Where have you been? ...

Bored? Itching? Craving? Clarion call? Whatever you want to call it. Yes yes yes..I do feel the urge to be back here. Write something. Update my blogpost. Before I get really rusty and can't write anymore or even if I do..before it culminates into a load of...you know what..haha..BS. Yes yes..I know you are imagining a whole load of BS oozing out from my fingers...hehehe

Ok ok.. Here I am folks. I am back. In my literati mode. Not that many people are reading my piece anyway but who cares. I just want to jot down some of the things I have done, asked to do or reluctantly had to do hahaha.  Some probably must have thought I have decided to disappear into oblivion or became a hermit somewhere at the Himalayas or better still..after my mandatory retirement...I died...huhuhu.

Sorry to disappoint some of you but I am pretty much alive and kicking...to say the least. Busier in fact post September 15, 2010 haha.  Still gainfully employed. But my life so far..is an excellent balance between the corporate world and academia. Am still group corporate secretary of a public listed company and managing director and chief executive of  the national custodian of an industry database.

Some people golf, some super bike over the weekends but I am still passionate spending the weekends having a lively debate/intellectual discourse with my MBA students. Looks like I will be teaching more and more postgraduate students. I am an adjunct professor at a university in the east coast and an advisory board member of  a graduate school of a northern university and still being called upon to give keynote addresses, chair or moderate sessions, present papers or panelists at international  or domestic conferences both academic and nonacademic...

Thinking, fast and slow...

Seriously, i don't know how or where to begin. Especially after laying off blogging since dec 26, 2011. gosh that's quite a long time. what shall i write that really has meaning not just for me but to those accidental readers, if at all there are any..hehehe. i have been reading quite a few books since but  have really not been able to seriously review or make any comments to any particular title. oh perhaps this one i am currently reading: thinking, fast and slow by the Nobel Laureate in Economics, Daniel Kahneman.

He takes us on a groundbreaking tour of the mind and explains the two systems that drive the way we think and make choices. One system is fast, intuitive and emotional; the other is slower, more deliberative and more logical. Kahneman exposes the extraordinary capabilities - and also the faults and biases - of fast thinking, and reveals the pervasive influence of intuitive impressions on our thoughts and behavior. Thinking, Fast and Slow will transform the way you take decisions and experience the world..so the blurp  reads...and yours truly is still reading it... good night fellas...

Ibis2006 Switzerland Slideshow Slideshow

Ibis2006 Switzerland Slideshow Slideshow: TripAdvisor™ TripWow ★ Ibis2006 Switzerland Slideshow Slideshow ★ to Montreux. Stunning free travel slideshows on TripAdvisor

unfinished business?...

Hi..sorry to all who visited, if only to find that I have not updated it since the last one, sometime back in May. A lot has taken place since. The year has been somewhat tumultuous. But I shall not bore you with sad stories. Plenty actually. As if the eurozone debt crisis and the looming global recession (what? again?) isn't enough...hmmm.

I have been reading quite a bit too since, despite corporate demands both at the group and operating levels, and postgraduate classes that demands my attention over the weekends. I need to read something else too, to take me away from my literature review, journals, academic writings, articles, books etc etc conceptual, theoretical and research frameworks bla bla bla...haha.  This one, I picked at Borders (ya I know they have filed for chapter 11 in the US) the Gardens Mall, MidValley, Kuala Lumpur, is a good one. I was glad I picked it up...

We are almost at end of 2011 and while we are optimistic at the prospects of 2012, we are however, mindful or at the least, not overly disturbed, I hope... by global economic scenario or probably affected by the fears depicted in the movie '2012' of the global apocalypse or the end of the world as prophesied by many ancient cultures (incas, mayans and what have you..haha)... So, I guess books like Lee Kravitz's '...unfinished business...' is an excellent way to reflect upon one's life. Not so much of trying to do the right things, but of trying to catch up or do the things one has always wanted to do, but never had the time to do so...

Unfinished Business is about one man's extraordinary year of trying to do the right things. And to quote Publishers Weekly 'Kravitz is a thoughtful writer, and his memoirs  reveals a delicate personal journey'. Over the last two years, I come across a lot of new terms like re-defining, rein-venting, re-thinking, re-doing, re-living....and this book is a timely reminder about what life is all about and probably might strike a chord with those of us who have been trapped in the relentless pursuit of work and career. (Which is not to mean that they are unimportant).

The blurp on the back page read: '...after losing his job, Lee Kravitz - a man who had always worked too hard and too much - took stock of his life and decided to spend an entire year making amends and re-connecting with the people and the parts of himself he had neglected. Kravitz embarked on ten journeys, traveling everywhere from a refugee camp in Kenya to a monastery in California and learned along the way that the things we let slip are exactly those that have the power to transform, enrich, enlarge, and complete us.' Hmm transform? what about structured and institutionally directed 'transformation' programs? hehehe

So, folks, if you are thinking or in the midst of reviewing your 'new year resolution' list, I suggest you stop and pause a moment to have a glimpse at what Kravitz has to share. Merry Christmas and a happy new year my friends, silent loyal and casual visitors alike...hehehe

economically rich vs socially miserable? ...

Henry Mintzberg, my favourite management guru wrote in his book 'Managers: Not MBAs'that in a democratic society, we do not exist for our social and economic institutions; they exist for us. He went on to say that in recent years, we have been experiencing a glorification of self-interest perhaps unequaled since the 1920s. Greed has been raised to some sort of high-calling; corporations are urged to ignore broader social responsibility in favour of narrow shareholder value; chief executives are regarded as if they alone create economic performance. A society devoid of selfishness may be difficult to imagine, but a society that glorifies selfishness can be imagined only as cynical and corrupt, he goes on complaining. He went on further to say that our societies have been tilting increasingly out of balance, in favour of the economic against social, correspondingly in favour of markets at the expense of other social institutions. We need both, he says, but are finding ourselves increasingly dominated by one. This is interesting...he says that MBA education plays a significant role in all this...hmmmm...

