Proton-BWF World Championships 2007

Venue: Stadium Putra – Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur
Period: August 13 – 19

My excitement over the World Championships this time round was understandable. After all, this would be my first time watching so many seeded players “live” as me and a couple of friends bought tickets for the semis and the finals matches. Prior to this, my first and last “live” badminton tournament was at the Commonwealth Games at Bukit Jalil. But that was totally different. No badminton tournament is complete without the presence of China and Indonesia.

Most memorable moments:

1. Lin Dan in action.

It was pure pleasure watching Lin Dan in action. Although I was rooting for the underdogs i.e. Bao Chunlai and Sony Dwi Kuncoro on both days, nothing could take away Lin Dan’s supremacy in the game.

During the semis, I felt that he was toying with Bao. Twice he dived for Bao’s shots and both times, he made a huge production of sprawling on the ground. But we knew it was faked as his eyes were not even looking at the shuttle. Besides, he stayed so much longer on the ground, posing for the cameras.

He was more serious when playing against Sony since he knew what was at stake. Despite Sony’s comeback in the second set, Lin Dan was clearly in a class of his own. He was simply too fast for Sony. His movements were fast and economical compared to Sony. It’s amazing how fast Lin Dan could get behind a shuttle for seemingly impossible shots and sent it back with careful, precise placements. Many a time Sony was left struggling to keep up with Lin Dan’s shots.

The way I look at it, no player could possibly beat Lin Dan on his good day. As a friend put it, “Lin Dan is the ‘Roger Federer’ of badminton.”

2. Men’s doubles semi final match between Korea and Japan.

Two young doubles players with lots of energy and the single objective to “kill the shuttle” as fast as possible. The game was so fast with smashes upon smashes, drives upon drives. It was a really exhilarating watch. Do not blink or you will miss the next point.

3. Baseline jumping smashes.

Dang! Can these players jump?! The final men’s doubles game between Markis Kido - Hendra Setiawan (Indonesia) and Jung Jae-sung - Lee Yong-dae (Korea) was unforgettable. They might be short but boy! can they jump?! What’s more, they can jump and smash from the baseline! That was what was missing from Choong Tan Fook – Lee Wan Wah’s game. They simply couldn’t jump and kill the shuttle.

4. Random comment from a spectator.

“I was shouting ‘Malaysia Boleh’ the other day and guess what. This Indonesian interrupted me and said, ‘Ya, Malaysia Boleh. Tapi Indonesia Lebih Boleh!’”

Eh, eh … ya tak ya jugak!

Major gripes and disappointments:

1. No live telecast of crucial matches on FTA (free to air)TV.

No live telecast for the quarterfinal matches between Koo Kien Keat - Tan Boon Heong and Shuichi Sakamoto - Shintaro Ikeda (Japan); and between Wong Mew Choo and Xie Xingfang (China). There was no delayed telecast of these matches either nor for the matches between Choong Tan Fook – Lee Wan Wah and Fu Haifeng – Cai Yun (China); and between Lee Chong Wei and Sony Dwi Kuncoro (Indonesia).

For a country that’s crazy over badminton and has world ranking players (although that’s debatable after this tournament), this oversight is unforgivable. Not everyone has Astro you know. Besides, if NTV7 can air the Football Champions Youth Cup Highlights, other FTA could at least show the Proton-BWF World Championships highlights.

Besides, not to be disrespectful, but how many TV stations are needed to air the live telecast of the 50 year Merdeka celebration? We can talk to death about a nation’s unity but if one wants to see unity in action, go to a badminton game and you will see Malaysians of all races rooting for one team, the Malaysian team! Now, that’s true unity!

2. Pea brain tournament organiser.

We paid good money for “what we thought were” great seats for the finals. We expected to watch the matches at centre court but some “smart aleck” decided to hold the matches at the other end of the stadium! Thus, the seats went to waste as we had to go to the higher levels (cheaper tickets with free seating) but closer to the court to watch the matches. Blardy hell! One wonders why the matches can’t be held on the centre court!

3. Selfish mentality of KL drivers.

Haphazard parking on non legitimate parking areas i.e. road shoulders, pavements, etc. whilst legitimate parking were available but located slightly further away. For the life of me, I could not understand the mentality of “supposedly educated” people. When they get behind the wheel, whatever good upbringing and education they received fly out of the window. Most act like “selfish b*****ds”!

