Politician Integrity the order of the day

Ceritalah By Karim Raslan

Aspiring leaders have to learn that to be elected into office is to be dutybound to one’s constituents — to be honest, scrupulous and morally good. 

WOMEN, Family and Community Develop­ment Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil has been a dynamic and forward-looking leader – a stand-out among the Umno line-up – and they will sorely miss her talents.

However, it would be incorrect to think that what she has gone through is an isolated or a one-off case. Nor is her fall wholly attributable to PKR’s director of strategies Rafizi Ramli. The young former chartered accountant is merely an agent of change in the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) saga.

In reality, the unravelling of the NFC debacle reflects deeper, global trends brought about by technology and social media – most notably the fact that we have entered the Age of Full Disclosure.

Dynamic leader: It would be incorrect to think that what Shahrizat has gone through is an isolated or one-off case.

 

In this respect, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are emblematic of these changes.

The Age of Full Disclosure has been a rude shock for Malaysia’s political elite.

In the past, Malay bangsawan culture – the deference and respect for figures of authority – emboldened our leaders to say one thing and do another. This is no longer acceptable or sustainable.

From now on, the Malaysian public expects leaders to do as they say. The unquestioning trust and adoration that once existed have disappeared. Technology has also freed up the mind.

Moreover, Malaysians are no longer fearful of the leaders as the last vestiges of the kerajaan ethos are swept away.

Of course, as Assange has discovered, being a whistle-blower is a very lonely business. Everyone is afraid of the man (or woman) who insists on telling the truth, especially when it’s highly compromising and/or embarrassing.

The point is that surviving in “the new political landscape” and “engaging the social media” doesn’t just mean setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as hiring cyber troopers to blog for you.

It also means realising that information can no longer be controlled, and modifying your behaviour accordingly.

Malaysian politicians have to realise that nothing is sacred and nothing can be hidden anymore. The most seemingly innocuous comment or odd scrap of paper can, and will, be dredged up against you.

I’ve already said that it’s no longer possible for our leaders to present one message to another community and then say something else to the next.

So what is the solution for politicians?

It’s quite simple: Don’t run for office if your affairs (and those of your family and close associates) are not in order. Probity is the order of the day. Aspiring leaders have to learn that elected office is to be dutybound to one’s constituents, not a means to enrich themselves or their families.

This in effect forces politicos to be what we’ve always wanted them to be: Honest, scrupulous and moral in the public sphere. The only difference is that we, the people, now have the power to enforce this.

Indeed, the NFC scandal heralds a long-awaited power shift in Malaysia, whereby our elite families no longer monopolise the power to set agendas or deflect issues. Technology has inverted our social pyramid.

As I said, the double standards that Malaysia’s rich and powerful once enjoyed is no longer as pervasive as before. If they abuse the public trust and misuse the country’s money, the people can now turn on them with a vengeance.

It’s no longer enough for our leaders to say: “Trust me; I know what I’m doing and what’s best for you all”.

The continued fallout over the UK phone-hacking scandals and Rupert Murdoch’s travails should also be a warning to media practitioners that they will be subject to the same scrutiny as the politicians.

They too will be called to account if their ethics are not up to scratch or if they toy with the truth. At this rate, this tukang cerita would be better off as a rice farmer! We have been served a severe, but very timely, warning.

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Tech companies 'control the future of news'

Jon Dube, Forbes Contributor Digital Media Executive & Advisor 

Technology companies such as Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple “now control the future of news.”

That’s one of the take-aways from the 2012 State of the News Media report, released today by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism. The news industry, the report says, “finds itself more a follower than leader shaping its business.”

But I think there’s hope. The report touches on a number of opportunities for traditional media in the digital space – areas that are growing rapidly and still up for grabs. Those include targeted advertising, the mobile/tablet space, and digital video.

Winning in these areas will be tough, given the traditional media’s historical inability to rapidly evolve and the head start other companies have on them.

TARGETED ADVERTISING

A good example is the fast-growing opportunity of targeted advertising, where Google and Facebook dominate and news organizations lag far behind.

The Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) report points out that even though targeted advertising is one of the forms of online advertising expected to grow most rapidly, only a few of the top news sites use it.  Meanwhile, the report says, tech companies like Facebook and Google “are using personal data collected over the internet to direct ads to specific consumers to a far greater degree than ever before – and to a far greater degree than most news organizations are capable of.”

While Facebook and Google have taken the lead, news organizations could catch up, if they try. Most have the ability, and at least some data, that would enable them to engage in targeting. A PEJ study of digital advertising at 22 top news sites found that few of them do, however. Of the 22 sites, most did not contain any ads targeted to consumers based on their online behavior, according to the January study. Only three – CNN, The New York Times and Yahoo! News – employed high levels of targeting based on a user’s recent online activity. A handful of others employed limited targeting. (For more, see “Who Advertises on News Sites and How Much Those Ads Are Targeted.”)

While targeted display ads account for just 10% of local online ads, or $1.5 billion, right now, by 2016, they are expected to grow to $14.6 billion and make up more than half the market, according to Borrell Associates.

MOBILE

One of the bright spots in the PEJ report is the research on mobile and tablet usage. Readers spend far more time with news apps on the smartphone and tablet, visit more pages at a time, and return more frequently than they do on conventional computers, according to data from Localytics, a client-based mobile analytics firm. And most importantly, there are signs that mobile news consumption is actually increasing total news consumption – one report from comScore indicates mobile devices increase news site traffic by between 7 and 11 percent.

The good news is mobile and tablet usage are expected to continue skyrocketing. And the ad dollars will shift there as well. Mobile ad spending grew 89% in 2011, to $1.45 billion – and is expected to grow to $10.83 billion by 2016.

News organizations know this is an opportunity, and are investing resources in developing mobile and tablet apps and sites. Still, it’s not clear whether news organizations can capture these dollars. Google already earns more than half of mobile ad dollars in the U.S. and Facebook is expected to move aggressively into the mobile ad market after its IPO.

“Our analysis suggests that news is becoming a more important and pervasive part of people’s lives,” PEJ Director Tom Rosenstiel said, referring to the findings about mobile and tablet usage in particular. “But it remains unclear who will benefit economically from this growing appetite for news.”

RELATED: Mobile, tablet devices increase news consumption

DIGITAL VIDEO

Another big opportunity for news organizations is digital video, because video advertising earns much higher rates – and digital video viewing and advertising is expected to skyrocket in the next few years. While video advertising spend is only $2.02 billion now, it is projected to grow to $7.11 billion by 2015 — which would make it the most lucrative type of online ad after search and banner ads, according to eMarketer.

