Monday, July 30, 2012
Think Big Dream High E-15 – The Follow Through Strategy,Part 1
Intellectual Discourse
I came from the village. As a result of my experience I am sometimes being invited to participate in seminars and discourse on my countrymen. In general these seminars are organized to discuss how my countrymen can become more successful. Most of the presenters were popular intellectuals with either Tan Sri, Dato’ or PhD titles. Many proposals and comments were put forward for discussion. The participants too were excited to give their comments and debate on the issues. Thus it appeared worthwhile for the organizers to prepare breakfast and lunch for the participants. If you don’t voice out your opinion you will be labeled as just having a free lunch. Giving opinions is our number one role. Same goes with the Tan Sri, Dato’ or PhD presenters, their papers were filled with proposals and suggestions. Proposals must be put forward. The presenters will have ready many young and pretty secretariat officials to prepare reports especially on resolutions or the agreed recommendations.
The Beautifully Designed Reports Are Confidential
Reports need to be prepared. Reports on resolutions, proposals and new ideas need to be prepared. The reports must be done in a proper manner or else the boss will be upset. However, when the boss received the report he doesn’t know what to do with it. Hence the report is kept and labeled confidential. Nobody can have access to it as it is confidential. Many a times the organizer tried to impress the audience with reports that are beautifully designed. Any participants interested in the report will be given a copy. The balance will be kept at the storage area in the boss’s office. This has to be done to avoid reports going into the wrong hands as the report is confidential. Come next year the organizer will organize another seminar with a different theme but the process of presenting it remain unchanged. The seminars has to be done if not the budget will be pulled back. No more budgets will be approved for next year.
Yes, All Seminars Are Important
All seminars, discourse or congress are important only if the resolutions, conclusions and ideas are taken heed of and implemented with full commitment by all related parties. Without these ideas our lives will not be dynamic, it will be outdated, not open and not expanding.
The Golf Swing
In a golf game, there is one famous strategy i.e. the “follow through”. Once in a while, I watched the golf channel especially when Tiger Woods is in the game. There is usually a section of the channel that teaches the audience how to play golf. From thereon I understood the concept of follow through. According to my understanding, the swing of the golf stick before hitting, when hitting and after hitting must follow one and a half cycle from the time it started hitting until the maximum swing after hitting. The swing will not be accurate if after the swing it ended just there. The swing must be continued to the most maximum possible. The swing that has the follow through strategy will result in the golf ball going further and hitting the target. It will not be OB, not going into the bunkle or not entering the pond. This has been what all the famous golfers are doing i.e. Tiger Woods, Michelson, Westwoods, Kymer or Mclroy.
Programmes for My Countrymen
The government has carried out many programmes for my countrymen. The financial allocation maybe reaching billions of ringgit. However, in terms of performance and achievements, they are still not at par with the achievements and success of the other communities. Many financial institutions have been created for my countrymen entrepreneurs such as MARA, PNB, PUNB, PNS, Bank Bumiputera(CIMB),Bank Pembangunan, Bank Rakyat, CGC and many more. Many programmes have been launched by the government such as Graduate Entrepreneur Scheme, Agricultural Entrepreneur Scheme, Competent Contractor Scheme, Mentor Mentee, Middle Class Entrepreneur, Umbrella Scheme, Strategic Partnership Scheme, Vendor, Prosper, Franchise and others. All these institutions and programmes though not exclusive for my countrymen, the priority and reason behind its establishment was to assist them in entrepreneurship and businesses. These are some of the examples in the field of entrepreneurship. In actual fact if we list down, there are many more benefits in the other areas not elaborated upon. Maybe all the programmes under the related agencies can be listed and circulated widely for public knowledge.
Underperformed
Why is it that despite the many institutions and programmes, my communities are still mediocre, average performance only, still below the performance of the other communities, not a five star or megastar businessmen.We have still not reached world class standards.
In general, without any empirical studies and strong evidences as this is the academician’s field, I believed the government as seen through the implementation agencies of the programmes is not practicing the follow through strategy as in the golf game I mentioned above.This in a way contribute to the half baked businessmen,neither here nor there.They are not a failure neither are they successful.
We Like To Change Things
We are not focused, we are not consistent, we change policies, we change programmes, we change players. We are always in the mood of changing things around. A rising tide lifts all boats. When the Minister or Prime Minister changes, things will start to change too. Any players not aligned with the Minister or Prime Minister will not received the same treatment as before eventhough the players may have been at the development phase. As a result, the players may have to close shop or wind up or migrate to another country.
In our works and responsibilities, we do not prioritise to assist in a just and fair manner. We do not assist the entrepreneur the whole way through i.e. until they achieved world class standards. We assisted but not full swing and wholeheartedly. That is why we cannot see the number of our contractors who can be categorized under the competent contractors programme at par with the contractors from China or Korea that have dominated the construction business throughout the world.
All these programmes are not wrong and need not be stopped as in my opinion it is still relevant. What we should do is not to change it but keep on improving it, so that the element of follow through and continuity will be there and not being disturbed. If anything need to be change, change the packaging, the approach or maybe the branding but the goals and objectives should be defended forever. The demand for these programmes will be there forever as demand for world class entrepreneurs will always remain relevant for the future entrepreneurial generations.
Monday, July 23, 2012
Think Big Dream High-E14 – The Culture of Immediate Action (CIA)
Training exposure
I am from the village. As a villager it is the norm for me to daydream, loaf around, postponed my work, take my own sweet time, giving excuses, wasting time, and not effective in most of my actions. I do not bother much whether my actions affected my performance or other related parties. I am lucky and thankful to Allah SWT for the fact that during the early days working in National Equity Corporation group, I was chosen a few times to join the JICA youth programme (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and training programmes under Nomura Securities, Japco and Furukawa Denco in Japan. In the programmes, the participants were taken on a study tour to various associations, departments, institutions and business organizations that were involved in the economic activities, communities and culture in 14 cities throughout Japan. We started our tour in Tokyo, moving on to Sapporo, Hokkaido the northern most island down to Kagoshima city in Kyushu island, the southern most island of Japan. The trip lasted for over 3 months in total.
While in Japan, we visited several government departments, MNCs, SMEs, various agricultural projects, animal breeding farms, fishing villages, various youth NGOs and camps. In the three months, our days were filled with programmes and activities. We rushed here and there. We took the bus, tube, community trains and shinkansen (bullet trains), Our time were not counted in 60 minutes like 6 o’clock, 30 minutes like 8.30 am or 15 minutes like 7.15 pm but in 5.11 minutes in the morning, 1.17 minutes in the afternoon or 9.39 minutes in the evening. Very precise to the last minute and second. Time and time again, our Japanese coordinator and supervisor reminded us the importance of punctuality of time to the last second. However, there were still those who took their own sweet time until our coordinator had to take him out from the study visit for that day and was left all alone at the hotel. After the incident, this friend who came from either Indonesia or Philippines if I’m not mistaken never repeated the mistake again. The daily regime started with waking up at 5.21 am, breakfast at 6.07am, assembled at the lobby 6.49 am, arrived at the station and took the tube at 7.19 am, commenced the MNC factory visit at 8.48 am and assembled back at the MNC lobby at 10.37 am. These were examples of the tightness and preciseness of our study tour and training programmes in Japan.
Work culture
During a briefing session at one of the MNC, Matsushita, in Osaka, the Factory Manager reiterated the incident whereby 10 workers from Matsushita factory in Shah Alam caused one of the production line in his factory to close for half a day. Initially, the workers from Shah Alam were placed in one production line, side by side with each other to undertake a continuous activity and production process.
The 10 Black Sheep
These 10 black “sheeps” were entrusted to assemble one component to a work in progress product. The assembling or assembly was a continuous process. When the first person completed his task, he will then pass it on to his next colleague who will fixed the next item and then pass it on to the next person until it reaches the 10th person. The 10th person will pass it on to the 11th and so on until the end of the production line. There were 20 workers in the production line, 10 from Malaysia and 10 more from Japan. What happened was that there was a bottleneck in the assembly line of the 10 black sheeps with overpouring of components and half completed products. The 11th, 12th up till the 20th worker were waiting for the half completed products to reach them at the set timing.
