Tan Min Aik's blog

Aid for Myanmar and China

2008-05-18T10:22:00.000+08:00

The recent catastrophe that happened to Myanmar and China recently was indeed unfortunate and saddening. I was never aware that those 2 countries are prone to any natural disasters such as these.

Donation drives are on going and there was one organised recently by Federal Territories DAP and it was attended by all DAP Members of Parliament from the FT.

I urge members of the public to make contributions to aid the victims of the 2 nations.

YB Dr Tan Seng Giaw (MP - Kepong), YB Teresa Kok Suh Sim (MP - Seputeh), YB Tan Kok Wai (MP - Cheras), YB Fong Kui Lun (MP - Bukit Bintang), YB Lim Lip Eng (MP - Segambut)

DAP Thanksgiving Dinner -- 22nd March 2008

2008-03-23T15:45:00.015+08:00

After assisting the DAP during the recent elections, I was invited to a Thanksgiving Dinner organised by them.

Got this cute mug as a souvenir:

And took a few pictures with a few Members of Parliament. Here are 2 of them:

Me with YB Tan Kok Wai (MP - Cheras)

YB Tony Pua Kiam Wee (MP - Petaling Jaya Utara) and I

Tony Pua is certainly a person that is highly respected by many.

He graduated from Keble College, Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics under a scholarship from the MTC Foundation in 1994. Prior to that, he received ASEAN and Shaw Foundation scholarships to pursue his "O" and "A"-Levels in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College in Singapore.

In February 2007, Tony Pua at 36, was made the Economic Advisor to DAP Secretary-General, Lim Guan Eng. Prior to the appointment, he was the CEO of a Malaysian e-business consulting firm listed on the Singapore Exchange. It was a company he founded 11 years ago. At 29 in 2001, he was then the youngest person to have listed a company in Singapore. However, as Tony wanted to serve the people full-time, he disposed of all his interests in the company prior to joining DAP. Tony comes from a small poultry farming family in the outskirts of Batu Pahat. He feels that he has been very blessed to date, and hence it is his wish to return the favour to the society and country.

During the elections campaign period, he was asked many times why is he so stupid to give up all and enter into politics with an Opposition party where there is no money to be made. He admitted that by selling his company, it has ensured that his family has been taken care of financially. But he certainly can go on and make more money. But he decided that sum of the good he can bring to the people by becoming their representative will be much more than the good that he can bring to himself by earning more money.

Wow...very noble indeed. A successful businessman turned politician.

All the best to the Yang Berhormats, and wishing you every success in carrying out your duties, and may the DAP flag fly high at all times!

A picture taken during my recent trip to Penang

Penang

2008-03-20T07:43:00.003+08:00

Went back to Penang for about a week to attend a cousin's wedding.

Drove around a little, and also visited places that I've not been in years:

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)

Kek Lok Si Temple

My Chinese zodiac sign

Saw many of these at Penang Hill

Around Hanoi

2008-03-08T18:08:00.001+08:00

This is my 3rd trip to Hanoi, and I decided that I must go to visit Ho Chi Minh (or Uncle Ho)...

Me in front of Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Thousands of locals and foreign tourist visit this place everyday. Every year, he takes a 2 months holiday to Russia for maintenance services for his body's preservation.

Also went to a few landmarks near the Mausoleum:

Ho Chi Minh Museum

A statue of Ho Chi Minh in the museum

Temple of Literature (which is the first University in Vietnam)

One Pillar Pagoda

Yang Amat Berbahagia Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad

2008-02-11T07:30:00.000+08:00

He's one of the few world leaders that I respect. Served as our country's Prime Minister from 16 July 1981 to 31 October 2003 and will always be remembered for pulling Malaysia out from recession and defying international pressure to reject IMF's recovery package.

Finally I got the chance to take a picture with him, and its a picture that I will always treasure...

Ha Long Bay

2008-02-05T17:45:00.000+08:00

Had a 1 day trip to Ha Long Bay during my recent trip to Vietnam. It was a beautiful experience, and if I am given a chance again, I will surely like to go there again...

Here are some pictures...