Despite that, video news and advertising still represents a small fraction of the content on most news sites, aside from those of major broadcasters. In a February PEJ study, none of the top stories on major news sites were in a video format — even on the sites of broadcast news organizations. Stand-alone video ads were also rare, making up only 1.3% of ads on the news websites studied.

The good news is we are starting to see increasing signs of life in digital news video. A few months ago Reuters launched a YouTube channel, dubbed Reuters TV, featuring 10 news shows. The Wall Street Journal has been one of the most aggressive newspapers in the video space, and is now producing more than four hours of video a day.  (Check out WSJ’s fantastic video app for the iPhone and iPad)

One of the more interesting experiments to watch will be The Huffington Post Streaming Network, an online news channel AOL plans to launch later this year that will live-stream news video 12 hours a day. (Disclaimer: I used to be the SVP/GM of News & Information at AOL but left last year).

THE FUTURE

As the digital world becomes more mobile, social and targeted, media companies still have plenty of opportunity. They will have the chance to to attract new audiences and dollars. The question is whether news organizations can move nimbly enough to survive, and thrive.

RELATED: How Facebook, Twitter differ for news consumption

For the latest news from SXSW and general insights on digital media, please follow me on Twitter at @cyberjournalist and visit CyberJournalist.net for the latest digital media headlines.

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'Quantum criticality': Ultracold experiments heat up quantum research

Enlarge

This false color image shows the average density of cesium atoms taken during multiple experimental cycles for studying quantum criticality in the ultracold laboratory of Cheng Chin, associate professor in physics at UChicago. The density is lowest in the white area on the outside, highest toward the center, where higher numbers of atoms are blocking the incoming infrared laser light. Xibo Zhang collected these data in connection with his recently completed doctoral research at UChicago. (Xibo Zhang and Cheng Chin)

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of Chicago physicists have experimentally demonstrated for the first time that atoms chilled to temperatures near absolute zero may behave like seemingly unrelated natural systems of vastly different scales, offering potential insights into links between the atomic realm and deep questions of cosmology.

This ultracold state, called “quantum criticality,” hints at similarities between such diverse phenomena as the gravitational dynamics of black holes or the exotic conditions that prevailed at the birth of the universe, said Cheng Chin, associate professor in physics at UChicago. The results could even point to ways of simulating cosmological phenomena of the early universe by studying systems of atoms in states of quantum criticality.

“Quantum criticality is the entry point for us to make connections between our observations and other systems in nature,” said Chin, whose team is the first to observe quantum criticality in ultracold atoms in optical lattices, a regular array of cells formed by multiple laser beams that capture and localize individual atoms.

UChicago graduate student Xibo Zhang and two co-authors published their observations online Feb. 16 in Science Express and in the March 2 issue of Science.

Quantum criticality emerges only in the vicinity of a quantum phase transition. In the physics of everyday life, rather mundane phase transitions occur when, for example, water freezes into ice in response to a drop in temperature. The far more elusive and exotic quantum phase transitions occur only at ultracold temperatures under the influence of magnetism, pressure or other factors.

“This is a very important step in having a complete test of the theory of quantum criticality in a system that you can characterize and measure extremely well,” said Harvard University physics professor Subir Sachdev about the UChicago study.

Physicists have extensively investigated quantum criticality in crystals, superconductors and magnetic materials, especially as it pertains to the motions of electrons. “Those efforts are impeded by the fact that we can’t go in and really look at what every electron is doing and all the various properties at will,” Sachdev said.

Sachdev’s theoretical work has revealed a deep mathematical connection between how subatomic particles behave near a quantum critical point and the gravitational dynamics of black holes. A few years hence, offshoots of the Chicago experiments could provide a testing ground for such ideas, he said.

There are two types of critical points, which separate one phase from another. The Chicago paper deals with the simpler of the two types, an important milestone to tackling the more complex version, Sachdev said. “I imagine that’s going to happen in the next year or two and that’s what we’re all looking forward to now,” he said.

Other teams at UChicago and elsewhere have observed quantum criticality under completely different experimental conditions. In 2010, for example, a team led by Thomas Rosenbaum, the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor in Physics at UChicago, observed quantum criticality in a sample of pure chromium when it was subjected to ultrahigh pressures.

Zhang, who will receive his doctorate this month, invested nearly two and a half years of work in the latest findings from Chin’s laboratory. Co-authoring the study with Zhang and Chin were Chen-Lung Hung, PhD’11, now a postdoctoral scientist at the California Institute of Technology, and UChicago postdoctoral scientist Shih-Kuang Tung.

In their tabletop experiments, the Chicago scientists use sets of crossed laser beams to trap and cool up to 20,000 cesium atoms in a horizontal plane contained within an eight-inch cylindrical vacuum chamber. The process transforms the atoms from a hot gas to a superfluid, an exotic form of matter that exists only at temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero.

“The whole experiment takes six to seven seconds and we can repeat the experiment again and again,” Zhang said.
The experimental apparatus includes a CCD camera sensitive enough to image the distribution of atoms in a state of quantum criticality. The CCD camera records the intensity of laser light as it enters that vacuum chamber containing thousands of specially configured ultracold atoms.

“What we record on the camera is essentially a shadow cast by the atoms,” Chin explained.

The UChicago scientists first looked for signs of quantum criticality in experiments performed at ultracold temperatures from 30 to 12 nano-Kelvin, but failed to see convincing evidence. Last year they were able to push the temperatures down to 5.8 nano-Kelvin, just billionths of a degree above absolute zero (minus 459 degrees Fahrenehit). “It turns out that you need to go below 10 nano-Kelvin in order to see this phenomenon in our system,” Chin said.

Chin’s team has been especially interested in the possibility of using ultracold atoms to simulate the evolution of the early universe. This ambition stems from the quantum simulation concept that Nobel laureate Richard Feynman proposed in 1981. Feynman maintained that if scientists understand one quantum system well enough, they might be able to use it to simulate the operations of another system that can be difficult to study directly.

For some, like Harvard’s Sachdev, quantum criticality in ultracold atoms is worthy of study as a physical system in its own right. “I want to understand it for its own beautiful quantum properties rather than viewing it as a simulation of something else,” he said.

