Think Big Dream High, E28 – The Smiling Society

Smiling

1.The higher the level of position and status the more difficult it is to smile to the others. The same goes for those who are in the lower position, the least important they are, the more difficult for them to smile to the others. Moderate people like us are always generous with our smile.

2 The VIPs do not smile intentionally as they needed to portray the image that they have the authority, stature, serious  and not easy to be associated with. The lower level staff find it difficult to smile due to their poor social status. There is a reason for all of our actions.

3. In Islam, smiling  is a sunnat. A smile is a sadaqah. It is encouraged to smile to anybody regardless of his social status. It makes the person who we are dealing with happy and so do we. It created a harmonious environment and friendship.

Reality in life 

1.The  VIPs too smile and have big laughs when they are among the VIPs circle. The Tuns will only smile with the other Tuns. The Tan Sris will only smile with the other Tan Sris. Sometimes the VIPs have a big laugh too, but it happen only during their happy hours with their boys or machai.

2.But one thing for sure, the VIPs will definitely give a  big smile when they are in front of the TV or newspaper camera. They have to show their friendliness to the public. They need to show their closeness to the public. Obviously technically we can brand them as the real hypocrite.

3.Majority of our community are poor thus they find it difficult to smile. So long as their lives remained unchanged, they find it difficult to smile. Our country is developing everyday. The capitalists or the wealthy are creating wealth and progressing every second. They are  doing it in multiples. This is the basis of a capitalism economic system. They can afford to smile among themselves even more than the majority of our community.

4.Whenever a programme is launched by the VIPs, the capitalist and the wealthy will immediately reap the benefits. Its as if,  today, the VIP announced a project,  tomorrow the wealthy and the capitalist become richer. They can continue to smile, as most of the programs announced by the VIPs are more for the benefit of the wealthy and less for the needy and poor. The way it is announced however, looks like it is for the benefit of the poor and needy. This is the strength of the media, the public relations strategy and the publicity.

Tips    

1.In order for the majority of our community to smile, the VIPs need to launch  programmmes that can make these people smile. The programmes for the wealthy ones, must be continued as these programmes will lead to a chain of job opportunities. These programmes, will contribute towards the country’s development process even faster. This fact cannot be denied.

2.At the same time, the programmes for the lower level categories such as the poor,unemployed,widowers and needy ought to be identified and introduced. We do not want the income for the majority of us increases as a result of  being dragged by the income from the wealthy which  increases multifold. We want the income of our community increases proportionately and not as a result of the increase in the average income. The increase in the average income is actually due to the increase in  income of the wealthy category. Mathematically, it is correct but socially, it is very wrong.

3.We need to have many sustainable programmes like FELDA and FELCRA. These are the kind of programmes that should be announced on a regular basis by the VIPs. Maybe programmes like FELDA and FELCRA are not appropriate in the current  environment  as they were in the 50s, 60s and 70s. However,similar programmes which will involve  majority of the poor,unemployed and needy people,will make them own income,saving and assets.Which definitely will change their social status and make them smile throughout their lives.

4.The VIPs need to do research and brainstorming with selected  ordinary people representing the society not necessarily with Phd or high position to identify  programmes with the objective and parameters of creating real income,saving and assets.These programmes must be able to generate and increase our  community overall real average income and their savings on permanent and continuous basis. It will enable our community being the majority in numbers  to own landed properties gradually and value add these assets in the future generations.

5.These are the kind of sustainable programmes that  we need from our elite VIPs to announce. These are the kind of programmes that need to be carried out by our VIPs for our community being the majority.  Programmes that can increase our real income, accumulate our real savings, create and protect our  real assets.

6.By having these programmes, our community will not find it difficult to smile. This will enable  us, our children, our children’s children smiling throughout our entire lives. Therefore, apart from us, our elite VIPs too need to think big dream high and have a strong heart to enable all of us to continuously have a smiling face.                    

Think Big Dream High, E 27- The Spirit Of Sacrificing

Sacrifice

1.Making sacrifices in general is about a sincere action of giving or donating something which we own and dear to us. The highest and most valuable sacrifice is one’s life and the lowest and least of all is one’s time. Sacrificing will have value to Allah SWT if it is made only for the sake of Allah SWT. Sacrificing one’s life, assets, thoughts, emotion, desire, spiritual or time for the sake of Allah SWT will be rewarded with heaven and good omens/deeds.

2.For a country’s leader sacrificing will be in the form of abdicating himself to be of service to the country and the rakyat. His soul, desire, emotions, spiritual, mental and assets owned by the leader will be sacrificed and donated to the rakyat to care for their wellbeing and takes precedence over his personal interest. This is a real leader with a charismatic leadership.

3.As the head of the family, sacrificing is about allocating all of his assets to ensure that his family members are successful in education, career and their lives. He is responsible for the happiness of his children and wife in this world and hereafter.

4.This means sacrificing is something big i.e. giving out everything you have internally and externally including those that can be seen and cannot be seen to another person. This is not for personal interest. It is a reflection of one’s sincerity, kindness and high moral value towards Allah SWT, himself and the people around him.

Reality in life

1.FILO or FINO i.e. First In  Last Out or First In No Out has been the practice for most of us. We want to be the first to receive other people’s gifts and as far as possible, to be the last person to donate something to another person. There are also others who do not want to give anything to other people.

2.Seldom if ever someone who accidentally hit an unattended parked vehicle leaving a note at the car’s wiper apologizing for the incident and leaving a contact number for any claims of damages. This is a small example of our inner sacrifice. Our inner voice asked us to ignore and just leave the scene of incident. After all nobody knows we are the one who hit the car. By owning up and placing the message at the car’s wiper we have sacrificed our desire for the sake of Allah SWT.

Tips

1.Be determined to be someone having a noble and kind heart. Be determined to be someone rich and wealthy, a millionaire but who is always contributing for waqf, donating and paying zakat on his profits and assets. Be determined to channel our thoughts, emotions, desire, spiritual, time and energy for the Islamic religion. Be determined to be directly involved in contributing towards the success of our family, community and our country.

2.Be determined not to ask for any form of payment for the contribution and assistance made. No more Mr 10%, no more Datin 20%. No more acronym USA(Untuk Saya Apa) i.e. what is it for me?. We help and assist with sincerity. We arrange appointments with the VIPs with sincerity. We lobby projects from VIP with sincerity. In return we only ask for an appropriate amount of professional fees, equivalent to the services rendered.  If we receive the payment, we are determined to pay zakat, donate it and distribute it to the poor and needy and the orphanage.