Slow Hand Movement
Not long after that the emergency siren sounded automatically and the production line had to be stopped. After an investigation, it was later found out that the incident happened due to the lag in the movement of the Malaysian workers hands compared to the normal conveyor belt speed that carries the half completed products to be assembled. When assessed, the delay was about 40% below the normal hand movement speed of the Japanese workers. These 10 workers were taken off the assembly line and had to undergo two weeks of separate training under the supervision of one Japanese supervisor. When the movement of their hands were on the average almost similar to that of the Japanese worker, they were then placed back on the assembly line. This time not together but separated with one Malaysian worker in each of the 10 separate assembly lines.
The 7 Minutes Late
Another incident in this program was when we wanted to make a courtesy visit to a Mayor from the Oita Perfecture in Kyushu island. Our appointment was supposed to be at 9.40 am but was delayed. The reason being, one of our team member did not report to our Japanese supervisor that he had to go to the toilet. He only appeared 7 minutes later than the appointment time. The appointment had to be cancelled. Eventhough we were given another chance to meet the Mayor, we had to wait for about two hours until the Mayor was free to see us. At that particular time we were supposed to have lunch with the Oita Youth Association. Our Supervisor had to apologised to the Mayor the Japanese way by bowing almost 6 to 7 times. As a result of the rescheduling of the programmes, our Japanese supervisor had to appeal to the youth association to have our lunch packed and we ate on the bus as after that we were scheduled to visit the one product one village programmes in different villages about 27 minutes bus ride from the camp.The project, cultivation of tempura leaf tree (used as fried tempura dish underlayer cover when served) This project was cultivated on a half hectare farming land only. The crops were cultivated 5 times in a year and the leaves harvested twice a month intensively. The tempura leaves were exported worldwide including to USA. According to the report, total income from the project was about 350 million Yen annually.
Omeiyage
Another incident which remained in my memory bank was the level of obedience displayed by a Japanese wife to her husband. In the JICA program, each participant was required to stay with their foster parents for about two weeks. My foster parents were cattle breeders in a village in Kobe in central Japan. My other colleagues stayed with different foster family background. The lucky ones stayed with multimillionaire corporate figure foster parents. Upon parting, my friend received a gold chain with a high quality pear pendant. I received a pair of shoes as omeiyage and 2 pairs of socks, Ahamdulillah. Some received camera, camera decoder, watch, clothing etc. and some even received cash money. Long after the program, we received news that one of our friend got married to his Japanese foster sister. Now that is fated and not omeiyage.
Obedience
What I wish to share on obedience is the respect bestowed upon the husband by the wife eventhough the husband is not with the wife all the time and regardless of her activity at the time. One morning I was helping my foster mother doing household chores at the kitchen. My foster mother was cleaning the fish for our lunch. Suddenly a voice called out requesting something from her. As soon as she heard her husband’s voice, my foster mother holding the knife and hands smeared with fish blood put the knife down and with her hands at her knees bowed three (3) times instantaneously responding to her husband’s call. Without washing her pair of hands which was filled with fish blood, she immediately bowed putting her hands at her knees eventhough it was not certain from which direction the husband’s voice came from. After bowing 3 times she rushed to her bedroom to do something quickly and came back to continue cleaning the fish. I later found out that it was only that my foster father wanted her to change the cassette (that time there were no disc even in Japan) to be aired to his cattle in the farm. Every two hours the songs were changed for different cattle breeding process. When milking the cows, a different song was aired. Cattle bred for their meat, a different song was aired. Cattle bred for their milk a different song was aired. For the calves, a different song was aired.
Time management
My experience in Japan taught me a lot about time management. Time management is closely related to our culture of immediate action, the implementation of a particular decision and our work. If before this I like to laze around and keep postponing my work but as soon as I got back home after the JICA programme in Japan I do away with all the negative culture of not bothering about punctuality. Same goes with my daily activities. I no longer laze around and keep postponing my work. There were times the decision and action taken were too fast and beyond time.
The Islamic Way
This is actually the culture in built in our Islamic religion. Sometimes when we emulate the Japanese or the Koreans or even the Western, it is easy for us to practice it. In actual fact time management and culture of immediate action is in our religion. The Ustaz is always asking us to perform the solat immediately after we hear the azan but most of the time we do not follow this teaching. There were times when we prayed, we combined 2 solat prayer times. Five more minutes to Asar solat prayer, we performed the Dzuhur prayer. This is not the culture of immediate action and it is non Islamic. If we observed closely the prayer times, it is not counted in terms of 60 minutes, 30 minutes or 15 minutes. The same goes with the Japanese practices. The Dzuhur prayer time is for example 13.23 minutes, Asar 16.47 minutes, Maghrib 19.31, Isyak 20.48 and subuh 5.49. What can be learned from the precise timing of the prayer times in Islam is nothing less than to ensure that the Ummah managed their time to the precise last second. There’s also 1 surah in the Al Quran that teaches us time management i.e. surah Wal Asri. Allah SWT sworn in this surah that human beings are in a state of loss except those that have faith, do righteous deeds enjoined together in the mutual teachings of the truth and patience. We cannot afford to waste time. We cannot ignore and shirk our work and responsibilities. Denying work and responsibilities will result in a great loss to the Ummah.
Action First Talk Last
A nation that is successful is one that takes priority of its action, not those who talk a lot but no action, not those that argue much but also has no plans of implementation, not those that has a lot of theories, discussions, seminars, brainstorming and meetings but no action. We can do all that but the bottom line is after all the conclusions and decisions have been made and agreed upon, we need to put it into action. Don’t fill up the cabinet with piles of files on various resolutions and decisions but none of it being carried out effectively. We are good at making resolutions but when it comes to implementing it we direct someone else to do it.
Snatching Opportunities Upon Smelling It
We do not want our countrymen loafing around and not doing some meaningful work. We want to use every inch of the space and opportunities available to us to receive the benefits and the gains. Every inch must be filled up before someone else does it. We must snatch every opportunity before someone else grabs it. We must be smart to smell the gain for us. We need to act fast. Not taking too long to decide, too long to research, too long to calculate, not taking too long on the subject matter. We need to act fast, or else our customer or our stakeholders will have to wait for a long time. To become first class and world class citizens, organizations or communities must become an entity or nation that act instantly. We need to think big dream high and have a strong heart. We need to practice CIA, the “Culture of Immediate Action”.
I am from the village. As a villager it is the norm for me to daydream, loaf around, postponed my work, take my own sweet time, giving excuses, wasting time, and not effective in most of my actions. I do not bother much whether my actions affected my performance or other related parties. I am lucky and thankful to Allah SWT for the fact that during the early days working in National Equity Corporation group, I was chosen a few times to join the JICA youth programme (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and training programmes under Nomura Securities, Japco and Furukawa Denco in Japan. In the programmes, the participants were taken on a study tour to various associations, departments, institutions and business organizations that were involved in the economic activities, communities and culture in 14 cities throughout Japan. We started our tour in Tokyo, moving on to Sapporo, Hokkaido the northern most island down to Kagoshima city in Kyushu island, the southern most island of Japan. The trip lasted for over 3 months in total.
While in Japan, we visited several government departments, MNCs, SMEs, various agricultural projects, animal breeding farms, fishing villages, various youth NGOs and camps. In the three months, our days were filled with programmes and activities. We rushed here and there. We took the bus, tube, community trains and shinkansen (bullet trains), Our time were not counted in 60 minutes like 6 o’clock, 30 minutes like 8.30 am or 15 minutes like 7.15 pm but in 5.11 minutes in the morning, 1.17 minutes in the afternoon or 9.39 minutes in the evening. Very precise to the last minute and second. Time and time again, our Japanese coordinator and supervisor reminded us the importance of punctuality of time to the last second. However, there were still those who took their own sweet time until our coordinator had to take him out from the study visit for that day and was left all alone at the hotel. After the incident, this friend who came from either Indonesia or Philippines if I’m not mistaken never repeated the mistake again. The daily regime started with waking up at 5.21 am, breakfast at 6.07am, assembled at the lobby 6.49 am, arrived at the station and took the tube at 7.19 am, commenced the MNC factory visit at 8.48 am and assembled back at the MNC lobby at 10.37 am. These were examples of the tightness and preciseness of our study tour and training programmes in Japan.
