Category: Random Musings

Crazy Year

The year 2010, was a crazy year for me. There were so many things that happened this year, that has never happened to me in the three decades prior. So, I felt that I should sum it up in a blog post for posterity. Since this is Christmas eve, it seemed a suitable time for reflection.

Graduation
My graduation day was, without argument, one of the most important days of my life. It was a long time coming. I am really happy to have achieved one of my life goals – to earn a PhD, and earn it I did. I had always known that I will do this at some point in my life. I just wasn’t sure if I would do it early, or at a later stage of my life. I am now glad that I did it early, while I still had the strength and stamina to go through the process. Now that it is done, I can focus on checking off the other items in my list.

There were many lessons learned through the process. Academically, I have become both more of a computer scientist and a physicist than I was before. This is because I had to learn a lot about semiconductor physics, and data-structures and algorithms for my research work. However, the biggest lessons were non-academic.

I like to stress that the PhD is a process. The process has given me the confidence to take on almost any challenge. It has pushed me to the edge of depression and driven me to near madness alone in the dark. It has actually forced me to my limits and I have lived to tell the tale. Some people jokingly call it a Permanent Head Damage, and I now understand why.

Travel
I got to travel quite a bit this year, both domestically and internationally. I finally got to visit Japan – checked off another life goal. It was an eye-opener and inspiration. I think that it was good for me to see how things were like in that country. Now, it is a target that I can aspire to in both my life and business. I think that there are a lot of good things that I took away from Japan, besides the good food and scenery.

The biggest lesson to take away from Japan was customer service. I do not think that there is a country anywhere else in the world, with a higher standard of customer service. I think that if my company has the budget, I will make it mandatory to send my sales staff to Japan just to experience what it is like there – a working holiday might be more easy to justify.

Traveling domestically has opened up my eyes to more beauty in Malaysia. It pains me that our country has so much to offer and is actually a paradise to live in, if not for the few kinks in the system. I would not trade Malaysia for any other place but will instead, try my best to change things from within, in whatever little way that I can, starting with myself and my company.

Recruiters
Now, this was some real crazy shit. There are only about two companies that I am interested to work for in this world, and I got approached by both their recruiters this year, amongst several others – I did not apply for any position with any of them. These companies that approached me are all leading multi-billion dollar multi-nationals in both Silicon Valley and Fen. One of them even came close to offering me a senior position.

Some of these companies are notoriously difficult to get into – they only hire the best engineers and technical people. Unfortunately, things did not work out with any of them due to various vagaries. Even then, this provided a much needed ego boost for me. Even if my previous employer may not have valued me much, I know that I am now in the radar of some major organisations and would unlikely starve. This gave me the confidence to resign.

Another lesson that I took away from all this is that – HR sucks. Therefore, I will structure my company in such a way as to reduce the need for a dedicated HR department. I have already taken away the need to process claims, bonuses, increments, and other forms of remuneration. I have also taken away the need to handle promotions, training and development. I guess that the only function left is hiring and firing. I got rid of those too.

Investors
Having heard that I intend to quit my job and go all out on my own business, I have also received a number of potential investment offers, both domestic and foreign. Without turning these potential investors down, I have highlighted to them that my biggest challenge at the moment is not cash-flow but staffing. I do not need investors as much as I need people who can contribute with technical work. I have lots of projects that I want to work on, but only two hands.

As I have always alluded to, any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem at all. I am in this for the long-haul and am not looking for a quick exit. Therefore, my ideal investor would be someone who can bring in something other than just money. I am looking for value investors, not cash ones. There are plenty of alternative sources for cash – including the local ah long if I am pressed.

However, I would likely accept some of these potential investors in the future, just not now. Picking an investor is a very delicate thing and I would like to take some time to consider things before jumping into bed with multiple partners. I have some ideas on how to grow the business without massive cash injections. There are many examples of successful boot-strapped companies. I am not greedy.

Opportunities
A number of potential business opportunities have also opened up to me this year. I am presently in talks with a number of very different people, everything from SMEs to PLCs, just no MNCs yet. In fact, this is a major factor that affected my decision to resign from my previous employ. I would like to start things on a right footing and decided against moon-lighting even if many others had advised me to do so.

I have worked up a number of proposals this year and while none of them have come to fruition yet, I am still in discussions on some of them. I know that while talk is cheap, and none of it means anything, I am humbled by the fact that some of these people are even talking to me – including people whom I would never have had dreamed of access to before.

Life is full of opportunities. All I need is one. I am not greedy.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Skirting around UUCA

After watching this video and reading a little about it, I was happy that students are now interested in running for politics. Then, I thought to myself, what about the UUCA – particularly Section 15 of the Act? So, I looked up a copy of the relevant act and this is what Section 15 says:


SECTION 15 : PROHIBITION ON A STUDENT OR A STUDENTS’ ORGANISATION, BODY OR GROUP ASSOCIATING WITH SOCIETIES, ETC. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OR APPROVED BY THE VICE-CHANCELLOR.

(1) No person, while he is a student of the University, shall be a member of, or shall in any manner associate with, any society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or group of persons whatsoever, whether or not it is established under any law, whether it is in the University or outside the University, and whether it is in Malaysia or outside Malaysia except as may be provided by or under the Constitution, or except as may be approved in advance in writing by the Vice-Chancellor.

(2) No organisation, body or group of students of the University, whether established by, under or in accordance with the Constitution, or otherwise, shall have any affiliation, association or other dealing whatsoever with any society, political party, trade union or any other organisation, body or group of persons whatsoever, whether or not it is established under any law, whether it is in the University or outside the University, and whether it is in Malaysia or outside Malaysia except as may be provided by or under the Constitution, or except as may be approved in advance in writing by the Vice-Chancellor.

