Community spirit and the detriment of its excessiveness

1. TNB prides itself in its HR benefits - "the best in the country", "from womb to tomb".. and such like. The country prides itself in protecting the nation from colonial influence (though results vary hugely from the boasts), protecting the malays rights and priviledges, safeguarding malay interests and such like. We are a community-based nation, where we do things for the sake of everybody else, and the guys who can think and fend for themselves are the ones who are running the country. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

 

2. And so here we are again. The HR powerpoint says, we shall take care of your talent development, we will guide your careers. These relics of the ancients continue to think, just like their Pharaonic predecessors who thought they could control the rise and ebb of the Nile, that they can dam enthusiasm of the people and release the talents to the competitive forces as and when necessary. Hogwash! Rubbish! Nonsense! There is nothing that can suppress the human spirit. Postponing it with the transactional equivalent of the promise of development is the main reason that BN has remained in pwoer for the last 50 years and more.

 

3. The human spirit needs to be released, guided and nurtured. Let them understand where the flow takes them. The role of those in authority is to create best-practise benchmarks that the spirits could choose to endeavour itself within. And the best is that which follows the guidance of the Quran and what has been demonstrated by His Messenger. The world's best practices are deemed as such when the spirits choose their vocations based on what and where their passion takes them towards. Guidance is that of the signposts placed there by those responsible. Let people decide. let them feel their emotions, and their inner voices callings be heard. That's where the strengths will be.

 

4. The extent of the need for the PMS is to decide how much remuneration we can take home as a result of the year's work. And that is enough. The talent development and "strategic" consolidation on a centralised level, forget it. The bitter on-off centralised decentralised power struggle between corporate and divisional HR in TNB before was living proof that centralisation doesnt work.

 

 

Knowing thyself

1.       This is a question that I avoid trying to find the answer to, knowing that I may not like the answer. But again, the confusing thing about it is that there is no reason to dislike, but using the answer ad infinitum to find the actions, tasks, efforts and initiatives necessary to achieve significant legacies and success. This objective being defined and guided by need to achieve the highest values of mardhatillah

2.       The most difficult thing to do is to overcome the inner compunction to avoid, to let it be, not to kacau stuff. On that score, I am reminded of Hasrizal’s (Saiful Islam) article on the goose that lay the golden egg. Isnt this similar to the goose committing suicide? Isnt this death before its time? Isnt this the cowards way of retreating at the mere mention of an impending doom sometime in the future.

3.       How difficult it is to fill the heart with courage when the mere mention of risk scurries the body away from meeting its fiend. Strengthening the heart is of utmost importance. The greater the deed, the greater does its strength need to be.

4.       And within this context is where the beauty of qiyam lies. The vulnerability of the helpless slave prostrating in front of his rightful Lord, untainted by all other false Lords and devils feigning authority. The stripping away of this weakness helps to fill the heart with courage and strength. Emotions will trump intellect in the larger dimensions of war and competition. Witness the various ayaah, the various historical relics and evidences, and yes, the various football results where the little trumps the large when character comes to the fore.

5.       Ya Allah, please help me develop this strength of heart and character to be your slave with Your Glorious Mercy. Allow me to taste the sweetness of fighting for your cause, in the name of a war that You approve, the Jihadul Akbar that Your Prophet has called for, my Lord.

 

 

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?

 

 

 

Rational actions, driven by spiritual and emotional equilibrium

1.       Note that it isn’t easy to be a leader, the “Menang” dimension. Engaging with emotion is a flawed process, where opposing views could only be rationalised and harmonised with great difficulty, if at all.

2.       There are remarks that Malays are an emotional lot, and that comes from not having the wherewithal to decide. This stems from uncertainty from aligning outcomes, fragmented methodologies unable to build concensus and buy-in, and inferior information and knowledge as inputs to form opinion. Without these thinking capabilities, rationalism is lost, and emotions and shouting takes precedence. Or in religiousity, we just follow whoever shouts the loudest, appears as the most knowledgeable and have a more religious outlook, or even, in the case of liberalist interpretation of Islam, a legalistic argument in favour of reforms and all appear very attractive. The other option is to be apathetic and follow the “truth” spouted out by Government. In Tun M’s time, as he had the capacity to use all media machinery, the latter was pretty much the typical position of the masses. But when Pak Lah, who had the good intentions for openness without the guts to control and mediate, the diffusion of ideas spread and anarchy takes root. In Najib’s case, borrowing Bakri Musa’s description of a leader who follows, there is no real guidance and leadership on issues.

3.       I guess the stand to teach people to think may have substance, but it wont be a core component of Menang for leadership of issues and opinions. In the short run, emotional leadership still takes precedence. So, positioning of issues is still important and requires good R&D, good access to corridors of power, and the smarts to use national media when required.