Work culture
During a briefing session at one of the MNC, Matsushita, in Osaka, the Factory Manager reiterated the incident whereby 10 workers from Matsushita factory in Shah Alam caused one of the production line in his factory to close for half a day. Initially, the workers from Shah Alam were placed in one production line, side by side with each other to undertake a continuous activity and production process.
The 10 Black Sheep
These 10 black “sheeps” were entrusted to assemble one component to a work in progress product. The assembling or assembly was a continuous process. When the first person completed his task, he will then pass it on to his next colleague who will fixed the next item and then pass it on to the next person until it reaches the 10th person. The 10th person will pass it on to the 11th and so on until the end of the production line. There were 20 workers in the production line, 10 from Malaysia and 10 more from Japan. What happened was that there was a bottleneck in the assembly line of the 10 black sheeps with overpouring of components and half completed products. The 11th, 12th up till the 20th worker were waiting for the half completed products to reach them at the set timing.
Slow Hand Movement
Not long after that the emergency siren sounded automatically and the production line had to be stopped. After an investigation, it was later found out that the incident happened due to the lag in the movement of the Malaysian workers hands compared to the normal conveyor belt speed that carries the half completed products to be assembled. When assessed, the delay was about 40% below the normal hand movement speed of the Japanese workers. These 10 workers were taken off the assembly line and had to undergo two weeks of separate training under the supervision of one Japanese supervisor. When the movement of their hands were on the average almost similar to that of the Japanese worker, they were then placed back on the assembly line. This time not together but separated with one Malaysian worker in each of the 10 separate assembly lines.
The 7 Minutes Late
Another incident in this program was when we wanted to make a courtesy visit to a Mayor from the Oita Perfecture in Kyushu island. Our appointment was supposed to be at 9.40 am but was delayed. The reason being, one of our team member did not report to our Japanese supervisor that he had to go to the toilet. He only appeared 7 minutes later than the appointment time. The appointment had to be cancelled. Eventhough we were given another chance to meet the Mayor, we had to wait for about two hours until the Mayor was free to see us. At that particular time we were supposed to have lunch with the Oita Youth Association. Our Supervisor had to apologised to the Mayor the Japanese way by bowing almost 6 to 7 times. As a result of the rescheduling of the programmes, our Japanese supervisor had to appeal to the youth association to have our lunch packed and we ate on the bus as after that we were scheduled to visit the one product one village programmes in different villages about 27 minutes bus ride from the camp.The project, cultivation of tempura leaf tree (used as fried tempura dish underlayer cover when served) This project was cultivated on a half hectare farming land only. The crops were cultivated 5 times in a year and the leaves harvested twice a month intensively. The tempura leaves were exported worldwide including to USA. According to the report, total income from the project was about 350 million Yen annually.
Omeiyage
Another incident which remained in my memory bank was the level of obedience displayed by a Japanese wife to her husband. In the JICA program, each participant was required to stay with their foster parents for about two weeks. My foster parents were cattle breeders in a village in Kobe in central Japan. My other colleagues stayed with different foster family background. The lucky ones stayed with multimillionaire corporate figure foster parents. Upon parting, my friend received a gold chain with a high quality pear pendant. I received a pair of shoes as omeiyage and 2 pairs of socks, Ahamdulillah. Some received camera, camera decoder, watch, clothing etc. and some even received cash money. Long after the program, we received news that one of our friend got married to his Japanese foster sister. Now that is fated and not omeiyage.
Obedience
What I wish to share on obedience is the respect bestowed upon the husband by the wife eventhough the husband is not with the wife all the time and regardless of her activity at the time. One morning I was helping my foster mother doing household chores at the kitchen. My foster mother was cleaning the fish for our lunch. Suddenly a voice called out requesting something from her. As soon as she heard her husband’s voice, my foster mother holding the knife and hands smeared with fish blood put the knife down and with her hands at her knees bowed three (3) times instantaneously responding to her husband’s call. Without washing her pair of hands which was filled with fish blood, she immediately bowed putting her hands at her knees eventhough it was not certain from which direction the husband’s voice came from. After bowing 3 times she rushed to her bedroom to do something quickly and came back to continue cleaning the fish. I later found out that it was only that my foster father wanted her to change the cassette (that time there were no disc even in Japan) to be aired to his cattle in the farm. Every two hours the songs were changed for different cattle breeding process. When milking the cows, a different song was aired. Cattle bred for their meat, a different song was aired. Cattle bred for their milk a different song was aired. For the calves, a different song was aired.
Time management
My experience in Japan taught me a lot about time management. Time management is closely related to our culture of immediate action, the implementation of a particular decision and our work. If before this I like to laze around and keep postponing my work but as soon as I got back home after the JICA programme in Japan I do away with all the negative culture of not bothering about punctuality. Same goes with my daily activities. I no longer laze around and keep postponing my work. There were times the decision and action taken were too fast and beyond time.
The Islamic Way
This is actually the culture in built in our Islamic religion. Sometimes when we emulate the Japanese or the Koreans or even the Western, it is easy for us to practice it. In actual fact time management and culture of immediate action is in our religion. The Ustaz is always asking us to perform the solat immediately after we hear the azan but most of the time we do not follow this teaching. There were times when we prayed, we combined 2 solat prayer times. Five more minutes to Asar solat prayer, we performed the Dzuhur prayer. This is not the culture of immediate action and it is non Islamic. If we observed closely the prayer times, it is not counted in terms of 60 minutes, 30 minutes or 15 minutes. The same goes with the Japanese practices. The Dzuhur prayer time is for example 13.23 minutes, Asar 16.47 minutes, Maghrib 19.31, Isyak 20.48 and subuh 5.49. What can be learned from the precise timing of the prayer times in Islam is nothing less than to ensure that the Ummah managed their time to the precise last second. There’s also 1 surah in the Al Quran that teaches us time management i.e. surah Wal Asri. Allah SWT sworn in this surah that human beings are in a state of loss except those that have faith, do righteous deeds enjoined together in the mutual teachings of the truth and patience. We cannot afford to waste time. We cannot ignore and shirk our work and responsibilities. Denying work and responsibilities will result in a great loss to the Ummah.
Action First Talk Last
A nation that is successful is one that takes priority of its action, not those who talk a lot but no action, not those that argue much but also has no plans of implementation, not those that has a lot of theories, discussions, seminars, brainstorming and meetings but no action. We can do all that but the bottom line is after all the conclusions and decisions have been made and agreed upon, we need to put it into action. Don’t fill up the cabinet with piles of files on various resolutions and decisions but none of it being carried out effectively. We are good at making resolutions but when it comes to implementing it we direct someone else to do it.
Snatching Opportunities Upon Smelling It
We do not want our countrymen loafing around and not doing some meaningful work. We want to use every inch of the space and opportunities available to us to receive the benefits and the gains. Every inch must be filled up before someone else does it. We must snatch every opportunity before someone else grabs it. We must be smart to smell the gain for us. We need to act fast. Not taking too long to decide, too long to research, too long to calculate, not taking too long on the subject matter. We need to act fast, or else our customer or our stakeholders will have to wait for a long time. To become first class and world class citizens, organizations or communities must become an entity or nation that act instantly. We need to think big dream high and have a strong heart. We need to practice CIA, the “Culture of Immediate Action”.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Think Big Dream High-E 13-The World Class Aspiration
Ensuring Quality
I came from the village. As a villager living in this developmental era, I felt that I deserved to receive the best in life. The best means something which is of good and high quality, no defects in its international standard specifications, giving optimum satisfaction, a must have for every individual to enjoy and owned. Is our country prepared ? Are we prepared to be in that direction? Are the products and services produced and rendered by our country being offered to us met the international standards specification? As good and at par with the products and services imported from the developed countries? This is a collective responsibility. All segments of the communities including the government, engineers, mechanics, technologists, scientists, entrepreneur, financial sectors and all of us as workers or consumers should work together to produce quality products and rendered quality services. This is the issue that I will touch on this time around. Issues relating to good quality, high quality and being superior. Not only superior in our country but also superior in the world.
I chose this topic as I felt my community from now on should act and deserved to have and enjoyed the best in our daily lives. When we talk about standards and quality, it is closely related to our capability. Our capability to produce and to achieve it. It is related to our ability and preparation in terms of resources, infrastructure, physical, emotional, spiritual and mental preparedness to create and produce. We have to prepare ourselves so that we will be ready to achieve all these.
