I am writing this because i think that our current education system in Malaysia does not prepare us for anything better in the working world, be it academically or mentally. If we are expecting to finish our university degree life just to get that piece of certificate and start applying job and mass applying for all companies and looking for the highest pay that could ever offer to you, yes, you could, but i doubt you will survive happily for the next 5 years climbing the corporate ladder..  I personally see how the working world today is so different from the previous generation. Whether you are a fresh grad or even just fresh school leaver, the working world today is no longer the same like 30 or 40 years ago during our parent’s 20s then.  Here’s why:

The career paths today are changing fast, and many new jobs are not defined by the old conventional working world, and many job descriptions are not said by the degree certificates you hold or whatsoever. Today’s jobs pay rate is no longer like what our parents will tell us that only professional jobs can earn big bucks, in fact professional line such as Architects and Lawyers is a long stretch career that you only start earning the big bucks when you hold professional title in the mid 30s or 40s.

Because all it matters is your ideas and knowledge, then to start off an entrepreneurship. It is true that if anyone is hardworking enough, especially with the edge of information technology today, you can find opportunities so easily, or perhaps by knowing what demands the working world will have in the next 5 years, new lines such as e commerce and e mobile applications is the latest pool of exciting jobs comprising mostly youths. In fact, if you have any good ideas or innovation, i don’t think it’s hard to get start up investment into your business, and people don’t look at your certificates at all, at this point of time, but your passion in the ideas you have.

Most businessmen and entrepreneurs will be talking about adaptation, on how to position their company brand into the ever changing facade of market world. I will put it the same here, everyone carries a brand, their ‘own brand’, and all it matters is how you sell yourself to people, how you brand your skills and experience at the right time and right place. To adapt to the working world is to able to change your seat to an entire new career line and unlearn & relearn what you know because you know that is your potential field. With this age of rapid changing media and interaction, you can expect many changes within a short period and it is only those who can’t react in time will not survive for themselves.

We all have been saying about good attitude development, well be it on however you define it that suits your organizational behavior, but Aptitude matters as much as that, which is the ability to learn a component of a competency to do a certain kind of work at a certain level.  Well not everyone that is with a good attitude can have a good aptitude, different people has abilities in different areas that determine their aptitude. It’s best if you are someone that comes together with couple of skills, be it web design or photography or creative arts, any under great career path, never doubt that you need some day to day skills to help you with your living or work, or with the ability to speak 2 or 3 more other languages fluently, that beats a lot when it comes to resume screening, especially for big MNCs. So yes focus on the development of skills, have a good aptitude.

Yes you are in the generation of social media, with so many networking events going on from day to day, you will soon realize that many will come and go easily within weeks or months, i am not talking only for the working world but especially if you are a youth who attends a lot of public forums and conferences, you have to start bearing in mind of managing your network rather than treating everyone as your friend, you could, but time will tell you well soon, friends stay on then, and it is usually just countable by your hand or both hands as you start working.

Education is Not (all the time) the Answer for Career. And in the 21st century today, whether you are attending a university or not, or whatever diploma or certificates you have. I personally think you can prove yourself much more better compared to a 3 years business course graduate if you spend the 3 years learning yourself, i mean for the fact that lecturers grab their notes from Google, why on earth are we in university then. Yes some courses (back to reality) we need the certificates to secure an interview if you are in the professional line. I am speaking this for example of my current career in the green building industry where you don’t have any education degree to prepare you for this career line, and what i learn in this 3 or 4 months is like what i learn in 2 years.

So yes sometimes you can even learn more from going into working world, and the point i am making here is that if you are going to University make sure it is more than the urge of earning your certificate at the end of the day. Because at this 21st century, i think it’s quite common for people to already secure jobs while they are in university, not because of their results only but because of them proving themselves worth by making the extra mile from establishing start ups or even challenging their lecturers in terms of research and academic knowledge. University is a platform to prove yourself worthy much more than the certificate.

And yes that’s just my ramblings and 5 advices to the fresh graduates today. It can be frustrating when you see graduates writing in resumes and unsure if they really want that job in the first place, it is not about the result but it’s about how you want to present yourself to show that you, not your results, are worthy for the job. What matters in climbing the corporate ladder today is not on your results only but leadership and ideas and lastly, passion.

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So it is the People Uprising Rally. I only went to the previous Bersih 3.0 gathering at Penang, but this rally isn’t only about clean and fair elections, in fact it was marched from 8 gathering spots from with 8 different causes, namely the student group with Student Solidarity Activist Malaysia SMM, Socialist Party of Malaysia, NGO of National Felda Settlers Association and also Royalty Recovery Coalition on the issue of Oil and Gas landing rights to Kelantan and Terengganu, Save Jalan Sultan and Heritage Village group, People’s Alliance Women, Himpunan Hijau Group, Solidarity Youth Coordinator Malaysia and many more. As the rally title says, the uprising rally.