4.       First and foremost, lessons learned from the diplomatic antagonisms post-Mavi Marmara, is that we should be flexible in many instances, including strategic options. The only unchangeable, should be a broadly-defined purpose, objective to be achieved. In the process, the balancing of multiple ideas, even opposing ideas, should be entertained. The final decision, ijtihad, is one after taking into account all manner of outcomes, implications et al, and we hope we gain the benefit and barakah from Allah for the effort we put in to come up to the right decision, for our sake and for Islam’s benefit.

 

 

Fallout continues

1.       It is now 4 days after the bloody massacre on the Mavi Marmara. Things have played itself out it seems, and on many points in the short-term, there have been a few successes and a few themes are generally coming to the fore.

2.       Egypt has reopened the Rafa border, the detainees have been released except for a few more, and Turkey seems to have developed a more prominent role amongst the muslim world. The latter isn’t a bad thing given Erdogan’s outspokenness, particularly after his walkout to the Israel-biased Davos forum a couple of years back. Erdogan, when compared to other Arab leaders silent on the world stage, is head and shoulders above them in terms of stature and diplomacy. Perhaps, given the constraints of the military-backed Kemalism in Turkey, Erbakan and Erdogan have both over time developed this ability of pinpointing and executing specific objectives that promotes the Islamist agenda while still appearing to play Western-style diplomacy. Other leaders, Najib, Anwar, Nik Nazmi(?), please take note.

3.       The themes which will recur and play itself out in the coming years are Turkish-Israel relations, US pressure on Iran, and European support for Israel. On a few of these, public opinion has successfully gravitated against Israel and exposed their inhumane treatment of Palestinian refugees in Gaza. And if they were to respond in the familiar playground bully defense, that this is necessary for their security and defense, it will be pointed out that they are the aggressors in hostilities when driving out Palestinians from their homes.

4.       Back to the key point though. These are all early days yet. Since An-Nakba, there have been many occasions such as these and each time, Israel has thwarted them all off in the long run using their manipulating media and coordinated diplomatic networks of support amongst the developed countries. There is no evidence yet that this will change. Palestinians will still have to wait a while to return home, unless public opinion on the fate of Gaza becomes central to elections in the developed countries.

5.       What will happen though is the loosening of support to Israel. They don’t deserve any, if the blood of the dead in Mavi Marmara, Rachel Corrie, Lord Moyne, the UN-appointed Swedish mediator in 1948, are added to the daily killings and massacres of Sabra, Shatilla, Rafah, Gaza and Palestine are totaled up. Europe is the first to wake up, in that they won’t owe Israel that much no matter how long the Holocaust will be raised as collateral by the conniving liars.

6.       Dear Allah, Please let us see curses rain down upon Israel and their conniving liars, let there be sufficient recompense for their brutality, let them be humiliated and destroyed for their arrogant actions, and destroy them in this earth while they still commit these injustices in Palestine while sowing discord and confusion in the rest of the world through their lies. Ya Allah, let me see the day when the Palestinians will return to their rightful homes.

 

Attack on Freedom Flotilla - sadness.. envious, rage..

1.       Freedom flotilla is organised by a Turkish NGO, a coalition of civilian activists internationally from all over the muslim world, including European countries. Its purpose was to bring in aid to Gaza, where the enforced blockade of Gaza by both Israel and Egypt has caused immense hardship to its populace. It brought aid in the form of cement and construction material, food, medicince and such, and from day one had announced that it brought no weapons with it.

2.       The eight (or so) ships knew the risks. They knew that Israel would resort to violent means to stop them. They still went, and some had written their last will to their family members knowing they could be detained indefinitely, or they could be killed for whatever reason.

3.       Today, about 90kms from Gaza, in pitch darkness, Israel navy and armed personnel hijacked the boats, and the numbers vary, but between 10 and 20 of these brave, civilian humanitarians died. Israel TV played out the story that their strikeforce was attacked and had to react in self-defence. How these Israeli combatants,  after they had boarded the ships from abseiling down from their sophisticated helis, attack ships and subs clad in their full combat gear, could have been attacked with “knives and other sharp weapons” (by itself, an admission there were no ordnance) is a farce. Shades of “parang in Aminurrasyid’s car”, but that’s a digression.

4.       Israeli aggression is uncalled for. But now they have to deal with the response from the international diplomatic community, the outpouring of anger and hate from the large (albeit quite powerless) muslim community, and pressure from their previously close partners in the US and Europe.

5.       The sacrifice of the shuhada’ and the brave souls on-board Mavi Marmara was calculated to provoke maximum publicity for the crass, violent, insolent, manipulating and uncivilized political leaders of Israel. Others, who follow this struggle of the Palestinians, will have to wake up and take heed.