3.We are determined to erase any form of revenge towards another person. We are determined to sacrifice our beauty sleep for the sake of performing the night solat sunnat. We are determined to sacrifice our full stomach to perform the sunnat fasting. We are determined to sacrifice our enjoyment with our  friends in order to start a distant learning programme for a degree in business administration.

4.This is our determination, will power and intention to be ever ready to make sacrifices when there is a call for it. To have all this right attitude and spirit we need to think big dream high and have a strong heart.       

Think Big Dream High,E26- Those That Cannot Refrain Themselves From Slandering The Others

Slandering

1.Slandering is one of the biggest wrongdoings for a Muslim. As a result, in the hereinafter we will be punished by Allah SWT by consuming our own  Muslim  brothers or sisters’ flash. We are sure of this. We are also sure that we cannot control ourselves from slandering others, talking bad and gossiping about the others.

2.Obviously we have reasons why we like to talk bad about the others. We assume that gossiping, slandering and talking bad about the others  do not cost us anything. We’ve completely forgotten that it is not free.

3.Those who cannot refrain from making slanderous remarks and talking bad about the others is actually suffering from a sickness. He knows its wrong but he’s still doing it. His heart ache. His mind is sick. He is mentally, spiritually and emotionally sick. Physically he does not look sick nor does he look mentally sick. He looks ok at first glance but in actual fact he is sick.

4.He needs to be treated. He needs to be counseled, rehabilitated and eventually recuperated. We do not gain anything when we make slanderous remarks about the others. It has become a habit for us to make slanderous remarks about other people. If a day goes by without us making slanderous remarks, then the day is  incomplete. Its as if something is amiss and devoid of satisfaction without slandering others.

5. Now it is easy to make slanderous remarks about other people. This can be done through blogs, political seminars, books, electronic and print media. The slanderous remarks will spread like wildfire.

6. Y making slanderous remarks to Z or vice-versa and the public like you and me for no reason were being roped in as well too. Somehow it affects our daily lives and state of tranquility. We were forced to read or listen or discuss about all kinds of mud slinging, accusations or wrongdoings. Our social life is being disturbed. We keep talking about the others such as Y or Z or vice-versa most of the time to the extent it became part and partial of our daily lives activities. Indeed, this is really not a good trend or culture at all to subcribe. It has become too rampant lately. It has become a social illness. The illness for the intellectual and smart ones.

7. We do feel frustrated and angry  towards the people we do not like. Sometimes our anger reaches boiling point. Can we reserve and control our anger to the point that we do not get carried away by making slanderous remarks about somebody in public? Let us have some reservations, eventhough our anger is beyond limits.

8. We know that this slanderous act will create disunity among our community. The person we make the slanderous remark about is our Muslim brothers or sisters and the person we talk bad about is someone we knew.

9.We cannot bequeath such bad behaviours to our future generations. We need to bequeath our good and high moral aspects, untainted honourable behaviour and our kind heartedness when we leave this world. We need to leave behind a respectable name and not someone who is jeered and abused by the public.

10.We need to change the culture of slandering to the culture of praising. The culture of bad mounting and gossiping to the culture of thanking,forgiving and appreciating. The culture of disunity and hatred to the culture of unity,loving and amicability. The culture of unproductive chit-chatting  to the culture of valuing precious time.

Reality in life

1.There is a piece of meat in our body. This piece of is meat is the one that controls our life. In the Kitab it was mentioned that this piece of meat is our heart. If this piece of meat is white then our behavior will be white as well.

The black and darker the colour so will be our actions and behavior.

2. In actual fact, this piece of meat for the majority of us is multi coloured i.e. not all black neither is it all white. If we present this study graphically, majority or about 90% will be multi-coloured, 8% black and 2% white. This is not the actual picture, just a rough estimation of the writer. 

3.All actions under the major sins which is haram such as adultery, homosexual, slanderous act, stealing, unfair ruling, killing, drunk, drug addict etc, are usually done by people whose heart is black. The lighter sins  are done by those whose heart is multi coloured. Those with white meat  are the ones not doing the bad deeds and doing and encouraging all the good deeds.

Tips

1.Can this piece of meat be cleansed until it turns sparkling white? The Kitab clearly says it can be done. The door for repentance is wide open. We need to apologise from the people we gossip and make slanderous remarks.

2.We need to cleanse this piece of meat by Zaikrullah, reciting Al Quran, reading Tafsir, reading Al Hadith. We need to do a lot of  fasting and solat. We need to pay a lot of Zakat and gifts in the form of Sadaqah.

3.We need to be admitted to the recovery and rehabilitation centre. This place is nothing more than the surau and mosque. We need to spend a lot of time for i’tiqaf in the mosque. A lot of mosque now is air-conditioned  and open 24 hours. We are free to come and go without having to make any payment. The owner of this centre is none other than Allah SWT. Allah SWT encourages us to enter his house.

4.No doctor can treat  our sickness. No guidelines or principles that can teach us to throw away this bad habit. It can only be cleansed through self awakening and realization. We need to go back to the beginning of the road through self realization, repentance, istighfar and remembering Allah SWT all the time. We need to think big dream high and have a strong heart and treat ourselves with all of the above spiritual medicines.     

      

  

Think Big Dream High, E25 – Those Having A Strong Determination

Determination

1.Determination is the promise and commitment that we make to ourselves in order to achieve our intentions and goals.

2.Life is a kaleidoscope  of whimsical  things and events. It is not easy to go through life by just being ourselves, by fulfilling our wants and following our habitual acts.

3.There are many environmental factors that affect our daily lives, that affect the decisions that we make in life.  All of our peers, media electronic such as TV, our readings, our social  circles, our country’s leaders, our teachers, the Islamic scholars etc. play a role in influencing our lives. 

4.The influences are not small. It can change our lives from being Mr X to Mr Y, from being Mr Niceman to Mr Badman or reciprocately, from being Mr Badman to Mr Niceman.

Reality in life

1.Many social ills such as bearing a child out of wedlock, aborting babies, drugs, smoking, infidelity, the opposite sex living together without  marriage ties, homosexual, lesbian, prostitution, abuse, being drunk etc exist in my countrymen’s communities.