He then taks about the degradation of human values, and then quoted Jensen & Meckling who said that 'there is no such thing as a need, everything is a trade-off (except of course, the need for more...' and illustrated it with a rather startling example: George Bernard Shaw, the famous playwright and social thinker, reported once claimed that while on an ocean voyage he met a celebrated actress on deck and asked her whether she would be willing to sleep with him for a million dollars. She was agreeable. He followed with a counter proposal: "What about ten dollars?" "What do you think I am?" she responded indignantly. he repiled, "We've already established that-now we're just haggling over price."

He also talks about analytical and economic immorality, legal corruption and a society of meanness.... In the real world of decision making, he says the economic and social decisions get all tangled up. Put it in another way, there's always discretion in business decision making, to thwart social needs or to take them into consideration. Business may not exist to serve social needs, but it cannot exist if it ignores them.

This was written in 2003...almost 10 years ago. You were right then and may still, to a certain extent, be right but alot of things have changed professor! The world now has the likes of Yunus looking at microfinance in a different light. We now have social entrerpreneurship. New technologies especially internet technologies have transformed the world much more than the invention of telephone did to mankind.

The Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzenitsyn (1978) made his point with lucidity when he wrote while living in America: I have spent all my life under a communist regime, and I will tell you that a society without an objective legal scale is a terrible one indeed. But a society with no other scale but the legal one is not quite worthy of man either. A society which is based on the letter of the law and never reaches any higher is taking a very scarce advantage of the high level of human possibilities. The letter of the law is too cold and formal to have beneficial effect on society. Whenever the tissue of life is woven of legalistic relations, there is an atmosphere of moral mediocrity, paralyzing man's noblest impulse.

of cotton, jutes, alumnis and coffee...

Hi, I wrote this as notes on my facebook and I thought I might as well put it on my blog. In my earlier blogs there has been some mention somewhere this pot of coffee story but I am writing it again in a different context to relate it to its rightful intent..hehehe..please read on...

I just got back from Dhaka, Bangladesh or what was formerly East Pakistan, this morning. Interesting country of more than 160mil people. Dhaka alone has about 30mil inhabitants. My first trip of many more to come InsayAllah. We were there as part of the Malaysian AIM (Asian Institute of Management) alumni Association delegation led by Hj Zul, its (AIM Malaysia Alumni president), Zeb Mazumbar from SIngapore and MP Singh, chairman of the Federation of Asian AIM Alumni Association (FAIM) and president of the India Chapter of AIM alumni. It was a wonderful trip, excellently organised by Anwar Chowdry, our Dhaka colleague. Thank you Anwar, for the numerous meetings and dinners. It was a really great networking experience for everyone. I made alot of new friends. I must thank the AIM Alumni Bangladesh Chapter for graciously including me into your roll of honorary life membership, among others, at its meeting last night. I am humbled and greatly honoured indeed. Thank you.

Being an immediate past president of the University of Hull (England) alumni Association in Malaysia and for years now deeply involved in the activities of a few other university alumni assocation (the university of aberystwyth, Wales as an example), I concur with the views of many, that alumni work is, apart from nostalgia and passionate ties with our alma mater and networking opportunities for business or other purposes, are but only for those few who are cut for this thankless job ( of leading an alumni body). To quote my good friend Richard, who was also with me in Dhaka, an alumni effectively only need 3 chaps to run it with the two others being absent for most of the meetings..hahaha. He (Richard) could not have put it any better.

Which reminds me of the story 'A Cup of Coffee' ...

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups.“ "Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change.“ "Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

Anwar Chowdry, you did a great job. I wish everyone nothing else, but great success. I believe you will have the support of all your colleagues/alumnus from every corner of Bangladesh from as far north as Rajshahi to Chittagong in the south. Thank you very much again for the warm welcome and kind hospitality...

the rule of law...

Haha we've looked at a marketing book, an architectural appreciation, let us now get a bit more serious shall we? hehehe. This book caught my attention while rushing to pick up last minute chocolates at Terminal 4 (again?) huhu... What's wonderful about this book is that it's not a law book; its for everybody. It explains, clearly, simply, powerfully, to any audience, what the rule of law means and how important it is to everybody in modern society.

The author, Lord Tom Bingham, 'the most eminent of British Judges' (Guardian), held office successively, as Master of the Rolls. Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Senior Law Lord of the United Kingdom, the only person ever to hold all three offices. He became a life peer, as Baron Bingham of Cornhill, in the County of Powys, on becoming Lord Chief Justice in 1996. In 2005 he was appointed a Knight of the Garter, the first professional Judge to be so honoured. He retired in 2008, and in the same year was elected by the Institute de France as the first winner of the the Prize for Law awarded by the Alexander S Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. Tom Bingham died in September 2010, six months after the first publication of this book.

The Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law was established in 2010 with Lord Bingham's support, as part of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, striving to support the development and strengthening of the rule of law as set out in this book.

The Rule of Law was chosen as a 'book of the year' by Chris Patten, former chief executive of HongKong and Chancellor of Oxford University (in the Observer), Gideon Rachman (in the Financial Times) and Geoffrey Robertson (in the New Statesman).

This book, although written by a former judge, is not addressed to lawyers. It does not purport to be a legal textbook. It is addressed to those who have heard references to the rule of law, who are inclined to think that it sounds like a good thing rather than a bad thing, who wonder if it may not be rather important, but who are not quite sure what it is all about and would like to make up their minds.

