If you can change the world... or perhaps just one person's thinking..

1. I am confronted with the possibility of putting myself right in the middle of the crossfire - the MRT project, with a controversial contract owner as a potential employer. As always, I'd need to examine my heart and pray the istikharah - not that I have even attended the interview.
2. To do this, I need to have a sincere positioning as to this opening. What is my role, and this role must be one that I can live with. Of course, the devil uses all sorts of bogeys to prevent decisiveness and encourage uncertainties - but alhamdulillah Allah has provided aql and also to reach out to Allah for hidayah.
3. Principles are as below:
• That I benefit the most people in my position of responsibility
• That I uphold truth and justice in my dealings. While this means exercising independent thought, this also means being able to discern the different roles of the different stakeholders.
• That I have the opportunity to do good to my family and to myself.. ie leave a legacy. 
4.  Now I've got that out of the way, let's examine facts about the MRT.
• by all accounts, extremely high cost vs all others. I'm not sure if inflationary effects and base raw material effects have been included in the consideration, but surely that is a question to be asked? Are the specifications common or there are additional features in the Malaysian design that seemingly inflated the costs to most worrying levels.
• That it seems rushed. The alignment has still not been sorted out for the Jalan Sultan, TTDI and perhaps other locations. The overall MRT masterplan is still out there somewhere. Yet this unsolicited MMC-Gamuda bid has been awarded at this inflated cost.
• Speaking of costs, does the Govt know how to value projects of this size? My prior experience in PBX2 seems to indicate they have no idea and the fact that there is willingness for the public sector to fund private sector profits indicate they are ignorant of a proper funding structure for these PPP/PFI type projects.
• Auctioneering is necessary otherwise government will always be beholden. Will the private sector refuse generous terms? Are there kickbacks involved? I wouldnt want to know if there are - but these are dangerous times to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to this types of development. The Arab Spring had "sprung" up in reaction to raging impotence to a sense of injustice. RM36b - RM50b can do that. The question will be what is the funding structure? Refusal to have open tenders, or a token Swiss Challenge, is insufficient.
• But again, Government is probably a bit smarter in that there is the added layer of building a "world-class private sector objective", although in this case, privatising profits is a strange way of doing it. There should be no additional subsidies / grants to support financing given the ridiculous profit margins for this and to consider the construction as purely a private sector play. Having said that, where is the breakeven for the operators?
• And here GoM has the trumpcard of a property play for the sites. And so, there is the answer for a rather complex equation. Does this mean the numbers work out? That remains to be seen.
5. So what would my role be? Primarily to deliver value to the company, increase credibility of the engineering profession, and ensure I turn out fine insyaAllah. May Allah guide me in my affairs.

Miscellaneous reflections

1. Too many things unsettled - feeling of drifting, losing control, losing perspective etc - after the many "structural" changes in the past few weeks. Key concern is that because of these circumstances, more decisions could be made taht further aggravates these outcomes.
2. Major changes in the past 2 months include: Sarah's employment coming to a close, Mak going for umrah trip with Zana and Amran, Ummi's Turkmen trip and "slipped" C3-C4 disc , moving house, taking a more proactive role in managing the kids, etc. I have yet to be able to reflect on the ominous changes these entail.
3. The key thing to manage now is make sure any other decisions affecting structural changes must be made with care and caution. The key thing is that the end vision must be very clear in the mind.

What's right with Malaysia

Previous entry(ies) here referred:
http://flinflan.blogspot.com/2010/09/to-address-whats-right-with-malaysia-we.html

So, where to Malaysia?
Essentially looking forward, the debate can simplistically be said to be status quo, ie Malay political dominance (rather than hegemony) vs goign to the far extreme of harsh Islamic Taliban-style state or the other harsh-extreme of laissez-faire secular-liberal valueless 'Western model', the type that Islamists of the 60s fight hard against.

To be fair, the two extremes dont appear likely. Islamists have veered to the centre now, as evidenced with Ikhwan's positioning in the Egyptian crisis and Rashid Ghannouchi's in Tunisia. What could have been seen as the right opportunity to stake a claim for Islamic statism, was forgone for a centralist position. Islamists political stance has matured. Abu Iman even goes so far as to say impossible for this to take place (although this may have been a misreported quote) and incited the ire of his party members.

Liberal and secular leaders know there's no way they can get support of the Malays, because of the imagery of Chinese chavs or purely against Islamic principle. Status quo appears to be more likely in the long-run, and that is without factoring in PKR's desperate and confusing positioning ever since Anwar becomes so embroiled in his sodomy trial that his deputies just cant help shooting themselves everywhere. UMNO needs to reform itself, but without full support from their non-malay partners who cant save themselves either, look like they too will have problems. Malay society will continue to be split for some time.