(3) No person, while he is a student of the University, shall express or do anything which may be construed as expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or trade union or as expressing support or sympathy with any unlawful organisation, body or group of persons.

(4) No organisation, body or group of students of the University which is established by, under or in accordance with the Constitution, or any other organisation, body or group of students of the University, shall express or do anything which may be construed as expressing support, sympathy or opposition to any political party or trade union or as expressing support or sympathy with any unlawful organisation, body or group of persons.

(5) Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with the provisions of subsection (1), (2), (3) or (4) shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding one thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment.

This got me thinking – wow, these students might actually have come up with something interesting! I think that they might have come up with a way of skirting around Section 15 of the UUCA! You see, if the students are independent and are not part of any society, political party, trade union, unlawful organisation, unlawful body or unlawful group, they might have just nullified Section 15 of the UUCA!

Now, it would be really interesting if the students who run, run as independents. Under Our Constitution, almost anyone above 21, can offer themselves to run as candidates. I do not see how the Elections Commission has any authority to deny the students their right to run. Even if they are found to have committed an offense under the UUCA, the paltry fine of RM1,000 or 6-months imprisonment would not disqualify them from running either, under the law.

So, it would be really interesting if the students ran, and got their papers accepted by the EC. If that happens, it would set a precedent that while the students cannot join a political party, cannot campaign for any union, cannot sign up for any society, cannot associate with any unlawful organisations, bodies, or groups, they can run as independents.

Now, that would be very interesting.

Malaysians for Change

From what I am reading around the Internet, I am beginning to gather that there are many Malaysians who want a change for Malaysia but we differ in the form of change that we want. This is where the problem stems, which will probably allow BN to retain power at the federal level come the next general elections.

There is a very large and organised group of Malaysians who want to change the political actors in the system, but are not comfortable with changing the system itself. There is a less formally organised group of Malaysians who want to change the political system itself. The former seems to be where the Pakatan Rakyat have positioned themselves while the MCLM is angling for the latter.

Myself? I am personally sick of the system. That is why, I find the MCLM very interesting and its candidates, a breath of fresh air.

However, when I speak to some of the people around me, they seem hell bent on just replacing BN with the PR and not thinking things through on whether that is actually a good thing or not. I like to point out to people that things can always get worse. The BN is definitely not the worst thing that can happen to Malaysia, we have still not struck rock bottom yet.

Presently, I spend quite a bit of my time on the ground, trying to sign up new voters into the system. During my duties, I am often asked for advice on whom to vote for. I do not believe that it is my place to tell someone else whom to vote for. So, I usually tell them to vote for whom they think is best.

However, our parliament is littered with too many monkeys and donkeys who speak out of their arse, whose brains are made of shite and whose hands are soiled. So, if I was asked whom I would vote for in the GE, I would vote for the human being as we have already sent too many monkeys and donkeys into parliament.

We need more people who can talk – like Khairy Jamaluddin – in order to translate the messages to the ground and capture voter mindshare. We need more people who can work – like Tony Pua – in order to do the analyses and come up with the strategies to better our nation. We also need some people who can fight – in order to do the necessary to put out fires on the ground.

I do hope that Malaysians wake up and realise that we do not just need to change the actors, we need to change the system. Our system of governance needs an overhaul and lots of retuning. That is the big picture and not about putting any particular coalition into power.

Sigh.

Freedom Sexuality

Inspired by the recent “It Gets Better” campaign in the US, some fellow Malaysians have come out too, in support of others like them. Tabik.

Learning from Failure

http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf

I have been saying that, schools are not about book-learning, but is a place to learn about life. Very good TED Talk – “Failure is instructional…”

Dragon Age 2

Oh my goodness! I wish I had more time to play these games … looks like my PS3 is going to be enjoyed by my staff more than by me!

Production PhD

TLDR: I fear that in our zeal to meet targets, we will end up diluting the quality of local PhDs.

Our government has just launched a RM2.7billion programme to promote post-graduate studies through three schemes – masters degrees, doctorate degrees, and industrial PhDs. Application opened yesterday. However, what caught my attention was the fact that among the targets set under the SLAI programme was to produce 18,500 PhD holders by 2015.

Produce.

Having been through the process myself, I can safely say that you cannot produce a good PhD. You can most certainly manufacture a random PhD but one can only gain a good PhD if they earn it. The process is such that the quality of a PhD is only as good as the quality of its input and a lot of it comes from internal mechanisms that are difficult to quantify.

The article does not mention the details but I have gathered that the scheme is good for covering local university fees.

While I do not think that further education is a bad thing, I fear that in our zeal to produce a certain number of PhDs by a certain date, we will end up compromising quality. This invariably happens when people care more about the number than the game. I certainly hope that our local universities will ignore the targets and work on producing quality instead of quantity, and that the candidates themselves will focus on tackling world-class problems rather than doing just enough by a certain deadline.

Of course, having 48,000 quality PhDs in Malaysia by 2020 is a Good Thing. However, we need to be careful about how we get there. Otherwise, I fear a dilution of the degrees awarded by our local institutions, which will only further depress their global standings if the world realises that we are only good at turning out PhDs.

I have heard lots of horror stories on local PhDs from various sources. One friend of mine, has basically been offered decent money to basically write the thesis for a PhD candidate from USM. Another friend of mine, told me of a case where her UKM lecturer merely cobbled together the work assigned to students, and called it her own. Of course, all of this is hearsay but such things (and worse) definitely happen.

PS: Incidentally, the website for information is down.