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Missed me? Heh, anyway, I just got back from KL a few hours ago… actually my time of arrival is precisely 1530 @ GMT+8. By 1730, I’m at the office and being briefed by my MD on what has been happenning for the past three days (my leave period)… ah the challenges of business in these trying times It just makes me feel alive.

Soon after that, I went to a Proton Savvy launch at a close friend’s dealership. Seems bloody obvious that Proton has its eyes focused on the compact car market which has always been dominated by local rival Perodua. BTW, Perodua launched their latest model, Myvi roughly three weeks ago.

The two not only looks, but are priced similarly too… hell, even their names are almost the same! Both companies have gone on a totally different direction with their naming schemes. Nevertheless, from my first hand view of the two, I still prefer the Myvi over Proton’s new offering. The rear passenger legroom for Myvi is still much spacious compared to Savvy. But heck, both cars look much better than their predecessors. Finally, Malaysian compact cars that look modern and stylish.

Now back to my vacation story. I went for a swimming-cum-picnic-trip at Sungai Tekala, Selangor. Nice cold water, trees everywhere. I bet you can tell that I’m not really a nature lover, heh. I took a few pics, probably will upload them here later.

As promised, I also went to Times Square… and no, I didn’t stalk Lainie, nor did I go to any blogger convention. Like I said, I had totally zero interaction with the Internet whilst I was away… so I didn’t even know that there was such a blogmeet planned. My loss, I guess.

I did have fun on the rides at the indoor theme park in Times Square. I must have been a pilot in my previous life because not a single one of the rides made me puke… But I sure as hell had some long missing, g-force induced, adrenaline rush. For those with a weak stomach, stay the hell clear of DNA Mixer! It looks innocent enough when sitting idle, but when the ride starts… it’s really scary… heck, I rode the thing a few times and every time, someone pukes right after the ride! Definitely not recommended for those with weak stomaches.

Catching up on the latest tech news, I noticed that Apple finally confirmed that they do have plans to develop OSX for Intel chips (is it also safe to assume that it’ll be x86 compatible?). Never thought the day would come… heh, not that I’m actually pining for OSX on x86 anyway. And as usual, the paranoid “Linux is now oh so dead” crowd, will have something to say about it.

On a more personal note, I’m starting to have a feeling that vacations actually stresses me out more than working. I missed the challenges of operating a business severely. Heck… maybe I’m just a bloody corporate bastard… and proud of it too

In the aftermath of an accident where 7 year old, Nur Salina Saparedi was killed, TV stations have been painted as “not practising proper ethiques” by Deputy Information Minister Datuk Zainuddin Maidin (he’s the ugly guy on the second last row, last picture).

Basically, this guy thinks that the coverage of the ensuing protests over the death of young Nur Salina, where some participants placed a coffin in the middle of the road shouldn’t be given such a priority to be aired on primetime. He said that the incident was “visually unpleasant” and “not normal”.

Well Datuk, losing a child who was needlessly killed in an accident is visually unpleasant and not normal.

Sometimes, I just feel that if only more Malaysian politicians at least try to use their brains a bit before talking, this country would be a much better place.

My deepest condolences go to the family and friends of Nur Salina.

In this piece from The Star, we can read about what goes on in the minds of immigrant workers in Malaysia.

We can see the wages that these workers receive in the industries they’re in. Heck, some of them earn quite an attractive sum! I’ve always had much respect for the average foreign worker. They tend to save religiously and be very prudent in spending their money. I wish I had such discipline.

It has been said, by the Executive Director of the Malaysian Employers Federation, Tn Hj Shamsuddin Bardan (as an aside, strangely enough, the official MEF council page says that he is the Secretary);

“Basically, a degree is not a passport to a comfortable job”, he says. He points out that employment trends in Malaysia have changed tremendously in the past decade.

This is a timely comment by someone who is really in the industry beyond the political hoopla. Somehow I feel that it somehow relates to my previous post. Most Malaysian politicians know nothing about the industrial situation other than what was grapevined to them from not so reliable sources.

In the article, Tn Haji Shamsudin touches on issues such as training fresh grads, as well as how the syllabus of our public universities are not really synchronised with the real needs of the industry. Previously, whenever I think of this issue, I primarily put the fault on to the students. Many of them don’t really put much thought into what courses they want to take and for what reasons. Most just blindly accept the first offer that they get, eventhough it’s not something they’re interested in.

However, instead of being proactive with the suggestions made by Tn Haji Shamsudin, certain segments of the academia (in this case, the VC of UKM) went on the defensive;

“For example, we have one day a week dedicated to activities in English. The students even perform dikir barat in English”, he says.

The professor vehemently disagrees with the idea that private education institutions offer a more well-rounded education than public institutions and therefore guarantee better employment opportunities.

A similar response was given by the deputy VC of UTM when I attended their Career Fair dinner in February. It all started when a GM of Panasonic Malaysia (which was the main sponsor for the fair), suggested that universities (especially public universities) should focus more on the real needs of the industry. He also stated that most graduates are ignorant of industry news and happenings. They also never put in enough effort to find out more about the companies where they are applying work. This is all too true, in my experience.

The deputy VC didn’t take the message that well. Instead of listening to a sponsor (ie. a company which has provide funding for your project), he lamented instead on public universities cannot force student to participate in more industry related activities, especially if it doesn’t have an affect on the students’ GPA. He also says that public universities have much better academic personnel compared to private universities, the problem is just that students do not appreciate this fact because the fees of public universities are much lower than private ones. My initial thought when he said this was “WTF? So you want to keep manufacturing losers from your university?”.

Afterwards, I found out that this guy has said other dumb things as well… Heck, I’ve even had the honour to listen to one of his idiotic ramblings with my date for the night. Suffice to say it involves climbing a wall to reach your car when stairs are just 10 metres away.

That night, I lost all faith of Malaysian public universities. Hopefully, things will improve. Drastically.

I know that most employers know this already; you must be very, very careful when employing people in Malaysia. There are lots of issues to note when employment is discussed. Some are pretty obvious, whereas some require careful, well-planned action plans.

Before you proceed, I’d just like to state that this post is not intended for workers, or those planning to join the workforce. It is merely a reflection of my experience as someone facilitating the employment process on behalf of a company. I will be very objective in my posting, and workers may find this post intimidating. You have been warned, proceed at your own risk.

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