I Hate Corruption

"Corruption - defined as 'the abuse of public power for personal ends' - has always existed. During recent decades, however, it has grown both in terms of geographic extent and intensity. Since the mid 1970s, it has infiltrated virtually every country in the world." - Euforic.org

A recent survey (I forgot the source) noted that many youngsters in Malaysia were willing to take and give bribes.

Initially the term “corruption” was a taboo subject in international development circles. This was broken when James D. Wolfensohn, former president of the World Bank (1995-2005) gave his groundbreaking "cancer of corruption" speech to the World Bank/IMF annual meeting in 1996. He cited corruption as a major burden for the poor in developing countries. - World Bank

I hate corruption in any form. It is unethical, haram, disgusting, (you can add more here...).

Why do I think so? Well, corruption:

1. Increases the cost of doing business
2. Puts more pressure on poor people
4. Deters foreign investment
5. Delays/ distorts justice
6. Inefficient, ineffective, unsuitable people are chosen over others more deserving.

I am sure you all can come up with more...

Look at the following cases and decide whether these are forms of corruption:
(Imagine that you are the customer/ decision maker)

1. Company representative offers you a RM10,000 cut if your organisation decides to buy the computers from them.
2. Company representative offers you a laptop/ latest mobile phone/ palm top if your organisation decides to buy the computers from them.
3. Company representative requests you to join them for some drinks at this great Karaoke club (GROs to give you company. Hint! Hint!) during the evening.
4. Company sends you a gift hamper during Hari Raya/ Chinese new year/ Diwali.

On the other hand, you did not take any money/gifts during the selection process and selected the candidates purely out of merit.

To show their gratitude, the lucky successful candidates arrive at your home / office bearing gifts. Is it OK to accept the gifts?

BTW, I am really sad to learn that Malaysia’s World ranking in competitiveness and efficiency fell from 16th to the 28th place last year, based on the report by the World Competitiveness Center, International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland.

Letter to Malaysian Government Officials

Writing a letter to a Malaysian government official or even a Minister?

Most of us absolutely have no idea how to go about it and we were no exception. However, over the years, I have gained some experience in this matter. Hope that you don't make the same mistake we made.

Here are some guidelines according to government officers, some retired and others still serving Minister's offices at Putrajaya.

1. Make the letter short.

Usually not more than 3 paragraphs and on one page. Remember these are busy people who have no time to go through 3 - 4 pages.

We made this mistake.

2. Write in Bahasa Malaysia.

Letters in English are not entertained.

Made this mistake once.

3. Verify that you are addressing the right person.

Discovered that 2 officials we once wrote to had been transferred to another department.

4. Get recommendation letter/s whenever possible.

Helps in getting the letter through. The most valuable one is from the Prime Minister himself (tell me if yuo know him personally). We really need his help.

5. Preferrably, hand deliver the letter.

If you send by post, there is no gurantee that they may reach the intended receipient. So drive down to Putrajaya and get there before office hours.

6. Follow up

This is to ensure that your letter went through and not put in KIV or have been thrown into the rubbih bin.

BTW, we finally see some light at the end of the tunnel or is that another lamp.

2 Years Blogging

My blog 'Ah OK Lah' turns 2 tomorrow. It has come a long way since my first post on Monday, September 8, 2003.

During this period I have made a lot of new friends most of whom I have never met, from various countries around the World.

My wife still thinks that blogging is a waste of precious time that could have been utilized for other more important things. I have tried to explain how blogging gives me a sense of satisfaction that can't be described but I guess she still remains unconvinced. However, I know that she reads each and every post I make and she is one of my biggest critics.

Though I haven’t reached even half the celebrity status or popularity of other more famous Malaysian/ Malaysia based bloggers like Kenny Sia, I have a small group of visitors who drop by my blog regularly. It is actually their comments and suggestions that actually drive me to blog.

Thanks guys and hope you come back again and again.

Belated Blogday Post

Blogday fell on the 31st of August, 2005, which was also Malaysia's Independence Day. I was in KL and posted up the Blogday message from there and forgot all about it.