Behind me is one of the most famous landmarks of Ha Long Bay known as the "Fighting Cock Island" due to its shape

Also visited a well known cave which is supposedly the most beautiful and popular in Ha Long Bay. Here is how it looks like:

This is supposed to be the pillar that links earth and heaven

This is the pathway to heaven

And this is the main gate to heaven!!!

This represents a unicorn

This represents a tortoise. Similar to Chinese culture, it symbolises longivity

Very interesting place for a holiday!!!

Interesting food in Vietnam

2008-02-05T17:35:00.000+08:00

My 2nd trip to Vietnam recently gave me the opportunity to walk around a little, and I found several types of food and fruits which I have never seen before in Malaysia.

Here are some of them:

Have you seen this fruit before?

Apparently, this fruit is cooked with rice, and the end result is this...

This is their ciku, and its the size of a person's clenched fist:

Here are some other fruits which I haven't seen in Malaysia before:

Looks like the banana, but its not...

I got no idea what this fruit is...

Wish for 2008

2008-01-17T08:15:00.000+08:00

Well...2007 just passed, and it is now 2008. Chinese New Year is fast approaching and so is my birthday...just like most people, I have my wishes and hopes.

This year my wishes are simple. Just hope that my family and I will be blessed with love, care, understanding, happiness, good health and may we achieve our goals and aspirations.

In short:

This is a Chinese calligraphy writing I put up at home...Loosely translated to English as: May all dreams come true

Yang Berhomat Tan Kok Wai

2008-01-14T13:57:00.000+08:00

Me together with YB. Tan Kok Wai (MP-Cheras)

He is a very nice gentleman, and is the Member of Parliament for the Cheras Parliamentary Constituency...

Had the chance to meet him on several occasions, and I must say that he is a very humble, helpful and hardworking guy.

So, to all registered voters of the Cheras constituency, please vote for him in the next General Election which is expected to be called anytime soon!!!

Vietnam!!

2008-01-11T08:12:00.000+08:00

It had been a long time since I last updated my blog. With my recent conclusion of my Vietnam trip, I guess now is the right time to write an article.

Well, I was very excited about going over there, and the thought of becoming a millionaire got me even more excited....

Feels good to be a millionaire!!

Who wants to be a millionaire? Easy...just go to Vietnam

The flight was smooth, with nice scenes for viewing pleasure....

Mountains and Clouds...

As a whole, I would consider my trip there to be an eye opening experience. The difference in culture makes me feel that Malaysians are real lucky. In Vietnam, the rich are really rich, and they live in houses like these:

Rich man's house

On the other hand, we also see the hardcore poor....

This is a very common sight in Vietnam, and they sell everything from fruits, joss sticks, noodles to clothes...

They will sit on small stools by the roadside to have their meals...

And there are some who walk around like this:

There are also plenty of bikes and bicycles there...

Didn't go round too much due to the tight schedule. Just went around Hoan Kiem Lake...

Hoan Kiem Lake

At the end, besides souvenirs for colleagues and friends, I just couldn't resist having this photo taken for remembrance...

New blog location

2006-03-22T08:59:00.000+08:00

I have moved my blog from friendster to blogspot!!

My Malaysian Dilemma

2006-03-22T08:55:00.000+08:00

I wish to bring up a concern that I have regarding the Malaysian education system.
Looking at the industry -- So many companies have vacancies looking for suitably qualified and experienced personnel. However, on the other hand, there are so many unemployed graduates. The equation just doesn't balance. Something must be wrong somewhere.
As somebody who is educated both in Malaysia as well as in Singapore, I can clearly see the difference. I am fortunate enough to have obtained "the best of both worlds", and to look back and see the pros and cons of each of their systems. Here is a brief description with a greater emphasis on why I feel the Malaysian system failed:

Malaysia
=========
- Medium of instruction is in Malay: This is a big killer. Although English is taught as a subject, this is often unsuccessful in churning out students who can speak fluent English. This is especially true if the students are educated in Chinese and Tamil schools. Without a good command in English, it is very difficult to do research as most published materials such as books, journals and even internet articles are in English. Not to mention it will be difficult to impress the potential employer during an interview. Like it or not, Malay is not the international language, nor it is going to take over from English. I recall during my college days, I was being forced to take a few Malay courses (even though I had no foundation in the language). My peers who had more than 10 years of education in Malay as a medium of instruction, and I was no match for them in terms of proficiency in the language. Anyway, getting back to my point: Every semester, during the final examination, there is always an essay question that goes something like "Do you think Malay will be an international language" or "Do you think Malay will take over English to become an international language". Realising that this is always a question asked, I merely memorised that essay and wrote it out during the actual exam. And, I wrote that it was NOT possible for Malay to become an international language. Well, the person who marks my exam paper is obviously somebody who spent many years studying the language, and may even have a degree in Malay. And the marker obviously agreed with my opinion as he/she passed me in the subject!

- Entry into public universities by "Meritocracy": Although it is adopting the so called "meritocracy" system, I do not think this is really the case. Every year, we read in the papers that top students with straight A's are not given entry into local universities. Even if they are admitted, it does not guarantee them the course of their choice. Left without any other alternatives, they turn to overseas universities which welcome them with open arms, and some with scholarship offers. After their studies, many stay behind to work, and some settle down and build their families there. Some even gave up their Malaysian citizenships. In recent years, the government is wondering why so many graduates do not return back to Malaysia after their studies (the so called "brain drain" problem), and are offering several incentives for them to do so now. The government hopes that these highly qualified professionals can help in contributing to the economy etc. Think about this very deeply: Do you think a person will return to help a country that had failed to help them before -- at a time when they needed help the most (which is during their tertiary education)?!

- Low standards/quality of education: This can be very clearly seen during the screening stage of job applicants. During interviews, many of them could not answer even the most simple questions (even though their CV's claim they are very proficient in that area). I know some Degree holders in a IT-related disciplines who do not know what an Operating System is, what the role of a system administrator etc. I should link this with the poor quality of courses offered by local tertiary institutions (both public and private). They do not teach courses that are relavant to the industry, and more often than not, the students are not prepared to face the real world after graduation. Of course there are exceptional students who put in the extra mile to do their own research, but these are rare. Due to this poor standards, the government has to spend unnecessary public funds to retrain the unemployed graduates. Speaking of irrelavant courses offered, I still recall my conversation with the head of the languages department during the time when I was being told I need to take Malay courses in college. For your information, foreigners take 2 Malay courses which are simpler, and Malaysians take 2 different Malay courses which are much higher in standard.

Me: I understand that there are some Malay courses for foreigners and some for Malaysians. Can you advice me what Malay courses I have to take?
Head: Oh, you should take the foreigners set of Malay courses.
Me: Oh, how come? I thought I should take the ones for Malaysians.
Head: No need lah. You are not a Malaysian right?
Me: Unfortunately I am.
Head: [Shocked, paused for some time...stared at me and then said...] I thought you are a Singaporean?
Me: I studied in Singapore, and was a PR at that time. But unfortunatly, I am still a Malaysian.
Head: Then you do not have a choice. You have to take the 2 Malay courses for Malaysians. Otherwise you cannot get your degree.
Me: But I have not touched Malay for many years. How am I supposed to catch up until SPM level which everybody else have? The last time I touched Malay was in Standard 3 before I went to Singapore.
Head: No choice. You must somehow study on your own.

So there I was, ending up spending more time on my Malay courses than my Computer related courses (even though I was studying for a degree in Computer Science). I really feel this is a true waste of time. Probably other colleges/universities are also forcing the students to take some other courses which have no relavance to their fields of study. Till this day, I have no respect for the language. And I never understood why I was being forced to do those subjects as I never used that knowledge in the working world! Wait a minute...isn't college/university education supposed to prepare you for the working world?

There is actually another issue which had remained silent over these years: We read in the papers about high unemployment among graduates. However, there are actually many graduates (in a IT-related dicipline) that are working as waiters, waitresses, receptionists etc. I will consider these group of people to be under-employed (that is employed in a profession that is not up to the level that is expected of their qualifications). While the unemployment rate can be easily traced, under-employment rate will never be known. And I do believe very strongly that these figures are HIGH. Alot higher than those unemployed.

