Hyperconnectivity = Hypertension

I've been blogging about how the world today is so connected in the cyber world. To many, hyperconnectivity brings about phenomenal advancement in product innovation. They call this hyperdifferentiation. Some even believe that it could impact civilisation like how the industrial revolution was sparked by the discovery of steam and petrol engine.

The Netizens, an always 'on' society, continuously sifting through the cyber world, creating, editing and exchanging information transcending race and cultures. Being informed, we allow ourselves to evolve in a more efficient way. We have been innovating before but the speed that we are doing it today is mind boggling. We're transforming society to be collaborators as we've witnessed how state and corporate level policies are being influenced by the people's vote. Democracy are at it's best when decisions are made bottom up.

The world at light speed. Can our mind and body cope with this?

Add mobility with connectivity, you get information exchange in a ubiquitous way. It's a powerful combination. Imagine a world that can be updated at the same time. It gives new and profound meaning to the cause and effect equation. Are we in a brink of a perfect economy? An economy that lives on perfect information exchange?

There's 2 sides of the coin for hyperconnectivity. One side says that it enables K-Economy. However, government's and corporate bodies are increasingly worried about cyber security. The threat is real as it can cripple the economy. But my worry is more on social security. We are witnessing today how the news on oil and food crisis are affecting the world. I believe that this threat could somehow be blown out of proportion. Interested parties could manipulate the situation by creating uncertainties in the market place. With hyperconnectivity, these negative sentiments can infiltrate the mindset of people in a much more effective way. Any sort of crisis can ring alarm bells in people's mind. It heightens anxiety and it could stress up the market. It's a dangerous and most effective propaganda tool.

Today's effort are concentrated more on reducing cyber threat rather than content censorship. People say that there should be freedom of expression in the cyber community which I totally agree. What I don't agree is when people use it for their own gain by manipulating and exploiting others. Freedom of expression is good, but it is those who does this irresponsibly that should be controlled. We need a system or a framework that authenticate contents. Just like how job placement services requires job seekers to authenticate their resume before being posted on the Internet.

How can we achieve this? Certainly, it requires strong political and corporate leadership. Companies like Google and Yahoo should show more responsibility and sharpen their effort on content authentication. What we need is someone or some framework to help net community to choose between fact or fiction materials. Web space like Wikipedia is a great source of information and knowledge as contents are continuously being updated and edited by readers themselves. But the fact is, they are not being authenticated by the correct authorities. I think Wiki should be more honest and start to provide authentication services for their content.

Anytime, anywhere communication....the promise of a digital world..

Uncertainty and anxiety leads to greater risk. And there's a high price to pay for this risk. Hyperconnectivity will force the world to work in unison. The problem is, countries are at their different wealth and social maturity level. It is in my opinion that poor countries will have no time or opportunity to learn from the developed economy as the world is already acting as one. They can never catch up and I'm afraid that they will always be under developed. The rich becomes richer and the poor becomes poorer. Hyperconnectivity will reveal capitalism's ugly face.

I have no doubt on the benefits of the true connected world. I just hope that in our quest to achieve these outcome, there must be mechanisms for check and balance. Connectivity will bring about new business models in the commercial world. Social and political engagement will be taken to a new level too. Thus, we need to continuously review our capability in managing these changes. Not just looking at the technology, but every other aspects the technology impacts on; financial, legislation and especially our social fabric. If we are honest in our quest, we can evolve human race to the next civilisation plateau or move up the value chain in a sustainable way.

Champions Of Europe...Again!

TDM Quits UMNO...

What a shocker! For someone who has been with the party for a long time, his decision to quit UMNO took everyone in the country by surprise! Perhaps he wanted to tell the whole world too. His announcement was made concurrently with the 2008 WCIT in KL today. Delegates from 88 countries meet up in the capital city for what is known as the Olympics for IT. Refer to Tun's blog for his unofficial announcement: http://www.chedet.com/2008/05/pengumuman-keluar-dari-umno.html

Cherating Lagi??

I didn't know what got into me last weekend when I took the kids for a trip to Cherating, again. I woke up on Sunday and I simply decided that I wanted to go to Kuantan. After picking up Raidi from his tuition in the afternoon, myself, Raidi and Zidani headed straight to the east coast leaving behind Ayu. She was busy preparing for her sister's wedding. There we were again, on a very familiar trip, just the three of us. The kids were excited and they didn't really mind the long trip as they slept almost the whole journey. We arrived at Cherating after 2 1/2 hours and checked-in into this little resort. As expected, we had the whole resort to ourselves yet again!

We went to the beach and the kids love playing with the sand. At last we flew the kite that Raidi bought long time ago. He bought it just in case we hit the beach again someday. After the beach, we jumped into the swimming pool. For this trip, I forced Zidani to join us in the pool. He usually sit by the side as he's quite afraid of the water. Not this time I told him. So I literally dragged him into the pool and he enjoyed it in the end.

At 5pm the same day, we head back to KL. So that's 5 hours of driving in a Mazda 6 (Zoom-Zoom factor), about 2 hours of play time with the kids in an empty resort (quality time) and we suffered for couple of days from sunburn (no sacrifice no victory!). But the satisfying smile on our faces? Priceless...Worth it...

Wedding Singer???

On the 6th of June, my sister in-law Linda will be getting married. Her dinner reception will be held at the Dewan Komuniti TTDI. Preparations are under way and everyone are busy doing their part. On that day, I have the task to put up road signage leading to the hall. I was given another task though and I'm still thinking about it.