More information: “Observation of Quantum Criticality with Ultracold Atoms in Optical Lattices,” by Xibo Zhang, Chen-Lung Hung, Shih-Kuang Tung, and Chen Chin, Science, March 2, 2012, Vol. 335, No. 6072, pp. 1070-1072, and online Feb. in Science Express Feb. 16.

Provided by University of Chicago (news : web)

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Malaysia could go bankrupt by 2019?

Why Malaysia won’t go bankrupt

TRANSFORMATION BLUES By IDRIS JALA idrisjala@pemandu.gov.my
 
The Government is not in dire financial straits right now. By all measures its finances are good, but as in any situation involving finances, this is not to say it cannot be better.

I AM frequently asked why I said Malaysia could go bankrupt by 2019. I have had many queries asking for clarification and this has become one of my transformation blues.

In charting out our transformation journey in 2009, one of the first things the Prime Minister and the cabinet did was to list our current status, say where we want to be and set up a programme for transformation to get us there.

Amongst the many things on the list was a need to rationalise subsidy and so we ran a lab to do this.

During our open day, we engaged the public on the lab recommendation on the subsidy rationalisation. I wanted to be as frank as possible and to make it clear what the consequences of inaction would be.

Perhaps I was too frank but what I said has been misrepresented on a number of occasions, and I have since been saddled and hobbled with an unnecessary problem.

Habitual critics latched on to a small part of one of my first presentations where I said we have to change our spending patterns for sustained fiscal health.

Against a backdrop of several caveats and conditions, I said that we would be bankrupt by 2019 IF we continued to increase our subsidies and borrowings the same way we did before and IF our economy grows at less than 3% annually.

I've worked in Shell for more than 20 years, a company that is famous for its scenario planning techniques.

In layman terms, scenario planning means describing a future that could either be “good, bad or ugly” and doing our best to achieve the “good scenario” and avoid the “bad and ugly”.

My statement was heavily qualified but little or no mention was made of the clear caveats that I had put forward.

I still stand by what I said and it is important that my statement is taken together with the conditions.

This statement has been taken out of context so many times that it really gave me the blues - I have been talking till I turned blue in my face explaining what I meant!

Let me say in the clearest terms that my intention then was to illustrate the consequences of inaction when faced with tough decisions. We cannot continue to subsidise the way we have.

Let me also state that the Government is not in dire financial straits right now. By all measures its finances are good, but as in any situation involving finances, this is not to say it cannot be better. Here's why.

Our debt as at end 2011 is 53.8% of gross domestic product (GDP the sum of goods and services produced in the country) and the budget deficit is better than the 5.4% target of GDP.

Compare this with Greece's debt which stands at 110% of GDP and a budget deficit of 13% and it is obvious that we are not anywhere close to a crisis.

Subsidy rationalisation

Globally, many economists are cautioning the Governments against rising national debts. In 2009 the year for which the figures I used when I talked about subsidy rationalisation we had to increase government spending via our “economic stimulus package” in the face of the world financial crisis caused by the sub-prime mortgage problem in the United States.

This had spill-over effects into 2010 as well. But the debt as a percentage of GDP has begun to level off while the budget deficit, again as a percentage of GDP, has begun to significantly decline and as our economy continues to grow. We are reversing the situation.

In a simplified system to assess whether countries are in a sovereign debt crisis, the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) uses a graphical representation to identify countries with a potential problem.

Public debt as a percentage of GDP is plotted on the vertical axis while surplus or deficit in the national budget as a % of GDP is plotted on the horizontal axis.

BCG identifies a potential problem looming if public debt is 100% or over of GDP while simultaneously the budget deficit is 10% or more of GDP (see chart).

The more a country is to the left of the chart and the higher on the vertical axis, the greater the risk of a potential debt crisis but note that a country has to be simultaneously in problem in both areas to be regarded as a big risk.

If you look at Singapore, public debt as a percentage of GDP is 100% in the problem area but only for one of the two criteria but there is hardly any budget deficit to speak of in the republic.

Nobody considers Singapore a financially troubled country.

For Malaysia, it is important to notice that it has moved to the right in 2011 compared with its position in 2009 and 2010 while there is hardly any upward movement. That indicates a move in the right direction.

Based on this analysis, we are better than the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Japan, to name a few. We will get into the safe zone soon enough.

The problem I highlighted using 2009 figures, making the caveat that IF debt continued to increase at previous levels we can have a serious problem in 2019 and IF we grow less than 3% annually, does not exist anymore.

Making improvements

Why? Because we are making improvements on both counts.

Firstly, as a responsible Government, in 2010, we began the process of gradually reducing subsidies for fuel, sugar, electricity and so on, knowing fully well that this was unpopular.

Secondly, our GDP grew by 7.2% in 2010 and 5.1% in 2011 and that's an average of 6.2%; we are meeting our Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) target. Of course, we can and should do much more.

As I have pointed out in previous presentations very little of our subsidies amounting to billions of ringgit every year go to the poor, the rich get most of it. We must rationalise the subsidy system not do away with it and cut other extraneous expenditures.

However, we continue to help the poor via our GTP initiatives e.g. Azam programmes and BR1M for the low income households and rural infrastructure programmes.

On the other side of the equation, we must increase government revenue sources by introducing such measures as a goods and services tax (GST) and get more economic activity going. We can exclude necessities from the tax.

We are already succeeding. We have the ETP and we are growing our revenue we had additional tax revenue of RM26bil in 2011. This has allowed us to finance rakyat-centric programmes such as BR1M.

Why, if we continue to make progress by these measures, we may even be able to balance the budget come 2020 even though that will welcomingly surpass our own target.

I know there will be critics who will say that I have changed my mind on the bankruptcy issue. I haven't changed my position vis-a-vis scenario planning.

I always believe in describing the “good, the bad and ugly” scenarios (that hasn't changed) i.e. the “good” scenario is if we successfully implement our ETP, we will achieve high income status by 2020.
The “bad or ugly” scenario is if we don't do anything to avoid it, then we can go bankrupt.

The fact is we are doing a lot of things to transform our country. So, we will not go bankrupt.

With the implementation of the ETP, we must acknowledge that Malaysia is on the right track in transforming its economy. The average annual GDP growth in two years (2010 and 2011) is more than 6%. In 2011, we met our GNI and investment targets, trade reached a record high of RM1.27 trillion in 2011.

We cut our deficit in 2011. In April, our PM will be releasing our ETP and GTP annual reports which provide all the details of our country's achievement.

