Are graduates everthing they seem to be these days?

Questions are often asked during interviews to fresh graduates. Among them are "Have you had any experience in working before?" or "What did you learn while in Uni". Somehow these graduates will purge some anwer regardless if it is true or otherwise. Well, they are a desperate bunch since looking for a job is so hard these days let alone to landing an interview. So yes some lie trough their noses.

But what seems to be a concern is not about those lies. In fact it is not really important that if you have a degree at all. Instead what knowledge that you have that came along after you have graduate is what all the employers there are finding out for. No I am not saying that education is not important or graduating is not important but there is a reason for all that jazz in the first place.

I know many graduates. Some of them really smart... Deans list and all but end up just furthering their studies for Masters and later Phd. I keep wondering what for if there is no work experience. And what is the pressure really to do Masters and Phd when one has yet to make their first EPF contribution. Can these future emplyees expect to get the same pay as their peers whom have just a degree but tonnes of experience?

These are the questions that puts those finding for placements in the industry in a limbo. Paper qualifications or experience? Of those scrolls cant beat the practicality of experience and yet sometimes policies bogs down career advancement because of the lack of paper qualifications. Employers are relunctant in investing in employee development because they are afraid that these very people that they sponsor will leave right after they have paid up their dues on the study grant.

So I do like to imply that some employers are Kiasu. They will hold key people for as long as possible but neglect the junior execitives and not offer them career alternatives. Each company must have a career advancement arm that plans the human resource enhancement in phases. Make it clear that their path has been drawn up and there is a real future instead of sweet promises of increament and incentives but at the end of the day it is all lies or partial truth.

What is wrong giving maids a day off?

Not everyone is capable in being bosses. However just about anyone can have maids and that gives them the oppurtunity to become bosses. For one thing they fail to see that taking up a maid is another scope pf responsibility. Just like every other business owner they have to think about wages, efficiency, resources. Maids are employees and not slaves.

I have met with maids that are given a day off in a week, some are given bonusses and gifts during the festive season. Now I do feel that only a minority of employers treat their maids like dirt. But since there is no specific law for house maids then there is no specific rule to abide to in treating them.

These maids toil for you when you are away at work. They wash your child's poop, do the dishes, wash the laundry, clean the house, wash your car and even help out at other relatives of yours when told. Now imagine we were given a job and the tasks given are not in our jobscope or contract. What would you do? Just because these maids are not educated in such does not mean their rights are at your mercy.

I loathe at the sight of employers leaving just one maid to tend to 5 kids. You see this scene all the time. The bosses will be happily shopping and the maid is left to tend to 5 kids at the back trying to catch up. Now if they are your kids you should be the one tending to them in your free time. Not spending the husband's profits in Louis Vuitton and Coach.

For that maids should be given fair treatment. Give them a day off for every 6 days of work. Give them propper working hours and rest times. Give them the medical attention and health check-up every 6 months or so. This is important as they are the ones tending to your food~ their health is just as important if you value yours. If you can't do all this then don't be a boss~

Nik Aziz & Hadi Awang: Is PAS cracking?

The only Islamic party in the country has before seemed steadfast in their cause. But with conflicting statements by Nik Aziz and Hadi Awang seems to be a looming problem if not solved swiftly. But I do suspect that their alliance in Pakatan Rakyat along side DAP and PKR is showing it's wear and tear.

I am not supporter of PAS but what I do admire is that this party is rock solid when it comes to their beliefs~ well not until they decided to band up with PKR and DAP. Which certainly has conflicting interests. But these so called talks with UMNO is not really a bad thing~ like they say "Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer".

What seems to be of interest is what is exactly behind BN's motive to have these talks? So they say it is for a mixed government but having 2 masters to one horse would normally make things worse. Take the roman empire as a good example. I would simply disagree with this mixed government thing. Sounds more like marketing hype than something that is practical. As it is already, democracy is in fact a mixed government. We have the opposition and the government trashing it out in parliament although the numbers are at odds against the opposition but it is in fact a fair ground.

But I do believe PAS has their merit well sorted. Not all party leaders are respected as Nik Aziz is. Is it possible that BN is somehow plotting something sinister? I wonder what the roots of BN has to say about this idea and why are the rest could simply say YES to their leaders without a blink.

I sure hope PAS is not cracking, and lets hope BN can't do that in it's lifetime.