Linda and Ayu requested me to sing a song in front of all the wedding guest. Me? Singing in a formal wedding reception? Have they gone mad? Are they willing to take the risk that I'm going to spoil the function? Ayu told me that the MC will keep on calling my name until I take the microphone and sing. They said they want 'Anuar Zain' to make an appearance that night! hahahah..tolong laahh..eee tak kuasa. You are talking about a wedding here, not a KTV session! Haaiiyaa..But could it be an interesting experience to Blog about later?? HHmm...I have to think first...gelabah aahh

No Astro?? No Problem...Youtube Kan Ada...

It's been more than a month for us living without watching Astro. The boys have been watching cartoon on DVD alternating with the mother. Who says we can't live without Astro? I myself finding it quite an experience spending more time watching contents from the Internet. And that explains why I'm actively blogging again!!!

I can't wait until this country has another broadcaster besides Astro. Like any other monopoly companies, profiteering is their one and only ambition. Often, customers are forced to accept whatever level of service provided as there's no other alternatives to choose. True that most of the content already belongs to Atsro, to me, this is not an issue. Content is the important pulling factor, but other differentiating strategies can be deployed to be competitive. I wish that movies, sitcoms or programmes could be on-demand so that I can watch whatever I want and whenever I want. I don't want Astro to control my daily schedule but instead, I want to have control on the programmes. We, the customers determine what and when we want to see from TV. The technology to do this is already here and I think TM is conducting some trials with some of their customers in Penang. With IPTV (an IP based TV platform), the experience of watching TV would be more interactive and personalised.

The Americans seems to have everything in abundance, including time to watch TV....

Like any other industry in Malaysia, the government's role is to ensure that the long term interest of the end users are met. Usually, to do this, government tends to break down monopolies to create competition with the intention of improving quality of service and keeping prices low (but not necessarily affordable). In Malaysia, when the government liberalised the telecommunication industry way back in mid 90's, we saw how other players came into the picture and compete for customers. We Malaysian benefited substantially. Although I do have some reservation in this, but in general, today we are constantly being offered and bombarded with attractive call prices and packages. However, for too long, we are being choked with basic voice and sms offers.

My question is, how can the government effectively create the same competitive market in the satellite broadcasting industry. Some might argue that the market is too small for other players to co-exist and the infrastructure cost would be astronomical for the new entrant. Well, there's one obvious solution for this barrier of entry. Tell Astro to open up their network and let other players leased their capacities. New entrants wouldn't have to invest huge money for infrastructure but instead leased unused capacities from Astro. As for content, I think there's enough out there to feed viewers appetite. Malaysia has the most diverse viewing profile compared to other countries. Multi ethnicity and religious background brings about different content viewing preferences.

There's a need for content to be more specialise and specific to meet different market segment requirements. The future of media business is to sell more of less. Today, if I want to watch big movie hits, I've got plenty of options to do so including Astro. But if I want to watch something very specialise and specific like how to play badminton like a pro, I would go to youtube. Youtube is an example of how future of business should be. Selling more of less. Even when there's only a single viewer, the video is still on the cyber-shelf to be viewed.

Are we ready for triple play services?

I'm blogging about this tonight because I think we seriously need a competitor for Astro. The fact that I can't choose any other satellite broadcaster, democratically, it's like denying my rights to 'vote'. To beat a monopoly, the new entrants would require assistance from the government. The government must provide market and regulatory mechanism that creates a level playing field for the broadcasters. However, it is crucial that they only do this with the customer's interest in mind. I hope that the convergence between TV and IP services would happen fast enough to break the dominance of satellite broadcasting in Malaysia. Just Imagine when the current Astro decoder is replaced with your computer's CPU as your lifestyle changing technology. The value it can create for the business community is immense as customer's interaction and engagement would be taken to a new level.

Until the arrival of this new media, I need to find my Astro card. We still haven't found it. If I call Astro for a new replacement card, I'll be charged for it for sure. But so far without Astro, no problem for me at least. I'll just stick to youtube while the kids are happy watching Transformers movies and cartoon repeatedly. We have many cartoon version of Transformers collection by the way. Gosshh..I'm surprised how this missing card inspired me to blog!!

The Devil Drives Mazda??....Arrghhhhhh

I saw an M6 being test driven in PJ today. It was a white 2.5litre sedan(like the one in these pictures) driven by a young chinese lad. I was standing by the roadside when suddenly this new M6 passed by the taxi stand. I couldn't believe my eyes as the car looks way sexier in reality. I cursed myself for not to wait another year to get my hands behind the steering wheel. If I ever want a car that really stands out from the crowd and have heads turning its way, this M6 would be on top my list. An absolute stunner! The zoom-zoom factor is very much alive in me...

p/s: My current M6 is less then 12 months old...Please God, don't tempt me this way...Anybody who wants to go for a test drive, call me pls!!

We Are The Champ10ns!

One down, one to go. It was a glorious day for MU as they won the Premier League title for the 10th time. It went down right to the wire, as MU needed to win the last game of the season to secure the title. I'm very pleased with the result as the team played very well this year. They mixed style with strength. They've got substance and the desire to win trophies. I was expecting a treble this year but looking at the level of competitiveness of the sport today, it is always going to be difficult. The modern game is very tactical and you need to create your own luck to win games.

Congratulations to all MU fans out there. One down and one to go! Next stop, Moscow...

Mother's Day..

I would like to wish all mother's out there a happy mother's day. To Mak and Mommy, I love you very much. You have been very patience with your kids. Nothing that I can do that can ever repay your sacrifices. To Ayu, thank you for being such a caring mother to the kids. There's room for improvement though, hehehe. I know, same goes to me. To my grandmother, I miss you always. Every time I see you, I feel so much love. You're definitely my soft spot. Last but not least, to mother nature. I think the world can be a better place if everyone starts to treat this planet like their own mother. What's the point of calling this place mother nature when we treat her like rubbish?? Hhmm...