Let me conclude by quoting Dale Carnegie: “It is tragic when we put off living. We dream of a magical rose garden over the horizon and miss the roses blooming outside our windows”.

Datuk Seri Idris Jala is CEO of Pemandu and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department. Fair and reasonable comments are most welcome at idrisjala@pemandu.gov.my

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Arrests at New York 'Occupy' protests

Clashes and arrests in Zuccotti Park as 'Occupy' activists mark six months since birth of anti-corporate greed movement.
Critics say the movement lacks demands and direction [GALLO/GETTY]  Police and activists have clashed at a park in New York where hundreds of people had gathered to mark six months since the beginning of the city's Occupy Wall Street protests. The clashes, late on Saturday, came as some activists attempted to re-occupy Zuccotti Park, which police had earlier declared closed for the evening. The Manhattan park, close to Wall Street, was where the anti-corporate greed protest movement began in September last year. Activists spent months camping at the site, prompting similar demonstrations in other US cities and abroad. Police began making arrests after several hundred protesters had remained there, with some erecting a makeshift tent of cardboard and tarpaulin in contravention of rules banning shelters in the park. More than 100 police officers pushed through the park, clashing with protesters who attempted to stand their ground, The Associated Press news agency reported. The Reuters news agency reported that dozens of protesters had been led away in handcuffs, although there has been no official word on the number of arrests. Earlier in the day, hundreds of protesters had marched on nearby Wall Street, resulting in another unspecified number of arrests, police said. Organisers vowed that Saturday's rally was the first of several events planned to protest against perceived economic injustice. 'We are going to take it back' One of the activists taking part in the gathering said he hoped the park would again become a home for protesters, in defiance of a police ban on sleeping there which led to the eviction of the protest camp's occupants after two months. In-depth coverage of the global movement "They're hoping we'll all go away because it's cold," said Rob, 28, declining to give his last name. "The park's become the symbol both for us and for them. We are going to take it back." Protester Paul Sylvester, 24, of Massachusetts said he was "thrilled" to be back at the park but said he hoped the movement would begin to crystallise around specific goals. "We need to be more concrete and specific," he said. Critics say the Occupy movement lacks demands and direction and has lost momentum. But warmer spring weather in the US has brought expectations that Occupy leaders will try to regain their momentum. Protesters seemed invigorated by their relatively large numbers compared to the small turnouts during street demonstrations over the winter. At the park on Saturday, street theatre troupes performed and guitar players led sing-alongs. Some protesters marched through the streets of the financial district, chanting "bankers are gangsters" and cursing at police. Liesbeth Rapp, 27, who was performing street theatre about economic injustice, said protesters were ready to make some changes. "I think we've learned a lot about being strategically and tactically smarter," she said. "We're learning to decentralise, and to work in smaller groups." Source: Agencies  Newscribe : get free news in real time

You can do it, dad !

The Gap By CELINE CHUA

It’s time to wake up and break the barriers, a hopeful daughter says. 

THERE is a man who stays under the same roof as me. He is not tall nor handsome, and not that strong. He is in his mid-50s and jobless. That is what I worry about the most. I don’t frown or show signs of worry on my face, but inside, worries fill my heart.



He thinks that he is old, but to me, he is a young man. His leg aches and he cannot walk far.

In his mind, old age and the pain in his leg are reasons why he cannot get a job. But he is wrong. I used to agree what he says, but now I don’t and never will.

You can see old men with wrinkles on their forehead and white hair filling their entire head cleaning tables in coffee shops. There are old men who sit on those big chairs with their legs crossed in their own companies or shops.

Some middle-aged men still read books in public. People who have lost their limbs are learning skills to earn money on their own.

They never give up. They never think that they are unlucky to be born into this world.

When I watch him lying on a wooden chair, I feel a sudden pain in my heart. Why is he not doing anything? Can’t he find something to do? Search for a job, perhaps?

I know it is not easy to get a job. But if he makes an effort to look, he will surely get one someday.

Does he do that? Nope. He just sits on a chair, clicks the mouse and keeps an eye on the share market. Sometimes, he goes to the cinema for a movie.

Wake up, man! You can earn some money through the share market but NOT permanently.

You think the profit you get from there is your salary? No, it’s not! It might be enough for you to survive on. What about us, your family? You’re the man of the house. We count on you.

Now I’m afraid to count on anyone. He has no earnings. Mum does all the work and I don’t want to give her pressure. She has to work hard in the office. When she comes home, she does all the chores.

Whenever I take my tuition fees from her, I feel a sense of guilt. I feel as if I’m “eating up” her years of effort within seconds. Whenever she hands me my pocket money, I’ll thrust it into my wallet and never take it out.

Nowadays, I’m “afraid” to use money. I want to save as much money as possible. After my SPM, I want to get a part-time job and earn money for my parents. The weight on mum’s shoulders is getting heavier because my sister and I need money for our studies. I will study hard and get a scholarship. In fact, it is a must that I do. There is no way mum can afford all the expenses.

What about him? Worse. I’m not insulting him. It’s a fact. How can we afford to pay for thing when there is no income? Forget about those things I love – shoes, dessert, handbags, novels and clothes. Just focus on studies ...

Why does he give up? I don’t get it. People are fighting for their life. No matter how difficult things are, they still break the wall and move on. Why does he let the barriers stop him?

Nothing is impossible – just aim for it.

I know he can do it. Just don’t give up. Think positively and good things will come. There will be an opportunity. Don’t let it go; don’t run away when it approaches. Chances will always be there.

Dad, it’s time to wake up and look around you. There’s a family to support. We support you, always. We will never let you fall. W’ll grab your hand before you hit the ground and pray for you.

You’re a great dad. Don’t disappoint us, just be a hero in our heart. Make us proud, make us happy. I give you my hand, let us all be together.

PS: Be wise and be a good listener.

> Parents and their children at any age can have different points of view over just about everything. Or do they? We invite parents and children to write in to show us where the generation gap closes and widens. E-mail us at star2.gap@thestar.com.my.

Indonesia's ‘one maid,one task’ is raw deal in the new deal!

M’sian side never given chance to object to ‘one maid, one task’ 

By P. ARUNA aruna@thestar.com.my

PETALING JAYA: Indonesian officials appeared to have decided on their own on the “one maid, one task” ruling at the meeting of the joint task force in Jakarta on Thursday.

“They just announced the ruling and did not ask the Malaysian side whether or not they agreed,” an Indonesian participant told The Star in a telephone interview.