 

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http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/5/31/nation/20100531191843&sec=nation

 

No word on fate of Malaysians onboard attacked ship

By SHAUN HO

 

 

PETALING JAYA: The fate of Astro Awani journalist Ashwad Ismail, 26, and cameraman Samsulkamal Abdul Latip, 43, and nine other Malaysians believed aboard Turkish ship Mavi Marmara when Israeli commandos stormed it on Monday, remains unknown.

 

The other Malaysians are Noorazman Mohd Samsuddin (chief of the Malaysian delegation and a UIA lecturer), Dr Mohd Arba Ai Shawal (medical doctor), Dr Syed Muhamad Haleem Syed Hassan (medical doctor), Dr Selamat Aliman (businessman), Jamaluddin Elias (Klang councillor), Al Hilmi Husain Suhaimi (religious teacher), Mohd Nizam Mohamad Awang (engineer), Abd Halim Mohd Redzuan (Syabas executive) and Ustaz Hasanuddin Aqsi Assarip (non-governmental organisation personnel).

 

Astro Awani's last contact with its crew was at 7.45pm on Sunday, according to a statement from the TV channel.

 

A senior Astro Awani source said they were trying desperately to establish contact with the two.

 

The attack, which took place 65km off the Gaza coast in international waters early Monday, killed 16 people and injured many others.

 

The two-man Astro Awani crew had left Kuala Lumpur for Istanbul, Turkey, on May 23, before proceeding to Antalya Port to join the convoy, which departed for Gaza on Sunday.

 

Mavi Marmara was leading the international convoy, dubbed the Freedom Flotilla, with six other ships intending to deliver 10,00 tonnes of aid to the blockaded Gaza.

 

The cargo included building material, food and medical supplies.

 

According to a statement from Lifeline 4 Gaza, which coordinates the Malaysian delegation to the convoy, nine other Malaysians were aboard the ship.

 

Six other Malaysians on board another ship, the Rachel Corrie, which left from Cyprus, were safe, according to a statement by non-governmental organisation (NGO) Perdana Global Peace Organisation.

 

They were lawyer Matthias Chang, journalist Shamsul Akmar, Parit MP Nizar Zakaria, activist Ahmad Faizal Azumu and TV3 crew members Halim Mohamed and Jufri Junid.

 

Meru state assemblyman Dr Abdul Rani Osman, who was on board one of the ships, managed to send a message to some of his Selangor state assemblymen that he was safe.

 

PAS activist Jamaluddin has yet to get in touch, said PAS secretary-general Datuk Kamaruddin Jaafar.

 

It is learnt that the Israeli navy has diverted the convoy to the port of Ashdod where a special passport and detention centre has been set up.

 

An Israeli television reported Monday that Israeli forces attacked the flotilla carrying aid to besieged Gaza, killing up to 16 and wounding more than 30 others.

 

The clash occured after Israeli soldiers tried to stop the flotilla from reaching Gaza.

 

News agencies reported that Israeli forces opened fire after being attacked by a number of passengers.

 

Israeli commandos dropped from a helicopter onto the deck of the Mari Marmara around 4.30am local time, and immediately opened fire on unarmed civilians, said a tweet of human rights group Free Gaza Movement.

 

 

Midnight posting: Mind above materiality

1. Keheningan malam ini bagaikan ada kelainan dari sebelumnya. Ketenangandi dalam muhasabah dan mutabaah ini berbeza, mungkin didorong oleh rasa kekesalan dan kesalahan yang menebal.

2. The serene faces of sleeping children invokes feelings of loving,care and concern for their welfare, for their future, for their iman and self-development.

3. Not at this time the concerns for making the next million, of closing the x mn deal, of taking the soulless business to the next level. At the core of the human soul, there is no place for wealth, money, much less for the insane amounts that are placed into the hands of the undeserving.

4. This is not misplaced zuhud. True that the world needs money and wealth, but that is not the overriding purpose of life, of living and of creation. Those who say money is not everything does not know where to shop, so the quote goes. But which shop sells love, care and concern? Fake, temporal ones maybe. Redlight districts sell manifestations of love, but not the innermost core of love.

5. Wealth, funds, money are not the center of life. People are. Connections are. Faith is. How empty life seems to be when all we care about is what our bank balance is at the end of the day. At life's end, when the terminal arrives, no shop sells preparations to move to 'the next level'. Healthcare to extend life maybe, but perhaps not so much the quality of life. The dependence is above all, beyond everything, is the biggest gift of all, the gift of mercy, living and concern.


6. Lose this priority, and we're screwed. Damn right, we're all screwed.