2.All these exist due to loss of faith and grasp in life.  Our Islamic religious belief are not strong. We do not have the determination and willpower  not to be involved.

3.There are statistics that shows more than 20,000 female teenagers as young as 13 years old up to the age of 25 staying in the PPRT poor housing scheme  involved in negative social activities. This is a shocking realization though the truth is yet to be validated. The fact remains that it really exist and the trend is increasing and worrying.

4.The weird thing is that, a study in USA indicated a declining trend among the teenagers in USA that are involved in social ills such as loafing, free sex, drugs, being drunk etc.

5.The trend in our country is increasing whilst in USA it is decreasing. The teenagers in the USA study understood that if they destroy their lives now, they will have a bleak future. We have all the while been thinking that the teenagers in USA are a worrying lot but it is otherwise.

6.They are more responsible of their wellbeing and their future. They look beyond the shores and are smart in determining their future goals. They value their future, they do not want to destroy their lives by just having a short fling that will eventually affect their entire lives.

7.The reality is that our teenagers are more worrying. Our teenagers should learn the positive aspects from the teenagers in USA.

Tips    

1.Studies in USA indicated that the teenagers now realized the importance of having a good and stable career and achieving their goals rather than involving themselves in illicit sex, smoking, drugs and being drunk.

2.They now realized that their partners will trust them more if they have a good and lucrative career than those loafing around without any stable career  and ambition in life.

3.The studies also indicated that  the teenagers were able to evaluate and appreciated the fact that having a good family life is more meaningful than a short lived excitement.

4.In USA presently, the teachers were found to consistently advising and reminding the students to refrain and avoid themselves from loafing around, having free sex, smoking, drugs and other social ills.

5.A 17 year old female student in Atlanta, USA, firmly stated that  having sex, being drunk, smoking and drugs were not included in her thoughts radar and daily lives routine.

6.She commenced her daily routine by waking up at 5 am in the morning carry out activities such as swimming, going to school, gymnasium, jogging, swimming again, doing homework, involving herself in NGO social activities, entertaining and accompanying the old and elderly with their pets on their daily exercise routine. She ended her daily activities by continuing her studies and to bed at 10.30 am at night. Her daily life is meaningful, satisfactory and to her enjoyment. Both her parents are the elated ones.

7.There are actually more structured and morally acceptable recreational activities in Malaysia that the teenagers can join. We have many programmes such as Rakan Muda, various NGOs, activities at the mosques, co-curriculum activities, libraries, additional classes, religious and Al Quran classes, youth clubs,friendship programs, motivational camps, religious camps, self defence classes, sports as well as sufficient and adequate time to study and increase our knowledge and skills in computing, cooking, gardening etc. We have many constructive activities at our disposal.

8.We also have a choice to loaf around at the supermarkets, mixing with bad companies like mat rempit, clubbing, disco, partying, mixing with the smokers or taking drugs. Needless to say our  destructive activities choices are also wide.

9.We actually have our own class and standard. We are actually much smarter. We should be proud of our inherent qualities. Allah SWT loves us very much. Whatever choice we make it is reflective of the qualities in ourselves. For sure we do not want to make our parents and siblings frustrated and disappointed  with our behaviour. We want to proof that we are the best human being and Allah SWT will be  proud of us as His creation.

10.Maybe we lack religious knowledge, we have family problems, our parents are separated, we are not in good terms with our siblings, our neighbours are always disturbing us, our house is just like a bird cage, but remember we are also intelligent  and can still think rationally on our own. Be mindful that at the end of the day it is we that have to live with the decisions that we made.

11.We still have the feeling of love for ourselves. We still have our own self esteem.  We need to look back  and remember the small advices from our teachers that must have still remained in our memories like studying hard and be successful so that we can secure a good and stable career in the future.

12.Working hard can ensure that we achieve our ambition. We need to have the determination to succeed. We need to curtail and educate our desires. We need to be assured that we are not as bad as we think. We need to promise ourselves to strive hard for our goals and intentions.No substitute actually for the hard working culture. We need to have a commitment to achieve what we want.

13.We need to have values and self esteem. We do not want to be treated as the communities garbage. We too want to contribute meaningfully to our nation’s development process.From now on we want to think big dream high,we want to have a strong heart and determination to succeed.      

Think Big Dream High,E24- Failure and disappointment is temporary

Failure and Disappointment

1.The fact remains and always be that  our existence in this world is to succeed. We are not  born a failure or in a state of disappointment. Allah SWT created us to be a Caliph. A Caliph cannot fail and be in a state of disappointment.

2. Even though failure and disappointment exist, it will only be temporary. Failure and disappointment is part of the process to achieve success. Success will be sustainable if it has gone through the success and failure phase. Those who have not gone through the failure and disappointment phase will not appreciate and felt fully the beauty of success.

3. This does not mean that we look forward to disappointment  and failure first before succeeding. All of us do not want failure and disappointment in our living vocabulary.  We only want success in our life.

Reality in life 

1.Every one of us have had the opportunity to experience failure and disappointment throughout our lives. Many of us are of the impression that once a failure, he remains a failure forever with no opportunity to get back on his feet again. No more chance to recover.

2. Disappointment and failure crippled all aspects of his life and destroy all forms of ambitions and dreams. For the students and teenagers, disappointment and failure is as a result of  sociable activities, being in love and  poor studies. For the adults, it is as a result of career, business, way of life and marriage. For the elderly, it is as a result of health, religion, wealth and family relationships.

3. The consequences are that we believe  the series of  disappointment and failure from one form to another form of disappointment and failure are continuous and cannot be avoided. For example disappointment in love followed by  failure in studies, failure in career spreads to family and marriage breakup and from marriage breakup it affects the health and so on and so forth. It is even affecting our  religion and way of life. It may even led to death which is not wanted and warranted.

4.In the non Muslim countries like Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea, the number of people committing suicide as a result of failure and disappointment is at an increasing trend from year to year for all age groups.   Praise be to Allah SWT, that this plague is not serious in our communities but the symptoms are already there.

Tips

1. Migrating from a disappointment and failure situation is not something simple. A lot of traps exists for the victims. Disappointment and failure is related to emotions, spiritual and is closely related to psychology.