On the other hand, as the stand-off continues on the political ideologies of the 2 biggest malay parties, and I would think an integration is a viable outcome if the threat of backstabbing can be mitigated ie certain personalities were to change,then debate will occur on administrative policies.

So here I list certain debates I'd like to occur and see some strong willed opinion-shapers emerge to lead this to the best possible solutions:
1. Administration of Justice, restoration of impartiality
- removal of scent of partiality
- removal of threat of abuse, fear and insecurity
- justice and fairness in policy application to all cultures, religions and social classes
- inculclating meritocracy and removal of cronyism, including open tender systems and such
- stengthening institutional independence

2. strengthening economic growth
- creating a vibrant wide-based economic base, that adds value to commodity resources we are currently very strong in
- fulfilling social welfare needs, esp urban living. ie transportation - get this MRT project right the first time - where's the bloody masterplan. Then improving infrastructure connectivity throughout Peninsular, (what about East Coast) and East Malaysia. develop fairly.
- emphasise old, weak, infirm, handicapped etc. Why is Bersamamu so dependent on society? where is government role in supporting this?
- emphasise innovation
- reduce frivolous govt spending

3. Social reformation
- masyarakat madani - for the malay-muslim society. Esp for UMNO
- incorruptible
- respectful
- harmonious
- allow social mobility - support, but only for the deserving
- low crime rates - stop this silly buang anak, zina, kicking of cats / dogs

4. Education
- respect for all cultures
- language development for everyone
- academic emphasis but competitive sports and extracurricular portion

Looking at the above criteria, I can give my KPIs to the following Ministries and the PM now.
1. Justice - PM - 2/10
2. Economy - PM/MOF, EPU, other large ministries- 2/10
3. Social reformation - PM 1/10 (Permata program is barking up the wrong tree)
4. Education - 1/10

I'm sorry if I'm too harsh in my assessment, but there is an appeal process possible. It's called political will for policy change.

Malays, Chinese and other non-malays

1. Utusan went to town Saturday on PAS back-tracking and giving support to the Malay agenda. TERAS Chairman (?) said that the Malay economic issues must be addressed satisfactorily and not be glossed over by Pakatan Rakyat. In Primaya, there was this CNY celebration which was quite strange as it was the first time a Chinese celebration was held there after 3 years. Reading MI makes you want to knock your head against a wall when Chinese chauvinists go over the top in their criticisms of anything UMNO. (and you can sort of visualise the kid gloves when talking about MCA or other non-Malay partners in the BN)
2. There is truly a need to go to a common concensus on upholding basic principles. Addressing the truth for instance is a good start. So, call a spade a spade if you must, no covering up. (what was the word scully used again? obfuscation?) That goes not just to Chinese chavs, but also the more blinkered of all politicians.
3. Let's start by listing too many of the contentios issues and try to lay it down to rest once and for all. First, is UMNO a British stooge who won independence? To my knowledge, this is not true. Looking from the British perspective, once decolonisation became a policy due to the burden of maintaining far-flung colonies, there was only the question of who their preferred partner will be. Regardless of the fact that their insistence on the Alliance arose from the fear of "islamist" / left-leaning elements in Hizbul Muslimin or other less savoury alternatives, the due process was accorded and recognition must be given when there was support to the Alliance from the populace (through democratic elections) as well as the monarchs of the federated states. In the end, the federation model and its subsequent Constitution became the de facto model of the state. The question of a British stooge does not arise.
4. Social contract - citizenship in return for power, and later on the acceptance of Malay dominance through its monarchs and special position. That remains, and should not be questioned.
5. NEP was introduced, and was the right prescription for the issues of economic disparity amongst the races in the 60s. (It should have brought about greater social cohesion. The fact it does not means that the pendulum has swung too much the other way)
6. So now that I have affirmed UMNO's position, there is no issue right? Wrong. UMNO has made major mistakes - the vasectomy of judiciary prime amongst the loss of confidence in public policies. Malays are angry that the Malay-centric policies do not benefit the general classes, the non-Malays are angry at continued marginalisation due to the ineffective execution of Malay-centric policies as a whole. in 3/08, the Opposition made massive political inroads.
7. Then they started making a mess of things. Instead of taking on issues they were mandated to do, like becoming a more effective public administrator, they started to act like UMNO 2.0 and BN 2.0. Politicking about taking over the federal govt through the backdoor. Acting like schoolkids on the Perak takeover. Bleeding elected reps, members and supporters - no signs of coagulation yet. Talking daft things on changing State constitution, not recognising a Federally appointed State Sec, even when procedures have been followed etc. Token support for justice in the form of ISA etc, but full-blooded support when one of their own is "unjustly treated' - DSAI, TBH etc. If BN thot the voters are daft, PR acted like the voters are daft. At least, BN is actively wooing neutrals and fencesitters. PR acts as if the votes they gained in 2008 are their perennial property.
8. In the end, here we are. The Chinese electorate are invigorated. They are sophisticated, socially instinctive to safeguard their own interests and unwilling to take risks as regards to their self-interest. The Indians are too fragmented to impact on the political scene, so the stakes are between the large Malay electorate and the solid Chinese king-makers.
9. What of my personal view? The need to always speak the truth, stand up for truth. If anything, the issues are still issues of what people will bring to eat at the table. Looming global challenges are looming. Our politicians continue to squabble about the arrangement of the deckchairs on the Titanic after crashing into the iceberg. Chinese issues and Malay issues are different, but the solution is the same. Return to the needs of social justice and equality. The same concepts that Islam came to enforce. Let us not be too defined by the colour of our skin. Malays have progressed since 1969, we are no longer a race of fishermen and farmers. Many are now professionals. Unfortunately, the continued awkward execution of NEP means that we are now a race of government officers, GLC professionals, toll booth operators, bank tellers, and others. Create a level playing field. Let the Malays compete. Let them find the solutions. Let the government step back. Allow Islamists to dominate Malay society. At least we wont be reading daily news items of abandoned babies.