Developed Nation Status
Our country is heading towards a developed nation status by 2020. About 63 years since our independence. If we conduct research on a country’s civilisation, in general, it took about a 100 years for a country to achieve a fully developed nation status i.e. after it obtained its independence or moving into the era of industrialization. Japan became an industrialized country in the middle of the 19th century and after 130 years round about the third quarter of the twentieth century Japan became a fully developed nation. South Korea was a bit more advanced in achieving the fully developed nation status. Philippines in the 1960s, was actually far more advanced in terms of development compared to Korea. However, after slightly more than half a century later, Korea became the most developed country in the Asia Pacific region. Obviously more advanced than the Philippines who more than half a century ago was more advanced than Korea.
If we make a specific study on the Korean way of living, culture and working habits, we can more or less understood why the Koreans achieved an accelerated development rate comparatively. During the late 80s economic crisis, Korea managed to turn around its economy swiftly after receiving assistance from IMF. Now Korea’s economy is developing at a fast pace.
Korean Working Culture
I managed to obtain information on Korea through official and personal visit to the country. Coincidentally, my eldest son graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Kunsan University in Korea. He went to Korea immediately after his PMR and after six (6) years of study, he graduated with excellence as an Engineer. He was lucky, despite the fact that he received no form of government assistance, he managed to complete his studies by self funding and some assistance from me. Thanks to his good fortune, he managed to secure a part time job at his Korean Godfather’s factory.
Back in Malaysia, he worked as a Mechanical Engineer at a factory in Balakong, Cheras. As time passes, I noticed something unique and strange about him. He goes to work after Subuh prayers and reaches home late in the evening. Nothing earlier than 11 pm almost everyday. He even worked on weekends. I am not used to such working culture. Where can you find a Malaysian, working 18 hours a day, everyday and even on weekends. The only thing I pointed out and advise him is not to forget his solat. After working for 6 months, he managed to increase his factory’s productivity by 116 % and reduced production cost by 30%. As a result of his achievement, he was appointed as the new Factory Manager replacing his boss who has more than 40 years experiences. He was then sent to Austria and Germany for three months by the owner, Mr Yew, to fabricate new machines for use in the two additional production lines. Back from Germany, he produced a new product for the factory. A high quality oxygenated drink that was awarded International Standards certification. I noticed on TV, the Prime Minister’s wife often served this oxygenated drink to her personal guests at Seri Perdana.
My son’s working culture is just one small life example of the Korean working culture. The Koreans worked far better, far greater and with high dedication than my son. Here’s another example. My son’s Godfather, Mr Park, worked continuously for three (3) years in his factory without going back home. That was the time when he first opened his fabrication factory. He slept in his factory throughout those period despite the fact that the distance between his house and factory is only 20 minutes drive. His wife gave him the full support and once in a while dropped by and stayed the night with him at the factory. This decision was made to ensure that the factory operated smoothly. His exemplary actions inspired and motivated his workers. In the fifth year, he managed to export his machines and even to Germany. We know for a fact that the German technology in the machinery industry are far more superior. How did he managed to penetrate the German machine market? Apparently the technology he uses is at par with the German technology but at a cheaper rate.
Apprenticeship
For the first three months working with Mr Park, my son was assigned to clear the rubbish and to clean the drains. It was only in the second three months of work, he was given the opportunity to work in the factory. His assignment was to clean the oil sticking to the machines in the factory. It has to be done until the machines sparkled. That was his daily routine. Though the cleaned machines already sparkled , he was requested to polished them again until it became more sparkled. Mr Park in his walkabout management style will placed his fingers to the cleaned machines. If in the process he found black oil and dust sticking to his fingers, my son Mohd Hezzam Arfaei will be punished by working overtime without any allowance. Only a year later, he was given a computer, a table and a chair to start training on engineering drawing. That was the kind of training and work culture practised by the Korean people and indoctrinated in my son. That was the working culture adopted by my son until he successfully became involved in the manufacturing of a product that is favoured by our First lady. This oxygenated drink produced by a factory in Balakong, Cheras has penetrated and is popular in the Japanese market.
Korean Products
This is just not about my son. It has something to do with quality, standards and satisfaction. This has relation to the kind of training system and work culture adopted. The three characteristics mentioned earlier will not be achieved without having to go through the work culture described briefly through my son’s training experience with his Godfather in Korea. We can see ourselves that Korean products have flocked markets the world over. Right from the biggest ship in the world, power generators and turbines used in developing countries throughout the world, sophisticated designed cars but at a cheaper price, handphones with brands of world class standards, Korean silk favoured by women all over the world, Korean construction companies their services utilized all over the world especially in the Middle East, Korean serial telemovies produced by KBS world, viewed by million of fans in 55 countries in the world, restaurants serving Korean barbecued dishes favored all over the world including leaders from our country Malaysia (there’s even pictures of Malaysian leaders enjoying delicious Korean food at a Korean restaurant in Kuala Lumpur) to the smallest product made in Korea i.e. the brooches with its unique design and quality, adored by women all over the world. Why does the Korean wave happened throughout the world? It is because the Korean made products have become the world’s most popular and leading brand. Its quality is of world class standards and it enjoyed maximum consumer satisfaction throughout the world.
Smart In Reverse Engineering
It is not my purposeful intention to praise the Korean work culture and training practices to the limits. For a fact, that is the basic foundation of the South Korean success story. It is not wrong for us to emulate the Korean’s training programmes, to copy and adopt our work culture to that of the Koreans. It is also not wrong us try to create a Malaysian wave throughout the world. It is also not wrong for us to overtake the Koreans in areas where we have the strengths and niche. It is also not wrong for us to outperform the Japanese. It is also not wrong for us to be at par with the Germans. The most important thing is that we have to strengthen our foundation and be smart in emulating better work culture and technologies. What is the foundation? The foundation is education and knowledge. Another exemplary Korean achievement is that more than 70% of the Korean workforce graduated in technical and engineering field. Eventhough the job is as Personnel or Marketing Manager, the Koreans need to have a degree in engineering to qualify for the position. The opposite is practiced in Malaysia where the basic qualification for a Personnel Manager is an ex army. With a background in engineering, a Personnel Manager will be able to conduct screening and assessment on each of their potential candidates. Only those with technical and engineering background will be recruited. With a background in engineering, a Marketing Manager will be able to explain in detail the characteristics of the products he intended to sell. In this way, the consumers will be satisfied with the products sold. Any complaints later, he will be able to rectify the defects to the extend that the consumer became faithful and loyal to the brand. The consumer will not switch to other new brands.
Technical Education
My countrymen should be prepared to switch our field of study from having too much focus on literature, social science and commerce to that of technical, engineering and technology. If more than 90% of the my countrymen children are in the first category, it is our collective responsibility to reverse this trend. Eventhough not 90% but starting with 51% must pick up subjects in mathematics, pure sciences, technical and engineering. Are there sufficient teachers with qualifications in technical and engineering lines? If it is not sufficient, create and train as many such teachers. If it is still not sufficient, as a suggestion, recruit the retired Engineers from Japan or Korea on contract basis. There are such groups in Korea and Japan keen to migrate to Malaysia as the weather in Malaysia is suitable for these pensioners who are still energetic. This is the basic preparation for our countrymen to achieve excellence, respected and achieving world class standards. Without a strong foundation, it will not be possible for us to overtake the other communities who are far more advanced in this world.
The country’s population, will soon reach 30 million. 10 million less than the Korean population now. This is a reasonable population figure that can create a sizeable domestic market. However, if the figure of 70 million population suggested by the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir became a reality probably in 30 years time, then Malaysia will be one of the super powers economically. Nevertheless a 30 million population will also be a big captive market for our made in Malaysia products. This will be a good beginning. Actually, we have the potential and capability to be at par with the success and achievements of the Korean people. Our leaders with all sort of transformation agendas have worked hard to develop this country. As Malaysians, all of us need to compete with one another based on a fair and equitable meritocracy system. Then all of us can become good and effective contributors to the country’s development process. My countrymen being the major community in this country, need to work hard to excel, need to practice twice as hard, need to strive twice as hard, need to have a vision to become the best and need to have the ambition and goal to be superior and to succeed as the country’s and world’s best. We need to think big dream high and have strong heart. We need to be innovative, creative, inventive and we need to develop our own technologies. We need to improve, initiate reverse technology or copy in the halal way other technologies. All these are important to enable us to produce made in Malaysia products that within this short period of time achieved world class standards. Products that are admired, sought after, respected for its quality and much talked about for the maximum satisfaction experienced using it worldwide. This has to be the goal and ambition of our countrymen. When all this has been achieved, as Malaysians, we will experience a paradigm shift in our taste and lifestyle of being merely satisfied with products and services that are of mediocre quality and standards to products that are of world class quality and standards.
