Organic growth of innovation vs Centralisation of institutions, MRT

Innovation

1. Malaysian Government under Najib has a funny way of doing things. When things dont work, they undermine the whole system by duplicating the role. Take EPU. Planning without execution, botched megaprojects etc.. create PEMANDU.. hooray lots of megaprojects and EPPs for all ETP, which will meet the NKEAs being tracked by NKRAs. RMK10 throw in the dustbin. MOSTI not paying attention to the I, fine - create UNIK.
2. Leadership is about getting the right people on the bus, and making sure the wrong people gets off the bus. Especially in situation requiring hard decisions. Constrained resources. People respect you for doing the hard decisions, but you must explain yourself. The waffling, flip-flopping nature of Pak Lah's administration is now replaced by waffling, you-can-get-away-with-anything administration of Najib. At least, there are decisions. Wrong, but decisions nonetheless.
3. Now this creature of UNIK. What does it do first? Come up with an Akta that centralises innovation powers in its hand. The la-la hypothesis is that the Chief UNIK is a know-it-all and a snap of his fingers will cause the whole of Malaysia to tremble in fear and be innovative. Sounds like a Stalinist / Hitlerist maneouvre to me.
4. Why cant ppl in Malaysia be trusted to do the right things through incentivising innovative practices, and then discouraging stupid acts of giving some inflated contracts to unqualified people? Why cant the best global talents be facilitated into the country and lead and mould best practice entities, and hoping there is enough tech absorption by creating the environment for people to accept best practices? Why cant we do away with just giving some pieces of the cake to people we know who can talk their way out of trouble but probably lacks the competence and gumption to make a difference? Where are the innovative entrepreneurs (not the innovative rentiers) that the country has produced so far, and give them a free and facilitating hand to expand? What are incentives to offer to private capital to come in?
5. Instead, UNIK will have powers to 'streamline' existing funds and appoint innovation ambassadors. Fine, there are opportunities to improve, but these are incremental improvements, not game-changers as those outlined in Item 4. If UNIK can only do incremental stuff so that the game-changer explodes, I'm afraid innovation will still occur in Malaysia, but it will be inspite of UNIK not because of it.
6. Innovation will thrive when the environment allows it to. Lifelong education, primary, secondary, tertiary. Entrepreneurial training - engaging Entrepreneurs in Residence to mentor successful ventures. VCs and PEs need the deal pipelines in place, and this can be done by co-locating them into major innovation centers - and sorry, but somehow that means not in KL. Target sectors should be able to access global markets, but sorry, knowing a couple of MNCs may not be sufficient. Someone needs to tap local agencies with global reach, and large MNCs to open up market access. And this is no small matter if we look at some of the areas that we are interested in - large pharmas - US, Europe and India, industrial biotech - US, China, Europe, Brazil, ICT - mainly emerging markets, other sectors as relevant.  
7. If after no 6, what we do is centralisation, I'm afraid someone is hopelessly deluded. Innovation ecosystem and culture - and centralised in one single agency because the multi-agency committee / ministry failed to execute its function before. Perhaps this can be dismissed as just another Malaysian cynic. Maybe so. But if people up there are serious to do good, Rakyat Didahulukan and all that stuff, this is one hell of a strange way to carry out your functions - relying on one smartarse to perform what a ministry has failed to do.

MRT

1. It's shameful that the absurd costings and silly alignment that the EPP for MRT as shown in their open day kind of shows the shallowness of the proposal. The project feels and looks rushed. Accepting an unsolicited proposal from the private sector and after protests appointing the same company as a project manager, and then promising a Swiss Challenge is merely an afterthought. Just one question. Where is the bloody masterplan incorporating the whole transport planning for the Klang Vally and its adjacent satellite towns. If there isnt one, shame on PEMANDU, SPAD and everyone related to this proposal! Federal Highway will still be jammed because Subang Jaya isnt part of this planning. Where are the traffic forecasts? Where is the costing? Where is the inputs from the planning agencies from all the local authorities? Who is driving this - SPAD, PEMANDU, or GAMUDA? Who bloody cares about the increased property prices?
2. Worst thing (or Best of all) about all of this is a Citizen-watchgroup calling themselves TRANSIT has a proper masterplan and proposal to do this. Malu weh.