 I was just there from 12pm onwards, while i know there are a lot of people who were there since the previous night to monitor situation or preparations. Anyways so yes it was safe, though i was expecting plots to happen (ahh that’s why i brought my tele lens) but well most of the pictures are taken with my new UWA lens. I would say it’s definitely 100k people, considering there are still 25k+ outside lingering around with the mini carnival atmosphere. And hey, who says the rally causes economy loss, so many people selling food and stuffs la!
So yes the story of the day is again, made up of PEOPLE. From anywhere, any cause, any age, any race and anything. I urge myself to come for this rally not because of supporting PKR or whatsoever, i believe both parties have their own achievements and flaws, but am here to understand the society of Malaysia, or to experience what is it like to be with all the other who wears the same shoe like you in hope for the many optimistic future of this nation despite some have expressed their regrets and leaving the country. I am here to know what the opposition and NGO leaders have to deliver, in fact i have been to number of occasions of BN events and also DAP talks
Nevertheless it does feel good to finally see the both sides physically and hear what they have to say and happily deciding for yourself whom to trust to rather of what the media has to decide for you. It is my to surprise too, i thought i have known quite a lot from the reading around but it shocks you even more when there are so many other things happening in other states such as the Felda with the falling price of FGVH and Oil and Gas landing rights too. Of course glad to meet Anwar, GuanEng, Ambiga, Abdul Hadi, Wong Teck, and all in one occasion together.

And yes the stage was very far from my sight, taken with my 300mm zoomed distance. Yes thats Guan Eng and the others behind him.

And yes of course it was very hot and surely everyone did sun burnt.

And definitely it is a sea of yellow and green, and some red.
But i really admire how Himpunan Hijau gain to grow its number of supporters to be as huge as Bersih. If there are doubts about Malaysia’s Grass Root leadership, Bersih and Himpunan Hijau are already the testimony for many. And hopefully even more from other states as the countdown to GE 13 begins. Looking forward for more Rallies and actually, thinking about it, it is the part where i could remember everyone’s optimistic smile during today that caught me into this realm, like, this is it, it’s where Malaysians marching because they know they can make the change, it’s where they want to send their message across, while some can say it is a waste of time. i think too them, and me, this is what happens when things you read move you into a physical state of action.

Feel free to check out.

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This picture is taken at the Public Transportation Forum, SPAD SuruhanJayaPengangkutanAwanDarat officials are there to clarify all the questions from the public and media. I applause on this effort for government officials to come down to join the session and personally i have spoken to them to understand that they are all really keen of performing. But i came to realize an inconvenient observation on the public, and generally how the failure of public understanding or stereotyping towards the government has failed themselves.

Why do i say fail themselves? Many people today talk about VOTE FOR CHANGE. I am very afraid that this has imposed the impression as if voting is the solution for everything. I was once like that, but when i came to understand the act of governance in Malaysia, i realize that instead, another huge problem is the public reluctant to come to work together with the government to strive together, and continue judging and stereotyping everything related to the government is corrupted and not performing.

My intention of this post has neither to do with voting which side is right, but my message is the VOTE you cast is merely the small step of bringing change, but what matters most is your participation in this nation building.

This is very annoying because most of the public just doesn’t seem know much about our government system, and to really understand how does their single vote can interpret into changing the entire government? Take for instance, Rats in the House, Flood behind your house, Rubbish not collected, Public Transport Bus driver is rude… some jurisdiction of these responsibilities do not fall under your local representative but it can be federal government related or something else.

Taken in UM, Waste Management Issues in Malaysia Discussion

So what can be done? The least is to vote, and then participate in public forums, try to understand what’s happening on top and connect with them. They may have been wanting to hear from you, but maybe there’s just lack of good channel and there’s already a mental perception that blocks yourself away.

I have seen many complaints everywhere on FACEBOOK but NONE or Little has gone to the direct channel, and unless you have really tried thatm then please don’t say that the government does not do their job.

So the conclusion, is yes, there is no easy way out to bring this change, everyone must participate it or he shall be an obstacle. Regardless of whichever government is taking charge, there is a need for public to go hand in hand to build this nation. I know my friends who are against the current government and keeping their votes for the opposition, but they do still work very closely with the government because they know that they have no time to wait and see if the new government can deliver the promise, they participate the promise then.

And also the public should involve themselves into community development as their ultimate responsibility before talking about Government serving them! Some things we could have done it for ourselves but we point our fingers so often to the government all the time!

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE. Familiar quote? Yes, but don’t think about just voting so much, rather be the change!

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Walkability and Identity

To understand what it really means about walkability of a city is to understand how does this term came about. Walkability is mostly western oriented, generally known as the pleasantness of walking in a place, it is part of the architecture element generated through the pedestrian oriented micro-design and micro-management of urban space. However, things in Eastern Cities are very different, particularly SEA countries with multi community cities in particular. The pleasantness of walking is also caught in the issues of the unease of traversing ethnically claimed spaces. Anyone from Kuala Lumpur will know that different areas are generally dominated by different race or business or social landmarks. But the point i am saying here is, to design a walkable kuala lumpur, this is one of the crucial factor to be studied first.  This can be further read at Dr Wong’s PHD Thesis at Melb U.