I came from the village. As a villager living in this developmental era, I felt that I deserved to receive the best in life. The best means something which is of good and high quality, no defects in its international standard specifications, giving optimum satisfaction, a must have for every individual to enjoy and owned. Is our country prepared ? Are we prepared to be in that direction? Are the products and services produced and rendered by our country being offered to us met the international standards specification? As good and at par with the products and services imported from the developed countries? This is a collective responsibility. All segments of the communities including the government, engineers, mechanics, technologists, scientists, entrepreneur, financial sectors and all of us as workers or consumers should work together to produce quality products and rendered quality services. This is the issue that I will touch on this time around. Issues relating to good quality, high quality and being superior. Not only superior in our country but also superior in the world.
I chose this topic as I felt my community from now on should act and deserved to have and enjoyed the best in our daily lives. When we talk about standards and quality, it is closely related to our capability. Our capability to produce and to achieve it. It is related to our ability and preparation in terms of resources, infrastructure, physical, emotional, spiritual and mental preparedness to create and produce. We have to prepare ourselves so that we will be ready to achieve all these.
Developed Nation Status
Our country is heading towards a developed nation status by 2020. About 63 years since our independence. If we conduct research on a country’s civilisation, in general, it took about a 100 years for a country to achieve a fully developed nation status i.e. after it obtained its independence or moving into the era of industrialization. Japan became an industrialized country in the middle of the 19th century and after 130 years round about the third quarter of the twentieth century Japan became a fully developed nation. South Korea was a bit more advanced in achieving the fully developed nation status. Philippines in the 1960s, was actually far more advanced in terms of development compared to Korea. However, after slightly more than half a century later, Korea became the most developed country in the Asia Pacific region. Obviously more advanced than the Philippines who more than half a century ago was more advanced than Korea.
If we make a specific study on the Korean way of living, culture and working habits, we can more or less understood why the Koreans achieved an accelerated development rate comparatively. During the late 80s economic crisis, Korea managed to turn around its economy swiftly after receiving assistance from IMF. Now Korea’s economy is developing at a fast pace.
Korean Working Culture
I managed to obtain information on Korea through official and personal visit to the country. Coincidentally, my eldest son graduated as a Mechanical Engineer from Kunsan University in Korea. He went to Korea immediately after his PMR and after six (6) years of study, he graduated with excellence as an Engineer. He was lucky, despite the fact that he received no form of government assistance, he managed to complete his studies by self funding and some assistance from me. Thanks to his good fortune, he managed to secure a part time job at his Korean Godfather’s factory.
Back in Malaysia, he worked as a Mechanical Engineer at a factory in Balakong, Cheras. As time passes, I noticed something unique and strange about him. He goes to work after Subuh prayers and reaches home late in the evening. Nothing earlier than 11 pm almost everyday. He even worked on weekends. I am not used to such working culture. Where can you find a Malaysian, working 18 hours a day, everyday and even on weekends. The only thing I pointed out and advise him is not to forget his solat. After working for 6 months, he managed to increase his factory’s productivity by 116 % and reduced production cost by 30%. As a result of his achievement, he was appointed as the new Factory Manager replacing his boss who has more than 40 years experiences. He was then sent to Austria and Germany for three months by the owner, Mr Yew, to fabricate new machines for use in the two additional production lines. Back from Germany, he produced a new product for the factory. A high quality oxygenated drink that was awarded International Standards certification. I noticed on TV, the Prime Minister’s wife often served this oxygenated drink to her personal guests at Seri Perdana.
My son’s working culture is just one small life example of the Korean working culture. The Koreans worked far better, far greater and with high dedication than my son. Here’s another example. My son’s Godfather, Mr Park, worked continuously for three (3) years in his factory without going back home. That was the time when he first opened his fabrication factory. He slept in his factory throughout those period despite the fact that the distance between his house and factory is only 20 minutes drive. His wife gave him the full support and once in a while dropped by and stayed the night with him at the factory. This decision was made to ensure that the factory operated smoothly. His exemplary actions inspired and motivated his workers. In the fifth year, he managed to export his machines and even to Germany. We know for a fact that the German technology in the machinery industry are far more superior. How did he managed to penetrate the German machine market? Apparently the technology he uses is at par with the German technology but at a cheaper rate.
Apprenticeship
For the first three months working with Mr Park, my son was assigned to clear the rubbish and to clean the drains. It was only in the second three months of work, he was given the opportunity to work in the factory. His assignment was to clean the oil sticking to the machines in the factory. It has to be done until the machines sparkled. That was his daily routine. Though the cleaned machines already sparkled , he was requested to polished them again until it became more sparkled. Mr Park in his walkabout management style will placed his fingers to the cleaned machines. If in the process he found black oil and dust sticking to his fingers, my son Mohd Hezzam Arfaei will be punished by working overtime without any allowance. Only a year later, he was given a computer, a table and a chair to start training on engineering drawing. That was the kind of training and work culture practised by the Korean people and indoctrinated in my son. That was the working culture adopted by my son until he successfully became involved in the manufacturing of a product that is favoured by our First lady. This oxygenated drink produced by a factory in Balakong, Cheras has penetrated and is popular in the Japanese market.
Korean Products
This is just not about my son. It has something to do with quality, standards and satisfaction. This has relation to the kind of training system and work culture adopted. The three characteristics mentioned earlier will not be achieved without having to go through the work culture described briefly through my son’s training experience with his Godfather in Korea. We can see ourselves that Korean products have flocked markets the world over. Right from the biggest ship in the world, power generators and turbines used in developing countries throughout the world, sophisticated designed cars but at a cheaper price, handphones with brands of world class standards, Korean silk favoured by women all over the world, Korean construction companies their services utilized all over the world especially in the Middle East, Korean serial telemovies produced by KBS world, viewed by million of fans in 55 countries in the world, restaurants serving Korean barbecued dishes favored all over the world including leaders from our country Malaysia (there’s even pictures of Malaysian leaders enjoying delicious Korean food at a Korean restaurant in Kuala Lumpur) to the smallest product made in Korea i.e. the brooches with its unique design and quality, adored by women all over the world. Why does the Korean wave happened throughout the world? It is because the Korean made products have become the world’s most popular and leading brand. Its quality is of world class standards and it enjoyed maximum consumer satisfaction throughout the world.
Smart In Reverse Engineering
It is not my purposeful intention to praise the Korean work culture and training practices to the limits. For a fact, that is the basic foundation of the South Korean success story. It is not wrong for us to emulate the Korean’s training programmes, to copy and adopt our work culture to that of the Koreans. It is also not wrong us try to create a Malaysian wave throughout the world. It is also not wrong for us to overtake the Koreans in areas where we have the strengths and niche. It is also not wrong for us to outperform the Japanese. It is also not wrong for us to be at par with the Germans. The most important thing is that we have to strengthen our foundation and be smart in emulating better work culture and technologies. What is the foundation? The foundation is education and knowledge. Another exemplary Korean achievement is that more than 70% of the Korean workforce graduated in technical and engineering field. Eventhough the job is as Personnel or Marketing Manager, the Koreans need to have a degree in engineering to qualify for the position. The opposite is practiced in Malaysia where the basic qualification for a Personnel Manager is an ex army. With a background in engineering, a Personnel Manager will be able to conduct screening and assessment on each of their potential candidates. Only those with technical and engineering background will be recruited. With a background in engineering, a Marketing Manager will be able to explain in detail the characteristics of the products he intended to sell. In this way, the consumers will be satisfied with the products sold. Any complaints later, he will be able to rectify the defects to the extend that the consumer became faithful and loyal to the brand. The consumer will not switch to other new brands.
