Lost Engineer: April 2011

Saturday, 30 April 2011

The Malaysian Federal Constitution - Simplified

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Who's Your Office Queen?

Every office has one of these.

It could be the secretary or it could be even the COO. You know who she is. She's the one who must know everything, who must be the centre of attraction and must be in the know-how.

Well, in my office, she's the project engineer. She's been with the company for 6 years and they have sent her to the other offices for various postings. So she thinks she's the big balls in the office. You can sometimes see the dislike in her face when she hears of someone else doing something better.

Ahh, people like her are the ones who cause the most problems in most organizations. Companies would perform much better without these people.

These people tend to create cliques of people who tend to get all the latest information first or who's privy to the boss and other confidential information.

You'll know who she is - she's the one hanging around the boss all the time. The one who laughs out the loudest in meetings.

Oh, you'll know her all right, she's been there since Eve got kicked out of Paradise.

Wednesday, 20 April 2011

Stupid Malaysian Government

When I read articles like this, it reminds me of why my family, and many more Malaysians, have decided to leave Malaysia.

1. Stealing a Jet Engine - the Malaysian government implicates 2 low ranking officials for allegedly stealing a massive military jet engine and selling it to parties in Uruguay.

2. 1-Malaysia Email - RM50 million, from a private company, to provide email to Malaysians? How stupid can Malaysian government officials be if they actually believe that this is a constructive idea. With half the Malaysian population not even having a computer, what will they do with their email?

RM50 million is a lot of money. Money that can be well spent in providing better public transport or medical services or even improve the country's broadband service. But for a private company to fork out RM50 million just to provide an email service, where's the ROI in this?

Will the real Malaysian Prime Minister stand up and reply?

Another Typical Malaysian Scam!

This is yeat another scam in blood sucking Malaysia. When will the Malaysian police do something about this and stop wasting time pursuing sex actors?

Dear all,

I cannot stop myself from sharing this with all of you.

Its all started when I received a call from someone claiming that he was from Maxis and he asked me to shutdown my phone for 2 hours for 3g update to take place. As I was rushing for a meeting, I did not question and shutdown my cell phone.

After 45 minutes I felt very suspicious since the caller did not even introduce his name. I quickly turned on my cell phone and I received several calls from my family members and the others were from the number that had called me earlier - 3954380.

I called my parents and I was shocked that they sounded very worried asking me whether I am safe. My parents told me that they had received a call from someone claiming that they had me with them and asking for money to let me free. The call was so real and my parents even heard 'my voice' crying out loud asking for help. My parent was at the bank waiting for next call to proceed for money transfer. I told my parents that I am safe and asked them to lodge a police report.

Right after that I received another call from the guy asking me to shutdown my cell phone for another 1 hour which I refused to do and hung up. They keep calling my cell phone until the battery had run down. I myself lodged a police report and I was informed by the officer that there were many such scams reported. MOST of the cases reported that the victim had already transferred the money! And it is impossible to get back the money.

Be careful as this kind of scam might happened to any of us!!! Those guys are so professional and very convincing during calls. If you are asked to shut down your cell phone for updates by the service provider, ASK AROUND! Your family or friends might receive the same call.

Be Safe and Stay Alert!

Please pass around to your family and friends!

Saturday, 16 April 2011

White Arrogance in a Black World

This world is full of arrogance.

During my time in Nigeria, I worked with a bunch of young people from Aberdeen. One of them, Tim, was really a young jock with no more brains than the peas in my lunch bowl.

Tim would make really stupid comments about Nigerians, degrading their intellect and making fun of the way Nigerians live.

I find it ridiculous to believe that in these times, people can be as stupid as Tim. Tim is what they call a young, stupid white boy. And he really is.

I don't know if what his engineering manager said will ever make him be more humble, but his engineering manager, Joe told the group that they should consider themselves very lucky to have been born white.

And I agree completely. They only reason Tim s where he is, is because he's white. He could have easily been born black and go through daily what the black people in the world go through. But he was saved from such an experience by being born white. Lucky him. Not to lucky the others are.

So maybe the Muslims are right in wanting to slaughter stupid, white people like Tim.

Thursday, 14 April 2011

Will You Go Back Home to Malaysia?

The Malaysian Prime Minister recently revealed his plan to lure back Malaysians working overseas.

The main carrot dangled in front of returning Malaysian was a 15% income tax for the first 5 years.

But is this enough?

Doesn't the Prime Minister know that nearly all the Malaysians who left, didn't leave solely for money, but left because of the state their beloved country has become. I can speak for my wife who is a Malaysian when I say that she left he country because she wanted a better quality of life. A life where she is respected for being a citizen and not looked down upon as a second class person in her own country. She doesn't want to be marginalised anymore. My wife who is now with me in Australia earns more respect here, since we're Permanent Residents of Australia, than she did back home.

So, with all these major issues still going on in Malaysia, how on earth does the Malaysian Prime Minister ever think Malaysians will come back home?

Survey showed that majority of the Malaysians who left were Chinese and Indians. These were people who were fed up with how the ruling government has treated them over all the years. My wife is a Christian and an Indian but the local Indian part, MIC doesn't consider he an Indian since she's a Catholic and not a Hindu. With such blatant discrimination among people of the same race, how on earth will Malaysia ever develop?

While I applaud the Prime Minister for doing his best, sometimes I think he cant do much. 15% cap on income tax is a joke. No sane Malaysian would ever go back home just for a 15% cap on income. The Prime Minister has to know that most returning Malaysians will take a heavy pay cut just to come back home. They should be rewarded in other ways, like giving them prominent government jobs without the stupid red-tape, so that they can contribute to the well being of the country.

What About Us Malaysians?

Malaysians working back home voiced their displeasure at the Prime Minister ideas to lure back Malaysians who have left with the sharp question, "What are you going to do Mr. Prime Minister to prevent us from leaving?"

Brilliant question.

The Malaysian Prime Minister should focus on stopping the brain drain from within instead of trying to lure those who have left. Those whoe have left will never come back. So if the Prime Minister is smart, he will focus on preventing the smart ones at home from leaving for greener pastures.

Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and the United States have benefit from the migration of many experienced and smart Malaysians. These countries provide perks to Malaysians in the hope of luring them there permanently. ALl at Malaysia's expense. What a waste of talent.

So Mr. Malaysian Prime Minister, you should focus on retaining your local Malaysian talent and treating them with the respect they receive rather than losing them and then trying to get them back. Once their gone, most of them are gone for good.

Friday, 1 April 2011

Rejected by a Coach

The theme for high performance these days is getting a coach.

Coaches are supposed to accelerate your progress towards your goals.

Oh well, I tried signing up with Phillip. And after 2 emails, Phillip never bothered replying any of my emails. I still don't know what I said to make him lose interest in me. Maybe its the "I cant afford to pay much money Phillip."

I was expecting to pay around USD100/hour for him time and at that rate, I could probably only afford an hour of his time per month. Which for me, was more than enough since I could work on whatever advise he has to give me.

I remember he asking me about my goals and I told him that financial freedom is my goal. Is there anything wrong with that? He never replied after that.

I don't know why.

So I am through with coaches. Their just out there for the money, like everyone else.