2. The ability to control is dependant on a person’s energy and strengths. We need adequate oxygen to have energy. We need certain discipline and practices to have strengths. Emotional strength, spiritual strength, mental strength and physical strength plays a big role in influencing the level of coping and sustaining of a person’s failure and disappointment.

3.These strengths will enable a person to cope and sustain the bad effects from failure and disappointment. The stronger the ability to cope and sustain from these bad effects, the better chances will be for all hidden traps  to be slowly eliminated. All we need is to start  building up the energy and the strengths.

4.We need to start eating a proper and balanced diet. We need to start  practicing simple exercise like jogging, cycling, push up and squatting. We need to start  attending religious classes. We need to  start  reading articles, magazines or books. We need to start memorizing Al Quran, reciting doa and zikir. All these practices will increase the oxygen content in our body and build our overall strengths  to overcome our disappointment and failure.

5.From now on we can distanced ourselves from the black spots. We start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. To ensure we can achieve all these we need to think big dream high and at all times must have a strong heart.

Think Big Dream High,E23-A Person Who Is Comfortable In The Comfort Zone

Success

1.Success is a process. It began with a dream, ambition and proceeded with a high level of confidence for someone who wants to succeed.

2. This process will only be complete if it is followed by an action plan. Continuous improvements made on the plan, increasing steadily until it reaches the maximum level of satisfaction.

3.The most important thing is that the person who wants to achieve success should not be satisfied to just be in the comfort zone.   Those who are not satisfied being in the comfort zone will minimize their chances of failure and maximize their chances to succeed.

Reality in Life

1.Being comfortable usually dampens effort to improve and increase our level of success. We lost the opportunity to identify all our weaknesses. We are swayed away with the fruits of our success.

2.A frog will eventually die without it realizing when the container full of water he is in, is  slowly being heated. The warmer the water, the more comfortable  the frog becomes. This frog who is snuggling in the container filled with water, face a sudden death when the  water slowly reaches boiling point.

3.In order not to face the same fate as the frog, we need to be alert and mindful all the time. When the water reaches boiling point, there is no way the frog can save itself. It is fated to die.  Comparatively, we will also not be able to act when it is too late to do anything. This in reality is what we are experiencing and faced with. We have this habit of thinking that we have all the time in the world to remedy our mistakes.

4. More often than not we hear phrases like, “its ok, lets wait a while and enjoy first. When the time comes we repent and ask Allah SWT for forgiveness”. Our repentance will only be accepted by Allah, SWT when we are in a healthy state of mind. When death comes knocking, the doors for repentance will be tightly shut.

Tips   

1.Don’t be satisfied too fast. Don’t be boastful too fast. Don’t be too quick to claim success. Don’t be comfortable too early. Always assume all the time  that our quest for success has not ended. Always assume all the time that we have unfinished business that we need to attend to. Always assume all the time that our performance need to be checked and improved.

2.The people around us will usually report the good stuff. We too would like to hear the positive things only. We always reprimand the staff that reported the negative things. In actual fact the bitter stuff is the medicine to cure us. That is our fault, we just like the sweet and things that look good on the surface. We forget that, the sweet things will slowly make us obese and die of  heart attack.

3.We are protected from being exposed to negative things. We need to have our own spy.We need to have an independent investigative system, to obtain information about our performance, our department’s performance and our company’s performance.

4.This is not the humane spy but rather the spy in the form of an early warning  trigger system. This system will  pull us back from daydreaming about our success.

5.These measures are all important to avoid falling and being trapped in the comfort zone. The zone that not only can kill a frog without any intellectual capacity but the same fate will befall to  intellectual people like us. We need to be alert at all times ,we need to think big dream high and have a strong heart.

Think Big Dream High,E22-We Must Have Courage To Implement An Idea

Ideas

1.A good idea will be meaningful only when it is implemented. To implement an idea you  have to be brave, courageous and available resources at your disposal.

2.Everybody have ideas. It may be good and workable or it may be bad. Ideas derived are dependent on our background, our experience, our education, our readings, our environment and our social life. The higher our education does not necessarily mean our ideas are better. Whatever idea and whoever comes up with the idea is not important. The important thing is that when the idea is implemented the results are effective and lucrative.

3. Not all ideas are relevant most of the time. Ideas relating to business opportunities have a shorter lifespan. Slow in making decisions and taking action resulted in opportunities leaving us and highly likely not coming back again!

 Reality in life

1.We have too many good ideas. We take too much time and using too many resources discussing about so many ideas. We often discuss the same ideas at different times. We often shed our responsibilities by passing certain ideas to others on the pretext that it is not in line with our roles and responsibilities.

2. There are not many who are willing to implement these ideas. There are not many who are willing to take the risk to implement these ideas. There are not many who are willing to take the first step to implement these ideas.

3.In general, all ideas can be divided into two categories. Ideas generated by normal people and ideas produced by professionals involved in R&D who are knowingly innovative and creative. Ideas from the first group are ad-hoc, no need to have disciplinary thinking to come up with the ideas. Ideas from the second group are more structured and produced from the laboratory  in a disciplined manner. Ideas from the second group are more related to technology. As an example, producing car models using solar energy, car designs which are aerodynamic etc. It is beyond a normal person’s capability.

4. Our discussion centered on the first category i.e. involving we as  normal people. We often heard the story of a marketing officer proposing to a big shoe manufacturer to open its shoes business in Africa once a upon a time. The irony of it is that none of the Africans met wore shoes. His boss told him that it was a crazy idea as no one will buy the shoes from his company. Actually, it was a good idea as this meant chances to sell shoes in Africa are  good compared to the market where most of the population are wearing shoes.

5. The same goes with an office boy’s idea of replacing the live plants in the office with plastic ones. This is a good idea as plastic plants are cheaper to maintain as they do  not need to be fertilized and watered everyday. Imagine the benefit of replacing thousands of trees for every office in a 38 storey building.

6. Both of these ideas have been implemented by the respective bosses and it has proven to be effective and lucrative.

Tips

1.As an example, a mother of a 3 year old boy found that her child is following the father’s footstep of having interest in cultural activities such as singing and dancing. This mother is worried that the child will be a singer.

2. The mother got an idea from her friend to train her child to become a doctor but maintain the interest in singing for himself only. The mother was attracted to the idea. According to the friend as the child is closer and within the mother’s control, from now on she should bring up her child to be interested in maths and science and reduce the interest in singing bit by bit.

