be!) – this then creates a negative explosive reaction by the non-Bumi community instead. It must be said that there are segments of the non-Bumi community who are no angels either –when the Govt introduces a Malay-based economic policy, segments of these society subtly altered the makeup of their business composition and the low-lying jobs are left to the malays to make up the Bumi composition. The fact that the Malays have been unable to rise up could be attributed in part to a subtly negative discrimination policy, but I must also point out that the majority of mollycoddled malays are truly not incentivized to fight when there are easier alternatives when working in government linked companies who pay perhaps just as well.

4.       On the other hand, the muslim based organisations completely fail when they focus on truly astonishing attacks on the “capitalist” system, or on the roles of “government agencies” and such “principles” that matches the prevailing political stance of its leaders. It is much easier to attack, but when you have the roles can you do the necessary to lead? There is less of an issue with dogma, more of an issue of how do you lead in the post-liberal world where the needs and values of society are just as needed as before?

5.       In this context, I wont be attending Bersih this week. There are other areas. Clean up society first.

 

FW: Danger: America Is Losing Its Edge In Innovation

http://blogs.forbes.com/ciocentral/2011/01/20/danger-america-is-losing-its-edge-in-innovation/

Interesting take on engineers and their role in this world.

Posted by Eric Savitz
Written By Norm Augustine
Norm Augustine: We're falling behind.



I’ve visited more than 100 countries in the past several years, meeting people from all walks of life, from impoverished children in India to heads of state. Almost every adult I’ve talked with in these countries shares a belief that the path to success is paved with science and engineering.
In fact, scientists and engineers are celebrities in most countries. They’re not seen as geeks or misfits, as they too often are in the U.S., but rather as society’s leaders and innovators. In China, eight of the top nine political posts are held by engineers. In the U.S., almost no engineers or scientists are engaged in high-level politics, and there is a virtual absence of engineers in our public policy debates.
Why does this matter? Because if American students have a negative impression – or no impression at all – of science and engineering, then they’re hardly likely to choose them as professions. Already, 70% of engineers with PhD’s who graduate from U.S. universities are foreign-born. Increasingly, these talented individuals are not staying in the U.S – instead, they’re returning home, where they find greater opportunities.
Part of the problem is the lack of priority U.S. parents place on core education. But there are also problems inherent in our public education system. We simply don’t have enough qualified math and science teachers. Many of those teaching math and science have never taken a university-level course in those subjects.
I’ve always wanted to be a teacher; in fact, I took early retirement from my job in the aerospace industry to pursue a career in education. But I was deemed unqualified to teach 8th-grade math in any school in my state. Ironically, I was welcomed to the faculty at Princeton University, where the student newspaper ranked my course as one of 10 that every undergraduate should take.
In a global, knowledge-driven economy there is a direct correlation between engineering education and innovation. Our success or failure as a nation will be measured by how well we do with the innovation agenda, and by how well we can advance medical research, create game-changing devices and improve the world.
I continue to be active in organizations like the IEEE to help raise the profile of the engineering community and ensure that our voice is heard in key public policy decisions. That’s also why I am passionate about the way engineering should be taught as a profession – not as a collection of technical knowledge, but as a diverse educational experience that produces broad thinkers who appreciate the critical links between technology and society.
Here we are in a flattening world, where innovation is the key to success, and we are failing to give our young people the tools they need to compete. Many countries are doing a much better job. Ireland, despite a devastated economy, just announced it will increase spending on basic research. Russia is building an “innovation city” outside of Moscow. Saudi Arabia has a new university for science and engineering with a staggering $10 billion endowment. (It took MIT 142 years to reach that level.) China is creating new technology universities literally by the dozens.
These nations and many others have rightly concluded that the way to win in the world economy is by doing a better job of educating and innovating. And America? We’re losing our edge. Innovation is something we’ve always been good at. Until now, we’ve been the undisputed leaders when it comes to finding new ideas through basic research, translating those ideas into products through world-class engineering, and getting to market first through aggressive entrepreneurship.
That’s how we rose to prominence. And that’s where we’re falling behind now. The statistics tell the story.
•U.S. consumers spend significantly more on potato chips than the U.S. government devotes to energy R&D.
•In 2009, for the first time, over half of U.S. patents were awarded to non-U.S. companies.
•China has replaced the U.S. as the world’s number one high-technology exporter. •Between 1996 and 1999, 157 new drugs were approved in the U.S.  Ten years later, that number had dropped to 74.
•The World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. #48 in quality of math and science education.
Innovation is the key to survival in an increasingly global economy. Today we’re living off the investments we made over the past 25 years. We’ve been eating our seed corn. And we’re seeing an accelerating erosion of our ability to compete. Charles Darwin observed that it is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to change.
Right now the U.S. is not responding to change as we need to. But there is a way forward. Five years ago, I was part of a commission that studied U.S. competitiveness. We issued a report called Rising Above the Gathering Storm, which made some important recommendations and specific actions to implement them.  The recommendations were:
•Improve K-12 science and math education.
•Invest in long-term basic research.
•Attract and retain the best and brightest students, scientists and engineers in the U.S. and around the world.
•Create and sustain incentives for innovation and research investment.
Our report was received positively and enjoyed tremendous political support. I felt confident that we were finally getting back on the right track.
In 2007, Congress passed the America COMPETES Act, which authorized official support for many of the steps urged in the Gathering Storm report. When the stimulus package was passed early in 2009, most of the COMPETES Act’s measures received funding. There was an increase in total federal funding for K-12 education, the creation of scholarships for future math and science teachers, and financial support to create the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), a new agency dedicated to high-risk, high-reward energy research.
Since the completion of our study five years ago, however, 6 million more kids have dropped out of high school in this country. What kind of future will they have? Likely not a promising one. It is quite possible that our nation’s adults will, for the first time in U.S. history, leave their children and grandchildren a lower standard of living than they themselves enjoyed.
Global leadership is not a birthright. Despite what many Americans believe, our nation does not possess an innate knack for greatness.  Greatness must be worked for and won by each new generation. Right now that is not happening. But we still have time. If we place the emphasis we should on education, research and innovation we can lead the world in the decades to come. But the only way to ensure we remain great tomorrow is to increase our investment in science and engineering today.