4. Dismal performances.

Rexy was right when he slammed our shuttlers for failing to reach the world championship finals. This was our best chance with home ground support. Not only did our players NOT reach the finals, our hopefuls namely Lee Chong Wei and the Koo-Tan partnership did not even reach the semis! To add insult to injury, Lee had the cheek to blame chief coach Yap Kim Hock for his own failure to deliver. What happened to maturity, professionalism and taking blame of one’s own mistakes?

And THAT is my take on the Proton-BWF World Championships. May there be more interesting tournaments in future and hopefully, we (Malaysia) make it to the finals.

Something gotta give soon!

I am ...
* mentally exhausted,
* physically drained,
* emotionally repressed.

My infrequent postings tell all.

Time ~ where has that all gone?

Work ~ how can something I enjoy turn into an endless nightmare?

Play ~ why does the thought of going out to workout or socialise fill me with reluctance?

Something gotta give soon!

Or I will go "crazy" ....

How does one deal with global managment that do not trust?

How does one deal with a management that insists on micro managing?

How does one deal with different bosses with different agendas? I feel like the proverbial "deer" that was caught in the middle of the fight between the elephants. (Gajah sama gajah berlawan, pelanduk mati di tengah-tengah!)

How does one deal with arrogant, a** s**kers whose main aim in life is to climb the corporate ladder by any means ~ fair and foul?

How does one deal with inconsiderate, jealous b****es/b******s whose sole purpose in life is to stab anyone and everyone in the back so that the said b****es/b******s will look good in the eyes of greater authority?

How does one deal with an environment where "fighting" internal battles is more exhausting than "fighting" competitors at the market place? Or perhaps there is just no time left to fight competitors after all the internal bickering.

How does one deal with endless processes and templates to be filled and ridiculous internal bureaucracy that is worthy of a GLC?

I am so tired. I feel like I am balancing on a very thin/ fine red line. Something gotta give soon!

Is there a light at the end of this tunnel? Or is this just my exhaustion speaking?

I am looking forward to the coming holidays. Perhaps I can put some perspective back into my life and the job I "used" to like.

Goodnight Malaysia whoever you are.

Not again!

Chinese New Year and Valentine’s Day are probably the worst days of a singleton’s life; especially for those who are over ripe for the pickings. I mean, if you want to find a day when people lay on the guilt about being single, well, these are the days!

It’s incredible really. The pointed questions asked, the numerous advices given, the never-ending and sometimes malicious teasing. And subtlety be damned! A colleague of mine even went as far as “reading” my “pat chi” to find out if marriage is in the cards for me. And to his glee (“his” mind you, not “mine”), it seemed that I would not be an “old maid” after all.

And here we, poor single sots, are put in the spotlight to defend our single status. My goodness! Why do we have to pander to society’s whims of how the cycle of life should be? Why should it be a cycle of birth, education, work, marriage, babies, retirement and death?

While I am sure a lot of these people mean well, I wonder if they ever thought of the feelings they might have hurt with their endless bout of queries. The questions ask sometimes make one feels less than he/she really is … as if not being attached or married means some sort of failure in life.

Is it any wonder why so many marriages fail these days? How many people hop on to the marriage bandwagon due to society’s pressure only to find out later that that is the worst mistake of their lives?

Heck! If finding a mate is so easy, any Tom, Dick and Harry (or Sissy, Sassy and Sally) would do! And while we are at that, does it mean if we can’t find a mate that fits, do we force fit ourselves to pander to society’s expectations? Marriage is already difficult enough. Would this not be a recipe for disaster?

Perhaps it is time for one to think before he/she speaks. Think of the impact of your words to a singleton. It’s not as if what you are saying is anything new. We have heard it all probably a zillion times before. If you can’t add anything new, and you can’t offer any real help, then isn’t discretion (or silence) the better part of valour?

Do give the singletons a break! Life and relationships are tough enough without the added pressure of getting married when one is not ready yet, not ready at all or might not ever be ready! Think of how hard you have to work at your marriage, at your relationship.

I stand at the gateway of life and wonder if that elusive mate even exists.

Cruelty to Animals ~ TIME WE PUT A STOP TO THAT!

Remember the blog I wrote regarding the poor German Shepherd that was neglected to death by her owner in Subang Jaya but the owner was only slapped with a RM100 fine? The fact that the Animal Ordinance carries the maximum fine of only RM200 or six months jail or both is shameful.

Well, here is a chance for us to act! SPCA started a petition to the prime minister to raise the cruelty fine from RM200 to a significantly higher fine of around RM10,000.00. You can sign the petition online at the following site - http://www.catzmedia.com/spca/petitions/index.asp

It matters not if you are not a Malaysian. You can also sign the online petition. SPCA is targeting 100,000 signatures by September 2006. They have collected 20,000 signatures previously and the count for the current collection is at 12,919 when I signed earlier tonight.

