Father Sez

 The huge island of Borneo consists of Sabah and Sarawak which are both part of Malaysia, the independent oil rich country of Brunei and Kalimantan, which is part of Indonesia. 

Last week I was in Sabah, and finding some time, took a drive to Kudat, the largest town at the nothernmost tip of Borneo. The tip has been marked out as latitude 7 deg N and longtitude 116 degrees E.  The drive was very pleasant, as Sabah is still largely a richly forested State. We passed through the town of Kota Belud, a town famed for its once yearly mother of all “tamu’s”.  

Kudat is about 100 kilometres from Kota Belud and we have to take a turning just before Kudat town to go to the place called Tanjung Simpang Mengayau. This means lingering junction as this is where the South China Sea meets the Sulu Sea. 

This spot has been marked by the Sabah Tourism Authorities with a giant bronze sphere and is also marketed as an important sight to visitors coming to Sabah. Though I have been to Sabah many times, I never knew that this spot was worth visiting. Shows how changed my mindset is these days! 

The globe marking the spot!

An enlarged view

We did not wait to see the sunset as we had to get back to Kota Kinabalu before dark. The view from the viewing galleries was spectacular and the sky was at its prettiest and clearest blue.  The beach was a stretch of clear waters meeting pure sand, any family’s dream of a picnic spot. Unfortunately at the time we visited the beach was deserted.

The fantastic beach where the South China Sea meets the shores of Sabah

There was also a marine police beat base, as the some of the islands of the Philippines are very near. I guess the marine police base is supposed to keep an eye out for illegal migrants. 

I suppose the tip of this rock outcrop must be “THE TIP”

I enjoyed the visit, more as a “I have been there kind of notch”. Still I would like to make another visit one of these days and perhaps try out the very inviting beach.

A kavadi bearer. Note the steel rods that pierce his body. He has to carry the kavadi quite a distance. The Malaysian Batu Caves temple has over 200 odd steps that he also has to climb!

Picture Credit: Google

Thaipusam, a Hindu festival falls on the 8^th February. This festival which is held yearly features one of the stranger phenomena of faith, the carrying of the kavadi. 

Science has yet to come up with an explanation on how the kavadi carrying devotees can seemingly routinely go through such physical bodily hardship. I suppose there is truth in the fact faith can resolve almost anything and everything. 

The Fathersez family wishes all our Hindu readers and friends a very Happy Thaipusam.  

Some of the posts I read and that I thought I should share with my readers: 

Jim of Blueprint for Financial Prosperity urges us to spend our credit card points before the credit card companies make them worth less. I have quite some points accumulated. A friend has advised me to just transfer them to my FF account with our national carrier. I have to work on this soon. 

RocketC gives his views on why Government stimulus packages may not work. One very telling point he has quoted is that “a tax cut’s multiplier effect is 3 times more effective than a Government spending multiplier”. Hmm…..all I can say is that at least the US Government seems to be trying. I cannot say, with certainty, the same about my “beloved” Government. 

MoneyNing announces the secret of dealing with this financial crisis. I think this post makes good sense and is an excellent read. The graphics are worth a thousand words, that’s for sure. 

Dividends4Life introduces his new blog, Dividends Value. D4L was one of the first blogs that I have followed. Although almost every single one of the companies featured is not quoted in my country, I still find his analysis interesting and useful. I wish D4L all the very best in his launch. I am sure Dividends Value will continue to provide good value to his readers.  

Looks like a lot is being written about the day when Google made a mistake. I also got the message “this site may harm your computer” when I did a search, but I never ever thought that it might be Google who was wrong. Rather I thought it must have been some virus or malware on my laptop and spent time scanning my drives. So gazillion dollar companies also do make mistakes.

David at Pimp your Finances hosted the Carnival of Financial Goals this week. As music is one his motivating tools he used music as his theme. David must be a great guy, after all he is a fan of the Beatles. Thanks for including my article, David.   

That’s it for this week, folks. Have a great weekend.

Last month a quartet of Malaysian bloggers launched a “Let us Read the Quran campaign”.  

The idea was for more people to know what the Quran says and what the Quran does not say and to match it what is really said in our daily lives.  This makes a lot of sense for us Malaysians. Many of our fellow citizens are non Muslims, and I sincerely believe that a large majority of them might express great shock if they knew what the Al Quran, the authoritative manual for a Muslim’s life really says.  

As part of my contribution to this campaign, I would like to talk about Verse 135 of Surah An Nisaa.  This verse talks about the burden that is placed on those in whose hands the dispensing of justice rests.   

O ye who believe!

Stand out firmly

For justice, as witnesses

To Allah, even as against

Yourselves, or your parents,

Or your kin, and whether

It be (against) rich or poor

For Allah can best protect both.

Follow not the lusts

(Of your hearts), lest ye

Swerve, and if ye

Distort (justice) or decline

To do justice, verily

Allah is well acquainted

With all that ye do.   

              Surah An Nisaa Ayat 135 

Man! This says it all.  

When we have to make a decision on justice, even if it involves our own parents, the option available is only one. To decide justly, to judge based on what is right and what is wrong.  

I am no expert on the Quran, but I believe there are no exceptions, as the Quran does not contradict itself at all.  