Review of Gladwell's Books - Tipping Point, Blink

1.       I finished “The tipping Point” and “Blink” over the weekend. He’s got good narrative structures for what is essentially heave collection of research and academic papers in social science, but repackaged them into layman’s terms, interwoven into a storyline which provokes thoughts. Freakonomics was written in a similar vein, and again, there are items which we could dig and raise as gold findings – such as the message that we can offer bettermwnet to the world, but overall there’s a cynical part of me that thinks we do need to sort out the simplification and exaggerations out, and reconnect and understand the context of our situation better before jumping headlong into some of the shared findings and narratives from the books. Although it can be argues that this was the assertion that the Tipping Point was making.

2.       My comments are that there’s only so much we can absorb from what is fundamentally a biased narrative, even if the messaging and the writing is solid and convincing. It is at the end of the day, still the opinions of Gladwell. Note: I bought the books with my money, and I have the right to comment on it the way I like.. J

3.       I remember Aznir’s attempt to list out the mavens, connectors and salesmen in TNB from his position as Chief Skunkworks (sorry, cant remember the name of the Unit / Dept, but that is the role – and the position has very positive connotation in the realm of change management in the US, although Malaysians not familiar to the language may take offence). I remember the fact that he tried to keep the message sticky by having the T7 messages everywhere (even behind toilet doors) except on the toilet seats. But messaging is everything and context failure was evident. In the end, measured from the perspective of the T7 initiative, it was unclear if it achieved its intended success.

4.       The point is that in the context of stickiness, it worked in the initial stages. But it failed in the context of getting thinking and commitment going hand-in-hand to get the transformation going. There was a lack of getting people into the right places, giving support to people capable of getting things going, and in he end it was a missed opportunity. Change management is always a people business to get to the tipping point. In the end, there was just too little to get the stickiness. The tipping point opportunity was lost. It was lost because CMU thought getting enough people scented with the idea of change was enough. It wasn’t because there were still huge efforts required to get change happening on a secondary, tertiary level for the stickiness to endure. Context was absent.

5.       In a way, the above seemed to vindicate Gladwell. But I would think also that this wasn’t the application that it was meant to be. Say we wanted to address the baby dumping issue. Where do we start using Gladwell’s model? It doesn’t appear to be a PR problem alone, and he seemed to address the issue also with the evidence on the needle distribution program, even though he tried to offset the weakness of that example with some side benefits. Again, asking the question as before, how effective is the needle distribution program in combating AIDS?

6.       We all want a simplified model where our version of truth lies victorious, and that model helps us to achieve our objectives. I guess that the dakwah approach, of studying our relationship to God and society, organizing our society according to the tenets as ordained by the Almighty, gives a more powerful model for change and stickiness to grow. How did Islam grow within such a short period of time after the first revelations? Growth of the empire after the Prophet’s Death? Growth of Islam in Europe and US? It is a combination of funding, power of communication, and above all strength of the message. I’m prevaricating, and again I suppose this vindicates Gladwell. It’s just that as a matter of preference, I don’t like simplifying models of huge issues, like Freakonomics and Tipping Point. I also fell asleep more that a few times while trying to finish the latter.

7.       I like Blink. It makes no recommendations. It was just a roundtrip of what our intuitions tell us and the need to be careful, to cultivate the right positive thoughts about people and first impressions. Above all, be careful of what others think of you is perhaps the message I take the most.