Norm Augustine is an IEEE Life Fellow and retired chairman and CEO of  Lockheed Martin.

Positioning on Bersih, The roadsweeper at Dang Wangi

Bersih

1.       Never too late to form an opinion, is it? J

2.       The right to assemble is a given. Demand for a free and fair elections is also right. To rally for this cause is a bit questionable, but once the commitment has been made then there can only be an escalating commitment.

3.       On the side of the government, the calculation is too simplistic. Politically, the govt cannot have a show of force and solidarity that undermines the progress they have made in terms of support over the past 2 years, especially when all indications are that Bersih is politically tainted with their direct rivals. And thereafter, it becomes a show of willpower. So, police becomes the agent for this dismissal of rights and bulldogs are unleashed to intimidate, and thus such silly notions come to pass ie Ambiga is anti-Muslim, there are covert commies in Malaysia, silat grandmasters will unleash their horrific lethal martial art skills on those undermining the government and so on and so forth.

4.       So, who won? Ultimately, in my opinion, it was an impasse. The fence-sitters are not swayed by either side. The death of Arwah Badaruddin had the potential to spin out of control and become the focal point of resistance, but I doubt it because it isn’t the malay polity who decides the agenda. Too much room has been given in exchange for support and liberalistic tendencies.

5.       And that is where the Islamic ngos should come in. To broach the agenda, to set the tone. Not merely to issue a wajib edict without fully understanding or explaining the consequences or impact of support. Otherwise, just be a religious arm of an existing political party if you cant rise above these machinations.

 

Roadsweeper’s musings

6.       A roadsweeper at Jalan Dang Wangi complained to me as I was sitting in the car waiting for the traffic lights at Jalan Sultan Ismail to turn green. Why should those exiting from the LRT station walk on the road and disturb the mound of dry leaves he worked so hard to sweep? Why cant they take the pedestrian flyover instead?