It was only today that I suddenly realised that the post was missing. I am not sure what went wrong - maybe I forgot to hit the 'Publish Post' button or something.

Anyway here is the belated Blogday post again.

According to the BlogDay posting instructions, we were supposed to:
1. Find 5 new Blogs that you find interesting
2. Notify the 5 bloggers that you are recommending them as part of BlogDay 2005
3. Write a short description of the Blogs and place a link to the recommended Blogs
4. Post the BlogDay Post (on August 31st) and
5. Add the BlogDay tag using this link: http://technorati.com/tag/BlogDay2005 and a link to the BlogDay web site at http://www.blogday.org

Well as I think it's too late I am only going to follow the rules partly:

So here are the blogs. All of them are personal blogs, but all of them write quite serious stuff from time to time. There's only three. I got bored with the others - mostly teenagers.

1. The Surging Waves

Blog Owner: Avik
Location: Kolkata, India

This guy usually has some short interesting posts, which are thought provoking. In one year he has changed his blog 3 times. By change I don't mean templates. He has started and completely deleted and restarted his blog - 3 times with a new blog name every time. I hope he doesn't change it again.

2. Words of a Broken Mirror

Blog Owner: Kayla Vincent
Location: Bucharest, Romania

She describes herself as: "Always changing and yet the same. Somewhat like a ghost: those who believe in me, cannot see me and those who see me do not believe I actually exist".

It is not everyday that you come across a blogger from Romania who blogs in English. I got to her blog from Avik's. You can also check out the nice pics on her Photo blog: Views of a Broken Mirror

3. Charleston Jenerator
Owner: Jen
Location: Charleston, South Carolina, United States

She has this to say about herself: "I am a navy brat workaholic who has lived in Charleston nearly all my life. I work 40 hrs. a week at a car dealership and a few minimal hours at a local restaurant. I am a data analyst by day and an assistant night manager at night making sure the food's hot on the weekends".

She writes about her life in Charleston and brings up some interesting issues. I find that we share some common issues despite the distance between countries, cultures, etc. One of her recent topics was on teenage pregnancies, an issue often swept under the rug here.

Happy Belated Blogday.

View From Our Apartment 2

Some more pictures from our apartment at Flora Damansara.



For more pictures click here.

Related Posts:

View from out apartment 1

View From Our Appartment 1

View from our new apartment in Flora Damansara.

Man on the Moon

All this talk about sending a Malaysian to the moon reminds me of an incident some time back.

I have always been a sci-fi fan and love to imagine that one day there might be a colony on the moon. Though that is unlikely to happen unless someone finds something precious there. Everything is economics. Governments and organizations won’t fund a project unless they are sure to get some economic benefit out of it and a space mission is definitely not going to be cheap.

Anyway, we were attending a talk at Islamic Outreach ABIM, Ampang Hilir. After the talk we were having lunch when one guy started a discussion. He looked educated and well to do (looking at the size of his Mercedes Benz). He was of the opinion that man never landed on the moon and all the moon landings starting right from Apollo 11 mission, were all fake – a drama staged by NASA and the US Government. So Neil Armstrong and the others never landed on the moon.

At first I just tried to be polite and listened but after a few other people started agreeing with him, I decided to speak up.

It is simply not possible that all the moon missions were a hoax perpetuated by NASA.

I gave him a few logical arguments. Are there satellites in space right now or is that another hoax by governments and space agencies around the World? Is there a space station or again another hoax? Where did the pieces of moon rock come from? Are the films made on the moon fake? Are all scientists in this World so stupid as to be fooled?

His answers were like “If they can make Star Wars look so real, why not?”

Of course he could not possibly win an argument against me. However, he went on an on about a particular website, which proves that man never landed on the moon. Like the flag on the moon was fluttering and so on.

I had to gently remind him not to believe everything that is published on the net. At the end, I could see he had really worked himself up and simply refused to see my point of view. I decided to end it by moving to another table.

Do you guys believe that man never landed on the moon?

Related news:

The Star report