Attn: Raidi...

I want to share something. Actually this posting is dedicated to my son Raidi. I hope you will read this one day and understand how I feel. You just turned 8 last week while I'm writing this today. But already you are facing lots of challenges. I'm somewhat surprised by your level of maturity in accepting your responsibilities. You are facing greater challenges not just because you have competitive school friends, not just because of high expectations to perform from your parents, not just because you oftently get confusing instructions from everyone, not just because you are living in the multimedia world and I think your senses are working overtime. But you are also facing the fact that you have a brother that seems to absorb all the attention in the world. Plus, you have parents that comes back home late everyday.

You seemed to be very understanding about Zidani's condition as you don't react negatively whenever Zidani's having his tantrum. I thank you for this. But I missed watching you grow and become the 8 year old boy today. This is my regret. All the attention that I gave to your brother, I felt that you always get less from me. You grew up too fast for me to catch up with you, especially when Zidani is stealing all the attention. But you care for your brother and I can somehow sense that you understand the meaning of sacrifice. Being able to do this at your age, I salute you Raidi. I just want you to know that we do care for you, that we are not neglecting you in anyway.

I hope you will grow up as a responsible boy. Abah only hope and pray for the best. It's a tough world out there and I'm making sure that you are prepared to face the challenges. Respect the elderly and always care for the needy. Have a lot of patience in your life. With your brother Zidani we really need to be patience. He needs our support and understanding. If you think it's difficult for us to go through all this, imagine how it is more difficult for Zidani. It must be very confusing and frustrating for him as he tries hard to cope with us. But I believe he'll do just fine if we just love him a little bit more. He needs the extra attention. I'm glad to know that you understand our situation. Again I want to say thank you for being so understanding. I'm proud of you Zulkarnain Raidi and I always will.

They Don't Care...

I always have this question in my mind. Looking at how oil price has its impact to the human race. Why are we so dependent on this source of energy? Why arent there any alternatives? Why is it so difficult for us to start commercialising renewable, eco-friendly and sustainable energy sources. Oil price is sky rocketing. I wonder how the underdeveloped world is coping with this. Looking at current scenario, even the Americans are feeling the impact. What else the poor countries? Who benefits from all this? Halliburton's stock price reached unprecedented level the moment the American's invaded Iraq. Is it right for me to say that oil & gas producers and military contractors are gainig from all this? Let's not even mention carbon emission and its impact to the environment.

I hoped and thought that Oil companies are seriously looking into this matter. That they are seriously looking at alternative sources. And I thought that they have started to do this long time ago. I was wrong. Read this article below....

Friday May 2, 2008
Rockefeller family calls for change at ExxonMobil

NEW YORK: Members of the Rockefeller family are calling on ExxonMobil Corp to make governance changes and increase spending on alternative fuels, sharpening the focus on the company’s practices as oil soars close to US$120.

John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Co in 1870 and it became a precursor to ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil is the world’s largest publicly traded oil company based on market capitalisation and is a favourite target of consumer advocate groups and politicians unhappy with record prices for oil and gas and their effect on the environment.

Fifteen descendants of the oil baron are involved in four shareholder resolutions seeking changes at Exxon, including dividing the CEO and chairmanship positions held by Rex Tillerson. Peter O’Neill, great-great grandson of Rockefeller, said 66 of the 78 adult Rockefellers currently supported their stance. Exxon posted the largest ever annual profit by a US company last year and its first quarter results were expected to top US$11 billion and perhaps set a new record.
But the Rockefellers said the company was too focused on short-term windfalls. They said the company’s reluctance to invest in alternative energy could result in lost profits down the road.
Neva Rockefeller Goodwin, great granddaughter of John D. Rockefeller and a Tufts University economist, called on Exxon to reconnect with the forward-looking vision of her great grandfather.

“Kerosene was the alternative energy of its day,” Goodwin said. “Part of John D. Rockefeller’s genius was in recognising early the need and opportunity for a transition to a better, cheaper and cleaner fuel.”

The group, which also seeks to establish a task force to study the consequences of global warming on poor economies, called on Exxon to reduce greenhouse gas emission at its own operations and adopt a renewable energy policy. Exxon said it supports the Rockefellers' right to use the shareholder proposal process to make the family’s views known to other stakeholders.
The company has asked shareholders not to support the proposals and said it believes the most effective leadership structure for the current company is for Tillerson to serve as both chairman and CEO.

It is unclear how many shares the Rockefeller family controls. Exxon was able to identify 12 of the 15 Rockefellers associated with the shareholder resolution and said they collectively own around 332,000 of the company’s 5.4 billion shares – or about 0.006% of outstanding shares.
The company downplayed the importance of the Rockefellers backing the split.

“We’re focused on maximizing the return to the shareholder and profitability,” said Exxon spokesman Alan Jeffers. “Members of the Rockefeller family are well known for their relationship with the company’s founder. But we have 2.5 million individual shareholders.”About 40% of the company’s shareholders voted for the non-binding proposal to split the chairman and CEO positions last year.

Political scrutiny on Exxon has also increased as oil and gasoline prices have soared. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both pointed to Exxon’s record 2007 earnings as a symbol of an oil industry run amok. Both candidates are in favour of repealing tax breaks that have been enjoyed by oil companies.