3.Firstly, she bought toys on the subject of maths, science and medical doctor and not musical instrument. The child showed a positive response and started to show a keen interest in both maths and science. This made her happy.

4. Her second step was to open a mutual fund account in the child’s name amounting to RM10,000 in the hope that in 15 years time this investment with compounded dividend and capital appreciation will amount to about RM200,000 enough to bear his initial expenses to enter a medical school. Then he will apply for the government scholarship or loans.

5.The barriers to the implementation of all ideas revolves around  our in-depth understanding  of these ideas. We know the idea is good but we are a bit blurry as to how to implement this good idea.

6.What process to be followed. What will be the first step. How much resources are required. What is the measurement of success? What is good and bad about it. How to curtail and find the solution if there are problems. What are the conditions, regulations and policies to ensure that it can be implemented smoothly.

7.How to handle expansion and success beyond expectation. We need to make a reasonable analysis on the possibilities or feasibilities. We need to be clear on what needs to be carried out to ensure that the idea is effective and workable. We need to make sure that there are no gray areas  and vagueness in its implementation. We need to brainstorm with our friends, our employees, our boss and those involved in the implementation of the ideas beforehand.

8. The consultation process is important so that all issues relating to the idea is not overlooked. We need to follow a detailed checklist. We need to have a proper scheduling and a gantt chart of activities to be Implemented from start to finish.

9.What is more important is our gut feeling on these ideas i.e. whether it is workable or otherwise, profitable or not. We need to have a strong belief and confidence that the ideas will be successful. As a Muslim we need to pray, doa  and seek guidance from Allah SWT. When the guidance and direction  is clear then we should proceed. To always be brave to take risk in implementing a good idea, we must at all times, think big dream high and have a strong heart. 

Think Big Dream High,E 21- Those Who Do Not Envy Other People’s Success Are Loosers

Envy

1.Sincerity in praying and helping others to achieve success will indirectly expedite our own success. It seldom crossed our mind that by helping others to achieve success it will indirectly assist us to achieve success.

2.Being jealous means we are envious of other people’s success but we do not do anything to increase our success. We need to be envious of other people’s success so that we will also achieve success. We put those who are successful as our motivator and role model. It will serve as incentive for us to work harder to achieve success. We should be grateful of our friend’s success. Our friend’s success will be the standard of measurement for our own success.

3.If we don’t envy other people’s success then we do not have any yardstick nor challenges as motivation to achieve success. Envious of other people’s success will lead us to study their experience, improve our weaknesses, emulate their success until we became more successful than them.

4.At the same time we hope our friend will be more successful as that will be the only way for us to achieve greater success. Other people’s success will be the stepping stone for us to be more successful. A leapfrogging strategy for our success.

Reality in life

1.More often than not we tend to be too self opiniated. We are too selfish. We are too proud of ourselves. We close our eyes to our weaknesses. We sometimes think that when others are successful, it will lessen our opportunity to become successful. We are not happy when others are successful. We are worried that when others are successful, we lost the opportunities. Let others fail and we are the only ones successful. We are scared that other people are more successful than us. We do not want to see other people live comfortably and in luxury more than us. As far as we are concerned let others fail and we are the only ones successful.

2. When our friend gets promoted we feel jealous and resentful. When our friend gets more increment and received 18 months pay as bonus we feel jealous and unhappy. For the men, when a lady is appointed as the boss, they feel jealous and do not want to give their co-operation. We do not like to see other people’s success. Far from being grateful with other people’s success. Far from assisting and praying for other people’s success and happiness. These type of people actually are losers.

Tips

1.In Islam, besides praying for ourselves, we also pray for other people’s happiness and for all Muslim men and women. This is being taught by our religion. Allah Subhana Allahu Ta’ala’s blessings, good health, safety, good fortune, rewards and rizki are wide. What others received do not necessarily make our share lesser.

2. By being envious of other people’s success , more millionaires were created, more companies expanded multiple times and profiting. Countries like Japan, China and Korea were able to surpass the western technological capabalities and are now far more advanced in technological, industrial and commercial areas compared to the west.

3.At the initial stage, these countries copied the new technologies from their western counterparts. This happens because of the envious state in themselves and their leaders. This happens because of the envious feeling in every single person of their communities.

4.When others achieve number one, we also want to achieve number one. This indirectly, make other people want to be number one and work harder to be number one. Eventhough in the end, only one person gets number one but the overall level of productivity in the race to get number one increases multifold.

5.This happens in every sector be it education, employment and business. For the education sector, the level of excellence for all students increase. For the employment sector, the overall level of service extended increases. For the industrial or business sector, the level of quality, service, sales and profitability increases. This is the level of success that all of us should aim.

6.As a result of being envious of other people’s success, at the end of the day, all of us gained. Not only for ourselves but also for our community and country. All we need to do starting from now is to think big dream high and eliminate totally the element of selfishness.

Think Big Dream High,E 20 – People do not want to think in a simple way

Too much thinking

1.Everyone wants to impress the others. This usually happens during interaction, we try hard to impress the other party. That should be done. We failed to communicate if we cannot impressed our audience.

2.The issue we want to bring across stop short. In trying to impress, most of the time we expressed our messages in a long winded way.

3.We use expressive language and jargons to make it look intellectual. Using stylish language and using language with class. Armed with statistics to the last two decimal points. The audience looked impressed and stay tuned to what is being delivered.

4.However, most of the time we overlooked the real issue. We focus on the non importance. It looked good, impressive, with class and sophistication but way out of line. This is due to no fault of no one. It’s just that sometimes we think too much, to the extend that we missed the real issue that need to be solved.

Reality in Life

1.The real issue is set aside and the side issue takes centre stage. Say for example, the issue is on fishermen, instead the debate focus on cats.

2. Why cats? The fishermen catches fish and fish is a cat’s favourite food. No more discussion on fishermen and fishes but the cat’s issue is elaborated and discussed.

3.We got carried away and not focusing on the real issue i.e. the problems of the fishermen. We walked away from the real issue and tried to impress the audience with the cat story. In our presentation to support our story on the cats, we showed statistics, graphs, references and charts to impress the audience. Nothing is being mentioned on fishermen, maybe just a little bit on fishes.