- Lack of trained and qualified teachers/lecturers: I am not so sure how big a problem this is in primary/secondary schools. However, what I do know, is that this is certainly a very big problem in colleges. Good lecturers are often pinched by other Universities overseas. Some moved on to the private sector. I recall a lecturer in college where I asked a certain question in class, and his astonishing reply was "I don't know...because it is not in the book". If this is the type of quality of lecturers that we get, then we can easily imagine how the quality of graduates that are produced.

Singapore
==========
- Medium of instruction is in English: This puts the students at a good position to get the very best education, with easy access to information that is publicly available.

- Admission to universities by merit: Just wish to share their pledge with everyone below:
We, the citizens of Singapore, pledge ourselves as one united people, regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society based on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress for our nation.

The truth is, they really live up to it. I have seen it happen, and they have successfully done it. No preference or prejudice given to anybody. If you are good, you get admitted. No "pull strings" because you know some important person, no double standards. Fair and square.

- High standards of education: NUS and NTU are world reknown universities, and they have always been consistantly ranked as one of the best in Asia and the world. Malaysian universities are just not up to the mark yet. Compare the rankings and the story will unfold.
Singapore is such a small country without any natural resources. It does not have the luxury of land for agriculture and plantations like Malaysia. All it has is its prized human resources to drive its economy. They built on it, and made it a success story that we see today, well respected by many. Malaysia should emulate Singapore's example and build on it too! Singapore's MRT was built in 1981. Malaysia built theirs in the mid 1990's. More than 10 years behind Singapore! Anybody who has taken Singapore's MRT (and public transport for that matter) will admit that the Singapore system is very much better than Malaysia's. It is really very upsetting for me when I see such things happening. Singapore is a much younger country which got kicked away by Malaysia, but it managed to survive and excel. I really hope Malaysian government can do something about this problem.

Recruitment

2006-03-22T08:54:00.000+08:00

It was not too long ago that my company advertised for people in Jobstreet and the newspapers, and I was being told to shortlist and interview the candidates.

This experience unfolded several things which I was never aware of. Here are the nightmares that I encountered every step of the way:
Screening through the applications: The quality of the candidates was a shocker. We clearly put in the advertisement all the specific requirements that we desired from the candidate. However, from the applications that we obtained, we got quite the opposite. Fresh graduates without the relevant knowledge and skillsets applied. Some of the candidates do have some working experience, but they are not in the IT line. They have a few months (and some a few years) experience as data entry clerks, cashiers, waiters, receptionists etc. And the position they applied for is Analyst Programmer!! I do understand that people need money to survive after graduation, however, looking at it from the employer's point of view, these experiences do not look good on the person's CV (when you are applying for the post we advertised for). At the end, I managed to select about 4 applications (out of about 100) which I thought was worthy to be given the chance for interview based on their technical skillsets and working experience. My fellow colleague advised me not to be so choosy. His words were: "You must remember, even if you interview them and offer them a job, some of them will reject the offer. And some of them will sign the appointment letter and don't turn up on the agreed date. So you better shortlist a few more. If you can't find those with relevant experience, then choose the clever ones with good academic results. At least that shows that they can learn things fast". I gave it a thought, and decided to follow his advice and added in 3 more people who obtained first class honours, making a total of 7 people shortlisted for interview.

Calling the candidates for interview: As per my company's procedure, we pass the list to the clerk to make the calls to the candidates, and arrange the interview time slots. This stage went quite smoothly. We managed to set time slots for most of the candidates that applied. What came next was really disappointing and heart breaking. Most of the candidates never turned up for their appointments, and for those that turned up, most didn't come on time. When we tried to contact them, we got responses such as "Oh, it is today ah?", "I don't think I will be coming as I got another offer" etc. Some simply did not bother to answer the call. My point is, the company is giving them an opportunity for employment, and they should be appreciative of this fact. If they are no longer keen to come for the interview, they should have the basic courtesy to cancel it. And if they are somehow caught up during the agreed time slot, they should call to postpone it. I always took for granted this basic principle of "human courtesy" until I encountered situations such as these.

