Malaysian kids in the UK

Yesterday we went over to our friend Din's house for the Majlis Kesyukuran to celebrate the birth of his son. He's leaving the UK soon as his wife as already completed her PhD studies. They have been here for nearly 4 and a half years now.

As usual, most of the Malaysian families were there in full force with the kids. Most of the children were born or grew up here including two of Din's kids. It's quite funny because the parents would be talking in a mixture of Malay and Malaysian English with the occasional Lah! thrown in while the kids would reply with a British slang. Most of the kids can't even speak a single sentence in Malay.

I wonder how they are going to adjust to Malaysia and Malaysian schools when they get back. I remember a story one of our friends told us about her kid, who's very bright and talkative. He had a culture shock when they got back to Malaysia. Unlike in the UK where kids are taught to be inquisitive and to speak up in class, the Cikgu (teacher) actually fined him every time he said something in class.

Anyway, I was watching the kids (between 5 and 10 years) playing with the computer and they were searching for a song on YouTube. They finally found it and told me the singer is "Jojo".

I told them, "Sorry! I haven't heard of her."

And they gave me that "where are you from" look.

BTW, JoJo is the stage name of Joanna Noëlle Levesque, a popular American pop singer.

Already see a generation gap here.

Tags: Kids Jojo

Malaysian bloggers meme

Got tagged by Lilian, the (in)famous 5Xmom (just joking). I have to list down five of my favourite Malaysian bloggers. It's quite hard to choose because I visit a lot of Malaysian blogs everyday. Anyway, here are the top 5 (not in any particular order):

1. Chan Lilian - the lady who tagged me is also one of my idols. Her posts are humorous and witty - a great combination. However, may not be safe for kids. he he he. I learned a lot about making money from blogs, through her blogs. That's right, "Blogs". She actually has like 12 other blogs.

2. Kenny Sia - Arguably, Malaysia's most famous blogger. His blog receives like 15k visitors daily and that is amazing. Contrary to what some people say, he does write about serious stuff. Only he writes them in his own humorous way.

3. Lainie - Really creative lady. She write super duper long posts with numerous topics - it's crazy.

4. Azlynne - Another lady who write really long posts. Been a regular to her blog for quite sometime now - maybe because both of us like rock music and sci-fi.

5. Lucia Lai - Writes on some very serious/ controversial topics that I am worried that she might get into trouble with the authorities on day. She's one of my regular visitors (who leave comments ) too.

I am not going to tag anybody. Everyone is welcome to join in. Just leave a comment and I will add you name to a list below:
1. ?

Cheap flights to UK

We were really excited when it was announced that Malaysia'sAirAsia would be starting low cost flights to the UK and that we would be able to fly back to Malaysia for as low as £60 return. Of course, this would be a "no-frills flight" without inflight entertainment and you would have to book food and drink at an extra cost.

Tony the Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia was expected to make an announcement soon and Britian's EasyJet and Virgin Group were rumoured to be potential partners.

Sadly this announcement never came and later both UK airlines denied reports that they were going to join forces with AirAsia.

Well it sounded too good to be true.

Ethnicity of my kids

I was given a form to fill at my daughter's pre-school. We were required to provide some details including her ethnic background, language spoken at home and religion among others. According to a friend, who's been a long time resident in the UK, this is a recent development and he was not very happy about it as he considered it as a case of Big brother being too nosy. Anyway, I was not really concerned with that. After all, it not something unheard of in Malaysia.

We were a bit confused what to fill in under Ethnic background and we finally ticked the "Mixed others" option.

It's quite funny but the issue of our kid's ethnicity has come up on more than one occasion. When we first arrived here in Coventry, some people were surprised when I told them that my kid's birth certificate says "Melayu" under Keturunan (meaning ancestry or descent), meaning my kids are Malay.

I guess they normally follow the father's ethnicity.

