Month: June 2008

A recent news article says that our government is looking at adopting a system whereby motorists can buy a fixed amount of subsidised fuel each month and pay for the rest at market rate. Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the system includes providing Malaysian motorists with a special card for buying subsidised fuel. Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Samad said that the present cash rebate system was not the perfect long-term solution, judging from the crowds of people rushing to collect their rebates. Shahrir said that as this was the first time the rebates were being given, there was plenty of room for it to be upgraded and improved upon.

All these important members of the cabinet, speaking on the issue, barely days after the fuel rebate system was kicked into service by the government, just does not make me sleep well at night. It clearly shows that this decision was rashly made without any sort of planning beyond the type that you do on the back of a napkin. However, that is not the main problem that I have with the whole idea of introducing a fuel card system.

Personally, I just see this fuel card system as a way for certain people to make more money. I do not understand why the government needs to issue a new card system for millions of citizens in the country, when everyone already owns the GMPC MyKad. Each and every one of us already has a smart card that holds our personal information.

Incidentally, with some foresight, our driving license information is already stored on these cards. The Road Transport Department (JPJ), is in charge of both motor vehicle registrations as well as issuing and renewing driving licences. Regardless of whether the rebate is per vehicle or per driver, the relational information between vehicle owners and valid drivers is already sitting in their databases.

On top of that, the MyKad is also tied to the MEPS system, which allows it to serve as a debit card. Therefore, the necessary framework for building a complete fuel payment and rebate system is already present on the card itself. As biometric information is also stored on the card, this can be used as an authentication layer and extra security level on the card.

There is seriously no need to build a completely new and independent system for this. Building a new an independent system would just incur unnecessary costs. It would mean that new smart cards would need to be issued. On top of that, an untested kludge would be needed to rebate someone on the fuel costs, extra to any present financial system already in place.

With the distribution of an extra card and payment system, I envision a new market cropping up for the sale and purchase of these cards. Assuming that the card allows certain amounts of fuel to be bought at below market rates, people who do not end up using their allocation of fuel will be able to sell their fuel balance to others, thus making themselves some cash. Assuming that the card has a total rebate value of RM625, anyone who needs a quick dose of cash could easily sell off the cards for RM500.

Either way, what happens is that the people who guzzle fuel, will end up abusing the system. What we actually need is a way to piggyback existing technology that is tested and secure. The MyKad already has authentication, payment and driving license information stored in it. The petrol kiosks are already securely connected to the banking networks through the credit card processing system.

Whenever fuel is purchased at the pump, the owner of the MyKad can be verified by visual inspection of the photograph, or by using a fingerprint reader. The license information can be captured along with the bank account information. These can be sent back through the banking network to the banks. The banks can then verify the information with JPJ and apply the rebates either as a discount on the payment or by debiting the person’s account directly, through the MEPS system which all the local banks tie into.

So, I don’t like this idea that is being bandied about. Period.

Alternative energy, especially renewable power, is an exciting area of work in engineering today. Everyone in the world seems to be interested in it. The trouble in the past, was that oil was extremely cheap. So, there was no impetus to push for alternative sources of energy. But the rising oil prices is changing all this and if it ever hits $200 a barrel, alternative energy technologies will be mighty cheap in comparison.

So, I was just thinking about things back in Malaysia. This is an interesting area of engineering research that I think our country could possibly contribute to. We have an abundance of sun, which is a practically infinite source of energy. Solar power is an obvious was to capture this energy. However, biofuels are another way to capture and convert direct energy from the sun.

Solar technology is fairly mature. The main problem in this area is efficiency. So, further research into this area would involve finding new materials or fabrication technologies to improve the conversion efficiencies. However, this is a high technology field. There is also another lower technology field that merely exploits the thermal energy put out by the sun. That is what’s used in many homes to generate their hot water, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Abundant thermal energy can be used for a variety of other applications.

The biofuel option is still in it’s infancy. As the world’s #1 exporter of palm oil, we already have an abundant source of potential energy. The key is to figure out how to harness this energy as a conventional energy source. However, palm oil isn’t the only potential source of biofuels. A lot of people are also looking at potential sources of ethanol. But there is a natural limit for any biological fuel source, that is the available land area. It is unlikely that any area developed as a farm, could double as anything else at the same time.

However, beyond developing technologies, we need to focus more on prudent exploitation. Land area is the limiting factor in either case and it would be useful to learn how to best manage a finite plot of land. Also, biofuel crops depend on the mineral content in the ground to grow. Therefore, the ultimate limiting factor will once again be the minerals in the ground.

I’m starting to believe in Stephen Hawking’s call for us to seriously explore extra-solar colonisation. It will ultimately, be our only salvation.

PS: It is now possible to build water pipes in silicon. This will allow us to construct solar cells that can convert photonic energy to free electrons, and convert thermal energy into steam. This can all be built on the same bulk silicon. It’ll also help to cool down all the solar cells that are being baked 12 hours a day, prolonging it’s lifespan and reducing maintenance costs.