7.       Why indeed. We do need positive enforcement on these little things and not unduly burden the little guys. This is democracy and application of good religious values to give the rights to all individuals without questioning their social class.

 

 

Reflection on thought processes

the trick to keeping your sanity involves keeping your mind working actively.

There are many ways to think of the current turmoil I, and by extension my wife and family, are under at the moment, through that could be slightly overexaggerating it when compared to the plight of others.

One, is my gullibility and by extension by ability to correctly diagnose situations and   my judgment in people. The 'happy-happy' perspective, as elaborated by husnul-dzan concepts that I've used to good effect all these while are really truisms that need to be tested against the test of evidence and circumstance. Idealism should not be replaced with laziness to think and putting in the effort to adapt accordingly.

Two, there are thugs that we should be sensitive to, to have a zealousness to safeguard and protect our reputation and credulity. In most circumstance, when dealing with a close circle of family, friends and confidante, it's important not to let the ego become so bruised that a totally avoidable altercation happens. Berlapang dada starts when we trust our close circle. Trust. And although I could be espousing these concepts verbally, in actions is where it counts. 

Three, controlling personal feelings of helplessness, loneliness. it is important to control the narrative of our own life story - at least allow us the ability to dictate and decide our own circumstance and reality to the extent that where possible, that decision was made with clear understanding of implications. The victim mentality suits no-one except for manipulative leaders intent on getting the fight and the fire to respond to that instinct. In our own minds, the victim mentality must be managed to allow us to fight, within reasonable parameters of course, and motivate us to obtain what we truly want.

Four, nothing truly worthwhile is obtained in life by doing nothing and relying purely on hand-outs, empathy, sympathy and sychopantic dependence on others. Most worthwhile endeavors require vision, passion and the heedless determination to shape reality. Take Rasulullah. Take other great but in relation lesser achievements of military generals, political and business leaders. This is the essence of leadership. Without this special ingredient, we fail the test of life, and of living.

Learnings from the KJS mini-fiasco

1.       Thankfully, good (rather than common, as common is now just plain bad) sense prevailed. KJS’s proposal for some manipulations on the innovation agencies structure was not endorsed last Monday. (for background, refer the Malaysian Insider report last Friday which depicted a fairly accurate picture, rather peculiarly considering the poor journalistic standards it normally has)

2.       My take on the whole proposal was that it was particularly bad and misguided – corporate structuring-type solutions to overcome what are particularly deep-seated defects of the Malaysian innovation landscape. To expand, if the issue on innovation is i) a mediocre education system totally reliant on parents to push the agenda for the brightest and the best students, (ie on tuition, extra-curricular, skill shops etc), universities and SPM-levels purely focused on A’s and paper chase, (ii) a lousy innovation funding whose criteria is more the colour of skin rather than meritocracy of ideas, (iii) a compliant civil service and GLCs who does not value talent, research, innovation; then the solutions are that which address the core and fundamental issues, not the fringe issues. As long as no one stands up to say that the country is going to the dogs, any solution is just plain imperfect. But the worst thing is to say that the whole innovation ecosystem is a greenfield that requires corporate maneouverings to consolidate, and assuming that this can take a life on its own to drive innovation in the country.

3.       So, where did KJS go wrong? One, is him not questioning his assumptions, not cross-referencing his ideas / assumptions / solutions and getting the buy-in from his stakeholder constituency – a classic failure of change management. Political will can come in a bit later once he has sufficient social capital to push his ideas through. Failure to identify his allies and come up with strong backing for his proposed solutions saw the proposal’s eventual rejection. We cannot deny that while common sense, brilliant proposals are welcome, but without political backing it just won’t go through. In this case, these were bad proposals, and without backing it’s just no-go from the start.