“Last year, Exxon Mobil made US$40 billion in profits. So you paid through the roof and they made out like bandits,” Clinton said earlier this week in North Carolina. “Middle class families are paying too much and oil companies are not paying their fair share.” Analysts noted that, even in a non-election year, it is never easy when oil companies make record profits. “Politicans see Exxon and they see dollar signs. They see it as an untapped resource,” Oppenheimer & Co analyst Fadel Gheit. He noted the record profits have pleased many shareholders.Exxon “must be hiding under their pile of cash,” he added.
Exxon’s annual meeting is scheduled for May 28. – Reuters

Moscow, Here We Come!

After the final whistle, MU won 1-0 on aggregate...

Eto? Messi? Henry? Deco? Big names aren't they? Barca threw in everything that night but MU defended well at home. We're just one step closer to European glory. It was the second leg of the semi final and from what I've heard it was a nail bitting match. Yes, I didn't get to watch the live telecast. We misplaced the new Astro smart card and until today, we couldn't watch Astro. It was an important game and I'm still dissapointed not being able to watch it. Thank God they won. I better replace the card before the final match next month. Oh yes, to Liverpool fans out there, you'll never walk alone. Chelsea might accompany you later! hehehe

Up..up..and awaaayy....Schoey's brilliant 30 yards goal...

Dr M aka Che Det the Blogger...

At last, Tun started his own blog today (www.chedet.com). Welcome aboard sir! One should not underestimate the power of media democratisation. I wonder who's taking care of his blog though? Hhmm..

Blogging For Money...

I'm impressed. A full time housewife is also a professional blogger. Samantha Yeap, a 36 year old mother of two earns money from advertising through her blog at myorganiclife.blogspot.com. Her story was published in The Star newspaper today http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/4/27/sundaymetro/20972501&sec=SundayMetro.

“What gives me so much satisfaction is that I am able to do and say what I want in my blog (within moral and ethical boundaries, of course). I am under nobody’s rule,” said Samantha. This is a good example of self regulation and being a responsible blogger. She can sit in front of the computer until 4 to 5 o'clock in the morning and write about everything from cooking and how to prevent white hair.

What amazes me more is how people can really be a fan of certain blog sites. They are loyal surfers and reading blogs are like food for their soul. See how strong this new media influences our society. The pen is mightier than the sword they said. Now we can say that the keyboard is mightier than the pen! Amazing really.

Flat Battery, Birthday, Leaky Water Pipes, 3 Stiches, Michael Bollocks!.

Absolute Bollocks!... Saturday was a bad day for me. I was supposed to celebrate Raidi's 8th Birthday but too many mishaps occured. It started with my car battery went dead. I got stuck at Menara Telekom and had to wait for my mechanic to come and replace the dead battery. The battery is less than 12 months old, still under warranty. So I'm going to claim from C&C for the replacement cost. Then, at home that evening, the water pipe in the bathtroom suddenly burst! Rushed to the hardware store and came back to do some plumbing work. Raidi and Zidani were running around and I did warned them about the slippery floor. As I was working, MU & Chelsea match was live on Astro and I'm not supposed to miss that game and you know why. Ayu was away in Korea so I had to look after the kids.

Just after I finished with the plumbing work, as I was about to sit infront of the TV, I heard a loud thud near the bathroom followed by Zidani's harrowing scream. He was really in pain. Raidi quickly told me that Zidani slipped and fell backward hitting his head on the floor. I quickly rub my hand on his head trying to ease the pain and I was shocked to see my palm covered with blood! At that time Zidani was still crying and kept on saying sakit, sakit, while pointing his finger to his head. Blood started to run down his left ear and at that point I knew I had to take him to the clinic. I saw a deep gash on the left side of his head and I thought the wound require some stitches. Rightly so, at the clinic, Zidani had 3 stiches on his head. We had to held him down on the bed as he was frantically trying to escape. Zidani has an allergy to doctors due to some traumatic experience when he was still a baby. Alhamdulillah, Dr Suraya managed to stich up his wound. I'm sure this will add to Zidani's list of traumatic experience with doctors. He is only 6 years old but I'm amazed with his strength. Three adults had to held him while the doctor calmly finished her job. We head back home and after putting Zidani to bed, I got to watch the football match.

It was the game where MU needed to win to clinch the premier league title. Things were going well untill the 86th minute. Chelsea was given a penalty kick when the ref spotted Carrick handling the ball inside the penalty box. TV replays didn't clearly show Carrick handled the ball. It wasn't MU's night and they had to concede defeat after two goal line clearance by Chelsea in the dying minutes. So now it's down to the wire and the team has another crucial game this coming Tueday. Please la..don't fumble when it matters. MU's game suddenly dropped couple of notches.

Happy 8th birthday Raidi! Inspite of all this mishaps, We will celebrate your birthday on Sunday after Mama comes back from Korea. And yes, as promised, you will get your Optimus Prime robot.

KL-Singapore High Speed Train?...What about High Speed Broadband?

The proposed high speed train project between KL-Singapore had been shelved, though not indefinitely I believe. Number of reasons behind this decision. According to the press, it's too deep for the govt's pocket. This new mode of transport could cut railway travelling time between KL and Singapore to just 90 minutes. But it would cost a bomb and it is uncertain whether there will be enough passengers to use it. Plus, I'm sure there's plenty of political reasons behind it.

I wonder how our Bullet Train would look like?

I think instead of building new infrastructure, they could use the Subang Airport as a gateway for the SG-KL route. This is much cheaper and perhaps if we can fly out from Subang, it could match the total travelling time with the bullet train. In other words, the current transport infrastructure is sufficient to serve both country's requirement. Alternatively, I feel we should link up with Indonesia instead. That's where the future market is. With Indonesia's huge population and growth potential, there would be plenty of trade opportunities. We should build bridges and tunnels to connect both countries.

