Carolling at Kamunting

Stand in front of a government office responsible for perpetuating injustice and shout, "Down with oppression! We want justice! We want freedom!"

Shout it out. Do the whole 'power to the people' thing. Have at it.

Then...after a few minutes, sing Silent Night or Joy to the World - the way you know it's meant to be sung. 

Chances are, you'll feel weird.

Why? Because it's two different worlds. Anti-government chants are based on a certain kind of philosophy. Carols on another.

Many have implied that I'm hardly qualified to say any of this. They are certainly right. But unless others with more credibility begin to say it, I feel compelled to break the silence: Whilst Malaysia is burning (with injustice, with oppression, with the ISA, with ethnic strife), Christians have to burn not just the light of justice but the light of a new kind of justice.

Shouting demands and singing carols are both about taking down evil, about dealing with what's wrong with the world. Yet, just like one doesn't say I-Forgive-You whilst standing in a power position, likewise we cannot meaningfully embody the revolutionary Jesus-like way of peace-making (not unlike singing carols!) in a clenched-fists posture.

A Jewish baby born in a manger (not unlike a Jewish prophet nailed to a piece of wood) two millenia ago reflects a unique way of power, a new kind of kingdom.

Maybe it's time to sing carols at Kamunting. And let the songs lead the way - for both oppressed and oppressor.

Coining a New Edge

The bill came to $17.30. I had a fifty-dollar note and, sigh, only twenty cents.

Doesn't this take the wind out of the buying process? When both you and the guy at the counter realise that a huge load of coins have to change hands?

Bills aren't too bad. But for the customer to be handed ninety cents in change - that's at least four separate pieces of metal to store in one's pocket - is less than paradise, isn't it?

So here's an idea: How about a shop which promises no exchange of coins? Customers get the better end of a decimal-oriented receipt. E.g. if the bill comes to $5.40, we'll let the 40 cents go. If it's $7.99, we'll sacrifice the 99 cents.

Foolish because then the store loses a fraction of a dollar for every sale? But think about this:

• Customers will plan to make purchases which 'add up' to the biggest decimal possible; e.g. if two Cokes cost $2.60, heck, why not get a third to make it $3.90 and gain that 90 cents? So the shop gets $3 for three Cokes instead of $2 for two? What's the big problem?
  
• Customers smile more because they get to 'beat the system' and rake in rewards of their own making; this translates into repeat business (and if the items are generally north of $10-20, what's the big deal about 'losing' 99 cents -tops! - for a receipt?). Oh, and in case there's a concern about customers requesting separate receipts for multiple items - why, put a floor to any receipt to which the 'game' applies (e.g. "Only for all purchases above $5")
  
• This sets the store apart, especially from those (like 99 SpeedMart) which has a mean poster upfront announcing, "If bill comes to $5.49, receipt is rounded UP to $5.50" - how friendly is that?

No more irritating coins. Pleased shoppers. Good buzz from word-of-mouth. What more can a CASH-ONLY store want?

Not By Preaching Alone

If there's one continual rant I'll make (until the Rapture or otherwise), it's the sheer lack of learner-centered education in churches. There's still a lot of "I-Talk-You-Listen", one-way monologuing.

Which is why perhaps all pastors and preachers may wish to try the below exercises. What's the best way of ensuring the trainees below learn well? Tip: It's not by preaching!

1. Trainees : 10 young trainee managers. Learning outcome : To practise good interviewing techniques

2. Trainees : 12 trainee motor vehicle engineers near the end of their training. Learning outcome: To apply the wide range of skills learned during the previous two years

3. Trainees: 4 classes of day-release learners in four simultaneous 1 ½ hour classes. Learning outcome: To become familiar with the first part of an eight-week module in World of Work on ‘Technology and Society’

4. Trainees: 14 adults. Learning outcome: To apply certain general principles of production management and gain increased awareness of the complexities of actual problems

5. Trainees: 15, 16 - 18 year olds. Learning outcome: To consolidate information received in a preceding talk given by a visiting speaker, on AIDS

6. Trainees: 16 learners on Basic DIY course. Learning outcome: To make simple shelves for the home

7. Trainees: 10 learners on a catering course. Learning outcome: To apply the skills of cooking, waiting and associated tasks in a realistic situation

8. Trainees: 14 shop stewards. Learning outcome: To understand the techniques of negotiation and bargaining

9. Trainees: 10 social workers. Learning outcome: To understand how people behave in times of stress

10. Trainees: 8 trainee managers. Learning outcome: To order their problems and tasks in priority so that they can decide when and how to tackle them

Robert Kwok Quote

"Make money slowly."

Two Clicks

Facebook's definition of a friend is, well... two clicks.

Want to add me as a friend? Click on the button next to my name or face - the first click - and click another time to convince Facebook you didn't tap your mouse button by mistake.

That's it. One more click at my end to confirm your request and, hey, we're friends.