The interview process: Some candidates came empty handed, and some came as if they are coming to an old friend's house. To me, that is still ok. However, there is a very worrying trend that I found. Many candidates lied in their CV. Some do not even know what they had written in their CV. Some claimed to have working experience with certain skillsets, however, when pressed further (and they cannot answer certain technical questions), they admitted that they learned the skillsets by their own research (and do not have working experience in it). This is bad....very bad. If its done by research, and they wrote in their CV that they learnt the skillsets by their own research, then it shows that the person has initiative and is hardworking. By putting the skillsets in their working experience (which they did not have) shows that he is a liar. In one of the companies I worked in before, there was a very humourous incident: A person was called in for an interview, but instead of attending the interview himself, he asked his friend to attend it for him! During the interview process, his friend never mentioned a word that he is a "representative" of the person that the company actually called. At the end, the company ended up hiring the "representative", thinking that he is the one that applied for the job. On the first day, a different guy came in and the boss had a shock! It is really amazing what people can do for interviews!

Recruitment Agencies: Back to my story at the company that I was being assigned to do interviewing. After a long and time wasting effort of looking for candidates, I suggested to the boss to use recruitment agencies. They seem to have a large database of people, and I thought they can help us out. However, their charges are expansive. Some charge 1 month of the candidate's salary, and some charge between 10 to 25% of the candidate's annual income. This is alot, and the boss did not want to go ahead with this plan.

The next thing that happened was: the company advertised again, in hope that somebody good will apply and come for the interview and accept the appointment and come to work on the date agreed.

I believe I am not the only one facing this problem. We read in the newspapers that there are so many unemployed graduates. Many blame the economy and say that companies are not hiring. I don't think it is true. Companies want to hire, but they also want to hire the right person...somebody who is good and capable of doing the job. The sad thing about Malaysia is that the quality of the workforce is questionable. I believe this is tied up with the quality of graduates that are being produced. So sad but so true!

Information Technology (IT) -- is it a wise choice now?

2006-03-22T08:52:00.000+08:00

Looking back, sometimes I wonder whether the IT field is really such a lucrative field to be in after all. There are so many universities and colleges in KL alone. And almost all these institutions offer IT courses. There are also a large number of non-IT graduates coming into the IT field by taking up certification exams offered by Sun, Microsoft, Cisco etc. Furthermore, the government has introduced some IT courses to unemployed graduates in order to make them more employable. All these factors combined together makes IT a very competitive field to be in. Far too many people have knowledge in IT, and kids these days start using computers and internet when they are in primary school. This is a far cry from my personal experience where I only managed to use the internet for the first time when I reached college. As far as the job market goes, supply is far more than demand.

How many IT graduates actually work in the IT line after graduation? The answer is -- less than 50%. Many of my friends who studied IT are selling insurance, some are trainers (in non-IT courses), call centre assistants, and some of them are in the sales & marketing line, and one became a security guard. And of course a few of the lucky ones got married and lived happily ever after without needing to go to work.

Some of my friends started working in the IT line straight after graduation, but switched to other careers not long after citing reasons like "IT line need to work long working hours", "high stress", "other careers can get fast money" etc etc. People say that if you work in the IT line, you need to do constant updating of your knowledge, otherwise you will no long remain competitive. Through my experience this is very true, and not everybody is willing to do that.
Technology and knowledge in IT "dies" after some time. Things can get outdated. Last time, the computers are gigantic in size, but not anymore. These days, they can be carried around easily. With the advent of PDA and other mobile devices, who knows, one day (which may not be very long from now), people may not use computers anymore. Its anybody's guess what will happen to IT graduates at THAT time.

Furthermore, IT is a field that is very much subject to the financial and economic situation. When times are bad, the first thing companies usually do is to cut down budget on IT systems. With so many IT companies around, getting projects are never easy.

Long time ago when I was a fresh graduate, I have been asked during a job interview: If you had a chance to do it all over again, will you still choose the IT line? I can't remember what I answered then, but I recently gave it some thought again. And this is what I feel:
IT is a field which will die some day (just a matter of time). There are some fields that do not die. For example careers that deal with cooked food. No matter what happens...even with the most modern technology, there must still be restaurants and hawker centres, and good cooks will still be in demand. Another career that will not die is Accountancy. No matter what happens, qualified accountants are still required to sign financial reports. Even with the most modern computer accounting systems, an accountant is still required to certify that everything is in order. Nobody...and nothing (even computers) can replace them. Probably another career that will never die are lawyers. No matter what happens, their sharpness and debating skills will still be required. And of course, the Doctor's profession is also one that will always be in demand. No robot or computer will be able to replace them.