Indon only get ka? Other Nationalities are not entitled ke?

Now this seems an overdue decision but I have a nagging question. Why only Indonesians house maids? Other nationalities not important ke? Sometimes I have a suspicion that our government is indeed racists. But yeah who am I to judge~ You tell me.

Read the article here.

Nizar in the act again.

Some idiots simply do not know how to quit. A good example is this one by the name Nizar. Yes, that infamous ex MB of Perak. Now sworn in as an MP only he decided to come in in style (or is it the lack of it). Him all dressed in black and 6 others wearing headbands (looking like hippies) walked into the Dewan and sat down. Wait a minute, don't they have guards who look out for those not doing according to the rules? Anyway...

Nizar should as an adult understand that all that he could do was done. The system and law was followed and the decision has been made. The courts gave the verdict thus there should be no questions asked. In fact if he were to do what he did in the Dewan in court he could have be held in contempt of the court.

But yes, enough is enough. Nizar is good for the loony bin or a kindergarten. I am sorry...but that is the truth.

150,000: The number for English excellence.

This is the number that puts the greatminds of this country into a limbo. It seems suddenly politicians and educators seem to care about this 150,00 children who stand to fail their SPM if English is made a compulsory subject to pass. What seems to be the blind spot is that it needn't be an immediate implementation.

Of course resources as thus far is pretty tight. There are simply not enough English teachers to go around but I am baffled. We have TESL (Teaching English as Second Language) programmes offered in our local varsities. Now for these many years where have all these graduates gone? Were they not given the attention by the government to place them in the education of Malaysian human resource?

One solution is that this clould be implemented in a gradual manner. One way is that the passing grade for english can be lowered and brought up annually. Another is an intensive programme starting form 1 students to prepare them for SPM in the next 4 years. During these years also the ministry can pull as many TESL graduates as possible to fill in the positions needed. A 5 year plan should be very feasible and by doing that we wont have 150,00 SPM failures.

What should the government not do is taking too long a time to come up with a plan. Politicians and educators have to strike a balance.... but most importantly to make sure we wont waste our future resources. These kids need English and we know it. If the knowledge is contained within sanskrit even, we have to push so that we will master the language. SO, what seems to be the problem? Loss of votes? Loss of power? Loss of riches? The decision has to be made and it has to be made now. Sorry for those who fail~ but if everyone knows how important English is we wouldn't have this problem in the first place.

Bomoh, Dukun, Pawang ~ No not Charmed definitely.

Eastern cultures earns a certain mystique. But nothing is more intriguing than the hocus pocus stuff. In fact if those of you who fancy Lat comics may remember many depictions of this culture. There was one on helping the Malaysian badminton team to win the Thomas Cup if I am not mistaken.

This ancient nonsense is still practiced till today which some tend to believe that it is real. Certainly I am a non believer but what interest me is that how could we in such a modern age resort to offenses and defenses with some jibberish and other smoked condiments?

Searching into YouTube just for entertainment purposes I find that many videos either depicts these nonsense or tells stories about those who "use" it against others. Of course how far is this effective must be truly be die hard believers. But the stichings of this activity is so deep that perhaps some believe they can't live without it.

We have politicians, athletes, artistes, businessmen and people just like you and me who subscribe to such a facility. The revenue generated per year for this Hocus Pocus industry might very well be in the millions per annum. This perhaps could rival prostitution and smuggling. However in return what the customers get is to most a bag of lime, some stuff to burn or bathe with. It might be something more depending on the services ordered.

As if a connection to god cant be made by oneself and the need of these so called gifted people is the only way. It is amusing really to know that those who are highly educated resort to such things and think that it helps them have an advantage over their competition. One side it is morally wrong and on the other it is totally bollocks that something like a chanted mantra could change god's mind on what it is suppose to be.

For the stories we read, hear and watch are indeed captivating and of course entertaining. But to be a fully developed nation how can we resort to such wastage of resources. These kinds of things are not investments, it is simply stupidity of the highest degree. But since it is generating a lot of revenue why not legalize this and charge these bomoh's tax? See if they like that.... commercialism would surely kill most of them since the competition will be so stiff.

No need to study! Compulsory ENGLISH now!!!

After many years of becoming a minister in various ministries, Muhyiddin suddenly realizes that English is not compulsory to pass? Wow, alright so he might not be aware of the national education policies before but since he is aware now it should only be natural for him to be in shock. But why does there need to be a study on it?