'The rule of law' , a much used phrase but little examined. Bingham, said to be one of the most acute legal minds of our time, examines what the idea actually means and made clear that it is not an arid legal doctrine but the foundation of a fair and just society, a guarantee of responsible government, and an important contributor to economic growth.

Of course, we must however be mindful that he examined its historical origins and captured its essence as understood in western democracies today. Closely argued indeed. But then again, you may have a different interpretation.

I am still reading it and I have not put it down...its with me everywhere I go haha....go get your own copy bah! contrary to ' but whoever said law books are an interesting read? this one is!! hehehe ... ngeh3x wink2x dot3x

New York Oh New York...

The Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) a nonprofit, membership-based organization that fights for intelligent urban planning, design, and preservation through education, dialogue and advocacy celebrated its fifty-second year of offering walking tours to the public in 2009. In 2008 more that 10,000 people participated. I picked this excellently illustrated (photography by Edward A Toran) 10 Architectural Walks in Manhattan by Francis Morrone & Matthew A Postal, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York counter, at Macy's on 34th street.

No way would I have the time to see and appreciate all the buildings and architecture of Manhattan, so this book would be a great weekend browse haha.

Kent L Barwick, president emeritus of the Municipal Art Society of New York, in his foreword wrote: '...on april 8, 1956, architectural historian Henry Hope Reed led what was not only the first Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) walking tour but also probably New York's first architectural walking tour for the general public. It was so novel that that the New York Times sent a reporter and a photographer to cover it. The Times's reporter documented the bewildered looks and comments of passersby at the sight of thirty-eight individuals walking along the streets through a spring snowstorm, stopping to look at old buildings. The group was taken for bird-watchers or people in search of rooms to rent. In fact, the hardy tour-takers were part of a MAS effort to build a constituency that would support the preservation of the city's notable architecture.'

This illustrated guidebook takes visitors to the great buildings, spaces and neighbourhoods of manhattan. Highlights include downtown New York for a look at preservation, planning and early skyscapers; Madison Square with its pantheon of nineteenth century sculpture; New York's newest elevated park, the High Line; Art Deco structures in Midtown; the Beaux-Arts grandeur of Grand Central Terminal; modernist structures around Columbus Circle and Park Avenue; the splendour of Central Park; and Harlem's Hamilton Heights neighbourhood.

I wanted to visit New York way back in 1988 when my cousin was then the deputy director of MIDA in New York but it never happened. I had dinner with him the other night with his daughter who was born in Manhattan. Their apartment was not far away from Macy's.

We have no less interesting buildings and architecture, both old and new. From Moorish architecture to modern intelligent ones too. When I was enjoying the architecture of Chicago in 2009, the guide gave tribute and mentioned our Petronas Twin Towers while explaining some of their skyscrapers!

In 2009 I landed in Newark on transit to Chicago. This time around I enjoyed the chats with an Uzbek, Jewish and Russian taxi drivers on the way to and from La Guardia and JFK...haha.. New York never sleeps they say.. Its difficult not to fall in love with New York..a potpourri of ethnicity, truly diverse and multicultural...

soul traders: in for the kill..yet again...

No no no..it's too long. I have stayed away long enough. I need to get back to blogging. Update and carry on from the last one which was about 3 months ago? sheeeshh lest I get trapped in Newton's 3rd law; 'Inertia: the tendency of a body to stay at REST or continue its state of motion' haha. Even if it means my readers (wink) have given up on me or gone away or if my relatives are having a grand feast or barbecue celebrating my departure from blogosphere..har har har...ya rite..

It's too easy..heheh (wink). Ok, to start the mood again, I guess reviewing the piles of books I have acquired since (15 or more I think) from my travels, would be appropriate kot. Quite timely too..what with the upcoming sarawak elections, unrest in the middle east and all..hehe.

This book I picked up at Changi on my last trip to Singapore looks interesting and relevant with the times (wink). It's called 'Soul Traders: How Honest People Lost Out To Hard Sell' by Jonathan Gabay (a lecturer at CIM UK and a marketing reformist). I like his forward remark: 'For all those I have taught and those from whom I am yet to learn.' He takes you on an often-times disturbing journey looking behind a century of billboards, TV ads, campaigns and irresistible slogans (perhaps some porno videoclips too along the way hahaha...naaah i just made that up..huhu) to see how hard sell has captured honest souls. From religion to commerce and politics (see? you need spin jobs and marketing skills in politics too you know?), the psychological tactics used to manipulate public opinion over the past 100 years have become even more devious, for want of a better word (wink). Perhaps ethically and morally wrong are no longer considerations...it's irrelevant to some, so long as the end justifies the means, some would always say, right? wink.

The compelling stories behind some of history's key events will astound you: from who sold chemicals to the Nazis, how public perceptions were managed to win support for wars, how fat cats abused our respect, and the astonishing rise of some of today's best-loved high street brands.

The entire world is undergoing massive change so says the author. Long-held convictions have been replaced with deep-seated cynicism. What will it take for leaders to rebuild reputations and regain faith? Will twentyfirst century digital and virtual communication make us ever more susceptible to persuasion through mobiles and inboxes (you bet..is not the unrest in the middle east testimony enough of the massive effect/impact? hmmmm) or can we embrace the world of hype and maybe learn to get even? Getting even is more like it, I would imagine...embracing? hmm perhaps..wink2x

Jonathan goes on to feed your suspicion that there is more to what you're being told and sold than first meets the eye, or if you're keen to build a profitable and ethical future for your organization through learning from history's greatest lessons in hype and propaganda, then Soul Traders is definitely for you..Go grab your personal copy maaaa... hehehe...and enjoy the rest of the weekend folks! ciao

the year has come to an end again...