8.       Good writer. Blink better than Tipping Point. Having said that, I’ll come back to reexamine some of the things in there at some point in the future hopefully.

 

 

learnings from Liverpool FC

1.       Supporting Liverpool has changed from my childhood years in the 80s – back then they were the standard bearers of footballing standards, both on-field and off-field. There were skills that I would follow from Rush and Dalglish, even the cerebral passing of Molby. Then when I was in the UK, there was a bit of complacency that it wouldn’t take long before we got back to our rightful place, and certainly not 20 years and counting.

2.       Rafa was pretty good. Tactically, ability to organize a team was perhaps right up there amongst the best. Perhaps lacking in leadership and man-management, an area where Ferg is the undoubted master. So, we could have had it good with him still around, but to have a dynasty such as Ferg’s, perhaps not. Rafa’s template would be closer to Wenger – working towards a model, and if it wins, good, if not hard luck we’ll improve an try again the next year. Having said that, I rate Rafa better than Wenger, as LFC has overtaken Arsenal in most years Rafa was at the helm.

3.       Roy? Less said the better. I sort of agree with PT’s take on him, but asking for his removal is too treacherous. Especially so that NESV is now on-board and determined to revamp the whole structure of the club. Having a DoF seems to remove the anxiety that Hodgson will turn LFC into a Fulham, and perhaps shouldn’t be said too loudly, but he HAS been undermined.

4.       The team still doesn’t seem to be functioning as well as it can, understandable when the limiting factor is the manager. The sooner he goes and someone / a team more competent brought in, the better. The team probably needs very few tweaks, there are youngsters which can be brought through, and having just seen the highlights on youtube, we probably already have a replacement for Alonso in the shape of Lucas.

5.       Investment decisions are hard – too much micro-managing in an area you are not the expert in, and you run the risk of making a colossal and irreversible damage. Too laissez-faire and you don’t achieve your set objectives. There needs to be a clear-headed assessment of what NESV wants from LFC, and which is to go back to where it was in the 80s – leadership both on and off-the field. Clearly, this is hard work, and the fans must not expect instant success, and trust and backing must be given to all. The caveat must be that the directionally progress must be clear. To undermine Hodgson is the right step forward.

 

Learning Points a-plenty

Learning Points a-plenty in the past eventful week.

 

1.       Mak needs her space,and even if that is not agreeable by my standards, I’d need to accept it and move on. She has her own way of dealing with things, and my role is to provide an alternative viewpoint, not to force it on her. This would a valuable learning point to be taken from the Menang perspective – you must work hard to ensure your perspective is heard, your spin is acceptable, and the logic impeccable. These are the main barriers to support to the ideas, and the task orientation arising from overcoming these barriers would be invaluable to the action and execution mode. Similarly, this is the mode that I’ve got to take up in dealings with other stakeholders. Witness the effect of explaining why “Gemuk” moniker is unacceptable. The little time invested into explaining the situation has caused a complete drying up of a simple unwanted behaviour amongst my first three boisterous children. Subhanallah for Allah’s creations, and for His ordering of the universe, and for His sending of the Prophet to teach us the simple, most effective ways of dealing with people.

2.       Execution mode – listing, reminders, task, productivity tools on the Berry are useful complementarities to Task-orientation. Make sure I’ve got this covered, and may Allah continue to bestow the ease with which to continue doing this.

3.       BHAGs – property in Damansara area, opening up of Islamic school in Damansara, driving a 5-series, masterplanner of agri land for recreation, rehab and commercial agri, large funder of  worthwhile causes – the Magic of Thinking Big to drive motivation. And why not me? I’ve had experience in project delivery – dealing with DBKL,other agencies, private developers, consulting – selling ideas, creating spin, masterplanning, managing resources, objective-centred activities though results may have fallen short in some ways, investment – financial management, due diligence, investment evaluation, and in many ways, quite well-placed to bring critical, overwhelming leveraged results from important endeavours, insyaAllah.

4.       On item 3, the World Cup is a wonderful eye-opener. England, Italy, Germany, Spain are unsure of their place in Round 2, though I believe they will all still qualify (unlike France), and South & North Korea and Japan are still in with a shout (tho I believe only the first will make it). It just goes to show that money isn’t everything, and heart and determination is a more important factor. I’d have to decide which I should have more of. This is now my biggest crossroads since 2002 when I thought that TNB will not be my long-term career choice. The (mini)-pilgrimage effects are still felt.

5.       and that brings me to yesterday’s Ikram launch. The opportunities are there. The battle lines are slowly being drawn. But perhaps the capabilities are more of the same? The question is, how can I be the catalyst to drive this, and myself, upward?