It is without a doubt essential for everyone to pass English. Let us take a look at our neighbour Brunei. Their people speak very good English, let not talk about Singapore. So why are we left out for so many years? Why are we not as successful as the Singaporeans? Why is English not treated as important as Bahasa Malaysia?

It is time to put in place a policy and the time should be immediate. No need for a study and waste more time. Making it compulsory is a simple signature on a piece of paper. We have lost too much and we can't afford to loose more. Trust me with English made a compulsory passing subject the next ten years will be a totally different scenario.

Read the news report here.

Consumer Policies.

Third world nation are in the nub of the problem. What precedes to make things worse is that the evolution to a developed nation comes with a hefty cost. Garbage. Precisely waste. Malaysia has since tried many times to "conserve" the environment but somehow our ethics are not deeply rooted into that direction in first place.

Good then. What? No that is not it. The habits that twirl in our lives are somewhat shaped by those who colonized us long long time ago. But that does not mean we are not to blame. We are certainly to blame since the act of change can only be instigated by us. So our consumer policies should be driven down with a hard nail. Simply it is not optional~ at least do not make it an option.

All hypermarket should stop ordering disposable plastic bags. Instead get those bags like the ones found in Ikea and the freeze bags from Carrefour. When consumers request for a plastic bag then charge them. The famous Malaysian habit~ if it is free why shouldn't we?

It should be also made a policy that all consumable stores are to deliver their recyclable waste to recycle centers. The total that is contributed is then deducted from the annual taxes since they are carrying out a social responsibility. How now? For us consumers we have to be a tiny bit more alert. At the counter say no plastic bags please....I brought my own bag.

Another thing is instead of a rounding up policy why not have a specific time of the year that this will be a rounding down policy. Of course it wont be much but hey just for the fun of it why not? Perhaps it could who we are an out of the box bunch.

Are we a miserable bunch? I think we are.

Observing the daily news I am certainly convinced that we live in the age of depression. No no not in the economical sense but in the emotional sense. This is compounded by the fact that news will tell the big bad wolf stories first. A recent example is of the Kelantan Prince. It is about his marriage to an Indonesian celebrity but it is his personal business and responsibility not the media to make a huu haa of it.

But we tend to like those sort of stories. Is it perhaps that we are happy to see and read things like that and reminds us "Damn~at least I am not Royalty, rich and have a pretty wife" The media likens to these stories is simply because we cant keep our noses into our own pockets. We simply have to sniff around and poke for juicy stories of the misery of others.

Is this what we call sensational news? Cant sensational news be something happy? Can't it not involve murders, robberies, or scandals? It is known that political parties would like to hold a major stake in media corporations. Why you ask? Simply because they can control the flow of information and manipulate it to their whims.

Of course not all the news we read, listen or watch is manipulated. But it is just a convenient thing to have when disaster strikes. In the middle of it all once bombarded with all kinds of bullshit we the people as always get the least profitable end of the bargain. Thus we end up miserable and unhappy. It is a painful world.... the trust we give is returned in bit and pieces of poop.

48% satisfaction: Half good or half bad?

The old TPM who is the new PM is either half good or half bad~ That is what the survey says. So are we being optimistic or a pessimist here? Which way are we to look at it? Honestly the results from the survey shows that it is too soon to tell. There is no fuss really and we all should give Najib enough time to get his gear on things. It is not as easy as a server migration so to speak.

In fact all controversies aside I have to say Najib is doing alright. Of course the sparkle of improvements should arrive very soon other wise the people will get bored of waiting~ as just like what happened to Tun Pak Lah when he was PM.

However this 1 Malaysia thing is to me a gimmick. Look at how often these sort of government campaign is handled. Some odd marketing division of the government takes hold and tries too hard to impress the people to buy in this idea.

Alright this campaign will never achieve its target simply because it is not a practice since Merdeka. We had so many campaigns and with every new cabinet and PM it changes taglines. What is it are they trying to sell? The idea or the trinkets and novel items? It is something that wont be soved with just advertising and fancy posters.

So for a good margin this figure of 48% can also reflect how these government departments are good in marketing this idea. don't see what Najib needs to be kept an eye on~ the various ministries should be the one placed under the microscope. How effective are they in carrying out their duties? Perhaps cutting off the coffee breaks could improve efficiency.