Technical Education
My countrymen should be prepared to switch our field of study from having too much focus on literature, social science and commerce to that of technical, engineering and technology. If more than 90% of the my countrymen children are in the first category, it is our collective responsibility to reverse this trend. Eventhough not 90% but starting with 51% must pick up subjects in mathematics, pure sciences, technical and engineering. Are there sufficient teachers with qualifications in technical and engineering lines? If it is not sufficient, create and train as many such teachers. If it is still not sufficient, as a suggestion, recruit the retired Engineers from Japan or Korea on contract basis. There are such groups in Korea and Japan keen to migrate to Malaysia as the weather in Malaysia is suitable for these pensioners who are still energetic. This is the basic preparation for our countrymen to achieve excellence, respected and achieving world class standards. Without a strong foundation, it will not be possible for us to overtake the other communities who are far more advanced in this world.
The country’s population, will soon reach 30 million. 10 million less than the Korean population now. This is a reasonable population figure that can create a sizeable domestic market. However, if the figure of 70 million population suggested by the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir became a reality probably in 30 years time, then Malaysia will be one of the super powers economically. Nevertheless a 30 million population will also be a big captive market for our made in Malaysia products. This will be a good beginning. Actually, we have the potential and capability to be at par with the success and achievements of the Korean people. Our leaders with all sort of transformation agendas have worked hard to develop this country. As Malaysians, all of us need to compete with one another based on a fair and equitable meritocracy system. Then all of us can become good and effective contributors to the country’s development process. My countrymen being the major community in this country, need to work hard to excel, need to practice twice as hard, need to strive twice as hard, need to have a vision to become the best and need to have the ambition and goal to be superior and to succeed as the country’s and world’s best. We need to think big dream high and have strong heart. We need to be innovative, creative, inventive and we need to develop our own technologies. We need to improve, initiate reverse technology or copy in the halal way other technologies. All these are important to enable us to produce made in Malaysia products that within this short period of time achieved world class standards. Products that are admired, sought after, respected for its quality and much talked about for the maximum satisfaction experienced using it worldwide. This has to be the goal and ambition of our countrymen. When all this has been achieved, as Malaysians, we will experience a paradigm shift in our taste and lifestyle of being merely satisfied with products and services that are of mediocre quality and standards to products that are of world class quality and standards.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Think Big Dream High-E12 – Conviction
My Faith
I came from the village. As someone from the village, I thought a lot about my religion and my countrymen. There are followers of this blog who suggested that I gave my views on matters relating to religion and communities. At first, I do not pay much attention to their views. It is a known fact that I am a Malay and a Muslim. As for my friend, he is a Chinese and his religion is Buddhist. Another friend of mine is an Iban and his religion is Christian. There is nothing much to discuss since this is a fact and a reality. We cannot change the fact. As a pious Muslim, I will of course uphold Islam first than the community. For me Islam as a religion is absolute and supreme. Only the Islamic faith can guarantee my happiness in this world and hereinafter. This is a sure thing as promised by Allah SWT.
Now in the media, a lot has been said about communities. Issues relating to the Interlok novel too invite a lengthy debate from all walks of life. So much so due to the intensity of the debate, the contents of the novel has been asked to change. The reason being to avoid surfacing any sensitive issues on race. Personally, I felt that we have sacrificed our intellectual capacity at the expense of criticism from a particular community. Akin to saying, are we Malays, Chinese, Iban, Khadazan or Indians first or are we Malaysians first? This has been the main topic of discussion more so for the politicians. That is why sometimes due to political reasons, we have to change the reality and facts to a pretense or untruth and made to look like the truth from political perspective.
The Brand
Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Mahathir Mohammad, the former Prime Minister is a popular figure within and outside the country. Is his popularity due to him being a Malay or a Malaysian? In fact people identified Dr Mahathir personally as a Malaysian brand as compared to Malaysia as a country itself. When we are outside the country, people often ask us where do we come from or what community do we represent. We then mentioned that we are a Malaysian or a Malay. Sad to say they cannot placed us in their minds. But when we ask them whether they know Dr Mahathir, then it rings a bell. Why is that so? They recognized Dr Mahathir as a product and a popular brand. When they recognized Dr Mahathir then they know we are Malaysians. Why does this happened? This happen because Dr Mahathir is an outstanding personality. He excelled in many fields and areas; career wise, leadership, communication, character wise, family life, as a negotiator, orator, powerful and strong in English and Malay language, as a strategist, risk taker, knowledgeable person and many more. His popularity is not only acknowledged by us but also the whole world. This include the Arabian people, Japanese and even the Jews. Dr Mahathir is Dr Mahathir. Not because he is a Malay or a Malaysian. People know Dr Mahathir because he is Dr Mahathir and someone who is successful in his political career. Dr Mahathir’s popularity matches that of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew is not popular just because he is a Chinese. He is popularly known as the leader that developed Singapore into a modern city state and highly acclaimed by the rest of the world.
My Origin
Eventhough I came from the village, I am not of pure Malay origin. My grandfather originated from Shanghai in China. According to my ancestral information, my grandfather travelled far and wide and reaches Singapore by boat, took the train until the end of the railway line to reach Tumpat in Kelantan. He then took a ride in a boat travelled upstream until he reaches my village. My great grandfather was a pious Muslim and an opinion leader in our village. He adopted my grandfather and converted him to Islam. Maybe due to his good looks, my great grandfather married him off to my grandmother. Their offspring i.e. my mother and uncle therefore looked like Chinese. Same goes with me. During my primary school days, my friends used to jeered and call me names; tokpek which means apek. I cried almost everyday. On my father’s side, his origin is Bugis. My father was a self defence silat Tok Guru. This could be due to his strong Bugis blood descendants well known for their marshall arts skills. Now that is my origin. To call myself a pure Chinese or pure Malay, is not appropriate. As for Bugis I’m also not pure Bugis. So what am I then?. What is clear is that I’m a Malaysian. Dr Mahathir according to his life story is in a similar situation as I am; he is not of pure Malay, neither is he pure Indian. He is a true Malaysian.
Actually a lot of people are in the same predicament as myself. Most of their elders or grandparents are descendants from Javanese, Minangkabaus, Mat Salleh, Japanese, Bajau, Russian, Iban, Koreans, Thais, Arabs, Kadazans, Pakistan, Bugis or even Congos. If we studied carefully, most of our previous PMs were not pure Malays. Tunku Abdul Rahman possibly had Siamese blood in him, Tun Razak had Bugis blood, Tun Hussin Onn had Turkish blood, Tun Mahathir has Indian blood, Tun Abdullah has Arabic blood, Dato’ Seri Najib has Bugis blood, Tan Seri Mahyuddin and Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have Javanese blood.
Our background
If anybody asked, are we Malays or Chinese or Iban first?, our answer should be we are Malaysians first. Similarly with YAB Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, Tan Seri Mahyuddin Yasin, Dato’ Seri Hadi Awang, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar, are known the world over because of their success in their respective fields and they are Malaysians. People know them as Malaysians and not as Malays, Chinese or Indians.
Does it really matter who we are ? or which race we come from? These questions will only crop up when we achieved success and popularity. Then our background will be scrutinized in detail. If a Malaysian lass became a successful fashion designer in Hollywood, obviously people will enquire about her background and origin. If a Malaysian golfer succeeded in beating Tiger Woods, then people will enquire about his background and origin. If a Malaysian girl became a tahfiz Al Quran, AlHadith kitab and obtained a PHD at a young age of 23, then people will enquire her background and origin. If a Malaysian became a nuclear specialist and awarded the Nobel Prize just like Mohammad El Baradei the nuclear specialist from Egypt, obviously people will enquire about his background and origin. This means as Malaysians and parents at the same, if we want to achieve popularity, we need to make sure our countrymen produced children the likes of Ibnu Sina (Islamic Doctor), Rafael Nadal (world ranking tennis player), Mohamad Yunus (created Gramen Bank to help the poor and won the Nobel Prize for his effort), Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and Alhamdulillah we have Dr Mahathir. The bottom line and morale of the story; we need to produce more bright human beings like Dr Mahathir and the rest from among our countrymen. Only by being excellent, intelligent and couple with wisdom bring forth and uphold the superiority of a particular community. By personally being popular, will ensure the relevancy of the Malay community many more years to come.
