As an institution, AGC the institution entrusted to facilitate growth in the cluster within the framework of five year plan. It must be seen providing visions and able to inspire hope and passion. For this, it must be able to present solid plans which would then serve as basis for consultation and discussion. Supported by solid plans, it is able to facilitate and guide the discussion to ensure its focus and consistency.
Our consultation should not based on mere empty ideas and thoughts. AGC should not be seen as clueless and don't know what to do. This would only discredit the credibility of the institution.
We should avoid the practice of throwing ideas and ask opinions from crowd. It would be seen as if the AGC is unprepared. Instead, we can offer certain solid proposals which can be finetuned and enhanced through consultation and discussion. An idea could be something triggered in the blink of eye. but a proposal is build after careful study. We should present something solid and not vague.
And we should always collaborate with other institution, e.g. Auxilarily Board Members and Local Assemblies in order to carry out the plan.
It is true that we are learning.
Moving and merge
we moved to new office this morning. with its modern outlook, new office is bigger than the present office. the moving is the result of merging operation between the company i work with, Cunningham Lindsey and GAB Robins another adjusting firms.
Winner takes all. some of the employee in GAB Robin had been released as the consequences of the merging. But it does not suggest that our company is better than them. rather, the merging is the result of buying over of GAB Robins by Cunningham Lindsey at international market, which we had little say.
in terms of capacity and experience, i believe that the other side are better or at least at par with us. i don't think we are better than them. no, this is not true. rather, i viewed it as opportunity to learn more from more people, experienced people.
of course, office politics is a possibility in the future. some of the employees are actually our company ex-staff. it remains to be seen whether it would evolve become factions in the office which distract us from doing our work. we will see.
Interest
Recently, i realize something.
everyone has their interest. some interest in fishing, some in guitar, some in skating etc. whatever their interest is, not everyone make their living out of their interest eventually. a lawyer may has strong interest in finish, being an accountant does not stop us from playing guitar, you can be an engineer and skate wherever u feel like it. there is no contradiction.
sometimes life does not envolve as we would like to. sometimes we found that our work is not our real interest. but it does not stop us from enjoying life. our work is not necessarily stopping us from doing what we like to do.
i have a strong interest in community development. the job i am taking on is not so much into that. it is about assessing loss and recommend reasonable amout of compensation money to insurance company. i learn a lot in this job. it helps me understand better how human society works.
i still can embark my projects after working hours and in the weekend. then, i can meet friends and contacts for community development project. i may not devote on full time basis, but there is no doubt about my enthusiasm and excitement about the projects. i am still keen to look forward on the learning gained from the projects. i am happy and thankful that it can be done this way.
what is work-life balance? this is a subject that i always find it interesting to ponder upon.
between idealist and realist, i found that i am gradually shifting towards later. i may not yet fully realist, but i found that i am not as idealistic as i was before. should it be a cause of celebration?
Facebook
I admit that i am Facebook addictors. I spent most of my online surfing time in Facebook to check my friends present status and comment, if necessary; to take care of my "farm"; to play UNO with "strangers"; to take quiz, some of which are total non-sense; to send "food" and "gift".
Facebook has become a must-go site each time i log on.
I found that it is not conducive to my work. While it is fine to facebooking to keep in touch with friends and relax ourselves, but it should be moderation least it undermine my work. It is counter-productive if FB distracted my attention.
If the FB's fault, it is my failure to restrain myself from addicting it. With the moving to new office, I can foresee more works are coming.
It is time to be firm in my Facebooking behavior.
Budget management
Money, money, money.
I don't save much money, to be frank. In fact, i spent more than i save. my monthly salary is not for my monthly expenses alone. I need to acknowledge that money will be needed when i set up my family, when i move to new house, when i am sick etc. I need to be ready to support my parents and family when called to.
How i spend my money currently? RM 750 to RM 1300 per week. Excess of spending, don't you think so? Do you think it can be trim down to RM 500 to RM 750 per week?
Let's work on it.
PAS Needs to Balance Its Ambition With Political Reality
0 comments Published by Yih Ven on Monday, June 8, 2009 at 3:09 PMPAS Needs to Balance Its Ambition With Political Reality
Khoo Kay Peng
For whatever reason, it is better for PAS leaders to keep their feet on the ground. The party's political resurgence at the 2008 general election was not achieved solely through its own steam.
Precisely, it won by not taking the driver's seat. The party had rightly decided to focus on its Malay heartland. As a result, it was rewarded with leadership of two additional states - Perak and Kedah. This is a formula the party should stick with.