4.       Two, reputationally he was tarnished from the start. He was dismissive of current practitioners. He failed to listen to the little guys. He lied and slimed his way through the initial gatekeepers. In the end, he didn’t need any encouragement from others to be dismissive of his own work. You reap what you sow. You show disrespect to others, others will show disrespect to you.

5.       Three, over-reliance on name dropping and political backing. This is the old culture under Mahathir, and Tun M was the detailed micro-planner who would provide aircover for these type of schemes when it makes sense and provide powerful political support to get things going. Plus, he had always superscreened candidates initially so that he would have no qualms and no doubts to push this agenda through, whether this was right or wrong will only be proven much much later. With Najib, you get the sense he is someone who on the whole wants to move quickly, but is hindered when needed to make the difficult decisions – always unsure if he was on the right course. Always too easy to convince, and therefore thought that KJS was easily the best person there is for innovation. Then, when pressed for decisions, he flounders – and KJS is then left on his own. For KJS, it was a classic misstep, thinking that the cavalry was behind him, he had charged recklessly. And now seemingly, being made to look very stupid.

6.       Re: No 5 – there is merit for Najib, as much as there are negatives for Tun M’s style. It’s up to others now to adapt to their bosses style. No civil servant can afford to move things this quickly in the present government, especially not for some fringe issue like innovation if we consider greater issues like the Malaysian economy, race relations, corruption, ministerial capabilities etc are being pushed to one side. Najib isn’t a leader like Tun M, indeed he is more aligned in style to Pak Lah.

7.       So, all being said, KJS is a goner, unless he now decides to be friendly to others. Otherwise he can just be a BT consultant/ analyst and push his masters proposals to his bosses there. This job in my opinion, is just too big for him.

8.       For the innovation space in Malaysia, there needs to be another mover. Or KJS needs to just chug along with lower gears.

 

 

TNB & IPPs, Malaysian Electricity Supply Industry, and Malaysia

1.       I see Sakmongkol, Tony Pua, Guan Eng all weighing in their views on the June 2011 electricity tariff hike, and misinformation abounds especially when ignorant politicians try to score cheap political points. In the end, the rest of those people working in the industry are still going about their daily business-as-usual routine, scratching their heads at how ignorant politicians from both sides of the divide are.

 

2.       The rising Brent crude oil price has increased steadily from abt USD80 of last October to USD110 per barrel, and of course the whole crazy subsidy mechanisms we have in place puts paid to all our economic plans, and induces lots of desperate panic policy making. First off, is that probably no one allocated enough buffer when budgeting government spending when it became clear that oil price at 70-80 was just waiting for some leads to rise up in the global economy. Surely, someone somewhere would have already figured out that despite the economic crisis of 08-09, the global leveraged finance still has plenty of liquid capital trying to work its way into the next big thing, and commodities were surely a clear target, and relatively soft prices of oil were certainly a target. I could have put in my blogs before that I’d think the pricing of USD per barrel could stay for some time now, as hedge fund speculators weigh their bets on how much further this can spike. So, while this could have some positive impact for some sectors eg commoditization of our biomass resources with the caveat of if we can get our house in order, generally the inflationary pressures would be eating into household expenditures very soon.

 

3.       As inflationary pressures begin to take hold, where do the government address the subsidy cuts? Malaysia is not alone, UK, Greece, US (!) and just about every nation other than China will be affected. Petronas will make a killing this year, but with the shift of exploration to local oil wells preserving short-term capital bleeding at the tradeoff of uncertainty on long-term potentials, the increased Government revenues from Petronas cannot and should not be used to offset the current inflationary pressures of the oil price increase.

 

4.       So, what then? RON95 is still at 1.90, whereas RON97 is already at 2.90. Where will the targeted subsidy go to? Electricity is a good choice, seeing as it were that we’ve been subsidizing MNCs for monkey years for them to pollute our environment. So tariff hike for electricity is a good choice.