Four months is quite a long time. Yes 4 months I have not been blogging. many reasons as to why. One of which, I got feedback from a fren, it seemed someone from the family..my in laws (outlaws more like it..hehe) asked his/her fren if they have had a look at my blog? This family by marriage of mine, snubbingly told the guy not to waste time reading my blog 'cos it got nothing else, and that I was full of myself (huhu). I was pissed off, really pissed off when I heard that. So, that's why I stayed away. But I did write a brief note on my facebook a couple of days ago though.

Spending too much time on facebook. So much things to do, and there's just 24 hours in a day! Was thinking of writing my pilgrimage travelogue but I guess a picture is worth a thousand words. May be, may be later. Need to organise for 2011, board meetings, speaking engagements (from bahrain to mexico city), business trips, academic papers, my own and joint writing with other academics, new businessess, catching up on my PhD research, the list is interesting though it can be very taxing to my body and brain hehehe..

the year has been quite hectic for me, lots of travelling beijing, vancouver, london, HK, Shanghai, Norway and Saudi Arabia..did I miss any particular country or city? hehe. Not sure if all my new year resolutions for last year, was carried out. So I guess shall not be making any new ones for 2011. The to-do list seems alot already.

Except for the suzuki football and the ETP , high income economy bla bla bla and the NKRAs and all that are associated with it, nothing much is exciting... seems like a quiet year end. Wishing frens and regular visitors a happy prosperous and a much more exciting 2011...cheerio.. have fun, be good...ngeh3x

Operation Teddy Bear...hehehe

I said I was going to review another book that I picked up at terminal 4 the last time I was in London. Here it is. Sorry folks it took quite awhile to get it onto my blog.

Fasting month and all haha. Correcting my MBA students strategic management assignments, and come monday 30th August, haaa.... a stack of their final exam scripts will be in my hands. I know they have been struggling to chose 3 from the 9 other remaining questions (wink).

The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour by Peter Mandelson. Published by Harper Press (an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, Hammersmith, London). I quote from the blurp: "Peter Mandelson has been called many things during his three decades at the top of british politics: the Prince of Darkness, the Sultan of Spin, Labour's Machiavelli, the Rock of New labour. He has also gained a reputation fro being trenchantly observant, wry, and never afraid to say exactly what he thinks. It is these qualities that he brings to this searingly honest story of his life as The Third Man in the most compelling drama of modern times."

After 3 days of explosive serialisation of the Mandelson memoirs, The Times UK (wednesday July 14, 2010) had, as their frontpage headlines 'Mad, bad and dangerous' depicting the uproar this book had created hahaha. Everyone had something to say in their defence...hehe especially Tony Blair.

What attracted me most ( in the book) was 'the teddy bear plan'. Apparently this was a kind of strategy that would split the Treasury into two departments. Let me quote what was printed in the Times UK (July 14th): "In 2002 Mr Brown demanded a move into No 10 before the end of the second term. "He's behaving outrageously. " Mr Blair said. "This time he's gone too far."

Operation Teddy Bear has, until today, remained a secret kept within the walls of No 10. It is so named to avoid the slightest hint of its intention and was devised by Lord Mandelson, John Birt, the former BBC chief who became a No 10 adviser, and Jonathan Powell, Mr Blair's chief of staff.

Under the plan, A US -style office of Budget and Delivery would be taken from the Treasury, leaving Mr Brown in charge of a new Ministry of Finance to handle macroeconomics, taxation. markets and financial services. Crucially Mr Brown would have lost control of departmental purse strings."

Hmmm... the strategy sounds familiar...which makes me wonder, if the Brits had picked it up from somewhere else other than the US (wink) or that others are emulating what they (the Brits) had tried (hehehe). I leave that to your intelligent and wise analysis.

Most British Parliamentarians, I read somewhere, is taking along this new book for their summer breaks. So, if British politicians are reading it...I suggest you guys budding local politicians, should also read it (wink). Who knows, you might pick up a tip or two from the Prince of Darkness and the Sultan of Spin? hehehe...

a cynic's guide to britain? hmmmm...dot3x

Ha Ha this book was chosen not for any particular reason except that when I was paying for my Thornton (yummy!) chocolates and the just published 'The Third Man' the hurriedly (so it seemed haha) done autobiography (that caused a stir in Britain) of Lord Peter Mandelson (we will look at this book at another blogpost ok? hehe), I was told that I could pick up any other book ad 50% discount! So I scurried back to the shelves..oh well display counters and picked up this rather 'brilliant' book haha.

I read the blurp, it said 'The British national myth. Is it true? Or is it a myth? Having skewered modern life in the bestselling Is it Just Me or Is Everything Shit?, Steve Lowe and Alan McArthur set out to explore the deep dark heart of British national identity. After all: who better to embark upon an odessy through all things British than two unpatriotic cynics without any formal grounding in history?

Over the course of a year they enjoy a daybreak morris dance on the Cerne Abbas Giant, pull an all-nighter at Stonehenge and witness Wales and Scotland rising again (a bit). They encounter terrifying Europhobe ladies in Surrey, endure the Last Night of the Proms and lose the will to live in Gibraltar. They also met a lot of druids. Hillarious and provocative, Blighty offers a brilliant, alternative (ooops) vision of Britain - debunking the madness behind the tradness.