The Rationale

The reality of  Kuala Lumpur today is not a pedestrian friendly city, as it currently has inefficient design, poor walking pavements and poor respect to pedestrians in terms of traffic planning and spatial distribution. Everything is still very much segregated, not interlink to ease connectivity. This is based on a public opinion survey done by Seranta Awam, and personally i think it’s irrefutable true, let’s not talk about connectivity or walkability but the quality of the walkable pavement itself, as much as it may be upgraded but having hardscape from one plot to another can be somehow quite aesthetically disturbing.

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I could imagine waking up early in the morning, cycles to the nearby kopitiam,  flipping through the morning papers and chatting with the friends over a cup of coffee at the neighbourhood kopitiam, but as a city boy, morning life is often waking up in the midst of traffic jams to work without a good breakfast. Kopitiam is more than a breakfast here, it is a story of food reflecting the community and culture of the Malaysian chinese here where it’s getting lesser acknowledged by the younger generations these days.

Commonly found in Singapore and Malaysia, the word KOPI is Malay for Coffee (well it’s altered from Portuguese) and TIAM is the hokkien dialect word for shop. Typical menu is basically illustrated as above..Half Boiled Eggs, Toast and Kaya.. Coffee Tea and Milo.

THE LOCAL IDENTITY

The few times that i really step into a traditional coffee shop is when i head back to my mom’s hometown Sitiawan or during my studying years in Penang where there are many more kopitiam is still surviving in their heritage chinese shophouses that has made it even more special.  When you ask a person to imagine kopitiam, normally it’s easily identified with the interior designing of the place, marble table, wooden chairs, the shop title name, and with some wooden blinds around it. And typically coffee is served in the unique chinese coffee cups as illustrated above (in which not spotted in many modern kopitiams i believe).

Local identity arises when coffee became a pride in some places… as Kopitiam mostly exist in chinese populated area such as Perak, Penang, KL and Johor then.. you hear white coffee being a local pride, from Georgetown, to Ipoh, to Kluang. And slowly eventually today in the modern context you can see different franchise of coffee shops, unfortunately i am no Coffee expert to talk more about coffee origins of different places.. Another basic in the typical breakfast will be half boiled egg, accompanied by soy sauce and pepper, which could go with bread as well.

MORE THAN THE FOOD

But what i am really attracted with kopitiam isn’t the great taste behind the food but what does it mean behind the food over the decades of malaysian chinese cultural habits. What binds people to a kopitiam is really, often the shop itself, the people around the shop, i suppose that the factor of people plays greater than food even at some point, it’s a story on how food gather people together in the morning before going off for work. A daily healthy morning social chat over a cup of coffee, a laughter session accompanied by the great taste of friendship. This is what i notice when people try to document on the top 10 nicest kopitiam spots in Malaysia but many defended for their own choices because they have a unique bonding or nostalgic moments with the shop. It’s a social landmark in the neighbourhood, in a nutshell.

This is taken at Toh Soon Cafe near Lebuh Chulia, Georgetown Penang. Meals are still being served traditionally here in a way that the toast is still done by the heat from charcoal instead of today’s toaster, *note the guy on the bottom left corner. Georgetown has many places like this fortunately, thanks to the chinese heritage shophouses that preserve locations and people to continue their business. There are good original kopitiams in KL of course too, but i am more fond of penang’s.

IN THE MODERN CONTEXT

 And as these business started since the decades ago until when globalization happens, KL became the center of rapid growth, State to state migration happens, then some kopitiam is facing crisis as people are often wanting to try a place that offer better service and new taste of food. Then here comes the rise of franchises, i would say that in the past 5 years i could see the sudden rise of many modern kopitiams around Kuala Lumpur. There are so many to be named, OldTown, Georgetown, Papparich, Rotibakar, etcetc.  Some have extended menus where local breakfast, lunch and dinner meals are served. To tap into the sizable Muslim market, these kopitiams usually serve food that is halal (permissible for consumption by Muslims) unlike the traditional shophouse kopitiams.

WHY KOPITIAM IS NEVER THE SAME AGAIN

Then you could see that most of the franchise business you see that the interior designing of it tried to follow the original kopitiam setting as far as possible, wooden chairs, and some lighting and wooden shelves.. And you have wifi services for free. and as a franchise business again, you are earning for profit, you have business principles behind, you have people that makes the experience differences here, they can be a foreign worker serving you, or anyone, but they aren’t those kopitiam uncle auntie back in the old days that would catch up with you with a word or two. yes i know it’s the city life in general that made it so, it’s how social habits works in different places, but it’s very obvious what i am trying to say that kopitiam we find in cities today can’t define what kopitiam is like back in the old days or some of the rare ones you find in your hometown out of Kuala Lumpur today!

So when was the last time you really entered a kopitiam? Get some friends out in the morning, get some coffee and toast and cheer for the new day =)

That’s more something like it isn’t it?

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