Please do your bit to help prevent cruelty to animals.


The petition reads as follows:

ANIMAL LOVERS ALL OVER MALAYSIA PETITION FOR A PRO-ACTIVE GOVERNMENT STANCE ON THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS BY PASSING EFFECTIVE AND DETERRANT LEGISLATION:

1. INCREASING THE CRUELTY FINE FROM RM200 (since 1953) SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER TO AROUND RM 10,000.00 AND INCREASE JAIL TIME.

2. A LIFE TIME BAN ON ANIMAL OWNERSHIP FOR THOSE CHARGED WITH CRUELTY TO ANIMALS----ANIMALS THEREFORE CANNOT BE RETURNED TO THE OWNERS

3. TO URGE THE PUBLIC TO BE RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERS
- spay/neuter their pets, adequate food, space, exercise, love and medical attention and to be considerate neighbours.

What have we “bought” ourselves into??!!

“7 break-ins occurred yesterday afternoon ~ 2 in Block A and 5 in Block B.” The text message came in from a neighbour on Friday morning.

I was shocked. Since the last 3 break-ins, which occurred just after the Hari Raya holidays (that happened during working hours i.e. about 2 pm, I was told), we heard of another 2 attempts. But things have been quiet since then. Residents were concerned and a few have upgraded their security system. The residents’ Pro-Tem Committee (PTC) has worked with the management to increase security measures i.e. patrol around the residential blocks (or so I have read and heard) since the 3 break-ins. Residents were also talking about having a Neighbourhood Watch.

But 7 break-ins in one day and all happened between the 5- 6 pm period (I have yet to ascertain as to the accuracy of the time) is outrageous. That signals two things ~ one, the burglars are getting bolder and two, it must be an inside job. Speculations are rife i.e. from burglars renting a unit to stash their ill-gotten gains and to hole up there, to whether the cleaners, gardeners and security guards are involved.

One thing for sure, the residents are feeling extremely unhappy and dissatisfied with management. For a new condo (occupancy began in March-April this year), there have been just too many issues cropping up in a matter of months ~ from the unresolved swimming pool incident to matters such as exorbitant deposits for renovation works and usage of BBQ area, cracks at the parking grounds and recently, at the walls of the apartments, car park woes, inadequate security measures i.e. lack of CCTV, the laid back attitude of some of the security guards, etc! The “tidak apa” attitude of the Resident Manager and the management does not help either.

What is getting on our nerves is that almost every request made is turned down; with management claiming a lack of funds or that it is not in the S&P that we signed! Management claimed that many residents have yet to pay up on management fees. Strange, I thought collection of management fees is under the responsibility of management and it should have no bearings on the delivery of the promise to the whole. Pardon my limited understanding of the law but shouldn’t the laws of businesses or corporations apply? Can you imagine that I have to tell my clients that I cannot deliver certain goods to them because my other clients have not paid up! Where is the blardy logic in that?

But wait …, management is still collecting management fees for a swimming pool that residents have been unable to utilise for almost 4 months now! And what about security measures??!! When we bought a condo, we bought it for our peace-of-mind with the thought that security is taken care of. What happened to the security services we paid for and are still paying for on a monthly basis if we can’t live with peace-of-mind? If management is being so calculative about the S&P, should we not be equally calculative on the delivery of the services stated in the S&P or the lack thereof?

For many residents here, this is our first home. There are many young couples and working class here; who have probably dumped their life savings for a nice, safe home. In the true spirit of neighbourliness, many of us have tried to adhere to the “house rules” of living in a gated community. And aside from a few bad apples, this is a very nice neighbourhood to live in.

Cotton candy or sour plum? Sugar or Spice?

Thursday’s events seemed to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back” for some residents. There have been differing opinions as to how to handle the innumerable issues here i.e. security being utmost in everyone’s mind. There are those who still advocate diplomacy and others who are absolutely fed-up with the lack of commitment from management and are calling for stronger actions ~ amongst which are involving the press, refusal to pay management fees, etc. to pressure management to act. Others have started to take security measures into their own hands i.e. installing their own private “CCTV”, signing up for the Neighbourhood Watch, reinforcing their locks, getting relatives to stay home during working hours to look after the place, etc.