YTL's MD, Francis Yeoh said in the AFP that this new rail link could save government tens of billions of ringgit in fuel subsidies in the long run. This suggest that the track will be electrify and he hopes to capture passengers who are road users. If this is what he stands for, I have a better option for him. He is harping on reducing gov't fuel subsidies. He intend to reduce the number of private vehicles on the road which will lead to lower fuel consumption and carbon emission. My question is why limit to south bound road users? By introducing the train, we will only remove private vehicle that travels between this two destinations. From the total number of South bound commuters, how many are actually directly driving to Singapore?

If he really wants to help gov't to reduce fuel subsidies he could do this via Teleworking. Being a corporate body, YTL can work together with the government and be the champion of Teleworking. YTL is one of the 4 Wimax operators in the country and they can really capitalise on this technology via Teleworking solutions. If they do this properly, we can see drastic reduction of road vehicles as people only meet up at their work place when necessary. They can hold meetings and discussions from their home using broadband. Teleworking is seen as a solution for traffic congestion. Imagine the amount of carbon emission that we can save? People say this is a cultural thing as many don't really fancy the idea of working from home. That is why it is even more important for gov't or corporate figures to take the lead and adopt this concept. It requires strong political and cultural will for this concept to take off.

Fiber strands that connects the world....

So do we really need high speed train to Singapore? Personally, the answer would be yes if I want to go shopping. I'm sure they don't have baggage limit like they have in the airline industry. But for normal or social commuters, current transportation is adequate. As for business travellers, flying seems to be the best choice. But if we really think about it, do we really need to travel when we are so connected in the cyberworld? I think there's alot broadband can offer than just being a place for web browsing. With enough bandwidth, hyper connectivity can make the world truely a global production floor with everyone acting in unison.

p/s: I don't want bullet train to Singapore because people will not stop over at Kluang Station and have kopi and roti bakar...Yumm Yummm

Thank You Tevez....

Thank you for being at the right place and at the right time. Your leveller against Blackburn could be the decisive goal for MU this season. I knew the game was going to be difficult. That's always the case whenever they are up against teams coached by an ex-player.

Next week will be one of the most challenging period for MU. Semi final game with Barca and the title deciding fixture against Chelsea within the span of 7 days. I know I should believe in the team but sometimes, it can give me the jitters. I guess that's the reality of the game. It's football and players do make mistake. After great performances over the season, I just hope they don't fumble when it matters.

Busy busy busy and busy...

Looking at the number of my blog postings this year, it could only tell one thing. I'm busy with work. Every time I go back home, I got to entertain the household. When the kids are asleep, I watch Astro or read some books.

Things that I want to blog now is quite a heavy topic. Lately, my mind had been thinking. Thinking about things that I can do to change the world (perrgghh..macam bagus). But seriously, until I can let it out, I won't feel satisfied.

I don't know, its just that too many news going around about climate change, security, corruption, world food crisis...etc. I wonder what kind of a world that our kids will live in in the future. What makes me want to do so much is because the industry that I'm working in. Telecommunication is the enabler of information exchange. When you get to see how telecommunication impacts the economy, politics and even climate change, it makes me want to push so much ideas that can slowly but surely change the reality. I believe that the era that we live in is the era of being informed. Anxiety and uncertainty are usually brought about when there is lack of information. Lacking in information only generates risk and there's a high price to pay for the uncertainty. Soaring oil prices are due to speculative outcomes based on current events, food crisis are probably due to booming demand from China and India and the volatile climate adds to the variable. Just to cite some examples.

There should be better coordination among major food producers that could have avoided this crisis. Nobody saw it coming kaa? I'm sure somebody must have seen the warning signs but everybody seems to ignore it. When the world is already so connected, there should be more active engagement between industries, governments and the citizens. It is no longer the time when you just look at yourself and try to fulfill your own country's need. Humanity cannot afford to be selfish if we want to strive to reach the next equilibrium point. What better way to enable equitable and sustainable growth among nations then to continuously engage with each other, exchanging critical information and coordinating efforts based on informed judgement. We can do this efficiently if we embrace the power of ubiquitous communication. People say that two heads are better than one. What if we can connect 6 billion heads?

With prevailing crisis, who benefits from all this? Does the benefit reach the poor? I bet in the case of food crisis, the middle men gets most of the profits! So the rich becomes richer, and the poor becomes poorer. Not equitable at all and definitely unsustainable.

An informed society is a pre-requisite to knowledge based economy. The challenge is how do we differentiate between information based on facts and Hollywood. So many stories came out from the internet during the last GE but nobody could validate or verify them. Even if one can deny the accusations, who can validate that too? Taking this question aside, the value that the internet connectivity can potentially create should be measured beyond the economic boundries. It's about how it enables the speeding up of innovation cycle. When the innovation wheel spins faster, we can get to our desired destination sooner. We just need some check and balance to ensure the destination or vision that our civilisation is heading to is shared and embrace by all humanity. So please, reach out, speak out, collaborate and engage.

Haiya...I found myself a topic to write for my thesis..heheehe.. But first, I got to sign up for a post graduate course laa!

Sabah Trip..

Last week, I attended a meeting cum workshop in Kota Kinabalu. It was organised by the Costing group from TM. The visit was part of the awareness programme on the service costing approach that TM is adopting. Unlike other network costing methodology, this framework has a direct link to value creation. It could help the company to position it self as a value creator rather than just becoming a sales channel for equipment suppliers to the customers.

The visit was an eye opener. We get to discuss on real operational and strategic issues for the state with HSBB being the focul subject. We had the opportunity to visit some of TM's site equipment. This helps to give greater appreciation towards the business as it provides the substance. Most of the time we only get to model the equipment in the cyber world.