The party's ambition to promote its Islamic governance as the backbone of federal government has been quite consistent. In the recent general assembly, the leadership had offered a similar role to the PR coalition if it wins power in the 13th general election.
There is nothing wrong in the party's ambition if both the coalition and the multiracial society can accept PAS' leadership. However, sadly, the party did very little to explain how it can provide a leadership to this racially and religiously diverse nation if segments of the party continue to speak out harshly against its competitors e.g. Sisters-in-Islam.
According to Awang Hadi, Islam does not teach Muslims to shun others although they may have opposing views with the Islamic party. This statement must be consistently applied to all parties, political or otherwise.
Second, the party leadership had maintained its support for free and open economy. It would have been useful if the party had made this stand clearer. What is tolerable within its own definition of 'free and open'? In the past, its youth movement had protested against various concerts e.g. Rihanna, Pussycat Dolls and others which were seen as harmless and purely entertainment by Malaysian youths.
Would it be able to tolerate establishments such as the Berjaya Sports Toto & 4D, the Genting Highlands Casino and others?
PAS' intention to become a national party and to secure the national leadership cannot be simply measured by the mere 20 to 30 thousand non-Muslim supporters in its supporters' club. Its readiness has to be measured by its political ideology, mindset and stand on various issues and topics which may not be consistent with Islam.
A PAS which has been exposed to the possibility of winning federal power may want to sound as populist as it can be to fulfill its ambition but the bubble can be pricked by its own inconsistency and impatience.
PAS wants its Islamic values to be accepted by non-Muslims as universal values which are fair, just and equitable. The party can still strive to achieve this noble objective even without first capturing the federal government. If achievable, it will give both PAS and Islam a good name.
Again, the party needs to show some consistency here. Its party president wants to discuss the possibility of a unity government with UMNO. Apart from fulfilling the party's ambition to share national power, those who had voted for the PR coalition and PAS cannot find an acceptable reason for the party to pursue this unity talk.
Has UMNO changed? Has UMNO put all the vices e.g. money politics, power abuse etc. behind it? Has UMNO become less racist and more accommodative? Can this unity talk help to make the government less authoritarian by abolishing all draconian laws?
It is up to Hadi to convince his own members and Malaysian voters of his plan to pursue the unity talk.
I was asked by journalists if PAS can win national power by alienating the PR. I responded by saying that it would be impossible for any party which is race or religious based to win national power on its own.
Without the BN, it is nearly impossible for UMNO to become so dominant as it is now. It is given that UMNO or PAS cannot govern by itself without the support of multiracial Malaysians regardless of how insignificant some communities are in numbers. The support of minorities in the first-past-the-post electoral system is very important if voters of major communities are split.
PAS resurgence is a work in progress. It is best for the party to conduct some serious soul searching before taking a shot at national power. Beneath the beard and turban, can its political ideology, mindset and stand capture the imagination of globalizing Malaysia? Can the party appeal to the middle ground?
It is best for the party to keep check of its own ambition. The lure of power is very strong. The temptation had destroyed many parties and coalition. PAS should learn from its 1999 victory and 2004 setback.
PAS is potentially the biggest push factor in Pakatan Rakyat.
Talk big without substance. They think they can form government with their own strength. They want to be dominant party in Pakatan. Gosh, if they are the dominant party in PR, people will abandon Pakatan overnight.
Look at their custom, look at language they used, look at their appearance, all these are so out of touch for this modern multi-racial country. Looks like they are still living in middle-aged. Please, move forward.
If you retain your kampung mindset, don't dream of taking over the reign of government. I just cannot imagine and accept the day when ulama become Prime Minister of Malaysia.
They advocate "kepimpinan ulama". What makes an ulama superior than fitter to govern the country? Their out-of-touch conservative interpretation of the teaching?
They said ulama are cleaner than corrupted politician. Is that really the case? Bullshit. Too many historical facts tell us that they are the greatest oppressor of all.
They abused their moral and religious highground to assert political and social control. Their narrow interpretation of religious teaching had suppressed freedom of thought and expression, and hence put a halt on the progress of civilization. They did more harm than good.
Look at country ruled by Islamic law, do you think they are role model for our country? These are the countries that have highest rate of corruption and human rights abuse and lowest economic growth.
No, i don't want Malaysia turn into Saudi Arabia.
If this is the case, UMNO maybe is better choice than PAS.