Diplomacy or aggression? Cotton candy or sour plum? Sugar or spice? The discussion rages on. I have been a firm believer that diplomacy works better than aggression but now, I am questioning this belief. Almost nine months of occupancy and although certain things have improved, on the whole things seem to have worsen in this condo. Is it management’s fault or did they just have an incredible run of bad luck? I am beginning to believe in the former.

Those who maintain that diplomacy is the best plan to move forward argue that it is easier to get things done via the cotton candy way i.e. it is easy to convince someone with soft words and praise than confrontation. I do agree with that to some extent especially at the workplace. The more aggressive you get, the more resistance you face until things only move when their KPIs (Key Performance Indexes) are at stake. But on the opposite side of the argument, I have also witnessed complacency when too much leeway is given to these folks i.e. when you are too diplomatic, they take advantage of you. At some point, I have to get the following message across to these folks ~ “Don’t treat my kindness as weakness!” Like it or not, in certain situations, we would have to act aggressively or assertively.

There are those who believe that this is the way things are ~ other condos are facing the same issues and our management are better than some other condos. The law governing consumer rights here sucks compared to many other countries. But, if we are to always accept sub standard services, does it not mean that we are a party to encouraging sub standard services and further digging our own (consumer rights) graves?

The soft approach does not seem to work or if it does work at all, it is at an extremely slow pace. Are we willing to forsake our safety and security and wait for management to finally wake up to the call of residents? Are we going to wait for management to move their sorry arse (pardon the language) when something worse than burglary occurs? What if, instead of burglaries, they start to hurt people? Are we going to chance all that?

I say NO! But the next question is how do we deal with a management that seem so lackadaisical?

One of the suggested actions is to go to the press. But look at the results of the swimming pool incident! Four months down the line, despite the initial interests from the press, nothing much has changed. The pool remains closed and the excuse this time is that they are waiting for a third party to investigate. What the hell does that mean? Who should be pressuring the third party to speed up on the investigation? Are we to wait another year or two before something is done? Meanwhile, we are still paying for swimming pool maintenance fees! We were made to understand that this money will be set aside for future use. My question is where is the proof of that? And what future use? Why can’t the same pool of money be used to set up the CCTV system?

Another suggestion is to stop paying maintenance fees? But, what would be the repercussions of that? The act of one or a handful of residents would not have much impact. But the thought behind that act is pretty sound. The resident that proposed this said that to facilitate a speedier action, we need to act where it hurts most to management. And where else except to hit them at the pockets?! But there is no point doing that if only a handful of residents do not pay. We can’t go off half-corked executing something that will not yield results but would instead hurt us in the end.

Perhaps the game plan is to write a note to management indicating that we expect certain security measures within a specific period of time. These measures and the dates need to be spelt out clearly. Otherwise, the residents would act in accordance i.e. not pay maintenance fees until that has been fulfilled. We might need to look into the legality of the note and what repercussions. We might also need to seek advice or support from the consumers’ rights association or the consumers’ property rights association (if there is one).

I am not sure what is the best way to go but certainly, I believe we have exhausted all diplomatic actions. It is high time we kick some ass!

When will “we” ever learn to take responsibility?

“Saved from the dump” ~ another case of baby dumping headlined the Sunday Star yesterday. A baby had been left for dead in a sports bag near the Tanjung Agas (Muar) dumping area yesterday, so reported the said paper. The newspaper further chronicled nine baby dumping cases since March this year. And this is just a few days short of the news about a poor German Shepherd being neglected to death by her owner in Subang Jaya. The NST on Wednesday October 18th further quoted at least 2,400 animal neglect cases are reported every year in Malaysia. The pity of it all is that the pet owner was only slapped with a RM100 fine under the Animal Ordinance which carries the maximum fine of only RM200 or six months jail or both. Something is definitely wrong with this law.

What is our society coming to? Where did we go wrong? Is life so worthless these days that the perpetrators could not even be bothered to hand their charges over to the respective authorities but instead, leave their children or pets for “DEAD”?! How can one take the responsibility of a life so lightly? It is absolutely criminal!

And to think a few of my childless friends have to go through hell to try to get a child and here you have people “killing” their own kids. Yes, “killing” is the right word. When you leave a baby in the dumpster, would you expect the baby to survive? The person who did that has as good as signed the death warrant of the child!

On another note, just yesterday, a good friend of mine had to put her beloved dog of more than 15 years to sleep due to old age and sickness. It was a very sad occasion. I knew how tough it was for her to make that decision and it took her a couple of months to do so. But in the Subang Jaya case, you have a healthy dog which was “left for dead” by the owner. And yes, “left for dead” is the right phrase to use. After all, when you leave your animal in the house for days without food and water, what do you expect … a hale and healthy dog running to greet you?