This is where the Customer's Access Network crossed connect with the Core Network...

I came back from KK with running nose and a bad sore throat. Maybe I had too much seafood. The flight back to KL was full with people sneezing and coughing, spreading out viruses. I felt more like being strapped in a sick bay rather than in an aircraft!

Look at the size of those Udang!

Long Weekend It Was...

It's Sunday and i'm currently at the office with the kids. Decided to drop by the office and did some house keeping which is long overdue. Plenty of documents to file in and knowing how bad I am at documentation, I just had to do this on weekends avoiding the normal weekdays 'distractions'.

During the CNY holidays, we took the kids to the Cherating beach. What was supposed to be a 2 hours drive I ended up driving for 4 hours to Cherating. The traffic was crawling from Batu Cave right to the Karak toll highway. It took us nearly 2 hours to reach the East Coast highway toll plaza. I wanted to go to this little resort along the Kuantan-Kemaman east coast road but unfortunately, it was full. I didnt expect it to be full as the last time we went there for a day trip, it was empty! We were the only guest then and we had the swimming pool and the beach to ourselves. So instead, we head down to the beach next to this resort. Me and the boys had a great time and Zidani this time wasn't afraid to play in the water. Ayu and Momy picknicked by the beach enjoying the south china sea seabreeze.

We head back to KL at about 6pm after we stopped by this stall eating Keropok Lekor and fried rice. Slightly after 2 hours of driving we reached KL and the kids spent the night at their Wan's place.

There is something about the east coast that makes me sooo want to come over again and again. Especially terengganu, it makes me feel like home. The beach, food and the laidback lifestyle fits me well. My dream is to have beach house somewhere along the Merang beach near Kuala Terengganu. I know it's only a dream because for Ayu to live there, I need to build a 'Pavillion' grade shopping mall nearby. If not she will be mati kutu. So I guess, occasional visits to the east coast is a good compromise.

Mazda 6 2nd Generation...

Wow! I'm speechless! Don't know when this car is going to be available in Malaysia, but I better start saving money for the downpayment. The current 6 is already an absolute beuty on the road. The ride and handling is one of the best that I've experience so far and I'm pretty sure I will accumulate high mileage with the car. The higher the mileage, the lower the ownership cost per kilometre. And that applies to any vehicle.

See more pictures here http://paultan.org/archives/2007/09/07/2008-mazda-6-2nd-generation-zoom-zoom/#more-5093

Telecoms Cost Modelling & Accounting Conference in Hong Kong

I attended a conference in Hong Kong last month. We learned plenty of things from this seminar and it is something that you can’t find in any university textbooks. These sorts of literatures are usually in short supply as it is a highly specialized subject. I can say that those who gain the knowledge can consider themselves as a unique ‘community’. Telecoms cost accountant don’t usually belong to the mainstream accounting profession. The knowledge is not something that you can’t grasp in a short period and it requires a lot of industrial experience to be considered as an expert.

We had participants from all the continents and we shared issues from regulation to commercial practices. The main subject that we discussed was about building cost modeling capabilities for the Next Generation Network. By the end of the seminar, there were still arguments about what is the right approach in building the models. This is crucial as the models are usually used by the operators and the regulators either for service or product pricing. We argued about the right methodology and principles that should be applied when developing such model. Failing to adopt the right approach, the value that the industry should create cannot be achieved. We in Telsoft have our own methodology and one of the main reasons I went to this seminar is to see how the others are approaching this subject. Just to gauge how far the others are behind us! Hehehehe

Thank you Dr Jude for allowing us to attend this seminar. Pn Hairiah and Azhar from TM were there too and we made many new friends as well. I have a feeling that the next seminar will at least be attended by the same participants. Everyone is eager to learn from each other and many felt that the Telco industry in Malaysia is considered as advance. Competition is alive, technology proliferation is happening and Telco’s are announcing big profits on a quarterly basis. Many feel that this is healthy for the country. The question is, is it sustainable? If this is healthy, why then after more than 10 years of market liberalization, we are still stuck with the basic service of voice and sms’s? By this time, voice and sms should already be a complimentary revenue streams for Telcos and Data services should be Telco’s bread and butter. Hhmm….just hope things will change for the better.

This is what happens when you leave Mafiz 7 days in Hk!..hehehe

We had a great time in HK as HK was on sale last month. I’ve never had this shopping experience before. We didn’t get to see much of the tourist sites as we were very busy ‘touring’ the malls. HK is a very vibrant city. Everything moves fast including the escalators! Transportation in HK is very efficient and they serve different segment of the commuters. I thought the MRT in Singapore carries long carriages of passengers, but the one in HK by far, the longest I’ve seen so far. Prices of goods are expensive but their citizens can afford them as their GDP per capita is 3 to 4 times higher than Malaysia. HK is known to have the highest concentration of Rolls Royce car owners in the world. On the road, Merc and BMW brands are considered as their staple choice. Pastu keta dia semua berkilat saje! I saw many Mazda6 too! hehehe

ONE DAY TOURNAMENT

The next day after my picnic trip with Talisman, we took Raidi to the Alice Smith International School in Serdang for his one day football tournament. This is the football league that Raidi had been attending since January. That day, Raidi and his team Rangers had to endure 5 grueling football matches played under the hot sun.

Kids in action...

I have to say I was really impressed with the school's facilities. They even have a lightning warning system installed (something that should be mandatory in all public school in Malaysia). The alarm was triggered in the afternoon and we were told to vacate the field immediately and because of this, we had to stay indoors at the school's sports hall. Wow!! The sports hall is fantastic! It reminded me of my pre-school hall in Cranfield, Portsmouth. Different class and standards if you want to compare with our local school halls. I guess that's why parents are paying big bucks to send their children to private schools. They provide top notch facilities.