Who we are
We are respected and looked upon not because we are Malays, Chinese, or Kadazans. We are respected because of our knowledge, our intelligence and more so our uniqueness as compared to the others. This is the result of our creation and innovation, our wealth and assets, our religious outlook and good behavior, our iman and takwa, by being the First Nobel Prize winner among our countrymen, by discovering the cure for cancer and HIV, by discovering new technologies until we are at par with Bill Gates, by our popularity and kindness as a technologist and philanthropists. Make ourselves be in the forefront, be successful in whatever field and by itself our countrymen will be remembered and recognized the world over. The probability of being no 1 in the world in any field is 1 in 7 billion or 0.000000014%. Indeed our chances are slim. It is a difficult thing to do and that is the challenge. If our ambition is to succeed only at the country level, then the world will not take heed of us, will not take heed of our religion. We need to be world class regardless of how difficult it is. This is the spirit and conviction i.e. if we love our countrymen.
When Obama was elected President of the United States of America, then only people know that he is a black American, eventhough this is obvious physically. If Obama in his Presidential campaign relied solely on the fact that he is a black American, he will not be elected based on this strategy. He was chosen because of his unique change agenda which became his campaign manifesto. Apart from the fact that he is smart, charismatic, a good orator who manage to push his change agenda into the hearts of the American people. That was the reason why he was chosen. When elected, Obama became more popular as the first black American President. The Kenyans claimed that he originated from Kenya, Africa. The Indonesians claimed that his step father was an Indonesian. All this claims came after he won the Presidential election and not before.
Totally inclusive programme
Sensitivity and racial disintegration are the politicians game plan. What is more important is our own success and achievements as a member of the community. If the government’s Economic Transformation Policy (ETP) succeeded in increasing the living standards of all communities in a fair and just manner, I am confident, that the racial problems will be minimal. That is why the ETP is an important programme to be implemented. It cannot make the rich become richer leaving the poor to only enjoy the gravy of the country’s successful development plan whilst the contents have been taken away by those with more merits.
If the program is not totally inclusive, the sensitivity and racial disintegration issues will still be relevant and continued to be politicized. Till such time situation changes, novel the likes of Interlok with a beautiful story line will have to be harmonized before it can be adopted as a school text.
We need a strong conviction. We must have faith, confidence, determination, and a strong belief. We have no other alternative. Our alternative is to achieve success and excellence through our own effort. The alternative that will enable us and our countrymen to be placed on a pedestal. The alternative that will make us and our countrymen as reference material by anybody in this world. This is the only alternative that will make us competitive and relevant in an environment that practices the meritocracy system.We need to think big dream high and have strong heart.
I came from the village. As someone from the village, I thought a lot about my religion and my countrymen. There are followers of this blog who suggested that I gave my views on matters relating to religion and communities. At first, I do not pay much attention to their views. It is a known fact that I am a Malay and a Muslim. As for my friend, he is a Chinese and his religion is Buddhist. Another friend of mine is an Iban and his religion is Christian. There is nothing much to discuss since this is a fact and a reality. We cannot change the fact. As a pious Muslim, I will of course uphold Islam first than the community. For me Islam as a religion is absolute and supreme. Only the Islamic faith can guarantee my happiness in this world and hereinafter. This is a sure thing as promised by Allah SWT.
Now in the media, a lot has been said about communities. Issues relating to the Interlok novel too invite a lengthy debate from all walks of life. So much so due to the intensity of the debate, the contents of the novel has been asked to change. The reason being to avoid surfacing any sensitive issues on race. Personally, I felt that we have sacrificed our intellectual capacity at the expense of criticism from a particular community. Akin to saying, are we Malays, Chinese, Iban, Khadazan or Indians first or are we Malaysians first? This has been the main topic of discussion more so for the politicians. That is why sometimes due to political reasons, we have to change the reality and facts to a pretense or untruth and made to look like the truth from political perspective.
The Brand
Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Mahathir Mohammad, the former Prime Minister is a popular figure within and outside the country. Is his popularity due to him being a Malay or a Malaysian? In fact people identified Dr Mahathir personally as a Malaysian brand as compared to Malaysia as a country itself. When we are outside the country, people often ask us where do we come from or what community do we represent. We then mentioned that we are a Malaysian or a Malay. Sad to say they cannot placed us in their minds. But when we ask them whether they know Dr Mahathir, then it rings a bell. Why is that so? They recognized Dr Mahathir as a product and a popular brand. When they recognized Dr Mahathir then they know we are Malaysians. Why does this happened? This happen because Dr Mahathir is an outstanding personality. He excelled in many fields and areas; career wise, leadership, communication, character wise, family life, as a negotiator, orator, powerful and strong in English and Malay language, as a strategist, risk taker, knowledgeable person and many more. His popularity is not only acknowledged by us but also the whole world. This include the Arabian people, Japanese and even the Jews. Dr Mahathir is Dr Mahathir. Not because he is a Malay or a Malaysian. People know Dr Mahathir because he is Dr Mahathir and someone who is successful in his political career. Dr Mahathir’s popularity matches that of Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew is not popular just because he is a Chinese. He is popularly known as the leader that developed Singapore into a modern city state and highly acclaimed by the rest of the world.
My Origin
Eventhough I came from the village, I am not of pure Malay origin. My grandfather originated from Shanghai in China. According to my ancestral information, my grandfather travelled far and wide and reaches Singapore by boat, took the train until the end of the railway line to reach Tumpat in Kelantan. He then took a ride in a boat travelled upstream until he reaches my village. My great grandfather was a pious Muslim and an opinion leader in our village. He adopted my grandfather and converted him to Islam. Maybe due to his good looks, my great grandfather married him off to my grandmother. Their offspring i.e. my mother and uncle therefore looked like Chinese. Same goes with me. During my primary school days, my friends used to jeered and call me names; tokpek which means apek. I cried almost everyday. On my father’s side, his origin is Bugis. My father was a self defence silat Tok Guru. This could be due to his strong Bugis blood descendants well known for their marshall arts skills. Now that is my origin. To call myself a pure Chinese or pure Malay, is not appropriate. As for Bugis I’m also not pure Bugis. So what am I then?. What is clear is that I’m a Malaysian. Dr Mahathir according to his life story is in a similar situation as I am; he is not of pure Malay, neither is he pure Indian. He is a true Malaysian.
Actually a lot of people are in the same predicament as myself. Most of their elders or grandparents are descendants from Javanese, Minangkabaus, Mat Salleh, Japanese, Bajau, Russian, Iban, Koreans, Thais, Arabs, Kadazans, Pakistan, Bugis or even Congos. If we studied carefully, most of our previous PMs were not pure Malays. Tunku Abdul Rahman possibly had Siamese blood in him, Tun Razak had Bugis blood, Tun Hussin Onn had Turkish blood, Tun Mahathir has Indian blood, Tun Abdullah has Arabic blood, Dato’ Seri Najib has Bugis blood, Tan Seri Mahyuddin and Dato’ Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi have Javanese blood.
Our background
If anybody asked, are we Malays or Chinese or Iban first?, our answer should be we are Malaysians first. Similarly with YAB Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, Tan Seri Mahyuddin Yasin, Dato’ Seri Hadi Awang, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Lim Kit Siang, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan, Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar, are known the world over because of their success in their respective fields and they are Malaysians. People know them as Malaysians and not as Malays, Chinese or Indians.
Does it really matter who we are ? or which race we come from? These questions will only crop up when we achieved success and popularity. Then our background will be scrutinized in detail. If a Malaysian lass became a successful fashion designer in Hollywood, obviously people will enquire about her background and origin. If a Malaysian golfer succeeded in beating Tiger Woods, then people will enquire about his background and origin. If a Malaysian girl became a tahfiz Al Quran, AlHadith kitab and obtained a PHD at a young age of 23, then people will enquire her background and origin. If a Malaysian became a nuclear specialist and awarded the Nobel Prize just like Mohammad El Baradei the nuclear specialist from Egypt, obviously people will enquire about his background and origin. This means as Malaysians and parents at the same, if we want to achieve popularity, we need to make sure our countrymen produced children the likes of Ibnu Sina (Islamic Doctor), Rafael Nadal (world ranking tennis player), Mohamad Yunus (created Gramen Bank to help the poor and won the Nobel Prize for his effort), Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and Alhamdulillah we have Dr Mahathir. The bottom line and morale of the story; we need to produce more bright human beings like Dr Mahathir and the rest from among our countrymen. Only by being excellent, intelligent and couple with wisdom bring forth and uphold the superiority of a particular community. By personally being popular, will ensure the relevancy of the Malay community many more years to come.