 

5.       And then you get side debates of the IPPs getting subsidies. No, the issue of the IPPs are lop-sided contracts, which I am very sure can be unilaterally revoked ie expropriated by the Government in the interests of nationalization, if there were some smart people doing the contracts. Subsidies isn’t the issue with IPPs. The issue is with below market gas price, but because of the lop-sided contract terms, if these were equalized to market rates, the cost pass-through mechanism would only affect end-customers.

 

6.       And then you get people questioning Che Khalib’s pay. There are two issues here, is CK qualified to be CEO of TNB, and what is the compensation package of a TNB senior management team. For a RM20b PLC, and CEO drawing a RM1.2m, that’s bloody measly, but it’s still double that of his next most-senior officer. It would be good if CK can be magnanimous, publicly say how he has failed as a CEO, and give up 25% to his anointed successor, a true blue TNB / LLN breed. CK in my mind has not been the CEO that the media seems to paint, CEO of the year? He has largely been able to keep the company ticking over, but how much of that is due to the strong team supporting him? And what about the failure to grow non-electricity supply revenue? Regional aspirations? Over-dependence on tariff structure? Staff morale? All in all, he seems to be an improved version of previous CEOs, but to triple his pay for that? It seems that the issue isn’t whether he’s overpaid, the issue is whether he is qualified?

 

7.       And associated with that is how investment analysts can be paid 2x/3x what GLC engineers / accountants / professionals are being paid to do less substantive work. This is really an injustice, as this disparity of income allocation and distribution will just shift people away from the perception of low-paying, unrespected, vulnerable to litigation but exceedingly mission-critical jobs, to risk-free, penalty-free, high paying jobs in the financial sector. Apparently as my previous post has shown, it’s a worldwide injustive induced by capitalism and the greed to make more money. I don’t dispute or even feel bitter to these people, but the quality of the characters for these sort of activities must be present. It’s ok to make money if you are Rockefellers, the Gates, Bloombergs, Oprahs, Yusuf Islam, Li Ka-Shing and put your money into sincere humanity interests and activities, although of course perusing the list shows how personal agendas can actually be built-in by the rich and powerful.

 

8.       So, the first and foremost are not just good characters, they are strong leadership characters to build the next generation. The present generation has done their job, it’s time to move over and let the new breed take over. But the infusion of the new breed with the capacity to think, to accept responsibility not just for themselves but also for others have become supercritical for Muslims. And for Malaysia, the concoluted mess we are in, I’m afraid for you. I’m looking at the landscape, and seriously, I see no one with the sincerity, foresight and character to lead, particularly not from UMNO.

 

 

MOST OVERPAID JOBS IN THE UNITED STATES

From: http://www.engineersalary.com/overpaid.asp

And I can’t disagree with anything in this article. Apart from the different pay numbers, job designations, cultural acceptance of tipping – there’s hardly any difference to Malaysia. Take an engineering job only because you love the work, not because you want the wealth that your peers earn in the other sectors. Spouses should also bear this in mind.

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MOST OVERPAID JOBS IN THE UNITED STATES

by EngineerSalary.com Staff | Updated: January 3, 2011

No one ever admits to being overpaid, but some Americans take home huge paychecks — far beyond what they deserve for their level of competence or education — and contribution to society.

EngineerSalary took a look at the market outside of the engineering arena, and found huge inconsistencies.

Some jobs command excessive pay that can't be explained by supply and demand. While it's easy to argue that CEOs or celebrities are grossly overpaid - reality is not precise, according to EngineerSalary.com.

Top attorneys earn over $750/hour and plaintiffs lawyers (the ones that chase accidents and medical malpractice using annoying TV ads) pocket a third or more of personal injury settlements, but county prosecutors and public defenders get paid a pittance. Specialty surgeons can easily earn $1 million or more, but some family practice physicians are hard pressed to pay off their med school loans years later. The majority of general practioners (GPs) earn just under $125,000, internists (internal medicine docs) earn typically between $150,000 and $450,000, depending on the size and location of their practice... and keep in mind that they face potential liability issues daily, pay malpractice insurance premiums... and have hundreds of federal and state regulations to comply with - unlike Skycaps (see below).