Positioning: Embarassments... part deux

Kikeh, Limbang, and Blocks J & K

1.       I actually have a lot of time for Brunei, as an oil-rich sultanate, which historically had gifted Sarawak to Malaysia, and sold Sabah to people, who later brought the state into Malaysia. Furthermore, they are a mulsim country, and given the right leaders who could develop the country and not be too embroiled in the next Rolls Royce and the next superhot model, could in the future be a friendly party and a powerful ally. But not in the present.

2.       So, when news broke of Pak Lah announcing Brunei does not dispute Limbang as Malaysia’s territory it came as a surprise as the dispute is not that well-known compared to the noisy neighbour’s claim of Batu Putih. And when it emerged that the price of dropping the claim is Block J & K, we need to stand up and ask the nature of the decision. And, when this decision was only ratified in the Cabinet “THIS YEAR”, and not through Parliament, then we have a national scale embarrassment and a major goof-up.

3.       Kikeh, located in southern Block K just next door is a major find, and rightfully ones Malaysia needs to be proud of given that it’s the first deepwater oil exploration. It’s Malaysia’s largest known oil reserves. If Block J&K which has just been signed away has anything similar, and the 26m peoples of Malaysia are now sharing a portion of this find with Brunei’s population of 0.3m, then we have had some lame duck for a PM. Stand your ground, and just give our friends in Brunei a modern equivalent of a bunga emas… but not selling the whole bloody family jewels

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Foreign Source: Business Times (Singapore)

Pauline Ng In Kuala Lumpur 

Image : 

Date Published : 04 May 2010

But foreign ministry doesn't clarify issue of rights to waters outside the blocks

MALAYSIA'S Foreign Affairs Ministry (Wisma Putra) has affirmed the country's recognition of two previously disputed oil blocks as within Brunei's maritime areas under Exchange of Letters between former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah last year.

The Exchange of Letters between both leaders on March 16, 2009 represents an agreement which has settled various outstanding issues between both countries, Wisma Putra said in a statement yesterday.

It stated the 'key elements' to the Letters as: the final delimitation of maritime boundaries between Malaysia and Brunei; the establishment of a Commercial Arrangement Area (CAA) for oil and gas; the modalities for the final demarcation of the land boundary between Malaysia and Brunei; and unsuspendable rights of maritime access for nationals and residents of Malaysia across Brunei's maritime zones.

With regard to the maritime areas, Wisma Putra said the Letters established the final delimitation of territorial sea, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone of both states, but did not provide specifics.

However, it said Malaysia's oil concession Blocks L and M, which coincided with Brunei's Blocks J and K, 'are recognised under the Exchange of Letters as being situated within Brunei's maritime areas, over which Brunei is entitled to exercise sovereign rights under the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982'.

It further stated that the contents of the Letters were approved by the Malaysian Cabinet on Feb 11 this year and that the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak had been consulted and fully briefed.

Moreover, it noted that the establishment of the CAA incorporating these blocks would provide for revenue sharing from the exploitation of oil and gas between Malaysia and Brunei. It did not provide a time frame, but Mr Abdullah had previously stated the two blocks would be jointly developed for a period of 40 years.

Wisma Putra's statement notwithstanding, a number of matters remain unclear.

For one, the issue of rights to waters outside blocks L and M have not been clarified. Another is sovereignty over Limbang, the area between the two parts of Brunei.

Did Malaysia surrender its sovereignty over Limbang in order to jointly develop the two oil blocks, asked Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang?

Wisma Putra made no mention of Limbang in its statement, but following the signing of the Letters of Exchange in Bandar Seri Begawan, Mr Abdullah who stepped down as prime minister the following month had told reporters: 'Brunei has decided to drop the Limbang issue and, as a result, Limbang is part of Malaysian territory.'

Even so, political observers noted that Sultan Hassanal has not made any official comments on whether Brunei would forsake its claim on Limbang.

Few had considered the Exchange of Letters until last week when Murphy Oil announced its production-sharing contracts with national oil company Petronas covering blocks L and M had been terminated as they were no longer Malaysian territory.

Mr Abdullah's predecessor and his harshest detractor Mahathir Mohamad then accused him of signing away oil-rich territory and giving up US$100 billion in oil revenue.

Wisma Putra said the termination of the production-sharing contracts was in accordance with the establishment of the CAA, and that the Exchange of Letters had resolved the outstanding bilateral issues between both countries.

Because the waters off East Malaysia contain significant oil reserves and the country is heavily reliant on oil revenue, the matter is unlikely to fade away soon.