Some time back, a friend of mine told me this...read on. This is how the world has evolved (in terms of careers):
Long long time ago, it started with Chemistry. This started because people started to invent new and innovative types of medication to treat the sick. Then there was petroleum, and mankind discovered how to make use of it in their everyday life.
Then came the next era, which deals with Physics. This was when great feats such as invention of automobiles, powerful bombs etc were being founded. The world slowly evolved, and electrical, electronics and semiconductors became a hot item at that time. With all that, computers were born! In short, this was an era where many engineering marvels were invented, and this is when the IT field was born. The IT baby is now growing at an incredible speed, and computing power is doubling every 18 months. And this is the era that we are currently living in...and as I said, computing technology is always changing. Today, we are still using PCs to do our daily work, and the software that we write is also for use in the PC platform. However, with the rise of the latest mobile phones and mobile devices, all that is set to change. Its a matter of time.

Now this is how the future is going to look like: It is moving towards the Biology era. We can already see it starting to happen. Technologies such as cloning, tissue culture, genetics etc fall under this broad and exciting era. I believe more and more of these kind of technologies will be coming up in the future. We now type into the computer using keyboards, but in future when the Biological era is in full swing, it may be just a matter of connecting some wires to the body and the words that you are thinking in your mind can come out on the screen.
Last time, when I was much younger, I always wanted a job that I can sit in front of the computer whole day long, and in a comfortable air-con environment (I didn't like types of profession that deals with physical work and sweat). Well, I guess I got what I wanted. What I did not realise at that time was this: although there is no physical labour and physical torture involved, but there is mental torture.

To all my friends who are in the midst of deciding their fields of study in colleges/universities: think very carefully before you decide on what course to take!

With great power comes great responsibility

2006-03-22T08:50:00.000+08:00

For all these years that I have been working, I have always felt that my boss' job is easy and without stress. I never understood why my bosses kept on chasing me for schedules, and I always disliked it when I was told to rework stuff which I had completed some time ago due to some unforeseen changes which is not the fault of mine. I also never understood why my boss never tested the stuff done by me (even though I had completed it long ago), and only tell me about all the defects at the very last minute (which may be weeks or months after I had done the work, and had forgotten how and why I did it a certain way).

It is only now....years after I first started working, that I was assigned into the "hot seat" of being a team leader that I understood the complications and difficulties that came bundled together with the job. There were alot of aspects of a team leader that people will not see. The tasks that you have to do that those under you are never aware of. The kinds of challenges and pressures that you face. All these are invisible to your subordinates. In the project that I have been assigned to (which is part 2 of an existing project), the customer is from Singapore, and the timeline is extremely tight and grueling. There will be severe legal and monetary consequences (like Liquidity in Damages) if the project is not delivered on time to the customer. The worst part is the customers are a bunch of lawyers! To add salt to the wound is that from time to time, my team members and I are being interrupted by other issues from another project etc, thus reducing the time spent on this highly critical and demanding project.

The requirements from customer changes from time to time, and new features are being added in 1 by 1. Although some of them appear quite small, but many of these added up consumes time and effort, which may potentially delay the project further. And the poor team leader (ie, me) is the one responsible and answerable to the management for the overall success/failure of the development phase of the project. This is when I learnt 1 lesson, which I quote from Spiderman "With great power comes great responsibility".

When I was still a programmer, I have always thought that my job is the worst job in the world where I need to clean the mess which the team leader created and caused frustrations for everyone in the team. I always thought that it was due to poor planning. It is only now that I understand that no matter how well it is planned, things will still change. Customers requirements change, and sometimes customer says 123, and after some time if being asked again, they will say it is 456. These kind of inconsistencies are impossible to foresee, and it may have impact to things that had already been done and completed. This was when I learnt another lesson. The higher you go, the decision that you make will have a greater impact to the overall progress of the project and the company as a whole. And speaking through experience, this kind of pressure is greater than the pressure faced by the programmer.