“Dr Reyna Usman (the Indonesian Labour Placement Development director-general) made the announcement and the meeting then moved on to other matters,” said the participant who asked not to be identified.

The ruling had caused an uproar in Malaysia, with the associations for both agents and employers now wanting to know whether the Malaysian officials had agreed to it, and if so why.

Dr Reyna had said the fresh batch of Indonesian maids would be trained in four household chores cooking, babysitting, taking care of the elderly and housekeeping but each would perform only one of these tasks for her employer and be paid RM700 a month.

She added that the ruling was to prevent a recurrence of the problems affecting maids and employers.

The Association of Foreign Maid Agencies (Papa) acting president Jeffrey Foo said the officials, led by Labour Department director-general Datuk Sheikh Yahya Mohamed, should explain what transpired at the meeting.

“If our officials agreed to it (the ruling), they must explain it to us,” he said.

Malaysian Maid Employers' Association (Mama) president Engku Ahmad Fauzi Engku Muhsein concurred, saying: “There are many doubts that need to be cleared. We want to know what really happened at the meeting.”

None of the Malaysian officials present at the meeting have commented on the decision.

Sheikh Yahya could not be reached for comment.

Raw deal in this new deal
 
On The Beat By Wong Chun Wai

Malaysians are not amused with Indonesia’s latest condition on hiring of maids.

I HAVE only one Indonesian maid and come July, she would have worked with my family for seven years.

Yuli, who comes from Way Halom in Sumatra, is regarded as a family member. She eats the same food we eat. She goes on annual local holidays with us and her birthday is celebrated with a good dinner and cake. Occasionally, she goes to watch concerts with the family.

My wife insists that she gets to return to Indonesia during her break on Malaysia Airlines and arrangements are made at the airport so she would not be hassled by Indonesian Immigration officers and hustlers.

Yuli gets a say in most decisions involving the household and I have my lucky stars to thank, considering that many Malaysians have a horror story to tell about their maids.

She has picked up the English language, learnt how to cook some of my favourite Penang nyonya food, and she can even laugh at the Hokkien sitcoms on Astro.

But my sister-in-law has not been lucky. She has had two maids and both were a disaster.

The first was an Indonesian from Flores who spent most of her time in the living room in front of the TV rather than in the kitchen. Her addiction to instant noodles would have made her worthy of an academic study.

The second, a Cambodian, was worse. She put on weight within weeks of her employment after she discovered the magic of the refrigerator and oven.

But that wasn’t enough. She stole food, secretly storing them in a bag in her room. Apparently, she’s never heard of expiry dates.

Still, that was tolerable until she decided to go on a mutiny, snubbing directives and snapping back at her boss. Then she walked off and refused to come back.

Here’s the best part: the agency had the audacity to ask for her salary to be paid despite her absence without leave and work not rendered.

I won’t be surprised if she has been “recycled” and is now with another desperate Malaysian couple who needs a maid.

There’s another story. Lady boss asked the Cambodian maid why she had not prepared the husband’s breakfast as she was told.

The maid’s reply: “Madam, Sir is already big. Sir knows how to make breakfast. I no need.”

I swear this is not made up, but I am not sure if the maid has gone for counselling or if she has been sent back to Cambodia.

And here’s another one. There is a friend who installed CCTV at his home so he could monitor what’s happening there from his office. Lucky for him – he found out he had a psychopath on his hands when he saw his Indonesian maid regularly talking to her image in the mirror and rolling on the floor laughing hysterically.

She would burn so-called blessed papers, presumably jampi, and insist that his children consume them before they went to school. The final straw came when she asked my friend to post her “love letters” – addressed to President Suharto!

Again, we are not sure if she’s safely back and undergoing mental treatment in her home country or if she’s with another new Malaysian tuan. Hope someone tells her there’s now a new Indonesian president.

There may be stories of maids being abused and certainly Malaysians in their right mind would not tolerate such incidents. It gives our country a bad name and also leads to pressure from their countries to slow down the numbers coming in to Malaysia.

But there are also stories of Malaysian employers who suffer emotional and financial abuse from maids. These are less reported but that does not mean they are isolated cases or it’s simply because non-governmental organisations are not taking up cases of abused employers.

So, Malaysians are not amused when Indonesia tells us that their maids headed here will only perform one task and must be paid RM700 for that.

I believe Malaysian employers would not mind paying more, but not for less work. Pressing frustrated employers with such unreasonable demands is certainly going overboard.

It has been reported that the fresh batch of 106 Indonesian maids headed here would only carry out one task for their bosses. They would be trained to do four household chores – cooking, babysitting, taking care of the elderly, and housekeeping – but will perform only one of these tasks for their employers.

The report stated that the workers were undergoing four skills training courses over 21 days and must be paid RM700 a month by their Malaysian employers.

The Malaysian Maid Employers’ Association and Malaysian National Association of Employ­ment Agencies have rightly questioned the announcement. Come on, this one is surely a bad deal.

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Stranded Viet women get help

42 Viet women in a house — and surviving mainly on rice
The Star

GEORGE TOWN: Forty-two Vietna-mese women living together in a house here have allegedly been surviving mainly on rice for the past few months.

The women, aged between 30 and 50, are said to be unable to return to Vietnam as their visas have expired.

They have been staying in a semi-detached double-storey house in Jalan Tull for the past few months.
The house has four rooms and a toilet upstairs.

Help us get home: The Vietnamese women in tears while relating their plight to Koay at their home in Jalan Tull, George Town, Friday.

 There is also a living room, a small room, toilet and kitchen downstairs.

It is said that up to five women would sleep in a room while some had to sleep in the living room.

The women's plight came to light when their neighbours informed the authorities after finding the noise made by the women, especially at night, intolerable.

One of the women, known only as Hai, said most of them were jobless and could not send money back to their families.

“Some of us have been in Malaysia for a year and a half but our visas have expired,” she said.

She claimed that some of the women used to work as cleaners at a hospital and were paid RM50 a day but their wages were later reduced to RM25.

“In the end, we were not paid at all though we continued to work. Only a few of us are still working,” she said, adding that their agent was holding on to their passports.

When reporters visited the house, three women appeared sickly.

There were some fish, vegetables and eggs in the refrigerator.

Hai claimed that their agent would send 20kg of rice to them every three days.

She added that they would add salt to their rice for flavour.

“We have been calling the Vietnamese embassy every day, asking them to help us go home, but we are still waiting for a response,” she said.

