Month: May 2010

I read this random article entitle, “Perkasa demands ‘blue ocean strategy’ for Malays”. After giving it a read, I decided that although I should not be giving a dumb and racist organisation like PERKASA any space on this blog, I had to say something about how dumb they really are. According to the article, PERKASA is asking the government to help out the Malays when it comes to business, in order to even out the economic disparity between them and the other races.

Queue laughter.

The problem is Malays are entering existing markets with little or no support from the government. Existing markets which are dominated by the Chinese are part of a red ocean strategy.

This statement alone speaks volumes on the kind of idiots that are running the organisation. If you want to be an entrepreneur in Malaysia, you have to look beyond our shores. Otherwise, you are just being a jaguh kampung (village champion) and that is not what our dearest PM has called for in his vision for a New Malaysia. We want global champions – Malaysian companies that can compete globally.

Now, once you stick your nose out the window you will see that existing markets are most definitely not dominated by the Chinese. Even the Chinese companies are struggling to fight for their corner of the market. The funny thing about the global marketplace is that it is great at filtering out bullshit like PERKASA. The market is king and whomever makes a good product will win in the end.

I will give PERKASA the same advice that I give any budding entrepreneur who is willing to listen. Go for the niches. When you are small, you cannot afford to play with the big boys. So, go and service the market niches that the big boys have ignored because it is not worth their time to do so. After you build a strong foundation at the niche, you can then broaden your base and intrude upon the market space of others but not a minute before.

In fact, this advice applies just as well to us as a nation and not just for individual entrepreneurs. Malaysians should all come together and carve our niche in this world. We cannot afford to compete with the big countries in the world market. We cannot compete against our neighbours for low-cost labour and we cannot compete against the advanced countries in skills-based labour. Before we disappear into nothingness, lets just focus on trying to attack a niche.

India has cornered the business-process outsourcing niche in IT. China has cornered the low-cost manufacturies. Our government is trying to position Malaysia as a global Islamic finance hub and regional educational hub. Now, there is nothing special about Malaysia that will ensure that these niches stay ours forever so we need to actively work on developing and defending these niches. So, instead of asking our government to help them out, PERKASA should be actively identifying and targeting niche markets where Malaysians can all work together and go into.

There is no reason to fear the Chinese because the world is too big a place for the Chinese to conquer (as much as they would like to do so).

A random thought went through my head today and I asked myself if I found religion or if religion found me. Some people are born into it, some are converted into it while some find it themselves. Since I was not born a Buddhist, I can reject the first possibility, which left the other two possibilities.

After some mulling, I came to the conclusion that I found Buddhism, even if I was first introduced to it as a child by my parents. The reason that I came to this conclusion is because of my character. I was born the way that I am. My kind of personality can never accept any sort of faith-based religion. I was born as a man of science, which explains why I took to this subject so easily as a child. Any friend of mine can tell you that I am a man of logic and rationale.

Therefore, I would have to say that my religion is actually science. However, of the many major religions in the world, the only one that comes close to the logic and rationality of science is Buddhism – it does not ask you to believe anything but actively encourages you to constantly question accepted dogma and to strive towards finding the truth.

In that sense – it appeals to the scientific man in me. I do not need to reconcile what I know versus what I believe in – they are both in-line with the other.

The world is a beautiful place.