Who we are
We are respected and looked upon not because we are Malays, Chinese, or Kadazans. We are respected because of our knowledge, our intelligence and more so our uniqueness as compared to the others. This is the result of our creation and innovation, our wealth and assets, our religious outlook and good behavior, our iman and takwa, by being the First Nobel Prize winner among our countrymen, by discovering the cure for cancer and HIV, by discovering new technologies until we are at par with Bill Gates, by our popularity and kindness as a technologist and philanthropists. Make ourselves be in the forefront, be successful in whatever field and by itself our countrymen will be remembered and recognized the world over. The probability of being no 1 in the world in any field is 1 in 7 billion or 0.000000014%. Indeed our chances are slim. It is a difficult thing to do and that is the challenge. If our ambition is to succeed only at the country level, then the world will not take heed of us, will not take heed of our religion. We need to be world class regardless of how difficult it is. This is the spirit and conviction i.e. if we love our countrymen.
When Obama was elected President of the United States of America, then only people know that he is a black American, eventhough this is obvious physically. If Obama in his Presidential campaign relied solely on the fact that he is a black American, he will not be elected based on this strategy. He was chosen because of his unique change agenda which became his campaign manifesto. Apart from the fact that he is smart, charismatic, a good orator who manage to push his change agenda into the hearts of the American people. That was the reason why he was chosen. When elected, Obama became more popular as the first black American President. The Kenyans claimed that he originated from Kenya, Africa. The Indonesians claimed that his step father was an Indonesian. All this claims came after he won the Presidential election and not before.
Totally inclusive programme
Sensitivity and racial disintegration are the politicians game plan. What is more important is our own success and achievements as a member of the community. If the government’s Economic Transformation Policy (ETP) succeeded in increasing the living standards of all communities in a fair and just manner, I am confident, that the racial problems will be minimal. That is why the ETP is an important programme to be implemented. It cannot make the rich become richer leaving the poor to only enjoy the gravy of the country’s successful development plan whilst the contents have been taken away by those with more merits.
If the program is not totally inclusive, the sensitivity and racial disintegration issues will still be relevant and continued to be politicized. Till such time situation changes, novel the likes of Interlok with a beautiful story line will have to be harmonized before it can be adopted as a school text.
We need a strong conviction. We must have faith, confidence, determination, and a strong belief. We have no other alternative. Our alternative is to achieve success and excellence through our own effort. The alternative that will enable us and our countrymen to be placed on a pedestal. The alternative that will make us and our countrymen as reference material by anybody in this world. This is the only alternative that will make us competitive and relevant in an environment that practices the meritocracy system.We need to think big dream high and have strong heart.
Monday, July 02, 2012
Think Big Dream High-E11 – Love
Eternal Love
I came from the village. As someone from the village, I’m always evaluating and praying that I can improve myself every minute of the time. More so when I’m on my own in the Wilayah Persekutuan mosque. Many images and visuals come and go. Love is one of the issues that surfaced in my imagination. Love is mentioned many times in the Quranic Tafsir or Hadith or in other forms of writing. All this while, I thought that love is relevant to the teenagers only. They are the ones largely involved in love. The more I pondered, the more I realized that love is not exclusive to the teenagers only. It is relevant to all levels of the communities. It is relevant to all of us.
The Hierarchy Of Love
Our love for Allah SWT is the most important love of all. Followed by love for our religion, love for our Prophet Muhammad SAW, love for the Malaikat, love for the Anbia, love for the Quran, Injil, Taurat and Zabur. Love for ourselves,our parents,our wife and children,relatives,neighbours, the ummah,all of the mankind,all the living things,the universe and all of Allah SWT’s creations. All of these are essential love and borne automatically out of someone with iman and takwa.
I do read a lot of life stories and biographies of successful people either Muslims or non Muslims. They could be the Prophet’s SAW’s friends, Islamic Mujadid or the life stories of the country’s leaders or corporate figures. I am indeed very impressed with the life stories of these successful people. From my observation and research, one of the factors that contributed to their success is that they have abundance feeling of love and affection inside themselves. They love themselves. They love everybody around them, They love everything about their environment. They love the people and their nation. They love their work, career, and their business. They love to gain knowledge and skills and are open to criticisms. They love learning, giving advice and sharing experiences that they went through and gained. They love challenges and risks. They love to win and for the sake of winning they love their success.
Learn To Love Oneself
I often asked myself the question, “Do I love myself enough?”. If I love myself enough, I should be doing only things that can guarantee my happiness in this world and Jannah life hereinafter. If I love myself enough why is it that sometimes I am lazy to put in more effort to achieve success? I am sometimes lazy to perform the late night solat and other ibadat ? I am sometimes lazy to read and increase my knowledge and skills. I do at times think of negative things and sometimes think bad about other people. I do at times feel disappointed, loosing hope and sad. At times I do feel there is no more hope for myself to achieve any ambition, nobody to rely on in solving the many problems I faced. At times I do feel that I’m a born looser and that is my fate. I am always facing dire straits and failure in life. I’m still being unfair to myself. I’m still uncertain of my intelligence and maturity. I still do not love myself wholeheartedly. I still fail to get to know my actual self. At times, I do feel I’m great, successful and getting closer to Allah SWT. In actual fact it’s the opposite. I have not love myself wholeheartedly. I’m still not sincere and transparent to myself, not fair to myself. I still do not know myself.
If all these images still crosses my mind, still exist in my being, still bothering and disturbing my feelings, still affecting my actions and decisions, it looks like I still fail to love myself. I know that I can love myself. I really do want to love myself. I realize the condition for me to love myself is to put aside all negative thoughts, feelings, assumptions and actions that prevent and make me far apart from loving myself completely. I now realize that I am the main culprit to be blamed for preventing myself to achieve any form of success. I actually have not love myself fully. I still put the blame on myself, still having bad impressions, still not confident and belief in myself. I still have an inferiority complex.
Strengthening The Love For Myself
From now on I must strengthen the love for myself. I will not do anything to trouble myself or my family. I will first ask my inner self and myself whether a particular thing is good or bad before making any decisions or actions. I do not want to blame myself anymore. Actually I can criticize and make comments upon myself but not to the extent of hating and blaming myself. Other people too will be invited to criticize, make comments and advise me. This will in no way stop me from loving myself. All these criticisms will serve as a motivation and guidance for me to love myself more. Laziness, disappointment and giving up hope are the actual causes of failure and this failure will dampen the love for myself. Alternatively, self awareness, intelligence, diligence and tawakal are the metaphors for my success and this success is the fertilizer for the love of myself. I love myself. I will not allow any negative elements to become the barrier for me to increase the love for myself. I am very confident and positive that I will succeed in loving myself.
We Do Not Love The Other People Less
Have you heard of the saying,” we have to love the others before we love ourselves?”. How can I love someone else without me first loving myself, my environment. How can I express the love for my countrymen and my country. Take for instance the emergency situations during a flight. We are reminded time and again to fasten our safety jacket before we fasten the safety jacket of the children in our care. This does not mean we don’t love our children. By saving ourselves first we can then save our children in a more effective way. The same goes with charity. We are asked to give donation to our family first before donating to our neighbours and other people. The morale of the story is that the love for ourselves are more important and meaningful. However, this does not mean that we love less the other people. Just like my love for my Muslim brothers comes first before my love towards the other communities. Islam taught me to love every of Allah SWT’s creations. This is a priority. Nobody can question this. This has been my practise, belief and stronghold as a Muslim. Now that we know our real selves, now that we love ourselves completely, we can then share and distribute our feeling of love and success to the people around us in a more effective manner.
The True Meaning Of Love
Now I know what love means. From now on I will appreciate myself more, thanked myself more, respect myself more, reward myself more in whatever achievement I make and placed myself on a pedestal. However it will not be to the extent of making myself proud and arrogant. It will not be to the extent of me being takabur and forgetting my roots. It is just to express my appreciation and love towards myself more. Only this kind of love will be the motivator for my success. I only want to succeed. I just want to think big dream high and have a strong heart in order for me to be successful.I have a right and deserve to be successful just like anybody else before me. InsyaAllah.
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