She added that all they wanted now was to return home.

She alleged that they knew of 26 other Vietnamese and Nepalese foreign workers who were men, living in another house.

The women cried when relating their misfortune to Pulau Tikus assemblyman Koay Teng Hai who visited them yesterday.

Koay said he would contact the Vietnamese embassy as soon as possible.

“There are similar cases in Penang, such as in Paya Terubong.

“I will also contact the Immigration Department and the police,” he said.

 42 ‘stranded’ Viets get help

GEORGE TOWN: The 42 Vietnamese women “stranded” in a house here will be sent to a women's protection centre in Kuala Lumpur.

OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said they had obtained an interim protection order from a magistrate's court here to send the women, aged between 31 and 50, to the centre.

He said the case was being investigated under Section 14 of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2007.

ACP Gan said an initial investigation showed that the women had not been paid for two months, adding that police had gone to the house and taken a statement from Tran Thi Hai, 31, who used to work as a cleaner in a hospital.

Sad plight: Some of the Vietnamese women sobbing uncontrollably while eating rice and vegetables donated by Malaysians who went to their aid upon learning about their plight in the newspapers. — MUHAMAD SHAHRIL ROSLI / The Star

“We were told they have been on their own for about one month. They have to buy food and daily necessities using their own money.

“We have informed the Immigration Department, the Vietnamese Embassy and Interpol. We will complete investigations soon.”

Meanwhile, several caring Malaysians sent food items such as cooking oil, vegetables, beverages and rice to the house in Jalan Tull off Jalan Residency while some have shown interest in hiring the women as domestic maids.

Pulau Tikus assemblyman Koay Teng Hai said he had contacted the embassy, which was aware of the problem faced by the women.

“The embassy has contacted the Immigration Department and a meeting will be held tomorrow,” he said.
It was reported that the women survived on white rice for the past few months while their agent would send 20kg of rice every three months.

Meanwhile, 34 Nepalese and Vietnamese men, aged between 20 and 40, who are in the same situation as 42 Vietnamese women, would also be sent to a protection centre in Kuala Lumpur, said Koay.

He said they used to work as cleaners at Penang Hospital and claimed they had the same agent as the Vietnamese women.

State Immigration assistant director Mustaffa Kamal Hanaffi said investigations would be carried out to trace the agent responsible for the 76 Vietnamese and Nepalese men and women.

Foreign worker flow choked in Singapore

INSIGHT: DOWN SOUTH By SEAH CHIANG NEE

From July, manufacturing firms will see their quota of foreign workers reduced from 65% to 60%, while the quota in services will drop from 50% to 45%.



FOR the first time in years, Singapore is cutting back on the intake of foreign workers to placate widespread public resentment.

“In the next five years, we have decided to tier down our need for foreign workers,” declared the strategy’s architect, former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

It was a tacit admission that its ambitious immigration strategy had run into trouble among Singaporeans and needed to be cut back – at least temporarily.

Lee’s son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, added: “We should consolidate, slow down the pace. We can’t continue going like this and increasing our population 100,000 to 150,000 a year, indefinitely.

“And we should give Singaporeans time to adjust, and our society time to settle, and integrate better the new arrivals.”

He mentioned no time-span for the reduction, but Lee Senior spoke of five years, evidently to take into account the next general election due in 2016-17.

A strong anti-People’s Action Party vote could make the policy more uncertain. But if it performs well, the doors may be opened even wider, according to analysts.

This in effect means the next election will serve as a referendum on future immigration.

The cutback is as follows: From July, manufacturing firms will have their quota of foreign workers reduced from 65% to 60%, while the quota in services will drop from 50% to 45%.

This was announced by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his recent Budget speech.

He also said that the dependency ratio ceiling for “S” Pass holders – mainly mid-level skilled foreigners – would also be reduced to 20% from 25%. This affects middle-class Singaporeans most of all.

“The number of foreign workers has risen 7.5% each year for the last two years and account for a third of the city-state’s work force,” Tharman told parliament.

“We have to reduce our dependence on foreign labour. It’s not sustainable. It will test the limits of our space and infrastructure. A continued rapid infusion of foreign workers will also inevitably affect the Singaporean character of our society.”

A number of foreigners here – especially permanent residents – were a little rattled by the move, particularly Indians and Filipinos.

One family of PRs contacted me to ask if I thought this was prelude to a reversal of policy or a start of worse things to come.

The government has said those who are already here would not be affected.

There are other reasons for the review. One is a feared economic decline ahead and an expected drop in employment chances.

Another is the sustained drop in productivity growth from 11% (in 2009) to 1% last year, partly blamed on the import of too many cheap, low-skilled workers.

During the past year, the authorities had already been tightening rejection rates. The rise in foreigners slowed from 4.8% to 4.1%, and PR growth also slowed. From 6% a year from 2005, it rose by only 1.5% this year.

Lee Kuan Yew, who had long been the staunchest champion of the immigration policy, appeared to have softened his stand a year ago.

He said then: “We’ve grown in the last five years by just importing labour. Now, the people feel uncomfortable, there are too many foreigners.

“Trains are overcrowded with foreigners, buses too, property prices have gone up because foreigners with permanent residence are buying into the market.”

Actually, Singapore’s attitude towards low-skilled foreign workers runs counter to that a generation ago when the manufacturing era and large economies like China and India were emerging.

Sensing a threat in the 70s and 80s as they could offer more and cheaper workers and land to foreign factories, Lee – then at the height of his leadership – ordered a restructure to move Singapore’s economy to higher skill levels.

By the late 1980s state leaders raised salaries and cost of operations for low-skilled manufacturers to operate in Singapore. The idea was to move them to nearby Batam, Malaysia and Thailand.

“We don’t want investors to come here to manufacture low-margin products like umbrellas, plastic and clogs,” one government economist said.

I remember as a newspaper editor I sat in on a briefing by Economic Development officials in Brussels who told Lee Kuan Yew that they were faced with several requests from European investors to relocate to Singapore.

These were medium-size operations, but Singapore could not meet their demand for Singapore workers.

“We can tell them to operate in one of our nearby hub cities in Malaysia or Indonesia to make use of their workers under Singapore supervision,” Lee suggested.

The officials replied: “No, Sir, they insist on Singapore workers; otherwise they would have set up business in other countries.”

The industrial revolution was still in full swing. But Lee saw the shortcoming in Singapore’s small size in manpower and land.