4. In the end we derive solutions for the wrong problems. The real issue remained unsolved forever.

5. That is why, year in year out we have not been able to solve the real problem, regardless of the number of resolutions prepared and presented to the authorities. The same old problems keep cropping up.

6.A student who interpreted an examination question wrongly resulted in him being the only failure for the examination.

7. In a bigger scenario, if the authorities wrongly implemented a policy, millions of my countrymen’s community will suffer the consequences and be victimized. The effects will be felt far into the future generations to come. The impact is beyond our imagination.

8.The Felda Scheme appeared to be the most successful and effective programme for eradication of poverty among my countrymen. It was founded by the late Tun Abdul Razak, the father of our current Prime Minister.

9.The late Tun Razak understood for a fact that the basis for My countrymen and the country to become rich and successful are as follows; i) My countrymen must own property ii) My countrymen must work on a full time basis on the strength of their capability and ability i.e. as farmers, rubber tappers, carry out agricultural activities iii) The country as a whole benefited from the programme.

10.That is what Felda is all about. It gave opportunity for My countrymen to live comfortably and owning properties. Millions of My countrymen and their families benefited from the Felda scheme. The country became popular as the largest producer of oil palm and rubber. A programme implemented on the basis of a simple issue and a very clear way of thinking on how to solve problems faced by my countrymen. It has proven itself to be very effective and successful.

Tips

1.We need to constantly refer to the issue we want to resolve. Try to make it simple and solve it as it is. Do not complicate matters. Do not create unnecessary assumptions and cloudiness to it. To the extent that programmes being implemented have no clear goals.

2.As an example, how to make my countrymen contribute and participate actively and meaningfully towards the country’s economic development process?

3.The issue is what kind of profession and the number of my countrymen’s workforce that will benefit from the country’s economic development process?. This input is crucial in producing more quality and professional workers, entrepreneurs and businessmen. So that the average income of our community increases in tandem with the increase in the country’s average income.

4. In the process, we invited the experts and the intellectuals to discuss and provide answers to this issue. A lot of research and references made. A lot of discussions, ideas, comments and views obtained. A lot of resolutions made. Most of the resolutions however narrowed down to issues such as i) The need to increase the number of tuition classes for our children. ii) The need to create a special fund to sponsor the studies and tuition classes of our children. iii) The need to have only one school session from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm. iv) The need to teach science and mathematics in Bahasa Melayu. v) The need to have more boarding schools for students in the rural areas and many more relating to the side issues. These issues looked important enough. So a lot of time has been spent to discuss the reasons as to why my countrymen’s students do not excel in their studies.

5.In actual fact we already knew the answers. A lot of statistics available to explain the subject matter. What we need is the solution and how to do it right in an effective manner.

6.The truth of the matter, we lack discussion on the methods and programmes on how to increase the number of students in the technical and engineering streams much needed to be the effective contributors to our economic growth. We do not discuss the ways and means to increase the number of my countrymen’s workforce, five to ten years in the future, to be 70% qualified in the technical and engineering field. We lost focus as we do not comprehend the real issue that need to be solved.

7.As a result, until now and probably forever we will not have enough technical, engineering and technological savvy community to be able to develop, invent or innovate our own new and competitive technologies. We are just good in using and importing Western, Japanese, Korean or now Chinese technologies and products.

8.A lot of resources wasted, although there were some good ideas that came out of the process and exercise. All presenters were able put their points across. The audience were committed and gave their honest opinion. However, most of the time we failed in addressing the real problems.

9.The fact that we do not comprehend the real issue that need to be solved, make us largely responsible in providing solutions to side issues of non importance and way out of line. This is simply due to our countrymen not thinking in a simple way to solve a simple problem. We need to think big dream high but minus the sophistication.

Think Big Dream High, E 19- A person with no ambition

Ambition

1. Try stretching your arms. Obviously there is a limit to what you can do.

2. When it comes to ambition, there is no limit at all. All of us have ambitions, sometimes we have more then just one ambition. We also regularly improve our ambitions from time to time.

3. However, there are those in our community with no meaningful ambition in life. Not having a realistic ambition. Not realizing the fact that having an ambition does affect one’s life.

4. When we have an ambition, we must strive hard to achieve it. Ambition will continuously motivate us to do the best we can to ensure what we want in life will be achieved.

5. Most of the time we do not place much importance on our ambition and its impact on our lives. We fail to have a meaningful ambition. We fail to understand that having an ambition will be the push factor to improve our well being and those of our family as well.

Reality in life

1.The fact is we do not have any meaningful ambition at all. More like the delusions of a Walter Mitty. Ambitions that do not hold us down to achieve it.

2. By our own definitions and assumptions, our present lifestyle is adequate and comfortable enough hence less attention given to ambition.

3. What we have in mind is only to comfort and entertain our desires. We exist but only as a living skeleton. Day in day out, life is a straight line, nothing changes. It follows the same routine from the moment we got out of bed and going to bed again.

Tips

1.Ambitions are the driving force and guidelines behind our daily live’s routine. It adds excitement and create challenges to our lives.

2.We actually exists and not as skeletons only. We need to appreciate that we are living. We have roles and responsibilities.

3. Be action oriented. Always hoping, expecting and looking forward to live for the next day and days to come.

4.Ambitions have to be specific and achievable (like I want to be a millionaire). Ambitions have to be clear as to the timing and period to achieve it (like on my 30th birthday). Ambitions have to be clear on the means and methods to achieve it(like be involved in real estate business as soon as I graduate). Ambitions must have the processes and standards of achievements (like the balance in my banking account increases 50% more than the previous three months balance). Ambitions must have room for improvements until fully attainable (like my business need to expand beyond the Klang Valley, to Johor Baru in the next month and early next year to be in Mecca. I need an Arabian to be my partner from June this year).

5.The minds of those with ambitions is like a spinning top. Always thinking, planning and looking for opportunities wherever it may be. Not thinking in single dimension but multi dimension. A glass half filled is viewed as a glass half full. Those with ambition will never stop praying as though he will die the next day and work as though he will live a thousand more years. Life full of activities. Living for a reason, with rationale and justification. We need to think big and dream high at all time in order for us to be able to achieve what we want in life.