Pharmacists (due to a national shortage) working for mass merchandisers (retail drug stores) earn between $60,000 (new grad) and $120,000+ with 15 years of experience, registered nurses earn less than half of this with 25 years of experience. Technical recruiters can earn $500,000 or more in a strong economy, but new FBI agents with a law degree earn around $62,000 and Air Marshalls are paid between $35,000 and $85,000 - depending on previous law enforcement experience.

Veterinarians specializing in the care of large animals earn $89,000 on average. Museum curators with a MA start at around $27,500, and medical librarians average $45,000.

The average public school teacher, according to the American Federation of Teachers, earns $45,950. A full professor at a top 50 U.S. university will earn (on average) between $104,000 and $158,000, plus outside consulting fees. Associate professors will start at around $42,200 (national average).

Hospital administrators average from $67,000 to $143,000 annually, according to industry sources. Administrators at a teaching hospital earn significantly more. In hospital facilities where large numbers of physicians are employed (as a faculty group), salaries may be well above $300,000.

A Starbucks barista earns a couple of dollars over minumum wage, with experience.

News anchors in the 25 biggest television markets are making an average of $140,000 this year (national anchors up to $15 million), but the overall average pay for all markets is slightly under $47,000, and most of the jobs are in small markets where the average is $33,000. Newspaper reporters with three years of experience average $27,600 in medium sized cities... while newspapers survive.

Nationally, the median wage for police patrol officers is $41,920. Prison guards average $34,900 and court bailiffs $31,600. A New York State Trooper earns $77,218 after five years on the force, a sergeant earns $90,795, lieutenant $107,970, starting pay is $61,525 (plus overtime, and cost of living differentials depending on where they are located).

Paralegals average $30,700, federal court judges earn $145,100 to 159,030, the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice earns $217,400, while Supreme Court Associate Justices make $208,100. The justices have the potential to earn many times their Supreme Court salary in private practice.

The President of the United States earns $400,000 (along with a $50,000 monthly expense account, a $100,000 non-taxable travel account and $19,000 for entertainment), the Vice President $221,100 and most White House senior staff members $172,200.

The Speaker of the House $217,400, Cabinet-level officers $175,700, U.S. Senators and Representatives $162,500 (plus perks), Majority and Minority Leaders $188,100. In the U.S. military, a one star general takes home $14,068.80 a month.

State senators are all over the map, from a high of $110,000 in California (+ per diem pay), to Michigan at $79,650 (+ $12,000/year allowance) to $14,067 in Arkansas.

Most states (except Alaska) pay football coaches at state universities and colleges better than their chief executive. The highest earner is the University of Alabama’s Nick Saban, whose $4 million salary far out-distances Gov. Bob Riley’s $113,000. Alaska, which doesn’t have a college football team, pays a hockey coach the most... but still $13,000 less than the governor. Head football coaches at NCAA Division 1A schools average about $920,000 annually, the largest salary of all state employees nationwide, according to a study by the American Association of University Professors.

In California, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earns $206,500 (but gives it all back), followed by the governors of New York at $179,000, Michigan $177,000 and New Jersey $175,000 (but NJ Gov. Jon Corzine, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, only accepts $1/year). The lowest paid governors are in Maine at $70,000, Arkansas $80,800 and Tennessee $85,000.

Race car driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s earnings totaled more than $5,700,000 last year, and his endorsements earned him another $20 million, bringing his pay to nearly $26M. That number doesn't include sales of Earnhardt merchandise - and income from the racing company that he owns. UPS drivers’ salaries start at $24.69/hour. No college required for either job.

Marine biologists earn an average starting salary of $39,000ish, with a high-end of around $57,000 - with 6-9 years of field experience and an advanced degree.

Stars making millions qualify for many people's overpaid list. For every one of those actors, there are thousands more waiting tables and accepting bit parts in community theatre — awaiting that big break. Their annual earnings are usually below unskilled labor.

Many CEOs are earning obscene salaries based on their performance, while shareholder value in the company tumbles.