The solution was to move to high-skilled levels, especially in services. Tertiary education and job retraining went full swing.

At the time he was against the intake of too many unskilled foreigners.

In several briefings, he sniffed at Europe’s mass import of low-skilled workers from Asia and Africa, saying it is something Singapore will not emulate.

The rich Europeans were addicted to imported cheap labour to do “dirty jobs” that locals refused to do, a reliance long turned into a national addiction.

As a result, more and more unskilled foreigners were needed.

Today with the strong reliance on “cheap foreigners”, it is becoming a lot harder to turn back to the original strategy of high-skilled services by using trained Singaporeans.

Think business, think margins

ON YOUR OWN By TAN THIAM HOCK

An Innovation Competence Process Coming From Knowledge Management (Photo credit: Alex Osterwalder)

ABOUT 20 years ago, when Forbes started compiling a list of the richest Asian billionaires, many rumours spread. My favourite story involves a president M of a neighbouring country. He was known as the 10% president. Just make sure you budget a 10% margin for him if you want to participate in any infrastructure projects in his country.

After diligently amassing a tidy fortune over his long rule, president M was surprised when the new list from Forbes placed him a few places below another head of state from a neighbouring country. This head of state had only been in power for a few years so president M decided to make a state visit to learn the ultimate trade secret.

After a sumptuous dinner at the palace on a hill, the head of state led the president to the balcony with a great view. When asked for his secrets to such quick success, he asked the president, “Can you see that beautiful highway? And that long bridge across the river? And the power station next to it?”

Faced with a vast landscape of lush virgin forest and hills, the puzzled president said, “Sorry. There is nothing there but a forest in my view.” The beaming head of state explained patiently, “That's my trade secret. I only take 100% margin!”

No, I am not asking you to make a 100% margin. Because you can't. Unless you are a very powerful and corrupt politician or head of state. But it just shows that you will make money faster when your business enjoy high margins. Net profit is basically gross profit less expenses. The higher your gross profit (sales minus cost of goods), the faster you cover your expenses, the more you make as your sales increase. All because you have high gross margins.

No, I am not asking you to invest only in high margin business. If sales turnover is small, your net profit remains small. Sometimes high volume, low margin business provides a very high return on investment, like the Walmart hypermarket business. A 2% net profit on a turnover of US$400bil will net the shareholders a cool US$8bil (RM24bil) a year! Only Petronas makes more money than Walmart. And that's because the abundant oil and gas from the sea bed is free!

But for entrepreneur wannabes who need to start on a small scale, I always recommend high margin business opportunities. You are under less pressure to achieve high sales volume and you need less working capital. You just have to watch your expenses and cover your opportunity cost of being employed.

High margins can be created through innovation, brand perception, necessity and scarcity.

In my pre-university days, I worked for 3M as a sales promoter. 3M is well known for its innovative research and development programme of developing next generation products. These are products that are sold at premium prices and fetch at least 70% margins across their 5,000 product lines! Once copycats flood the market and reduce their product margins, they just discard the product line and launch newer and more innovative products at higher prices.

Then you have Apple products which is at a premium to its competitors and they fetch higher margins through a combination of technological innovation and higher brand perception. Microsoft has been selling their so-called software diskette at an average of US$200 when their cost of production is US$2 per diskette. Out of necessity, your business computers must be installed with their operating system and Office application software. No prizes for guessing the reasons why these two companies are the most profitable in the world.

Why must you pay two times more for Gillette blades versus other blades when a shave is just a shave? Why must your wife pay RM5,000 for a plastic monogram bag when a full calf leather bag cost a mere RM500? And will a RM1,000 jar of cream make you look 10 years younger? If you have innovative products, make sure you hire the best marketing minds to create a superior brand perception, raise the prices and reap the rewards.

With a growing world population and depleting natural resources, we have seen continuous price increases in oil, minerals and agricultural products. What used to be cyclical in demand and supply, where prices fluctuate in 10-year cycles, have now become a continuous increase in demand versus depleting supply.

Compared with massive overcapacity in manufacturing of almost any conceivable product from consumer goods to ships to cars; it is a no brainer where the high margin business will be in the foreseeable future.

For entrepreneur wannabes, you should develop a competitive business model where you can charge a higher price for your goods or services. Be creative. Build yourself a superior brand image. Make sure your services or your products are a necessity.

A “must have” by all concerned. Embrace high margin mentality when you evaluate business opportunities. Then go forth and multiply.

This advice is free. But if you make your millions, just remember to send me a cheque for 10% of your earnings. Lest you forget that I do not have to be a crooked politician to earn my clean 100% margin.

● The writer is an entrepreneur who hopes to share his experience and insights with readers who want to take that giant leap into business but are not sure if they should. Email him at thtan@alliancecosmetics.com 

Be Captain Of Your Destiny - Not Prisoner Of Wishful Thinking

It's hard to will a business into being. Anyone who doesn't understand this through intuition figures it out soon enough through experience.

To win, an entrepreneur needs the conviction to overcome inertia. People have gotten along just fine without whatever it is you hope to sell them. Fact is your early attempts to convince them otherwise will almost always fail, which means you need the tenacity to keep swinging until you connect with the market.

George Bernard Shaw famously observed that the reasonable man adapts to his circumstance, that only an unreasonable man would seek to adapt the outside world to his own needs. Progress depends on the unreasonable man, said Mr. Shaw. It's a quote I've always loved. It means that apparent failure is just another obstacle to be overcome by an individual with the will, and the character, to do so.

That's an attractive idea to an entrepreneur. But sometimes that attraction is fatal.

 

For every story of conviction overcoming a perceptual speed-bump, there are 10 of an entrepreneur who hung on too long after the point where the market responded with a resounding, “Meh.” The stronger your sales skills, the longer you'll tend to hold out past the “point of meh,” and the higher your opportunity costs will be versus investing in an offering with the potential to be pulled by the marketplace rather than pushed by the brute force of your sales and marketing prowess.

So how do you know? How do you tell the difference between a light at the end of the tunnel, and the oncoming train of market indifference?

Here are 5 questions that can help:

1. Is your quality of execution sufficient to take quality of execution off the table as a variable? Poor execution of the right strategy will most likely lead to failure, just as brilliant execution can hide the holes in a flawed strategy. So where are you on that scale? If you're happy with the quality of your execution, on balance, you need to look deeper for the source of the challenges in your business.