Even the introduction page made me smile. Listen to this. The authors described a council-run British Citizenship Ceremony that sounded like very much the worst sort of party. Would there even be a bar? (there wasn't. haha). Then, inside the curvy wood-panelled Hackney Town Hall council chamber, sat 20 British-citizens-in-waiting. At that moment, there were Algerian, Australian, Iraqi, Israeli, Sierra Leonian, Turkish, Latvian, Cameroonian....hmm (no Malaysian?)..and within hours they would turn British and henceforward would remain British. They were touched with a vibe stick (that's a metaphor; nobody actually touches them with a stick.) The proto-Britishers (as the authors described them) had all passed the fiendish Citizenship Test and, having paid GBP625, had now each been issued a special citizenship folder with pictures on the front, representing Britain: Stonehenge; a castle; the Forth Raliway bridge (British!); a family jumping up and down in a field... This-this! - is Britain. an ancient land where jumping is entirely permissible...hahaha. You should read the book yourselves ok?

It won't be fun if I tell you anything more...oh ok mebbe juz a lil more...huh? Ok ok there's this chapter four that is devoted to cash for honours, the norman conquest, fish and a handbag haha. The ancient love affair with Guilds (which reminds me of my favourite british actor Anthony Hopkins in that movie "remains of the day"). The Ironmonger's Hall, tucked beneath the Museum of London, is home to Ironmonger's Company, a medieval guild concerned very much with iron, ironworks, woking with iron, and furthering the secrete, closely guarded interests of iron-people and their irony ways (hehe). The City of London might be famous for forcing new forms of dodgy credit - but amongst their own ranks they like nothing more than a a bit of archaic weirdness, bonding together in ancient closed shops with dizzying rituals...

Believe me, when you get hold of a copy..haha you won't put it down that fast. It covers the four seasons: spring , summer, autumn and winter and it starts with 'with four thousand Gods on our side, hankies at dawn, a Diana moment, the time of our lives, you can't dump me becaue i'm dumping you (haha) to all things begin and end in albion's ancient druid rocky shore....hahaha.

Anyone attempting a similar cynic's guide to malaysia? i dare you..hik3x... wink3x. Have a great week ahead fellas...now may I please get back to marking my MBA student's assignments?.. huhu wink2x dot dot dot...

Langkawi, Borneo, Vancouver, London..jalan-jalan Cakap2..

Panel Session at ITS2010 Knightsbridge, London

Great clear skyline from my hotel window at Knightsbridge

Last paper I presented recently in London and the topic was given to me by the organisers, woteva that means...wink2x LOL

Vancouver, end June 2010, attending 3 International Committee Meetings

Canada Place, Vancouver by summer night, Canada Day's eve...

Chairing a session at AsiaHRDCongress Kuching, Sarawak

One for the album with keynote speaker at the recent

MARIM International Risk and Insurance Management Conference,

Langkawi Island, Malaysia where I also chaired the plenary session...

coffee table books in the lounge of my brand new (Park Plaza)hotel room,

Westminster, London

An evening shot from Stanley Park, Vancouver, July 2010

Canada Place, Vancouver Canada Day, July 2010

Knightsbridge, London, July 15, 2010

Yes yes yes...I know I know...please don't be cross with me? oh please. My last blogpost was june 15. Its July 8th today. I have been wanting to document my travels since the last posting but everytime I logged into my blog...i got a mental block hohoho.

Serious shit! Sorry, I mean I had so much to tell, so many photos to upload and share but I couldn't decide which one I should upload or which story I shoudl tell first (hehe). After earlier bad experiences and because of the intellectual property rights and privacy issues...I got scared. So, I thought hurrmm..I might as well upload my 'award-winning' photo shots (hihi) and perhaps indulge in some self-inflicted vanity (wink) hehehe. So folks, please excuse the tourist-like posts ok? hahaha.

A picture is worth a thousand words they often say, so I guess I need not write too much about what or where I have been since 15 june! I was in Vancouver attending 3 RCAR Working Group Meetings, chaired international conferences at Langkawi and Kuching, Borneo and presented a paper at the 4th International Takaful Summit, Jumeirah Carlton Tower, Knighstbridge, London.

Last year my videoclip intro at ITS2010 London was based on Diehard 4 movie and this year I used Harry Potter's last movie videoclip..hahaha. Even if delegates didn't understand a word I was saying, at least for a long time to come, they would still remember me for the opening videoclips at worst! hahahaha LOL (wink).

Vancouver is a nice multi-ethnic, multi-diversity friendly city. A great city, especially for the rich, to retire hmmm...the impression I got. Forgive me if I am wrong. Walking around Canada Place, one could read the history of this important Canadian port city on the western side of Canada from the many information stands all around the complex.

Ok folks, that's about it for now. I shall review two interesting books I picked up at terminal 4 on my way home to Kuala Lumpur in my next blogpost...

mothers-in-law: variously feared, loathed, ridiculed, appreciated and adored but rarely ignored...

Wherever I am, there's a high likelihood that I will pop into the first bookshop I come across. Yes, at Southampton last week, I saw British Bookshops & Stationers, went in and whoala couldn't resist picking up this interesting book hehe. First published by Faber & Faber Limited in 2008 and this paperback edition first published in 2010.

What with the school holidays and 'mating season' extravaganza right now in Malaysia dan lain2 kawasan yang sewaktu dengannya (wink), perhaps it would not be too much on my part to try and share some interesting insights about mother-in-laws who apparently are perceived almost the same everywhere haha (same same but different..as the Thai imitation goods peddlers are heard saying..in front of the Bangkok Shangrila hahaha).

The Complete Book of Mothers-in-law is written by Luisa Dillner, who now lives in London, originally trained and worked as a doctor in Bristol, a columnist for the Guardian and works for new ideas for the British Medical Journal Publishing Group and has also been contributor to many magazines and newspapers including Vogue, Cosmopolitan and the Observer.