This is the code that has to be followed in Islam, and this is what I have tried my level best to follow during the years I held positions of power and authority.   

When I read some of the decisions made by those in power in Malaysia, I do get the feeling that this code has been disregarded. As a Muslim, I believe that we will be held accountable for every good and bad that we have done during the days we spend on earth, living our daily lives. One day, I shall most certainly face my Maker and shall be judged, and so shall everyone else. And His judgement will be most fair! 

I seek to remind myself and those of us in positions of authority and those of us who make judgements on others, those who decide on award of licenses, contracts, scholarships etc., to reflect on this verse as they make their decisions.  

It has been put in the Quran for a reason.

Last week, I had a meeting with a person who had, in the last few years, built up a fair sized oil palm plantation. My family also has a piece of land not far from his plantation and the meeting was on a possible collaboration. During the course of the discussions, I mentioned that once he had made his written offer, I would have to discuss it with my “partners” and only then could I revert to him. Later I told him that my partners were my wife and my 2 elder girls.  

He expressed surprise and told me about how he single-handedly made decisions in his company. (He had earlier told me his two sons were involved in his business.)  The thing did not work out and on the way back I mulled over what he had said about decision making.  

Many years ago, I read an article in the Accountancy magazine about the pros and cons of companies that made their moves based on the decisions of one person as compared against companies that depended on checks and balances in their decision making. The article concluded that whilst those single driver kind of companies moved fast and were agile, they ran the grave risk of making that one fatal mistake that would sink them forever.  

This statement has stuck in my mind all these years. 

My wife and I have long decided that major financial decisions should be jointly discussed. Our two elder girls are also directors of the family company and I often inform them and seek their views. It has nothing to do with shareholdings or the like; its just that such consultations make plain common sense.  My daughters and wife may have a point of view that I had not thought about. They may have knowledge that might be very relevant to the issue at hand. And I have absolutely nothing to lose by consulting them. Not even pride! 

One of my former bosses had a policy. To every money decision that anybody insisted that he should make on the spot, his answer would always be “no”.  

I have many examples of personal bad decisions I have made without serious thought or consultations. I have thrown away that habit for good now. After all I am not an open heart surgeon or a elite commando who might have to make such decisions as part of their normal day. 

Consultative decision making does not have to involve lengthly meetings and pages and pages of minutes. It may be just a tea time talk or a five minutes kind of thing. I would wager that a normal person’s life seldom, if ever, involve having to make a split second decision.  

I urge my two elder girls to practice this. So far they have consulted their mother or me in their major decisions. I suppose a time will soon come where parents might not be their choice of sounding boards. Still I urge them to seek someone out and most probably a better decision would be made.

Last week I read two great posts on this topic. The first one I read was by Mrs. Micah who asked “what kind of work is beneath you” and she   listed the pros and cons of having a job, any job, as opposed to having no job whilst looking for the right one.

Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity asks whether we should take a low paying job. He also credited Mrs. Micah for igniting his thoughts on this matter and made a very powerful statement at the end of his post.

Quote

Finally, I find it dangerous to pass judgment on any job, above, beneath or beside you, because it’s someone’s job somewhere.                                                                       

Unquote 

I think the subject is most appropriate in these trying times of widespread job losses. Lots of buzz is being created all over the world over “foreigners” working in countries where the locals are losing jobs.  

Mrs. M’s and Jim’s posts strike very close to home in the Malaysian context. I have written about the official unemployment statistics for Malaysia to be 3.1% or about 343,700 people. At the same time, foreign labour in the country is about 1.2 – 1.5 million. They are mainly Indonesians, Nepalese, Bangladeshi, Indian and Thai workers. They do work that the Malaysians seem to shun, work like being plantation workers, restaurant helpers, domestic maids, security guards, construction workers etc. 

This foreign workers number is almost 4 times, the number of the officially unemployed. This seems to be proof that some people do consider some types of work to be beneath them. (Of course, some employers also prefer to employ the foreign workers for various reasons.) 

Our Government often makes the appropriate noises about Malaysians being too choosy about their jobs. I suppose sooner or later some change has to happen in this ratio of foreign workers to the Malaysian unemployed.   

I have never ever had to make this decision in a personal capacity in the past. Some reasonably paying job would land on my lap. Looking back at the various jobs, members of my family have held, the lowest one might be that done by my late father. 

My late father was a bread vendor, selling bread and cookies. He had a “route” assigned to him by the bakery and he would collect the bread, cycle along the route, stop, disembark and sell the bread, and cycle on. This was his daily routine until he went for an appendicitis operation and was advised not to cycle anymore. This story was told to me by my eldest brother. I have never seen my late father mount a cycle, ever. And I don’t think that this job was ever considered to be beneath him, rather I am sure my father took pride in having a job that helped meet people’s needs. 

Now my wife and I are doing something that I might be considered as “beneath me” not too long ago. We have taken a well considered plunge into direct selling. And to be honest this decision was not exactly a result of a “no other option” kind of situation. Yes, declaring myself to be a MLMer when asked what I do now has resulted in some snickers. But then, is a person who is a friend because of your job or position really a friend?  

So Mrs. M and Jim, I consider that the pizza delivery man featured by CNN has set a fine example. And my wife and I are further examples of people wanting to do jobs that OTHERS may consider to be beneath us.