After watching the semi-finals of “The Apprentice”, I was left wondering about one issue. In certain characteristics, I do identify myself with Lucinda, the person who got fired tonight. The reason that she got fired was because Sir Alan felt that she was not suitable for his organisation.

One of her interview questions struck a chord with me. She was asked if she was motivated by money and she said ‘No’. I have been asked this question before and I have also answered ‘No’. I know that it is not the right answer to give, especially if you’re dealing with a profit driven corporate environment, but that’s the truth. To me, money is not an end in itself, but only a means to achieve an end. Even then, it is not the only means to achieve any end. So, money does not have much motivational affect on me. Money is merely one measure of success and certainly not the most important one.

Another issue that the interviewers had with her, was that they didn’t think that she was a team player. She has spent her time as an external contractor, working independently. When she was put in charge of the teams, twice, she performed well and was liked by the rest of her team. But there were problems when she had to work under someone else and she had problems adjusting and there were complaints that she undermined the leadership of others. She was also considered an odd-ball, consistently side-lined by the others. This made her a little too zany for Sir Alan’s organisation and she was ultimately fired.

I have a similar problem myself. I have spent most of my life self employed, either working independently, or leading a small team. When I do work under someone else, I will have problems, if the leader is incompetent. I do not suffer fools gladly, regardless of whether they are above or under me. And what’s worst, I will make it clearly known that I feel this way. This is possibly the biggest problem, that makes me unemployable.

In my case, I’m very certain that I’d be able to positively contribute to any organisation, as long as I’m working under a boss who takes criticism well, even when it comes from under him, and with a team that’s open minded enough to accept odd-ballness. I have had my fair share of working under incompetent leaders, but it’s only the bodoh sombong ones who have a problem with me. When I attack a policy decision, I’m not attacking the person who made it. I think the trouble is that some people take things too personally. My straightforwardness doesn’t help matter either.

I don’t see anything inherently wrong with this. It just means that I am fated to try to find my own way in this world. Not everyone is born to be a team player. You have got to have some team leaders as well as independents. In fact, I’d argue that all kinds of people are needed in an organisation. However, it’s the practice of most organisations to hire like minded individuals to reduce the amount of internal discord and dissent, which is detrimental.

As a result, an inanimate object like a corporation, ends up acquiring a character. That’s how you can have things like a Chinaman Company, which is generally characterised by it’s extreme shrewdness. Thankfully, there are also other kinds of organisations, the kind that are not entirely driven by profit. However, whether or not these organisations are sustainable in the long term, is yet to be seen.

PS: Time to think of how to set up a Social-Technoprise.

We had a prolonged TehTarik session last night that lasted till 4.30am. During that time, lots of things were discussed and one of the things that came up was game theory. As the rest of us were not very familiar with it, we asked the economists to explain a typical game to us, the prisoner’s dilemma.

You can read the details of the game on wikipedia. The gist of the problem is this:

Two suspects are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal: if one testifies (“defects”) for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both remain silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a five-year sentence. Each prisoner must make the choice of whether to betray the other or to remain silent. Each one is assured that the other would not know about the betrayal before the end of the investigation. How should the prisoners act?

Each prisoner can either choose to defect (D) or collaborate (C) with each other without knowing what the other chooses and make their decisions independently. But that is a rather false assumption because the decisions will never be independent.

For this game, the typical argument is that if we assume that the other prisoner chooses D, then we have to choose D too, in order to ensure a 5 year sentence for us. If we assume that the other prisoner chooses C, then we have to choose D in order to ensure that we go free. But if we assume that both prisoners are rational, the outcome would be DD, which indicates that CD is a transitionary state and the problem will not converge on that state.

Therefore, the only two possible points of convergence are CC and DD. CC happens by direct choice of both prisoners, and is a potential irrational point of convergence. DD is a potential rational convergence by being forced into it due to the situation. CD is rather impossible unless one of the two prisoners is an idiot. And of these two steady states, CC ensures the minimal punishment between the two. Therefore, if both prisoners are smart, they will both choose CC.

I don’t know why, but this is the way that my head works. That’s probably why I usually give odd-ball answers when asked questions like this during interviews. This is also why I have always struggled with probability in school because I can never quite see the same outcomes as the mathematicians. Maybe I’m just an irrational person or the irrational idiot who chooses C.

PS: Obviously, I’m not an economist nor a mathematician. I’m just an engineer who likes steady states and hates non-steady states.

Oh, after reading the wiki article further, I do think that I’m not weird anymore. I can understand why I strongly support Open Source as much as I do. A similar dilemma is present in the Open Source model of development. Being the irrational idiot that I am, I choose to support the Open Source model. I’m just happy to know that I’m not alone and there are many engineers who think the same way that I do. Also, the Open Source movement is on a slow but steady way to world domination.

I’m rather curious with the recent decisions made by our government. As a result of the rising fuel prices, I had predicted that the government would raise the pay of the civil service, which would then force the private sector to follow suit, leading to a pay inflation in Malaysia. However, the government seems to have decided not to do that.

Instead, the government is now encouraging civil servants to seek employment outside the civil service to supplement their income. This is contrary to the General Orders of the civil service. All this time, it is general knowledge that although the GO exists, the government wouldn’t take any action against it’s employees. However, this time around, things are slightly different as the government is openly encouraging it’s employees to contravene the GO.