There have always been mothers-in-law and most of us will end up either having or being one. We all, well most of us, have mother-in-law (s) eheh heh...some err more than one actually (wink) and most of us too are either already a father-in-law or a mother-in-law. I am already a father -in-law haha. Just read on please and let's not get emotional or be judgemental hehehe.

Luisa devoted 12 chapters beginning with the essential history of (Mothers-in-law); in different cultures; motherly mothers-in-law; even the Royals and Presidential Mothers-in-law didn't escape her scrutiny (haha); mixed feelings about Mothers-in-law, Mothers-in-law who took a stand; Mad, Bad and Scheming Mothers-law; Mother-in-law-baiting; Racy Mothers-in-law, Mothers-in-law on the Web, and finally... How to be a Good Mother-in-law...hahahaha.

I like her prologue when she wrote about her mother-in-law Maggie. She began '...I can't remember when I first met my mother-in-law and she's vague on when she met me. This suggests that we are not sentimental about our relationship and it doesn't consume either of our lives.' Then she wrote her mother-in-law said 'If you are good enough for him, that's good enough for me.' I like that bit when the author said 'I doubt I will be so laissez-faire about whoever my son embraces as a partner...'

The role of mother-n-law has existed throughout the ages; a part that no one actively chooses and anyone would be forgiven, considering the negative stereotypes, for thinking it has little to recommend it. Mothers-in-law have been variously feared, loathed, ridiculed, appreciated and adored but rarely ignored. The mother-in-law phenomenon is global haha. Historically, the author says you can find mothers-in-law in all varieties: admirable, loving, scheming, bad, divine (literally) and quite ordinary.

Mothers-in-law worldwide are called by different names: the Afrikaans: skoomoeder, Danish: svigermor, Germans: schiegermutter, Italian: suocera, Dutch: schoonmoeder; Spanish: suegra, Turkish: kaynana, Indonesian: mertua perempuan, Finnish: anoppi, Irish: mathaie cheile...but she forgot Malaysian....IBU MERTUA KU! hahahahaha...

When I picked up the book I could not stop reading it. It is hugely entertaining and a most witty celebration of a most complicated relationship, full of anecdotes and amusing illustrations, and didn't leave any mother-in-law sterotype untouched, informative and charming. Go pick your own copy! No no no..I am not going to tell you anymore about it. Can you please let me finish the book now? hehehe

of jane austen, john & yoko and southampton...

I wanted to find something that could connect Southampton (or Soton) and The Beatles and when I googled..haa this was what I came across written by John T Marck:

" ... John Lennon's song, "The Ballad Of John And Yoko," is that which describes his wedding to Yoko Ono on March 20, 1969 in Gibraltar, and their succeeding "honeymoon," in Amsterdam. Recorded by The Beatles, or more exactly John and Paul, on April 14, 1969, it was released in the United Kingdom on May 30, 1969, and in the United States on June 4. In both releases, its B-side was "Old Brown Shoe", a song written by George Harrison.

John Lennon once said that "songs should be like newspapers," and "The Ballad Of John And Yoko," was just that. Lennon portrays himself and Yoko as victims who were about to be "crucified," and who were turned back at the Southampton docks; who could not get a marriage in France; and who were misunderstood during their "bed-in for peace," as well as ridiculed when they sat in a bag.

In truth, what Lennon did not mention in this song was they were turned back at Southampton not because of whom they were, but merely because they tried to travel into France without passports."

Hmm so much for Southampton. I was last here in 1991 and by the spur of the moment, parked our Volvo 740GLE and caught a ferry to the Isle of Wight. It was already dark when we arrived at the island with no prior reservations. Luckily on board, we met a nice friendly girl who worked for American Express and recommended her auntie's Bed& Breakfast. The rest as we always say, is history.

Talking about history, haaa many of our students studying and living in Southampton, I was told, did not know, cared or bothered to explore the interesting history of this ancient mariner city.

I was in Southampton again last monday morning. About an hour and fifteen minutes drive away from Heathrow on the M3 if it is a good clear jam-free traffic. Checked in at the De Vere Grand Harbour Hotel and whoala...history was just at the back of the hotel.

What I like most about it is that West Quay, the shopping mall, was built within and around the historical sites without disturbing them. We should all learn a thing or two about preservation of old buildings, historical sites, development in and around the facade and blending the old or ancient with the new or art noveau...wink2x

mindscapes and the beauty of deep thought...?

Yes, more than 3 months I have stayed away from blogging. I suspect I have been addicted to facebook and ermm ... perhaps a little twittering too on occasions haha. Datuk Professor Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid or fondly referred to as IAB (no no not Institut Aminudin Baki..where he was once its director...hehe) never ceases to amaze me.. His usual trademark is knowledge corpus. I am one of those who has and forever will, have great respect for his intellect, leadership and scholarship. To say that the recent award during National Teachers Day bestowed upon him (in educational leadership) was befitting, is to me, an understatement. He should have been conferred much earlier.

My wife and I attended his daughter's wedding ceremony this afternoon at Hotel Singgahsana, Petaling Jaya. The wedding ceremony was elegantly simple. No VVIP tables. Spotted, plenty of Tan Sris and Datuks, Dons, retired DGs of Education etc etc. Everyone queues up for food buffet style haha. Yet it doesn't take away the aura of typical malay wedding blending the traditionalists and modernists. What makes IAB's dotter's wedding different from everyone else is the 88 page souvenir book you get on your way out.