Think Big Dream-E18- Those Who Do Not Want To Change

Change Towards Betterment

1.The positive and continuous changes towards betterment in our attitude will bring us closer to our goals, dreams and ambition in life.

2.Our attitude and action play a big role in determining our level of success. It is acknowledged that each person has an advantage over the other but most of us cannot accept and concede our weaknesses.

3.We do not want to change. We are stubborn and strong headed. We assume that we are the best with no faults and defects. The others are in the wrong and not as smart as us. We cannot accept other people’s opinion, advice and criticism.

4.We know that in the present environment, we need to listen more than be heard more. However, we still assume that we need not listen due to the fact that we are smarter and wiser. We are everything. We stick to our contention of not changing.

Reality in Life

1.In reality, we are only human beings. We need to face the facts whether we like it or not. Indeed we do have weaknesses. As the proverb says, “No matter how smart the acorn jumps, it will one day fall to the ground”. The acorn will not fall once but many more times in its lifetime.

2.Why does it fall? All of us knew that the acorn was created by Allah SWT as a creature good at jumping. However like all of Allah SWT’s creations it does have weaknesses and it will eventually fall to the ground. As human beings, we may feel that we are smarter in our field in fact much more than the acorn who is good at jumping.

3.The fact that the acorn who is good at jumping can still fall, what more we as human beings despite the sophisticated technologies that can assist us, we still fail due to our own weaknesses. If we are able to accept this fact, then there is a good chance we can accept any changes that comes our way.

Tips

1.As Allah SWT’s creation living in this millennium, we should have an open mind. We should be closer to our environment. We should have access to various up to date information. If we need to change eventhough we do not want to do so, we should consider the necessity of such acts with the latest information available.

2.Maybe our previous experience, made it difficult for us to change but we need to consider those around us. If a strong rationale and justification requires us to change then we need to change. Only by changing, can we understand the new and alien environment around us.

3.All this while we thought, the good things can be felt and found in our world only. Only after changing did we realise that the world out there which was new and alien to us before is actually much better than our own world.

4.After fixing two mirrors to our brains , we realised that the world out there is much much better. We just found out the advantages of having the front and back mirror. The feeling of regret deep inside us the change should have been made a long time ago.

Think Big Dream High-E 17 – Those Who Are Confused and Disorganized

Behaviour of people

1.As a professional manager I do made some analysis into the various eccentricities and characteristics of the people I associated , observed and communicated with.

2.In my future articles, I will share my views with the readers on the various management issues relating to eccentricities, behaviour and actions of the people especially in working or office environment.

3.A person who is confused and disorganized will never know what they want in life. They do not have any ambition and clear direction in their daily lives.

4.This situation is experienced by all levels of communities right from the student, worker, boss, housewife or entrepreneur. Being in a state of confusion made them unsuccessful. Although they can be regarded as successful, it will be just mediocre only.

5.The state of confusion began with a feeling of non-confidence in oneself. Non-confidence in oneself is a sickness that started with inferiority complex i.e. a feeling of insecurity of not measuring up and having a low self esteem. Without realising it, we always raise the white flag before even trying. We are afraid to compete. We are afraid to take the risk. We are afraid to take the first step. We become followers. When we are confused and disorganized , we do not know how to began and take the first step.

Reality in Life

1.Being in a state of confusion and disorganized is a reality in our daily lives. As an example, a student will be confused and disorganized when he is uncertain of his priorities as a student. He mixes the issue on love and ambition. In the end he failed in both areas and ended in a misery.

2.As a worker in the office, we contributed and be involved in endless non productive meetings. Meetings wasted a lot of time, resources and financial well being of the government or companies. Most meetings come prepared with various facilities including food which are sometimes not consumed by those who attended them.

3.Most meetings do take a long time to debate on issues which are of no importance. This happens when most of the issues are either unclear or not focused. In actual fact, the meeting can be completed within 30 minutes with just a bottle of mineral water in hand. In case the water is not consumed it can be kept for other meetings as it will not turn bad.

4.Since most of the participants are confused, the meeting only ended 3 hours later. Breakfast or lunch had to be prepared. It comes with “teh tarik” and dessert as well. There’s food everywhere resulting in my countrymen’s communities 70% more obese than the other communities.

5.When a person is obese, they get tired easily, slow in responding and low in productivity. As the meetings took too long, most participants ended up exhausted and tired and cannot focus on their work for the rest of the day. All this happens because we are confused and disorganised.

Tips

1.Everyone of us are the same. The one thing that separated us from the others is our level of confidence and maturity. We are confident if we are equipped with all kinds of knowledge. Knowledge relating to our studies, work, social life, our religion or those relating to our business which must all the time be acquired.

2.We need to increase our knowledge by reading blogs, books, the Al Quran translation, kitab tafsir, kitab Al Hadith, by attending courses, seminars, discourse, discussion or any talks on all kind of intellectual interaction with anybody.

3.Knowledge will not make us look stupid or proud but it will always make us be prepared, confident, matured and skillful. A knowledgeable person will be brave and smart in handling any issues related to his area of expertise. He will be respected by all parties that he dealt with.

4.We need to change our attitude and realized that we too can be smart and successful. We are no different compared with the others. What others can do, we can do even better. We need to be prepared to face any issues confronting us all the time. This will make us steadfast in solving the various issues confronting us. This will resolve all forms of confusion and disorganization. InsyaAllah.

Think Big Dream High E-16-The Follow Through Strategy, Part 2

The follow through strategy that I wish to share covers a complete cycle starting from the educational phase, nurturing phase, development or growth phase until expansionary to the international level. As an example, the construction companies from China or Korea although not owned by the their respective government, continued to receive the support from their government eventhough they have reached the MNC (Multi National Corporation) status and the business have gone International. During negotiation for projects, their government representative will also be on hand to lobby for the company.

The Government Commitment

This is the kind of the Chinese or Korean government commitment that ensures and contributed towards their local companies actually succeeding and reaching the MNC status. There is a sense of belonging, responsibility and pride attached to the companies owned by their nationalities. This is the kind of full government commitment needed by our entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurs will be proud of this kind of government commitment. The entrepreneurs will be thankful to the government forever and ever. This is actually the main concept behind the Malaysian Inc policy introduced by the former Prime Minister YABhg Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad at one time. Now this concept can no longer be heard. This is another example of not following through strategy by our government. It is actually a good government policy which is very friendly, supportive and facilitating towards the corporate sector, entrepreneurs and businessmen.