When we take a child or a pet into our home and hearts, we undertake the responsibility for that life. We are supposed to nurture and protect until they can stand on their own feet, and even then, we continue to nurture and protect in other ways. In return, we receive love; and in some cases as in our pets, it’s unconditional love. Do we then take that love and trample upon it? It is unthinkable to call it quits halfway through that cycle. But what is worse, is that instead of nurturing the child or pet, we seek to destroy. That is something I could never fathom. What happened to the milk of human kindness?

As much as I like kids and pets, I know that my current lifestyle would not be able to accommodate them unless I am willing to make that sacrifice. And that’s what we have to consider before we undertake such a responsibility. We must be willing to take that responsibility and make those sacrifices! We can’t just take it and leave it at our own whims and fancy. And when the going gets tough, we can’t just say, “Oops! Sorry, I made an error God. Here, I give you back the child!”

When will “we” ever learn to take responsibility?

Managing change or getting short changed?

Have you ever worked in a situation where you are battling mainstream mentality and work culture on a daily basis? Let me tell you now that it is an exercise in absolute futility. Imagine swimming upstream against a very strong current towards the source which is a massive waterfall. It is a no win situation no matter how you slice it.

A couple of years ago, I was employed in a local conglomerate. Having spent most of my life working in multinationals, it was a culture shock to say the least. But I was warned by my boss then of what to expect. He wanted me to be the “agent of change” and foolishly I agreed. Yeah … right! But you know how it is. You are new. You are eager. You are motivated. You want to change the world! … or rather the little corner of the world that you work in. Oh woe is me! I was fooled by my own naiveté, enthusiasm and arrogance. I was fooled into thinking I could change decades of entrenched work culture and mindsets that had wormed its way even up to the junior and middle management levels!

It was a struggle for me from day one. Folks left office at 5.30pm sharp. Morning tea and evening tea were a must in that work culture. I called a meeting for a product launch preparation which belonged to another manager, and he had the cheek to tell me that it was already 5.00pm and could we hold the meeting the next day. Things that could be done in a day took weeks to complete. Branch managers were suspicious of me; and because I was younger than them, I looked younger and I am a woman, a few of them could not be bothered to give me the time of day. When I worked late, they thought I was hankering for a promotion.

It was difficult to trust my staff when they arranged for sales calls and submitted their claims. Have you ever heard of sales guys arranging sales calls on extreme routes in one day? (In the business that we were in, there was no such thing as monthly or weekly fixed sales routes.) And this could go on for weeks if I do not reprimand them. For example, they would see a customer in Klang in the morning and then arrange to see another customer in Kepong in the afternoon. The next day, they would arrange to see a customer in Shah Alam and then one in Batu Caves. Any sales person worth his salt would arrange the Klang – Shah Alam route in one day and Kepong – Batu Caves route the next day. At least they would try to streamline the sales calls as much as possible. But a few of my staff did the former because they could make huge petrol claims as the company paid quite a hefty amount per kilometre travelled.

Can you imagine a company where employees could engineer their own inter department transfer without consulting their managers and HR actually allowed that to happen? Well, mine did! Even my boss could not stop them. Thinking back, it was quite funny during review time. With such mediocre performance, I gave them an average grade which to me was a mercy grade. I would have rated them below average or needs improvement in any other circumstances. But they rated themselves in the regions of very good to excellent. Their argument, they worked harder than other departments and those guys in other departments have gotten better grades than them. Therefore, I was being unfair.

Every time I hit an extreme low, I would talk to my boss and he would tell me that I should lower my expectations. I was hitting against brick walls after brick walls. Things just refused to budge at my pace or even at a few paces slower than mine. In the end, I actually adapted to their work culture in terms of expectations and results. But I knew that if I carried on in that situation, I would rot. There was hardly any learning and career development at my end. All I learnt was to handle a work culture that I never want to be a part of in the future. After two years plus, I threw in the towel. I could not see my future in such an organisation.

This experience taught me a valuable lesson. Unless you have strong support in middle and upper management to engineer change, you can forget about doing it on your own. Even with such strong support, changing decades of entrenched mindsets is a huge undertaking and there should be a change agent champion at every level of the command chain. Otherwise, being a sole change agent (with limited support from your immediate boss) in the face of massive mainstream mentality is an exercise in absolute futility. In the end, you hurt yourself more than you help the organisation.

Next time before you embark on such a venture, ask yourself if you are managing change or you are getting short changed!