Ten Most Overpaid Jobs in the United States (in reverse order):

10) Wedding Photographers

Wedding photographers charge $2,000 to over $5,000 to shoot a wedding, for what amounts to a one day assignment plus a client meeting (and processing time). They must cover equipment and film development costs (with digital cameras, this cost goes away). Still, many photographers in major metros shoot two weddings each weekend in the May-to-October season, and can rack up $75,000 to $100,000 for six months work. And much of their work is mediocre. No adjustments for missing the best shot of the day, missed opportunities or amateurish techniques. No retakes.

9) Airline Pilots

While American and United pilots took pay cuts, senior captains earn as much as $250,000 at Delta, and their counterparts at other major airlines still earn between $140,000 to $220,000 - several times the pay that pilots at smaller regional carriers receive - for a job that technology has made almost fully automated. By comparison, senior pilots make up to 50% less at low fare carriers like Jet Blue and Southwest, but enjoy perks like stock options. That explains why their employers are profitable while several of the majors are still teetering on bankruptcy, and asking for government bailouts.

However, keep in mind that pilots on commuter lines are earning $25,000 to $40,000.

The pilot's unions are very powerful. They demand premium pay as if still in the glory days, rather than the cutthroat, deregulated market of low cost coast-to-coast roundtrips. Because we entrust our lives to them, consumers accept the excessive compensation negotiated by their unions (when it's airline mechanics who really hold our fate in their hands).

This may be changing, due to carrier mergers and bankruptcies, but no new data has been published recently.

8) West Coast Longshoremen

In early 2002, West Coast ports shut down when the longshoremen's union fought to preserve very generous healthcare benefits that would make most Americans drool. The union didn't demand wage hikes, because its members already were making a huge paycheck. West Coast dockworkers earn an average of $117,600 for handling cargo, according to the Pacific Maritime Association, their employer. Office clerks who log shipping records into computers will earn $139,000. Foremen who oversee the rank-and-file members will take home an average $177,000.

Unlike their East Coast counterparts, who compete directly with non-union ports in the South and Gulf of Mexico, the West Coast stevedores have a lock on Pacific ports. Given their rare monopoly, they can seriously disrupt commerce -- and command exorbitant wages, even though their work becomes more automated and less hazardous every year.

7) Skycaps

Many of the baggage handlers who check your curbside luggage pull in more than $100,000 a year -- most of it in cash. On top of their $30,000 salaries, peak earners take in $300 or more a day in tips. That amounts to a $2 tip from 18 travelers an hour. Many tip much higher. While most skycaps are cordial, many treat travelers with indifference, knowing passengers don't want to attempt counter check-ins.

Their work is more mindless than that of a fast food counter worker, who at least has to bag the order correctly (and they make less than 20% of a Skycap's earnings). Skycap perks: no liability for sending your luggage to the wrong destination, no personal accountability or liability, no refunds. Education requirements: none.

This occupation, however, is coming to an abrupt end, with new check-in regulations. It is expected to fade away over the next couple of years... as skycaps become unnecessary.

6) Real Estate Agents

Anyone who puts in a little effort can get a real estate license, which makes the vast commissions that luxury home agents earn stupefying. While most agents really hustle to earn $30-60,000 a year, those in affluent areas can make $200K for half the effort, courtesy of high priced listings. However, sellers are finally shopping around, and beginning to negotiate fees down before signing a listing agreement. The more expensive the property, the more negotiable the fee. The real estate bubble has hit a lot of high earning agents directly in the bank account.

5) Motivational Speakers

Whether it's for Rudy Guiliani ($100K per speech) or Tom Peters, corporate groups pay astronomical sums to celebrity types, authors and political has beens to pump up their convention audiences. Former President Reagan raised the bar in 1989 when he took $2 million from Japanese business groups for making two one-hour speeches. President Clinton earned $10.5 million on about 60 speeches last year.