The Continuous Government Support

Each of the phases requires support from the government not necessary in the form of financial contribution. Support can be in the form of policy, training, trade missions, international or local trade expo, lobbying, advisory services, government guarantee, government commitment, repair and renewal, ICT support, promotion, a tax friendly structure etc. At the nurturing phase for example, there should be close monitoring and support for the entrepreneurs and their businesses by the government. The entrepreneurs require capital, packaging advice, market expansion, training, advisory and most important the graduation programme. The graduation programme is important to ensure that the entrepreneurs exit from the nurturing phase and continue to expand until the last phase i.e. to become an MNC that is able to penetrate the international market.

The Entrepreneurs Care For The Government

When this happens, as I mentioned earlier, this company will repay the kind deeds extended by the government, by training and having vendorship programmes for new entrepreneurs under its umbrella. This is an act of gratitude that must be passed on by the successful entrepreneurs to the new entrepreneurs. When the entrepreneurs felt that the government care for them, the entrepreneurs will forever care for the government. When this happens , it will be the starting point of the multiple effects that will expedite the country’s economic growth process to achieve a developed nation status.

The Data Bank

In implementing the follow through strategy, a concerted effort by all related parties must exist. We do not want our players to always OB, always entering the bunkle or into the pool of water since there is no one driving them to always be on the right track. A database need to be developed so that all information on interested parties can be kept and updated all the time so that it will always remain relevant. The database should contain information on the players, government agencies responsible for making and implementing the policies, related institutions and the specialist reference group. The specialist reference group should include the Islamic Scholars, Prominent Pensioners, Academicians, Historians and Politicians. These group of people has a lot of good and practical ideas that can be implemented for the benefit of our countrymen.

The Reference Group

This reference group is important and they should continue to play their role in organizing seminars, congress, discourse so that all the time there are resolutions, suggestions and new ideas on a continuous basis that can renew, upgrade, enhance and increase the performances of the players. All seminars, congress and discourse as I mentioned earlier should be carried out in a more dynamic approach. All resolutions, proposals and ideas as far as possible should be implemented quickly and not kept as confidential by the organizers any more.

Should Not Have A Feeling Of Frustration In Nurturing Entrepreneurs

We cannot afford to be frustrated and giving up hope easily in helping our countrymen. The follow through strategy must be out in the open and transparent. We cannot be apologetic. We need not worry that other communities will make the same demand. This is about rights and realities. Everybody knows that our countrymen have all the rights to be assisted. Other communities should not envy, should not have any ill feelings as they know jolly well that they are more successful. We have to remind them that they are more successful in all economic activities in the country compared to our countrymen. Therefore, all the government bodies that are involved in developing entrepreneurship should not have a feeling of frustration in nurturing our countrymen’s entrepreneurs. Eventhough in many cases, the percentage of those failing is more than the percentage of those successful.

The Big Tycoon Never Stop Receiving Government Favors

In actual fact and in reality, the government is assisting the “towkeys” from the other communities in a far more greater manner. Before government assistance, these ‘Big Big Tycoon’ are just normal businessmen. Just look at how Ir Dr Cheong Thiam Fook, Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan, Tan Sri Jeffrey Chia, Tan Sri Lim Kim Yew, Tan Sri Tony Fernandez, Tan Sri Yeo Tiong Lay, Tan Sri Lim Kim Hong and hundreds more of the same caliber or slightly below started. Before government assistance, they were just normal people like most of us. As soon as they received the government favors and support they became super rich. They received a variety of licenses or contracts or assets from the government for various businesses such as telecommunications, private TV stations, IPP,LRT track, airlines, gambling licenses, and many more. There are also those who received land not a few but in thousands of acres in strategic locations in the Klang Valley.

Wealthy But Worthless

If we just add up the assets of the people I mentioned earlier not including the hundreds of other wealthy people, my rough estimate being, the value of their assets can easily be more than the assets owned by the millions of Bumiputra villagers and other communities like myself. If we average the per capita assets of the Malaysian population, it will not be surprising that we will also be categorized as wealthy. Wealthy but worthless. This is because the assets of the super rich “towkeys” are the ones that increases our average per capita. They should be the ones feeling apologetic and not my countrymen. I do not think they feel guilty and apologetic, in fact their reply would be the wealth was acquired through sheer hard work and effort. I do not question their wisdom. My only argument is that the assistance and support received from the government far exceeded the amount received by my countrymen. Many a times the politicians and NGOs from the other communities, writers, International critics are still stating and accusing the government of giving special treatment, providing too many assistance, benefits and subsidies to my countrymen.

Shoulder Collective Responsibility

Why do we need to feel and act cautiously, humbly, apologetically and discreetly to implement all the agendas to help our countrymen? Don’t do this to our community. Don’t wait until our community have to resort to staying at the hillside and deep in the jungle, only then we offer our assistance? It will be too late by then. By that time, our community will be the indigenous people to the immigrants. Before it is too late, let us shoulder collectively the responsibility to rake our brains to organize various strategies and programmes to assist and to continue to assist our community. We have a lot of strength but we are not wise enough to use all our strength. Why is it that we are not wise in utilizing all the resources that we owned? Needless to say, politically, my countrymen are divided and not united and therefore cannot agree among ourselves. No doubt we cannot be united because of our different ideologies and understanding. However, this does not mean that we cannot cooperate with each other for the sake of our own common causes and goals.

Cooperate, Cooperate And Cooperate

We need to find ways to cooperate, cooperate and cooperate. We need to have an open mind to find ways to work together. When we are seen to cooperate and work together as promulgated in the Islamic religion, other communities will not dare to push for unnecessary and illogical demand. The other communities will not dare to openly criticized our community as in now. They will not have the room to question our rights. Now, even the constitution and the ruling monarchs power are being criticized and commented upon. Not that we do not want to entertain them, but let the demands be logical. We do not intend to illtreat or victimize any communities. We are just pushing for a fair treatment for our community. We need to have our own agenda. We also want to have many super rich amongst our countrymen just like the other communities. I am fully confident that when we cooperate and work together all the agendas either openly or discreetly can be implemented comfortably without doubt and hesitation. The follow through strategy and programmes for our community will be more successful and effective. We need to think big dream high and have a strong heart.