Queen termites

‘A MAN involved in the pest control business has claimed eating queen termites can boost the sexual prowess for men. The effect is as if we are running in a marathon non-stop, claimed the 45-year-old man, who said he started eating queen termites seven years ago.’

The news was taken from The star online, dated 09 May 2011.

This totally an argument of ad populum appeals to authority. Just because he was in the pest control industry for many years does not mean he have the knowledge in such thing. Please think twice before you decide to consume such insect.

Mind Mapping

I have try to mind mapping the payroll processing. I find it organized and easy to remember what i should do every month.

Six Thinking Hat

When I have learned the subject of ‘Critical Thinking’, I only realised there were so many different colors of hat wearers in my office.

In the Accounts and Finance Department, the accounts officer will always wear the ‘Black Hat’ in the office. Every time when I passed the memo to request for payment, she always will throw the same question: ‘Is the Memo being verified? Got attachment? I don’t want to process something that is not approved yet.’ I understand her objective to asking such question but she should know we also know the rules and procedures before passing the request.

While in the other department, for example, Sales & Marketing. The ’Green Hat’ seem like a uniform for them. They always very creative to generate the ideas in order to attract more business flow in to company. Sometimes there will let us have the ‘Green Hat’ being wear to give them the opinion and ideas. For example, what color is the most attractive to put in our corporate website? What is the most suitable name for the new product?

In my department, my boss is always wearing different color of hat when come to different situation and she also insists us to wearing the different hat at different time. If we received an e-mail from her to provide any ideas on the process flow of the department, she wants us to wear the ‘Green Hat’. When the other departments urged us to generate a report urgently without giving us a notice, she always throws the ‘Black Hat’ and reply ‘We are short of manpower and this is payroll time, please allow us a week time to come up the report’. Sometimes the new system is not working in the way that we expected, my boss will always wearing a ‘Red Hat’ and tells the vendor ‘I don’t like the report be generated like this!’

There is so much fun when I know about the Six Thinking Hat and I have learned to switch between the hats all the times. Like the mastermind of this thinking hat, Edward De Bo quotes: ‘The artificiality of the hats is their greatest value; they provide a formal and convenient way to request a certain type of thinking from oneself or others’.

Attitude or Quality?

‘The attitude of Malaysians, companies and the government doubting the quality of locally-made goods and the capabilities of local companies are among the causes for the difficulty to develop domestic industries, says former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.’

The above statement was taken from The Star online, dated April 17, 2011.

The goods mention here actually is mean the national car, Proton.

Before we blame the attitude we must look into the actual factor, quality. Until today, we still can read many complaints about the national car form the newspaper or online discussion forums. The power window unable to lower and the engine always breaking down among the problems that face by the drivers. The product itself has such a poor quality and is normal that a person was doubted and less confident for the goods.

Instead of blame the people not have confident about the car, why not improve the quality of the car first?

So, the attitude of the people has nothing wrong. The quality is one of the factors that causes to the difficulty to develop domestic industry.

Ad-Hominem

My department just implemented a new payroll system and since then there will be a consultant from the vendor company will work together in the same office with us for about 3 months after the system go live to make sure the payroll processing is smooth.

One day during a lunch together with the team, the following conversation happen:

Consultant: Previously I work in an outsource company which the office located in Putrajaya.

I like the work very much. Now I starting miss the people and the office there.

Officemate A: Why are you resigned from that company and attached with current company now?

Consultant: Well. I am staying in Petaling Jaya and have to travel to work in Putrajaya is quite tired especially have to face the traffic jam everyday.

Officemate A: How about your work now?

Consultant: Is good. If compare to the previous company, I still prefer the working environment there.

Officemate B: How about the system? Are you using the same system?

Consultant: No. They are using different system. The previous system is easier to learn and recognized internationally.

Officemate B: How will you rate the current system now if compare to the previous one? I found it very complicated.

Consultant: The current system is good. You can generate many reports using the tools created in the system. You should learn faster so that you can get use of it.

Officemate A: Just now you say you prefer the previous company and said that system is easier to learn but now you defense the system from the current company…

From the above conversation, my officemate has a bad argument with the consultant. She used the Fallacy of Ad-hominem abusive. The consultant has no right to advice which system is good because he has compliment the system in the previous company.