My wife once joked that is precisely the reason why they say "Masuk Melayu" (join Malay) whenever you marry a Malay. Melayu Boleh lah!

I am OK with that as long as my kids don't forget the father's (my) side of their heritage and start waving a Keris around.

BTW, the definition of "Malay" according to the Malaysian constitution may differ from that given by anthropologists. Refer to Article 160 of the Malaysian Constitution for more details.

Related posts:
- Mixed marriages and the melting pot

Tags: Ethnicity Melayu boleh Malay

Car serviced..... FINALLY!

Woke up early in the morning and sent my car for servicing. I had to leave it at the workshop on Stony Stanton road, for a few hours and I didn't know what to do or where to go. Read my post here.

Fortunately, I suddenly remembered that Malaysians usually had a gathering every Saturday, at the MRC nearby. While I was walking over there, I called up En. Wahab my good friend to see whether he was coming today. He was but found out, unfortunately that the gathering was an hour later.

So got back to the workshop and was able to chat a bit with the owner. I passed away the time reading the car service manual and I actually learnt a lot about the car.

Later went to the MRC around 10am and the families started arriving soon after. The Malaysian community in Coventry is quite close knit and it was nice meeting up with them - listening to what they were up to and to their experiences here in the UK.

Later went to En. Wahab's house to pass the time while my car was being serviced. Chatted about life in Malaysia and my previous job. Quite interesting.

Finally got back my car around 3pm.

Thanks Wahab for all the help. I won't forget it.

Tags: Coventry Malaysian

Malaysian Companies and Marketing

NOTE: This blog post was not meant as a personal attack on accountants and engineers. I too am from a non social-sciences background (I have an educational background in biological sciences) and the first time I heard about the 4 Ps was during my MBA. However, over time I specialised in Marketing and came to understand it's importance. I know a lot of accountants and engineers who are extremely creative, this includes you too Jules. I just wanted to make those people on the top realise the importance of marketing and put it into their head that

MARKETING IS NOT ONLY SELLING!

UPDATED: 3 July '07.

Read on
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I have a theory why many Malaysian companies are not innovative.

It is probably because accountants and engineers run many of them. If you don't believe me, just check.

Both of these professions train people to be methodical, logical and use reasoning, which doesn't leave much room for creativity or artistic expression (unless of course, you count creative accounting). Add to that, the 'budaya suap' or spoon fed culture existing in our educational institutions starting from the primary schools where questioning the teacher/lecturer is frowned upon and students are tested based on how much they have memorized from a few select books.

However, this post is not about accountants and engineers but about marketing.

I remember one time I was discussing what Marketing was all about with some MBA students, which included managers of a few companies. And yes! Many of them had engineering and accounting backgrounds. To gauge their understanding of the topic, I simply asked each of them to define marketing, according to their understanding.

I received so many definitions but I could classify them into two broad categories:
1. Selling the product/ service and
2. Advertising.

It was shocking for me because some of these guys were marketing managers in their respective companies.

Looking at it from the perspective of a marketing historian (is there such a thing), it is clear that the concept of marketing (as practiced by many Malaysian companies) is still in the production or selling era.

From talking with friends and acquaintances in various industries, I learnt that the Research and Development (R&D) guys (mostly composed of engineers) rarely consult with other departments (or customers) before coming out with a product. Many companies don't even have an R&D dept. and it is up to their head guy (often the CEO) who comes up with the ideas.

They would then pass it to the production/ operations people to "build" the product and finally leave it up to the sales and marketing department to "sell" it to the customers.

If the product fails, it is due to bad marketing (blaming the sales and marketing dept.). In a way it's true but not because of the marketing guys (some of whom don't know what marketing is all about). Rather it was doomed right from the start. The customer didn't need it nor do they want it and any amount of marketing won't help.

The concept of marketing has undergone drastic changes over the past three decades, evolving from the production era: produce products fast and cheap.

Remember Henry Ford's “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black."