Never mind I may never do anything other than glance over your photo or one-liners. Never mind I'll probably ignore every message, invitation and request you send me and vice-versa. Never mind we may never communicate or do anything resembling what humanity considered a 'relationship' over thousands of years (let alone something like John 15:13)

Never mind all of that. In the world of Facebook, we are 'friends' - two clicks and another. Nothing else matters for the label.

MPH-Alliance Bank Short Story Contest 2009

Why not?

Between Order and Outcome

We ordered one strawberry waffle and a cup of coffee. We were told it would take twenty minutes and would we mind? I certainly did and was going to leave, but my wife exuded the kind of patience I could only imagine this evening.

The waffle and coffee eventually reached the table in less than six minutes.

Of course I brightened up but my curiousity's stabbing me: Why tell us it was going to be twenty in the first place? If the concern is to 'prepare' the customer for a long wait, why leave it at the information stage? Why not do something to compensate your guests for the long wait? 

In a word, why give bad news with nothing in return?

Note: This isn't like pizza delivery where customers expect a certain (even semi-substantial) time-gap between the call and the knock on the door. For that, yeah, go ahead and say it'll take 45 minutes, then surprise the family by reaching them on the stroke of the clock. Or better yet, 15 minutes earlier.

The Bad, The Good and the Monstrous

First, the bad news:

• Greenhouse gases could be four times higher than previously thought (you know, this makes me feel worse than the fact that influential people are locked up without trial for alleged sedition); perhaps David Keith's ideas on geo-engineering (read: climate manipulation)need to be accelerated
  
• Windows 7 is coming out (pointless upgrades are always a bad thing, don't you agree?)
  
• China's milk scandal isn't over...

Good news:

• Spurs get their first win of this EPL season (phew!) - I hope the Redknapp revolution continues, what with Arsenal and Liverpool coming next
  
• Copyblogger recommends a few sites to grab great images
  
• Sonia Simone shares ten commandments about the new social media (cute! I like #9, "Thou Shalt Not Pontificate About Shit Thou Knowest Nothing About"!)
  
• A new book's coming out, The Monstrosity of Christ, which has Slavoj Žižek and Jon Milbank in (what promises to be a) stimulating dialogue), check out the two 'promotional quips' (Milbank:"What matters is not so much that Žižek is endorsing a demythologized, disenchanted Christianity without transcendence, as that he is offering in the end (despite what he sometimes claims) a heterodox version of Christian belief." Zizek: "To put it even more bluntly, my claim is that it is Milbank who is effectively guilty of heterodoxy, ultimately of a regression to paganism: in my atheism, I am more Christian than Milbank.")
  
• Tom Peters and Seth Godin appear together in dialogue about new perspectives on business (topics include blogging, loyal employees, social networking, etc.)

Finally, Diwali is turning out to be a very restful day indeed. Can't wait to go to Kuala Terengganu tomorrow - my first time in the Peninsular's East coast (what a sorry bloke, eh?).

Rushdie's Children

It was 1998, my first year after graduation. I remember crouching to examine one of the books on the bottom rung of the shelf titled 'Matured Readers' in a bookshop with a strange name, Bookazine (long since closed) in Section 14 next to Jaya SuperMart, also closed earlier this year.

My saturation with theology and apologetics made me want to read something new, something 'thick', something which would 'come at me' from an angle I'd have completely no reason to anticipate.

I only knew Salman Rushdie's name from the famous fatwa associated with Satanic Verses, a book whose thirtieth page I could barely reach without giving up (at the time - I've since read and talked about both the book and the controversy to many friends and students).

But here was a book with a strange name and sufficiently intimidating thickness, Midnight's Children. I must've turned it around a few times, contemplated exchanging with another book, felt the smoothness of its cover and imagine what it would be like to actually finish a book like this. It would be my second attempt at Rushdie. And besides, the book cover included a line about it winning the Booker Prize (in 1983). It also won the Booker of Bookers in 1993.

Now, 27 years after its publication, 25 years after it won its first Booker, 15 years after it established itself as a 'best of the best' and 10 years after my buying it in Bookazine, Midnight's Children has won yet another Booker of Bookers. Its shortlist rivals were:

• The Ghost Road by Pat Barker (1995) - never heard of the author nor the book...


• Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey (1988) - bought the book yesterday...how about THAT for a coincidence?


• Disgrace by JM Coetzee (1999) - a little too disturbing for my taste...


• The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer (1974) - heard of the author, not the book.


• The Siege of Krishnapur by JG Farrell (1973) - never heard of either

The Bean Beaten

In SS2 (Petaling Jaya), the Coffee Bean died. It was killed presumably by its arch nemesis, Starbucks.

For over half a decade, CB thrived. Corner-lot and numerous restaurants (and a karaoke) nearby - smack inside a river of money.

But it died anyway. To a rival which opened less than a year ago.

And it wasn't like CB was bad or anything. The seating was comfortable, lighting serene and inviting, staff were fine. Overall, nice ambience and good food/drinks.

But it died anyway. To a rival which offered ambience, service and products (and prices) which were near identical, except for the colour.

Holding the brand quality constant for a sec, there's a lesson here: When two organisations are of near-equal quality and 'positioning', the newer one wins.