Babysitter

Today, I have an argument with my husband about my children’s babysitter.

Husband: We should change the babysitter. Kak Na was not good enough plus her house is very far from here, it takes about 20 minutes to reach to her place.

Me: What do you mean not good enough?

Husband: Jasmin has fall down from her house until hospitalized. It proves that she was careless. If she able to monitor our baby closely, the incident will not happen.

Me: … (silent)

I keep silent because I have to support the change of the babysitter base on the two premises my husband mention: My babysitter not monitor closely is the caused of my baby fall down and her house is far, it takes 20 minutes to reach to her house. 

A Doctor in the House

Our former fourth prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has just launched his autobiography titled ‘A Doctor in the House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’.

Being the longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia, he definitely have gone through a lot during his tenure as the premier of the country and therefore his memoirs covers many facets of his personal and professional experience.

He however did not complete his memoirs in chronology format but rather in chapters where he decide what events during his tenure that he wishes to delve into and shares with the public.

As expected his memoirs attracted praise from those who admire him and criticisms from his detractors.

Tun M, as he is fondly referred to, is undoubtedly the most enigmatic Prime Minister that country have ever had. He seemed not to care about the praise towards him and not disheartened by the criticisms against him.

In that sense he is an interesting person.

Many who despise him argue that he is an authoritarian leader and that he has curtailed a lot of freedom in the country during his tenure.

Those who praise him on the other hand argue that he have singlehandedly transform the country to one of the most vibrant economy in the Asia region.

As he mentioned in his memoirs in the end it is safe to conclude that history and the future generations would probably the best judge to appraise his successes and failure.

In any situation a leader have to lead with many uncertainties and make decisions that may on hindsight be the wrong one but a leader does not have the advantage of hindsight but act he must.

Malaysia some say have regressed during his tenure but it would be unfair to close one eye and not acknowledge the successes that the country have benefited during his tenure.

A nation like Malaysia is dynamic in terms of growth and as it grows it needs to be defined constantly against the internal and external forces that keeps evolving and ever changing.

In that sense a leader for a country like Malaysia would have to be courageous, bold and patriotic to always strive to propel the nation to the next level.

Tun M have done this and good or bad his leadership should be a lesson to be learned by all of us especially the future generations. 

Security Guards

During last few months, my family was very annoyed with the security services provided at the condominium area that we are staying.

Everyday when we passed by the gate, they will first check the car sticker issued by the Joined Management Body (JMB) of the condominium. If we have a valid car sticker, they will open the gate for us with a smile. However, those without a sticker will not be allowed to enter.

Any resident who owns more than one car, they will have to park their car outside the condominium area.

This got me thinking – is the sticker method a good security measure?

Firstly, the security guards seemed to blindly allow access into the condo area just because a car has the sticker, but the security issue is the people inside the car not the car. How could they tell who is inside the car if the focus is on the sticker. There could be a bunch of dangerous people in the car but still they can gain access inside the compound just because their vehicle has a sticker.

I think it makes more sense and more secured to emphasize that the guards are aware and have a good feel of the occupants of all vehicle entering the compound. For example, if a person is a regular visitor, the guards should be able to recognize and make the assessment if the person is safe to be allowed access into the compound.

I have seen when a pregnant lady is denied access just because her car does not have a car sticker and she had to walk from a distance outside to go to her unit. Does that justify security in action? In fact, it is actually moronic to think that the security guards cannot exercise common sense in carrying out their duty.

I can’t imagine if a real dangerous emergency were to occur? How would this kind of guards react? One would think that they would probably make it worse rather than make it safer.

In our desire to have security most times we fail to recognize what is security in the first place.

In my area residents without a sticker is denied access to the parking lots, thus they have to park their car alongside the road leading to the entrance to the condo area. As such, the entrance roads become narrower and difficult even for 2 small cars to pass each other.

Imagine if there is a fire? How will the fire engine have access to the units in danger? How many lives will be at risk? In the name of security the parking by the roadside is allowed while there are empty parking lots available inside. It is very risky and yet they view it as a security measure.

In conclusion, all these point to the lack in common sense from the resident and management of the condominium. It also illustrates the state of enforcement in our residency areas.

Instead of keeping ourself secure and safe we tend to make it more dangerous and riskier for all.