It then moved through the sales and marketing era - the concept that many companies in Malaysia are following now: "If you have a good product, then everyone would buy it. You only have to let the customers know".

The change in marketing focus from the product to the customer occurred during the marketing era, which appeared around the 1960s in the west. Effectiveness and efficiency in meeting customer demands, needs and wants were identified as the key elements in determining companies' long-term success. Now it has moved beyond market segmentation of customers based on their demographics. Researchers are now looking at the attitude or lifestyles of consumers- psychographics. However, this field has been largely unexplored in Malaysia.

Why do companies carry out such studies?
It is because companies need to understand the customers before coming out with a product or service. It would eventually help them in framing their marketing strategies including advertising campaigns (which is actually only a small part of promotion).

Consider that companies have done everything right. Carried out extensive research. Consulted the experts, the customers and the suppliers. Had a grand launch in a expensive hotel with representatives from the media taking down every optimistic forecasts sprouted by the CEO and of course the VIP. This was preceded and followed by attractive promotions including some very memorable and convincing ad campaigns. But is that enough.

I am sure that all of you have at least one personal experience, where you were treated like a King or Queen BEFORE you bought the product are service. And then treated like dirt afterwards.

The relationship era, which emerged during the 1990s in the west, shifted the focus to the establishment and maintenance of mutually beneficial relationships with existing customers and suppliers. Now, we are not talking of just making a sale. We want loyal customers who would come back for more and bring along others with them at the same time. We are now talking about long-term relationships.

Now are Malaysian companies in the relationship era?
I hear people involved in Multi level marketing (MLM) raising their hands. I hate MLMs.


Can we have the cake and eat it too?

Oh Yeah! What's my definition of Marketing?
I think the best one was that given by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) in the UK: "management process of anticipating, identifying and satisfying customer requirements profitably".

Other related links:
- 4 Ps of Marketing
- AIDA concept

Tags: Marketing Thoughts

Freemasons in Malaysia

The Star Wars fever is still running high and I plan to catch it this weekend (finally). I wanted to watch it on the big screen and is the reason why I avoided the temptation of buying a shaky pirated DVD copy.

However, I am also eagerly awaiting 3 other movies, namely Batman Begins, Fantastic Four and the Da Vinci code.

In case you are not aware, the last movie is based on Dan Brown’s bestseller about a Harvard professor Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) who stumbles on a thousand’s year old conspiracy.

Anyway, last week as I was going through Ipoh (again), I noticed this regal building. The thing that caught my eye was a conspicuous symbol on the compound walls - symbol of the compass.

"What has this got to do with the Da Vinci Code?" you may ask.

Well, during the height of the Da Vinci Code craze, I did some research on my own and found out that the Freemasons (the secret society mentioned in the book) have branches and members in Malaysia. Before you think that I have gone bonkers, there was an article in the Star, whereby their Grand Master came out to talk about their “Fraternity”.

It was mentioned that they have branches in all states in Malaysia apart from Kelantan and another.

Their contact address in Kuala Lumpur:
Dewan Freemason, 213 Jalan Tun Razak, 50400, Kuala Lumpur

Update:

DEWAN FREEMASON, No.15, Jalan 18/16,
Taman Kanagapuram
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

I found out that there is another Dewan Freemason (Emerald Lodge) at Bukit OUG, Jalan 3/155, 58200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I am not sure about that building in Ipoh though. Very little is known about the society even though there is a lot of information about them on the net. Like for example, some mention that almost all the American Presidents were a member of the society as well (However, excluding George Bush Sr and Jr),  as were most of those who wrote the US Constitution.

Really makes me wonder who these people are and what they do.

Links on Freemasons in Malaysia:
- Freemasonry in Malaysia
- Unveiling the history of the highly secretive Freemasons in Malaysia
- The truth about Freemasonry

(Several dead links were removed and other new ones added on 29th of Oct, 2020)
Updated: 29/10/2020.