4) Orthodontists

For a 35-hour week, orthodontists earn a median $374,000 a year, according to the Journal of Clinical Orthodontics. General dentists earn less than half as much working 47 hours a week on average. The difference in their training isn't like that of a transplant surgeon vs. a family practice doctor. It's an extra two years — and a rewarding investment if you're among the chosen. U.S. dental schools have been criticized for keeping orthodontists in artificially short supply (to keep their incomes high).

This isn't neurosurgery. Orthodontists manipulate teeth -- and often leave much of the adjustment process to low paid assistants (whose work they bill for). What makes their windfall earnings egregious is that they stick parents with most of the inflated bill, since orthodontia insurance benefits cover nowhere near as large a percentage as for general dentistry.

This is the same as having a first year associate in a law firm handle your case (behind the scenes, completely unknown to the you), and the partner bills out the hours at his/her much higher hourly rate, which can typically run $100 to $300 more per hour. Your $1000 fee for legal work becomes $4000. It happens everyday.

3) Chief Executive Officers

Most CEOs are grossly overpaid (if you ask the shareholders) - but if their company is rewarding owners and employees, producing quality products of good value and being a responsible corporate citizen, it's hard to take issue with their compensation package.

CEOs at unprofitable companies (and those always lagging industry peers) stand as the nation's most overpaid citizens. Most know they should leave - in the shareholders' and employees' best interest - but they survive because corporate boards that oversee them are stacked with colleagues, friends or, in some cases, even family.

The ultimate excess comes after they're finally booted, usually by powerful insiders tired of seeing their own holdings plummet. These long-time losers draw multimillion-dollar severance packages as a reward for their failed stewardship, as an incentive to leave. There is no penalty for a CEO's incompetence.

In 1980 CEOs made 42 times the annual salary of the worker, and in 2002 it skyrocketed to 419 times (according to Financial Economists Roundtable Report, 11/2003). In 2007, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company averaged $9.91 million in compensation, not including other benefits.

2) Pro athletes

Pro athletes at the top of their game may deserve what they earn for being the best in their business. It's those who sign whopping, long-term contracts after a couple of strong years, and then find their talents vanish, who reap unconscionable amounts of money.

A NBA player, for instance, earned $10 million in a year he averaged 6.1 points a game. Braves pitcher Mike Hampton earned $9.5 million -- in the second year of an eight-year $121 million contract -- while compiling a 7-15 won-loss record. Thank the players' unions for refusing to negotiate contracts based on performance - and driving up the cost of tickets to unaffordable levels for a middle class family, especially for pro football and basketball. They point to league owners as the reason, yet Tiger Woods earns his income strictly on his personal performance in each tournament.

1) Mutual Fund Managers

Everyone on Wall Street (it could be argued) makes far too much for moving money around - based on results generated from software that's making most of their decisions -- but mutual fund managers are emerging as among the most reprehensible. Stock fund managers can easily earn $400,000 to $5 million a year (including significant bonuses above base salary) -- even though only 3 in 10 have beaten the market in the last 10 years.

Now we discover a large number enriched themselves and favored clients with illegally timed trades of fund shares. That's a worse betrayal of trust than the corporate scandals of recent years, since they're supposed to represent (and level the playing field for) the small investor --- including many thousands of engineers.

Put aside what fund managers earn... and consider their managers. Putnam's ex-CEO's income (estimated at $167 million over the last five years) rivals the bloated pay package that sparked the New York Stock Exchange President ouster.

Engineers...

Then you look at what most engineers earn.

They may design and develop a blockbuster product that earns their company millions, but they usually receive nothing in return except a paycheck... and a couple of percent more every year. Some companies give a paltry bonus for a patent, but very few engineers working for someone else ever get rich... or even really comfortable... on their personal creativity and ability.

Their innovative and revenue producing ideas become Intellectual Property owned by the corporation (remember that employment contract you signed).

We can't think of any cases (and we tried) where you can point to a group of engineers and say "Are they overpaid or what?"

Engineering salaries, taking into consideration education and responsibilities, the stress of accelerated delivery schedules and their direct impact on corporate profits and overall success of the company, seem absolutely inadequate.