In between games, the boys played some games with each other...

Ok back to the football. That day I saw glimpes of Raidi's potential. This is the first time when Raidi did concentrated on the game instead of playing with the sand, picking and throwing stones on the field and loughing at his friends when the game is still on. The condition of the football field are miles better than what we've been playing on for the past of couple of months. The kids played really well that day. I'm sure the pitch had something to do with their improved performances. No sand or stone for Raidi to play with. His mind was at least in the game and not somewhere else. At times he managed to make some twist and turns with the ball. No one was injured that day and that is something new. So it must be the padang... seriously.. it looked and felt really good!

His team did not make it to the final. But it was close. Due to the goal difference, Rangers took the 3rd place in the Junior League. Whatever it is, Abah and Mama had a great time watching you play football. When I asked you whether you still want to play next year, you told me that you wanted to play next week. I never thought that you would say that. Unfortunately, the league will start again next year. So we have ample time to prepare you for next season. We will go to the padang and practise.

ZOOOMMMM - ZOOOOMMMMM

Hehehe...manyak lawa la ini kereta!! Manyak sukeeeeee woooooo

PICNIC AT SG CHILLING WATERFALL..

Couple of weeks ago, myself and DrM joined Azad along with his colleagues from Talisman Energy for a picnic at Sg Chilling. It took us about one and a half hour of jungle tracking before reaching this beutiful waterfall picnic spot. I had a great time getting in touch with mother nature and I was also amazed by the clenliness of the river and waterfalls. We had to cross the same river four times at least and the view was breahtaking. It reminded me alot of Taman Negara Pahang.

Mafeitz was a bit unfortunate as he had a bit of a plunged during one of the river crossing and got his handphone submerged under water. I thought he wanted to check how strong the cellphone signal is underwater..hehehehe.. His camera was ok though. Dr.M and myself assisted Azad that day as sweepers. Azad even brought a pair of walkie talkie and we really had fun communicating. Nampak macam bagus.. hahaha

It was a good outing and I hope to come back here one day with the kids. I bet you boys are going to love the freezing and pristine water while Mama goes shopping elsewhere..hehehe

River crossing number berapa tah...

At the waterfall... to my right you can see Dr M (in yellow) in the water doing apa tah..hahaha

Fuyooooohhh..sejuuukkkk!!!

Nak balik daaaahh...

WAAAHH..SUDAH LAMA LAAA...

Let me see, it's been 2 months since I last posted an entry. I think the car jacked incident really affected me. It shows how busy I was replacing all that was stolen and following up with my car theft insurance claim. I'm also busy with work and especially with the kids during the weekends.

This is just a warm-up entry after the 2 months break from blogging. Maybe tonight at home, I will put up an entry or two. For now, I want to continue reading this interesting book and keep my self occupied before I go and play badminton with my TM's friend.

ROBBED & CAR JACKED AT KNIFE POINT

I was robbed last night. After I reached my house in TTDI around 9.30pm, as I was about to enter my house, out of nowhere, two robbers ran straight towards me. One of them pointed a knife towards me while the other guy took away my wallet, my PDA phone, my wrist watch and my car keys. I didn’t retaliate as I told them to take whatever they want. At that time I saw Raidi coming out to the porch and I prayed hard for him to go back inside which he did.

Yes…yesterday my 3 months old Civic was carjacked right under my nose at knife point. Don’t really know how to express my feelings now.

After they sped away with the car, I quickly went inside the house and told Ayu to call the police and I gave my car details to them. About 7-8 minutes after that, a patrol car arrived and I followed them to the police station to make a report. The officer in-charge told me to go to Brickfields to do the complete report with the Investigating Officer. I drove back home at 2am after I’ve made my statement. Thank you Dr Jude for accompanying me at Brickfields police station. He took a Taxi from the Hotel and he waited for me till 2am despite knowing that we have a workshop to conduct today in TM.

If anyone of you see my car anywhere, please call me or my wife. For now, you won’t be able to reach me on my mobile. So try to call Ayu or my house phone or Insp. Suhaimi at 016-22248011.

Please be careful even if you are at the front of your house. Better still, install an automatic gate so that you don’t have to go out of the car to open the gate. Be vigilant. It could have been worst for me or even for my family. Thank God Raidi was not with me. He got home 10 minutes earlier with Ayu who was driving the Inspire. Thank God it didn’t happen to them. So Ayu, there’s a hikmah why I didn’t let you drive my new Civic. I cant’ imagine if this happens to you.

I don’t know whether I will get to see my Civic again. If I do get to see it, it will never be the same as the one I originally bought. They’ll strip the car and sell the parts. Or maybe they’ll try to sell it in Motortrader. Hhhhmm. If they find the car, I would be lucky if it’s still in its original condition. If not, might as well don’t find it and let the insurance company pay for my car loan. Still, due to the red tape and all, for the next 2-3 months, I will still have to continue paying my car installment.

I’ve got plenty of things to do after this. Car insurance claims, Driving License, ATM card, Credit Cards, Identity card, Mobile Phone..the whole mumbo jumbo…I got to replace all of them. I’m glad that nobody was hurt during this incident. I hope the people who did this can be caught and brought to justice. Lepas tu, I hope they will rot in hell….

Civic ku Dah Pakai Bodykit...

Hehehe…I just had to do it. My Civic is now aerodynamically enhanced by the Mugen style bodykit. The car looks a bit bigger and more stylish. That’s not the only modification that I made though, I’ve changed the numbering plate as well. The older plate looked flat, dull and common. So to stand out from the ‘crowd’, I opted for the Singaporean style template. It gives a stronger visual impact to the car’s dramatic frontal profile.