2. Do your customers understand your offering differently than your prospects? The world has a learning curve, and dealing with it is part of the entrepreneurial adventure. But does the perception of the people who've climbed that curve — your existing customers — really change in important ways from that of your further-out prospects? If the answer is no, you're seeing something your customer doesn't. And that usually means it doesn't exist.

3. Are others finding success in your space? This one is simple. Is someone in your space kicking butt? If so the competitive threat may be important, but so is the validation that you're chasing something which can be caught.

4. Will the larger context change in some way to smooth your path to success? m-Qube was the 800-lb gorilla in a non-existent industry for years before the US text messaging phenomenon took off. We kept our powder dry, and waited it out. Are you doing the same? If so agree on a tangible trigger and conserve your cash until you hit it. If not consider giving the money back, and changing over to a game you can actually win.

5. Is the source of your conviction what you need, or what actually is? I love Shark Tank, and in almost every episode some amateur tells the sharks that their idea will take off because they need it to. Cuban and Kevin typically bow out soon after that. The reason? Entrepreneurs motivated by an objective opportunity have a much better hit rate than those motivated by an internal psychosis, or an external requirement.

This last one breaks my heart, and I see it a lot. I get that you hate to disappoint your uncle Nunzio, or that you promised your spouse you'd make it work this time. But the fact is those things are irrelevant to the question of whether your idea will fly, and anyone willing to point that out to you is someone you can trust over the long run.

Don't be that person, folks. So much of the pain in life, over time, is caused by distance from the truth. And the same is true in business.

Ask these questions of yourself, and try hard to answer them honestly. If the news is bad and you deal with it like an adult, I promise you'll live to fight another day. If the same is true but you're a good enough salesperson to sell yourself eventually you're going to hit somebody else's wall, and create collateral damage you might otherwise have avoided.

There's a fine line between being the captain of your destiny, and the prisoner of your own wishful thinking. Use these questions to help sort out which side of it you're on, and please share what you learn with the rest of us here.

Source:  OnStartups,com

Are Malaysians really racists?

PUTIK LADA By RICHARD WEE

Race relations laws will assist the authorities to manage race relations, to clarify any uncertainty, but may to a certain extent suggest that Malaysians are, perhaps, racists.

IT is of crucial importance for the citizens of any growing nation to also grow intellectually. A mature nation is not just a nation of financial wealth, but a nation filled with people who can articulate their points intellectually and critically, and do so calmly and with poise.

In 2007 and 2008, the National Young Lawyers Committee of the Bar Council (NYLC) held a series of forums – known as “Siri Pemikiran Kritis” (SPK) – which encouraged open debates and discussions of issues which affected the people and the nation.

These debates and discussions included issues relating to the economy, civil liberties, and human rights. It was hoped that these forums would activate quality dialogues, over rhetoric and emotional outbursts.

The series was very well received. The panel of invited speakers ranged from national leaders to NGO members.

The attendees were mostly normal Malaysians who cared for the country and who were keen to hear the views of the panel speakers.

As the name of the series suggests, its purpose was to encourage critical thinking. The forums took a standard format.

The NYLC would invite a few speakers who were well versed with the topic, and have a moderator to host.

After each speaker presented his thoughts on the topic at hand, the floor would be open for the attendees to pose queries and sometimes debate with the panel speakers.

The very first SPK was held on Jan 11, 2007, and the topic was the New Economic Policy. It was a good start, and eventually, eight further forums were held.

This year, the NYLC is reviving the SPK series. This is part of the NYLC’s on-going community programme, which includes not only offering people legal and non-legal assistance, but also to educate and engage via public forums such as the SPK.

The idea of public forums where Malaysians can gather and listen to the ideas and views of others, and partake in open dialogues, drove the current NYLC team to re-visit the successful SPK.

To kick start the 2012 version of the SPK, the NYLC will host a forum on the issue of the proposed race relations law in Malaysia – “Race Relations Laws: Backwards or Forwards?”

Law Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Aziz, announced that a Bill would be presented in Parliament, which would be in similar vein with the race relations laws of other countries.

What are race relations laws? In its simplest sense, race relations laws govern the relations of different races in a country. In the United Kingdom and the United States, laws governing race relations were passed and are used to manage the different races.

Do we need such laws in Malaysia? Does Malaysia not already have a sufficient legislative framework to govern race relations? How have we been governing race relations since 1957? Is our Federal Constitution a sufficient guide on race relations? Is it not enough for race relations be governed by honest and benevolent government policies?

Perhaps the new laws would assist the authorities to manage race relations. Arguably, there is an opportunity to clarify any uncertainty.

To a certain extent, the proposed race relations law suggests that Malaysians are, perhaps, racists. Only in countries where racism is rampant, or where it is damaging the roots of the society, would such a law be necessary.

Are Malaysians really racists?

That would be a question which only the Malaysian people can answer.

It is possible that this country is not, by majority, filled with racists, but instead that Malaysia has been subjected to unfortunate and sometimes insidiously enforced policies, which gives the impression that we are racists.

Taking a general view of Malaysian society, there is hardly any open, blatant racism.

For example, in the US, at the peak of racism, African Americans were not allowed to share seats in buses with White Americans in some states.

That was a dark moment in American history and their Senate had to intervene with laws to legislate that.
Policies in America also changed to discourage segregation.

Unlike in the US, any Malaysian can hitch a ride on a bus and share seats with people of different races. This is, of course, a simplistic example. Perhaps Malaysians may feel otherwise.

People may feel that we need such laws. Malaysians may also feel that we should discuss and perhaps debate on this proposed law.

So, do we need race relations laws in Malaysia? Or do we actually need race relations policies instead? And if we do introduce race relations laws, what would they contain?

So many questions. So many issues.

That being the case, we invite you make your way to the upcoming SPK Forum, which will be held on Saturday, March 31, at the Bar Council Auditorium in Kuala Lumpur from 10am to 2pm.

The forum will be initiated by Senator Gan Ping Sieu who is also Youth and Sports Deputy Minister. The speakers will be Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Farish Noor, and Faisal Moideen. It will be moderated by Syahredzan Johan.

Please register with the Bar Council by contacting Janet Nathan, the Executive Officer in charge at janet@malaysianbar.org.my, as seats are limited.

> The writer is the chairperson of the National Young Lawyers Committee. PutikLada, or pepper buds in Malay, captures the spirit and intention of this column – a platform for young lawyers to articulate their views and aspirations about the law, justice and a civil society. For more information about the young lawyers, visit www.malaysianbar.org.my.