End of the 2009 Challenge

1. The 2009 Title Challenge

From not wanting to believe we could mount a title challenge, to ruing the fact that this could have been our year but for the unfortunate home draws against the lesser clubs. To me, it was a simple question of belief, which in the beginning was emerging but did not have the fullest conviction. Yet after the destruction of RM and MU, we could see the measured performances against all-comers, the ability to raise our game to not just win, but destroy the opposition. By then, of course, MU had the advantage – four, and then six points ahead, leaving the challenge to die after MU’s Arsenal draw.

What was most encouraging was the whole team structure – the formation, the performances, the substitutes, and embedded successfully throughout the whole core and exuding from its pores the mentality, the character and the confidence of winning regardless of who they face. It’s a most scary proposition now that the team in on the brink of domination if they can continue on this trajectory. The only concern would be that the additions to the squad this summer may have the unintended disruptive effects it had when trying to bed in Keane into the side early on in the season. The solution to that was his ejection though perhaps other considerations played their part too, as in his dropping value relative to his meager attacking contributions. Other additions this summer may not have similar outcomes.

I remember writing about Alonso and his impact in the Sunderland game after replacing Plessis (what happened to him?!), and I’m pleased that he had sustained that level of performance throughout the season. He stood out as the engine room of the team enabling all the other mechanisms to move and work in synchronicity. I believe without Alonso, and he has been a mainstay throughout the season, the challenge wouldn’t have been on at all. He would be my man of the season, and if he does leave to be replaced by Barry, I would be truly disappointed.

2. Building a future

I am in the process of finding my hedgehog, the overlap between what makes me the best, what can drive my economic engine and what drives my passion. It’s an important quest, and who knows if I do find it or not? But it should make for an interesting quest.

Chosen hope over fear

OBAMA-hypeology

 

“Chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord”, “Harnessing the sun and wind and soil”.. and for sure other Obama soundbites will enter the lexicon as the craftily designed inauguration speech gets analysed to death. How to say a lot of things, move people towards optimism and hope, yet not lay on too much for people to bite you in 3-4 years time as the realities of the world’s problems set in.

 

We all live in hope that tomorrow, next year, 5 year’s time will always be better. But the values that remain is of how we touch the hearts of others, and of that I have been a terrible failure to myself in my lifetime and moreso in my adult life. But the thought processes of leaders, particularly the great ones who could mobilise the masses to believe, and to bring forward the collective issues in their own voice, is a model for others to emulate.

 

We all can build our opinions, with hindsight, based on the mistakes of others, but those were judgments they had made within their circumstances. Of greater value is the ability to extend the same lines of reasoning to the future and choose our path, the best path for us and those we want to be with. That is a trait difficult to obtain and carries the risk of creating more bystanders instead of those partaking in the forging of the path to tread. Obama has chosen his way.. and our greatest hope is that he does not fall by the wayside too early. Pak Lah had a similar effect, though perhaps not in scale, when he took over from Tun, but 6 years on, he moves on with a whimper, generally with some sympathy at his inability to stamp his personality and character onto his political support, and in some cases reviled as the guy who brought shame to UMNO.

 

All this is well and good, but what can I use for my takeaway? A better adab when addressing people, including those of my kith and kin, and a greater sensitivity towards decision making when faced with life’s intersections.

 

Everton fallout

Firstly, good for Kaka to reject Mansour’s millions – money isn’t and cant buy everything. And it takes a devout Brazilian Christian raised in poverty to remind an Arabian billionaire that. Now if only he can donate the money towards reconstruction of Gaza and Palestine, I’m sure Gaza’s GDP is equivalent to that obscene amount for a footballer.

 

Secondly, MU has gone top, Chelsea is slowly turning things around and we’re still drawing games. Fans are getting anxious about the way things are going on and off the pitch, Chelsea, Villa and Arsenal are closing in, and not only are we falling off the top to MU (of all things), we’ll have to contend with the new, increased threats. I’ll support Rafa, though he has done many good things, not sure if his mind games are that good though although it was a valiant effort to take on all-comers – SAF, G&H, Parry et al. Now if only we can focus on regaining the early season and the first half form against Hull and Newcastle where we looked every bit as title contenders. In the meantime, I’ll have a lot of anxiety watching things unfold. I remember coming back from Hajj and seeing in the papers we had a chance to win the EPL in 2002 until that defeat to Spurs, and feeling a bit guilty that Liverpool playing many miles away is still a concern despite just coming hope from Mekah.

 

But, I do choose hope over fear.