That foto above is that book. Mindscapes & the Beauty of Deep Thought (corak corak minda & keindahan berfikir secar mendalam) published in conjunction with the wedding of aina fazlin ibrahim bajunid & faisal mansor, June 5, 2010. The table of contents began with kata kata nasihat from dad to bride and covers a wide-ranging subject area from the joys of family learning, the making of religious and scientific minds for civilisational leadership, daughters and mums, seekers of knowledge and managers of truth, nautical imagination and education, muhasabah diri, the economic mode of thinking, from monologue to dialoging mindfully, exploring breakthough thinking, life is a long winding road, on life love and death to ozymandias....wow...87 pages to read!

I particularly like the first part where datuk prof IAB advises her daughter: and he began with...cut your fingernails and toenails, clean your teeth and masage your gums gently everyday, clean your ears and the lobes, ensure your ankles and crevises between toes are clean, control and modulate your tone of voice in conversations....etc etc and he moves on to the habits of the prophet and 7 effective habits, to mastering languages , understanding mathematics and geometry, making connections, enjoying poetry and poin-poin bicara where he reminds again about mastering history, championing quality, and that people do not know what they do not know..about 41 points in all haha where he ends it with tipping point, blink and outliers (malcolm gladwell) to homo grammaticus to the building of an enlightened society...wow!

That, is Datuk Professor Ibrahim Ahmad Bajunid. Well done my friend. You did it again. Congratulations on the new addition to the family. I would not be doing justice, if re-activating my blogging, did not start with this little tribute to you prof!

...of lunar, valentine and sex education?

My last blogpost was december 30th 2009. I had a few text messages reminding me, scolding me (haha) for not updating. I said haiyya..busy lor...year end, then new year with all the trappings of a new year which I am sure all of us are non too familiar? (wink).

No, I didn't deliberately chose Valentine's Day (incidentally it's also Chinese New Year today..and whoala here comes the Tiger at last after a rather Rattantoule year, last year! (wink2x) to start my blog again after like about almost 2 months?

An old dear friend from across the causeway sent me a valentine day wish (huh?) email and attached this extract from a UK textbook on sex education haha... which I thought I should share with all of you my friends (hope I won't get sued for re-publishing it..erk). Well, at least it has some form of continuity with my last posting where I dabbled into some form of 'sensitive' home management issues hahaha. It did trigger some sort of agreement and disagreement but that is to be expected. To perhaps fuel futher discourse to the last posting I made, I am taking the liberty of uploading this old textbook page on the subject that perhaps too, lend further credibility to male chauvinism (I know some feminists will love to note my support to the cause of women...hahaha go go go..get those top jobs girl!!!..hahaha wink3x).

Please read it and tell me what you think.

I dunno. Are girls much happier then, then they are now? You see? Even happiness is a relative term haha. Thanks to Einstein and relativism haha. Tell me honestly ladies (if you are reading my post) would you prefer to lead a life your grandma and mum led, in those days or you rather prefer the 'relatively' emancipated life women lead the world over (in some places lar not all ok? haha)these days? wink.

Please don't get me wrong. I wasn't implying that its better now or it was better then (wink). Some prefer to live in the past, while others thrive in the future hahaha.

And the guys...hey honestly (don't be a 'hippocrates' (erm isn't he the father of medicine? hhoho). C'mon tell me, would you prefer the wifey and your girls go through and adopt the advise above? Oh well, you may have your own 'edited versions' according to your own values and cultures (hehe) or you go with the flow? Think about it while you're quietly (or loudly haha) somewhere with your valentine...or having banana leaf brunch with your family during ChInese New Year?

No no no..I was not lazing around or meditating like a hermit at the Himalayas ok? I was hehe quite occupied...hmm like oozing out uninsured comments and remarks? hmmm at the recent CEO Panel Session at the Asia HR Summit 2010 at the Renaissance Kuala Lumpur and chaired a leadership track session at the same conference (wink). The 'unfinished battle' between various management functions... You know what most people in the other departments think of the HR department right? wink. Prove them wrong please or suggest to them go take a hike (VSS you mean? hahaha). Do enjoy the long break fellas. Don't do anymore what St Valentine probably did not or would not do? (wink2x)..and where's my Angpow packet?

...hubbies were managed, in those days...

'Tis a season of weddings. Actually there are no specific season for weddings. Everyday is a good day to get married so it seems. But no, to some ethnic groups there can be days that are 'pantang' or forbidden, a definite no no haha. In some societies, the wedding day could be determined by other factors, natural, or unnatural as the case may be.

Oh well, again, as I was springkleening, throwing old documents, as a matter of discipline (hmmm) or ritual..ya..that's more like it, ritual, I stumbled upon this fotocopy of an unedited extract of a 150th anniversary of the Straits Times (1845-1995). Published on May 1, 1885 in what was at the time 'The Straits Times and Singapore Journal of Commerce'.

I have been to quite alot of wedding invites lately and there's a few more to come actually, hehe so I thought reproducing this article on my blog, might provide some pointers to the newlyweds, to the bride (hehe) especially, in managing their hubbies in the old fashion way hehe. oops sorry.. for both, the bridegroom too, hehe. Here goes:

"The Management of Husbands - Men as a rule, marry women for love, yet we see everyday these one-time happy doves drifting apart and acting as though separation would be the happiest end for both. To marry for love simply, is absurd. Unless there is a large amount of respect on either side, the flame of love soon dies out, leaving a barren manor for the dwellers thereon. However, supposing you had a husband whom you wish to twirl round your little finger, you must love him "with all your heart, with all your soul. " etc.; and love you feel will make it possible to put up with all those little discrepancies which crop out in man's nature when you come alive with him. In the first place, should your husband be a man in business, who comes home tired to death, cross, and worn out, do not at once entertain him with the trouble you have gone through the day. Meet him with a smile, take his hat and overcoat from him and let him severely alone until he has toned down with a good dinner, after which he will be in a position to listen to any thing you may have to say; but I always found it an excellent plan to hide disagreeables entirely from a husband's notice. Men don't want to have a repetition of annoyances at home when they have so many in their daily path outside, and believe me, the effect of keeping household squabbles out of your husband's knowledge wonderfully enhances your value as a wife. You don't know how a man appreciates a loving welcome and a good dinner after the toil of the day. Men are gregarious animals, and will wander in spite of allurements, but they are selfish enough to remain where they are best treated, and the years that follow will, as a rule, find the husband always glad to go back to the pretty home where smiles await him and the dinner I spoke of." -unedited extract May 1, 1885

Ya ya ya..you may say 'ala itu zaman dulu punye stail' (that's the ancient way). But then again, why not? Give it a try. You never know, sometimes the old ways work better (wink2x). Yeah, all those macho men out there (endangered species i dread to think they may one day become, if not already are..haha)...think you can handle it like your grandpa did? My apologies ladies, I know times have changed. That ancient write-up by today's standards, may sound a little offensive and chauvinistic but hey...it has alway been a two-way tingy, right? wink2x...

we treat you like maharajas...

Its christmas holiday today! Merry Christmas to all my friends who celebrate it, wherever you may be. Just don't forget that the last tsunami (2004) occurred on boxing day and that is tomorrow (wink). So if you are enjoying yourselves at some beachfront somewhere out there, just be mindful ok? hehe.

We already had our short break, my family and I, at rebak marina island resort (go google it heehee) about 15 minutes fastboat ride from Port Langkasuka (5 minutes from Langkawi Airport). A private property owned by DRB-Hicom and currently managed by the Taj Leisure Hotels & Palaces Group, India.

Oklah, my idea of deStress and deTox. Quiet retreat and great breakfast haha while checking out my new toy. Not the usual mainstream you knowlah why people go to Langkawi meh? (wink). Other than LID or LIMA or busloads of shoppingspree types at Kuah...ooops sorry. We had a great time at Rebak. Had wanted to check it out for quite sometime now but I forgot about it. I shall not comment or make any reviews of the place for now, you can read plenty of it on TripAdvisor on the internet (wink).

I was reading the two issues of The Taj Magazine ( The Romance of Food, 2008 Vol 36 No 2, and The Splendour that is The Taj, Spring 2009 vol 37 No 1) in the room, splendidly published, laminated, hardbound, classic and obscenely lavish...and I remembered a joke the late Tan Sri Khir Johari shared on a few occasions we met. He said in those days when he was a minister, he used to fly Air India...and the tagline for Air India at the time was '..we treat you like Maharajahs' Then one day he said to the cabin crew...jokingly of course, "...ya rite i know how you treat your maharajas!" hahaha (wink2x).

Most of the guests were foreigners, some longstaying. There were Brits, Frenchmen, Flemish Belgian couple, Dutch, Americans, Canadians, Middle Eastern and of course many from India. A mixed of retirees or otais like me and no less hoards of honeymooning couples haha. Some have been here before, they like it and came back again. Some, whom I spoke to, were first timers to Malaysia and they love it (hmm standard politically-correct statements huh?..haha) but I want to believe they genuinely like our country and would not hesitate to come back visit us again and again.

My point, we have plenty of great heavenly places right at our doorstep and we let others elsewhere enjoy it. I don't blame them, in fact I welcome them, please please do come with lots of money, come invest here haha...its really very cheap for them. We aspire to be a high-income economy, like the rest of the advanced nations. Whether that means we will be able to nanti visit their places and throw away hard-earned money like a lord (wink2x) or everything will get to be more expensive for all of us, well not all, for the man-in-the-street at least ...remains to be seen. Moral of story? haha go visit the Kilim Geopark Langkawi...the family will enjoy it. And if you 're afraid of the CURSE? haa..the spell's long broken..haha and definitely no white snake lady ok? (wink2x). We did. Enjoy the long weekend folks....

of undemocratic moderateurs...

Had it not been for chairing commitments in Kuala Lumpur, I would have taken an extra week off and hop northwards to explore Beijing even though the weather was getting harsher at minus zero levels. At some point it was reported that snowfall was in bigger quantities than usual. Well, Beijing can wait.

I thought I only had to moderate a panel session at the 2009 KL Takaful Conference (KLTF) at Nikko Hotel but oh no...I forgot that I had agreed earlier, to chair a whole day session of M2Asia's conference on Managing Performance Culture and Talent at JW Marriott, Kuala Lumpur. It turned out that the panelist session at Nikko was cancelled and I was having a really great time at the M2Asia conference at JW Marriott. But I left after lunch to be at the KLTF.

Really great stuff and excellent knowledge sharing at JW Marriott with speakers from Hewitt Digi, Toyota Motors et al.

I must have been doing quite alot of conference chairings that I kinda like it. I think I am in my elements when I chair conferences, seminars, colloquiems...especially if the subject areas are those that are close to my heart or that I have a passion for...hehe. One speaker candidly remarked just before he made his presentation that I have made the sessions much more enjoyable and interactive and that at times I seem to speak more than the speaker hahaha. Hmm, that's not very good isn't it? Ok ok... i must learn to reduce my interjections and not disturb the speaker/presenter hahaha....

But it's nice, being in control of the situation (wink) and I can tell you I am not very democratic when I am chairing or moderating hahaha (evil wink). You have to check with the conference organisers as to the feedback I get from participants. One will somehow know if one is not call upon again to chair hehe. If there is repeat invite...you can second guess, right? But all these are time sensitive I suppose. Constant exposure does wear out you know? heehee.