The idea of encouraging civil servants to get second jobs or start small businesses is only a very short term stop-gap measure. Assuming that the economy gets worse, then what? The civil servants are not immune from the effects of an ailing economy. With a limited economy, there are only so many things that you can sell, and so many part time jobs available. Assuming that the economy gets better, then what? Force all the civil servants to abandon their successful sources of secondary income in order to adhere to the GO? That would just be unfair to the civil servants who have put in an effort to make their little businesses work.

Then, there has also been recent suggestions by the government to pay it’s employees twice a month, instead of monthly. The excuse is that this will help the civil servants manage their expenses better by only releasing their pay packets, half a month at a time. This doesn’t make any sense to me as everything else is synchronised to a monthly pay cycle. So, bills will still need to be paid at the end of the month, with only half the pay packet in the bank.

What this silly idea suggests to me is that the government may be having some cash flow problems, which worries me. As usual, I think that our present government has gone bonkers. They are not thinking things through and only taking the short view. Maybe they don’t feel that they will be in power very much longer, and will leave the cleaning up to whomever takes over after. If that is true, it’s a rather sad situation for the rest of us to be in.

PS: I am not an economist nor a politician.

Of course, marks auditing isn’t all about the problems. There were also many funny parts of the process. Some of these students obviously have too much time on their hands during the exam.

There was a paper which I checked, where the student drew a small little cute cartoon at the end of each part of a question. So, there were a dozen or so little cartoons in the answer script. And the cartoons aren’t random cartoons either. They were all relevant to the question although none of them got any marks, which was a shame. The cartoons were actually quite good.

Then, there was another paper, where the student handed in an extra sheet of paper, which did not have anything on it except for a big cartoon, and an explanation of the cartoon. In it, the student explained that there were thirteen sheets of the answer script, and since thirteen is an unlucky number, the student decided to add an extra sheet with a cartoon in it, just to avoid being unlucky. Well, this student is obviously not Chinese, cause fourteen is probably just as bad, if not worse.

There are also some papers where our jobs as auditors were made very simple, by the fact that they got zero marks for the whole paper. Often, I will also find papers where the student had given about a dozen pages of answers, only to be awarded one mark, probably for the effort. It’s actually kind of sad when I see this and when another person can get full marks for the same question, by only answering everything on a single page.

There was even an instance, where the student had the paper upside down. So, the student flipped the page upright and left a short note on the top of the page, stating that the diagram was upside down. There isn’t any problem with this. But then, the problem is with the mark auditing. Not really sure if it was a 6 or a 9 seeing that the page is upside down. Of course, we ultimately work it out in the end.

And although we aren’t supposed to identify any individuals, we cannot help but be curious about any interesting papers that we come across. When we come across someone who scored more than 95% on a paper, we check to see how well that student did in other papers. We cannot really help being a bit nosy. We do the same when someone does very terribly in a paper too.

And finally, there are some students whose scripts are coded to indicate some special status. Most of these are fairly mundane, like being allowed to take their exams in college due to medical reasons or what nots. But there was this special category that made us all curious as to what it means. It was a code for Jewish students. Presumably, these students may not be allowed to take exams on certain dates. So, they may need to take their papers in quarantine.

I’ve been rather busy auditing the marks for several papers. Of all the modules that I checked, less than half of them were without error. There was only one engineering module that had some minor problem and was promptly fixed. However, for some reason, every management module that I audited had problems in them, with some very major problems, beyond my pay grade to solve.

For this particular module, there were no marks written on the answer scripts. In fact, there were numerous sheets with not even a scratch on them. This means that there is no indication that the sheets have even been read. Then, there were not marks written on the sheets themselves. So, I could not check if the totals in the mark book were actually correct. Even the final totals on the mark book are incorrectly entered. And finally, the distribution of marks were skewed.

I then emailed the examiner with a list of the problems and asked to meet up to rectify them. I was then asked by the examiner to fix some of them myself, and ignore some of the other problems. Obviously, I bumped this up and was told that I could not do it myself, for very obvious reasons that it’s just beyond my pay grade. Since I was lucky enough to have been assigned that module, I was the one who had to settle it.

I was told by the department that the examiner is from the business school next door. So, I called them up to contact the examiner. I was then told that there was no such person. Then, I asked if there might be an external lecturer with that name and was told that there was no such person. Panic!

Then, I dug up the earlier email from the examiner, which listed a mobile number as a contact number. I called up the mobile and got the examiner on the line. I then found out that the examiner lives in a second city and teaches at a third university but is also attached to an institute within the university. So, I guess that the examiner is some sort of adjunct lecturer. However, the examiner is currently overseas and will not be back until next week.

So, I set up a meeting with the examiner. However, I’ve just been told that I might not need to meet up with the examiner as the matter might be taken out of my hands. This is a problematic issue as the marks are needed by last week. We have bumped the issue up and are waiting for more direction. I’m hoping that they will take the thing out of my hands as there is little that I can do about it anyway, except act as an errand boy.