Warwick to Manchester

A former collegemate from Kolej Yayasan UEM (A-Level preparation) who is now doing his degree in Economics at Warwick University, sent me an email with pictures (in the pictures: Atfy and Wani from Warwick University, Suraya and Dodo from University of Manchester) on the day after the death of George Best at Old Trafford has made me feel in a state of cloud nine with a mixed feeling of sadness.

However, thank you Atfy for making the journey with all the pictures-Football lover,Chelsea fan

Mapping the future

There is a career event going on for three days in the university this week, organised by the career office and the Wall Street Club. Basically, there are a number of well known companies regionally and internationally to brief us on their prospect employment, what are the criterias needed from graduates, their present and future expansion in relation to employment policies, what are the employees' benefits, and what are their expectations from fresh graduates in order to be employed. The companies are Deloitte, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, KPMG (financial services company), Shell (oil exploration and production), L'oreal (cosmetic industry), DiGi (telecommunication), IBM (computer technologies), and others. Eventhough the event is most useful as a tool of guidance for the 3rd year students to map their career path, I find this is a new perspective in navigating my future career which I will explore in depth when I'm in the final year soon.

"You can and should shape your own future; because if you don't someone else surely will"
Joel A.Barker (the founder of the concept of paradigm shifts for the corporate world)

Mentality

When I was small, I could hardly sense any dispute or problems vis-a-vis the relationship between the authorities and the citizens of Malaysia. To this date, after a series of reports in the media about the lack of professionalism of our police force, my train of thoughts begins to wonder, what are the main causes and why such attitude occurs in our beloved country? I was not surprised to read the headline on today's newspaper, 'a uniformed woman was captured on a cellular phone video ordering a naked female Chinese national to do ear squats'. However, as a sensible Malaysian it is definitely a shameful news that I have to bear from now on and I believe such thing will occur in the future eventhough a special commission would be set up to investigate the matter because in my point of view, this is a problem of mentality, a problem that requires deep analysis from the person himself. In Islam, God said He can't change one's behaviour unless the latter changes on his own. Again, Jim Rohn (America's foremost business philosopher) once said, "You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of." This applies crucially in this case. Again in Islam, we have been thought how our Prophet Muhammad (God bless) treats the prisoners of war with tenderness and respect on the justification of they are also human beings who have their own rights in this world. Yes, it is proven in the world's history until now how POWER may make one's responsibility as a khalifah blinded by greed and ego. For those who appreciate the wise thinking in mind, they know what is good and what is bad.

Dear authorities, don't be blinded by the power to easily use it for your own self satisfaction and benefit. It is sad but undeniable, one's flaw reflects the flaw of the whole people.

'If a nation follows a blind man, both will fall into the pit'

Best's Best

At 1 o'clock last night, I was about to sleep when a shocking news nearly made me think, how fame and publicity can lead to a dramatic change in one's life. It was the news on the death of a great footballer who was born in Belfast that amazed me with his dazzling dribbling skills, not to forget his good looking face of an Irish blood and his 70's hairstyle that I admire until now, the great Manchester United player who wore the number 7 jersey alongside Denis Law and Bobby Charlton during their glory era: George Best (1946-2005)

At that time, many believe Best to have been the complete footballer like Pele, Johann Cruyff, and Diego Maradona but sadly, fame surrounded by famous models and heavy drinking were taking its toll and by the end of the 1972 season, his career at the very top was over. After years of struggling and battling his addiction to alcohol, Best died on Friday in London's Cromwell hospital in west London at the age of 59.

Eventhough his glory days of fantastic dribbling skills in football were far behind before I was born, I could sense how thankful football lovers at that time of this player and one moral lesson, why does Islam prohibit alcohol. Understood.

"When the football was great and I was playing well, I couldn't wait to get up in the morning and that was the foundation of my life" Thank you Best.

'Nusantara'

I'm in the quest to find a list of antique, inspirational Nusantara books suggested by my father during dinner time:

1. 'Tenggelamnya Kapal Van der Vich' by Hamka
2. 'Senja di Jakarta' by Mokhtar Lubis
3. 'Siti Nurbaya' by Marah Rusli

Any ideas?

All for one

It has been a month or more since my first day in University of Nottingham M'sia Campus, located in a secluded yet a peaceful area overlooking the hills in Semenyih. Being in the university where there are various races and international students from United Kingdom, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and even Russia has somehow or rather broadened my horizon, my mind and how it tells me such a big world we live in. Whether you want to believe or not, one word will arise under this kind of environment, not just here but I believe anywhere in this world : RACISM. My point of view: I have zero tolerance in racism. Why? Because I believe it distorts the mechanism of globalisation that is essential for all of us nowadays to learn from each other, in other words the process of learning from different people because this not a world that belongs to only one race, it is a world created by God for all people, and those who are wiser know their responsibility to make this place a prosperous state of living now and hereafter. However, they said racism occurs because of one's dissatisfaction againts others due to the failure of adapting others' culture that is not the former's cup of tea.

One lesson to be learned: Different people have different culture that they have used to for so long and being in this world of different nationalities, I believe it is our responsibility to adapt to different kind of culture and environment and hey, this is what we will face when we work in five or ten years down the road! And never let RACISM and PREJUDICISM eat the flesh of our mind. At times, tolerance is needed but as always, limit is the border line for those who have the dignity of oneself. Come on my friends, wake up.