I’m still thinking about putting on a rear spoiler. I have to choose between the menacing Mugen style spoiler and the more subtle Modulo design. But looking at the car today, I think the car looks just fine to me. My next project is to change the car’s wheels to a bigger and sportier setup. Currently the car is fitted with the 16” Honda 5 spoke alloy wheels. I’ve been browsing the net for the best and affordable set of wheels. But I think I will wait until the tires are worn out before I change to a new set.

I don’t know why but I’m now into car mods. Not so much for performance, but I just want the car to look better. Radzlan just bought a new 2.0 liter Ford Focus and I hope he will join me and start to ‘bikin’ his new baby. Despite being a patience and courteous driver like me, I know deep inside him, this boy racer can’t wait to go out and modify his car for a more stylish and spirited drive. So Lan?? Bila kita nak race?? 2 Fast 2 Furious – Athinahapan Drift…hahaha

My Confession...

I’ve been tagged by Ibdil. Ok, do I really need to do this? I thought you’ve known me well enough? Ok lah…for blogging sake. Here you are, six weird things you might not or already know about me:

1. I’m a rule abiding driver. I don’t make illegal u-turns, I don’t park my car indiscriminately, I don’t jump the queue, I don't mind driving in circles to find the perfect parking space…As a Malaysian driver, I think this is weird....
2. I love making sound effects…especially when I play with my toys..(not adult toys ok??)..I think my kids are lucky…
3. I like to do house chores very much…I think this is weird and my wife is lucky.
4. I sometimes talk to myself… there were instances when Raidi asked me “Abah cakap apa tadi bah?” hahahaha
5. I buy perfumes but I never wear them.
6. I like to complicate things and I don’t like to give simple answers. To me, life should not be simple…it should be errmmm..weird??..hahaha

There you go..actually I have more, but 6 is enough la. Hmm…maybe we can start writing about someone else instead. Yang pelik dah jelik about Ibdillilah for example…that would be fun! Hehehe. To be honest, if I have the time, I would love to write about other people in my blog. While we still have the time and the place to do this, before it is too late, I think we should somehow let the other person know what we think about them. Hmm…good idea Mafiz, now whom should I write about first…

My Sister Is Engaged…

Last Sunday my sister Natasha got engaged. Her future husband’s name is Iyadzlee and his family lives in Bangi. If everything goes as planned, the wedding is set in August this year. Most of our closed relatives were present to witness this engagement ceremony. Congratulation to Natasha and her fiancé on their engagement. Now everybody can’t wait for the big day to come in August. Come to think of it, it’s like 6 months to go and I think preparations should be done from now. Tasha is my only sister so it would be the first and the last time for us to welcome and witness the entourage from the groom side. So I hope everything will go well. I didn’t get to take many pictures though as I was busy taking care of Zidani. Besides, we depended on Tasha’s fiancé to take all the pictures. He’s a part time wedding photographer!

Officially engaged.....btw, the photographer on the right is Tasha's fiance

The only way to witness your own engagement ceremony, is to become a photographer! haha

Ayu can't wait for the wedding day...can't wait to 'tempah' her new baju...

Barang-barang hantaran.....tak tahan tengok strawberry tu!!

Let's Talk.....

If you have seen this Let’s Talk advertisement from TM for the past weeks, you should consider subscribing to it. I signed up yesterday during the launching ceremony at Bangsar TMPoint. This is the call plan that we have been working on for the past couple of months. To me it is not that I’m obligated to subscribe to it, but if I’m a ‘normal’ customer, I would surely take it. If you have not seen this call plan, you can visit http://www.lets-talk.com.my/package.html for details.

I signed up the Let’s Talk 108 package. With this plan, I get unlimited local calls. In other words, I can call another fixed line number within the local call boundary and talk non-stop. Apart from that, I can make unlimited calls to other part of the country during the weekends and they charge lower call rates to mobile numbers. All this at a fix monthly cost of RM108 inclusive of rental. Depending on your monthly bill pattern, you can choose the right package that suits your requirement. This plan provides some level of certainty to my monthly phone expenses. On average, I’ve been spending about RM100 on the house phone bill but with this package, I get more value! I’m will still pay the same amount money like before but this plan actually gives me more calling capacities! Perhaps more than twice the talking time. The good thing is, I get to upgrade my Streamyx bandwith to 1Mb as well, just by signing up to this package!

Now whenever we’re at home, we will use the fixed line. I’ve already paid for it so we should use this. It’s cheaper than mobile phone rates and we can save on our mobile phone charges. You see, mobile phone should be use when you’re in ‘mobile’ mode. But when you’re in a fixed location, especially at home, just pick up the fixed line and talk for hours at a fixed cost.

This new pricing scheme is a glimpse of what the future of telecommunication service pricing will be. They are preparing the customers towards the Next Generation Network (NGN) environment. In the future, communication charges are going to be set on session basis, no longer the usage minutes. This call plan is just the beginning from TM to encourage their customers to use the fixed line. Later, product bundling i.e packaging Fixed Line, Broadband and Mobile services at a fixed monthly costs could be TM’s next strategy of pricing. I hope they can consolidate our bills as well. All our communication and multimedia needs charged in a single bill at a fixed monthly rate with unlimited call time. That would be fantastic wouldn’t it?

Hmmmm…this sort of thing is long overdue in this country. The industry is just so saturated with minutes based charging. I’m glad that TM is spearheading this flat based call plan charges. Now I just hope that it can be accepted by the consumers. Our next task is to monitor the take up of this offering on a daily basis. Feel free to comment and provide your views on this latest offer from TM.