Food for thought

Have you ever come across the phrase that says:
“Try not to become a man of success, rather become a man of value?"
Can you imagine how pathetic one’s life who is not appreciating his life?
A life of laziness and dirty, the lack of sensitivity towards our environment ?
Worsen by the insensitivity of “yeah, just open the window-lah because there is no dustbin around” plus the poor time management?
Again it is much painful if one has no feeling towards the situation of “people waiting”
Not to mention the mentality of a 2-year old boy of “ala,others will lock the door and switch off the light” in a body with the height of 5 and more feet tall. And in a state of unaware of the situation we have used to tolerate with corruption. In the meantime, some occupants at the top of the Corrupt Hill chant “Hapuskan Rasuah!" What a nice view from down here. However, as I grow older in life, it is true what have my parents told me: “You may have a pool of friends who can laugh with you, but there is only a small cup of friends who may share your ups and down and tears in life”

“Nothing is certain and even love, it blinds you from the right path because the true love will appear when the right time comes. So do not worry too much”

“Money can be a friend and can be an enemy to you. It is how you manage it will lead you to a great success in the future”

And now one by one I started to comprehend.What I am thankful is I have my family and I have the most truthful and beautiful guidance from God above. My responsibility ?
As I said before but I added a new dimension to it:
“Become a man of success and a man of value, for both are the ultimate utility in one’s life." As J.Krishnamurti said “You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems, and suffer, and understand, for all that is life”
You are right dad life is not always a bed of roses, not always…

Sharazad ( 2 Sept 2005,Friday,4.30pm)
J'adore ma famille

Voice out

Few days ago, a professor told us how the corrupted Indonesian government led by Suharto was thrown out by the university students. He said, "You as a student don't just sit and study, voice out the rights of the country whenever it is necessary"

As Sherlock Holmes said to his dearest companion Dr.Watson, "Elementary yes."

1985

I had a meeting with one lecturer, the initial purpose was to get feedback from him in order to improve my project paper. Alhamdulillah, I got a positive response from him, only few minor parts that has to be corrected. We continued to chat, and we came to this interesting issue: our used to be glamorous industry, PROTON, should it be protected or should the protectionism be removed which means sayonara for our car industry that has been operated since 1985, the year when I was born. The conclusion: If PROTON want to survive in the car industry they have to come up with a new research and development in order to produce high quality cars that meets the world standard requirement, but the revenue is not sufficient enought to allocate for the purpose. Why? Our market is so small, it's not big enough to achieve a high revenue or even to cover the cost of production, in economics they are not producing at the minimum average cost and this is a situation of inefficient output @ productive inefficiency. Logically, such a firm in a heavy industry that fails to achieve socially optimum output to cover the cost should be closed down in economics perspective. Below are the challenges that outweigh PROTON's efficiency and survival in the automotive industry:

1. Cars have become technologically very intensive. Gone are the days when they were basically electromechanical workhorses with some electronics like computer-controlled fuel injection or anti-lock brake systems (ABS) thrown in. More recently, they have become dependent upon lightweight materials, sensors and electronic - rather than electrical and hydraulic - systems

2. Several new models are introduced each year in these lucrative markets to keep customers coming back. Frequent model changes - there were nearly 1,100 different models in the US last year - have become feasible for the big groups by reducing the number of individual vehicle platforms – or the engine and chassis

3. The giant carmakers have also reduced their component costs through modularisation. The French suppliers association, FIEV, estimates components make up 53 per cent of the total costs of bringing a new car to market, a car being made up of 15,000 to 30,000 components. Modularisation of components involves a group of components being arranged closely together to make up a coherent unit such as brakes, steering and suspension. Such modules can be replaced independently and be used across many different models

4. Finally, Proton is drowning in a world of overcapacity. According to a 2002 report from the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the world's annual productive capacity is 80 million cars whereas demand is under 60 million units, so many automakers are running up large operating losses (Source: www.malaysia-today.net)

The question is: why does the government keep on protecting this firm? There are many answers for this from different people based on various justifications, but my honest answer is it is the industry that comes from the idea of our former prime minister, and since the birth of the industry it makes me proud of the capabilities of our beloved country and yes, I'm nearly cry to see such local industry to be closed down eventhough as the report said, it is an inefficient firm that the chance for PROTON to survive in the car industry is very low,because in ten years down the road there will be only 10 major players in the world's car industry through mergers and acquisitions.

No matter what happens in the future, I am proud of PROTON, the risks that we took since 1985 to prove that we dare to compete with the rest of the world that 'size does not matter'. The most important: We learn and we improve. Failure is not the end, it is just the beginning.

MALAYSIA, this is the place where my blood and body will rest.

Look to the east?

I read an article entitled "To people in China, future looks bright,"reported on International Herald Tribune website. Today's China's surging economy has had one unsurprising by-product : The Chinese people are feeling good about themselves and the world. It is shown by the surveys conducted by Pew Research Centre on Chinese personal optimism about their beloved country's future economic status. Few surveys were conducted and most of it shows a high index on their personal optimism. However, the 'one sided urban response' of the survey distort the truth of this miracle by-product since the Chinese in rural areas were not involved in the process. Laurent, of Asian Demographics, added that opinion surveys in China often needed to be "taken with a grain of salt" because of a tendency among many respondents to want to give positive replies.
"Chinese are very nationalistic and they will be prone to come out with such high satisfaction scores because they are very proud of China," he said. "It would be seen as being disloyal to say you weren't satisfied."

A good example to be followed by Malaysians nowadays?