Sick Man of Asia

Why a business qualification?
Because I like it. Shielded from business all my life, I started taking an active interest in it upon my graduation. I found it to be far more dynamic and exciting than the traditional sciences I have spent all my life studying. Unlike science, things are rarely black and white in business, and there are fewer constraints and more room for creative thought. The same methods applied twice to the same subjects in science will undoubtedly yield the same results. No such consistency exists in the world of business. Dynamism also stems from the human element in business: that each decision big or small affects humans (customers, subordinates, bosses, colleagues, owners, suppliers, partners etc.) and their reactions to your decision determines the outcomes of your decisions. No such excitement and dynamism can come from the determinisms of science.

The other reason is more career oriented. As a software developer, one hits the growth (and pay) ceiling rather quickly. I have met programmers who are much much older than I am, more skillful and more experienced than I am, who (by my estimate) barely out earns me. It seems that software development is a career that you rise rapidly the first few years out of Uni and then stagnate with little or no growth for the next 30 years of your working life.

Of course that isn’t true for the top 0.001% of programmers – the kinds hired by Google and Microsoft to design and build the next revolutionary piece of software. To the master hacker, the sky is the limit. Those are the kind of people picked up by the most profitable companies, consistently out-perform even themselves and is justly rewarded for their out sized contributions to society.

However, any less than the top 0.001% – even if you are the top 0.1% – and chances are that you’ll struggle to reach for the top. It is far more likely that you’ll spend your time hacking up innovation-less software while top executives look you by.

Now I know fully well that I am not among the top 0.001% destined for greatness. Considering my university grades, it’ll probably be an insult for many for me to call myself a bad programmer. But even if I am among the better developers out there, even if I am among the top 30%, that’s still a good distance from 0.001% – not nearly good enough to make an impact.

Of course business skills can be learned in the workforce (and in fact, many will argue that learning on the job is far more effective than a university degree), but my current job at the University does not provide that opportunity to do so. And the financial crisis has made it particularly hard to switch jobs.

With this in mind, it makes perfect sense for me to pursue a business qualification. It is hoped that it will provide opportunities that I would not otherwise have in the future.

Why Business Administration and not Commerce, Finance, Accounting etc?
Business administration seems to compliment my existing competencies the best. The IT industry is characterized by great managers who are let down by their complete ignorance on IT and very competent programmers who doesn’t have a clue about business. The marriage of the two disciplines is a niche that I think will exist into the foreseeable future, and it is a niche that I wish to exploit.

Besides, a specialist degree in commerce/finance etc. are probably too technical in nature. Upon graduation, I’ll likely be left with the choice of becoming a specialist in a whole new unrelated field (e.g. become an accountant), or continue in software development (writing accounting software).

Why Chancellor University and the Jack Welch Management Institute?
Because it is Jack Welch. Not taking an MBA from Jack Welch is like not taking a Masters of Finance from Warren Buffet – you must be crazy!

I have read Jack’s book ‘Winning’ before and I consider it the best book I have read (ahead of ‘The Intelligent Investor’ (Benjamin Graham), ‘Free to Choose’ (Milton Friedman) etc. etc.). While my experiences are shaped by many events, the singular book that has had the biggest impact in my life to date is ‘Winning’. It is the one book that has ignited an interest in management and it is the one book that has provided me with motivation, guidance and answers to the many questions that might confront someone new to the workforce.

What’s more, the Jack Welch MBA is incredibly good value. At about 20k for the whole course, it is about half the price of Melbourne Business School (MBS) and less than a quarter of insanely expensive schools like INSEAD. That is keeping in mind that Jack probably commands seriously good money for talks and television appearances and that I have read a blog by an Ivy League MBA student who said Jack’s visit was one of the highlights of his course. Having such access to Jack at the 20k price tag is seriously good value for money.

Also, the course is convenient since doing it online means that I do not have to travel 3 hours back and forth to MBS. Those 3 hours will be more productive if I spend it studying instead of commuting. Adding to that, there is no GMAT – an exam that I’m not particularly keen to take (and pay for), considering I fail to see how it adds value.

I am of course aware of the draw backs of a brand new online course. In fact, many of my friends and family have been kind enough to point out most of them: lack of opportunities to network, lack of face to face interaction, distance/time zone differences etc. Some have also pointed out that a traditional MBA might be more balanced than one based solely on Jack’s philosophy.

While these are real concerns and my choice carries significant risks, I believe the risks are well worth taking. Not only is the cost relatively low (should I decide to drop out after one or two terms), but Jack’s legendary reputation of setting unlikely targets for himself and then rising to beat those targets is a source of comfort. Let’s hope that he’ll do what he has always done and exceed all expectations of what is possible with an online MBA.

余囚北庭，坐一土室，室广八尺，深可四寻，单扉低小，白间短窄，污下而幽暗。
当此夏日，诸气萃然：雨潦四集，浮动床几，时则为水气；涂泥半朝，蒸沤历澜，时
则为土气；乍晴暴热，风道四塞，时则为日气；檐阴薪爨，助长炎虐，时则为火气；
仓腐寄顿，陈陈逼人，时则为米气；骈肩杂沓，腥臊汗垢，时则为人气；或圊溷、或
毁尸、或腐鼠，恶气杂出，时则为秽气。叠是数气，当之者鲜不为厉。而予以孱弱，
俯仰其间，于兹二年矣，幸而无恙，是殆有养致然尔。然亦安知所养何哉？孟子曰：
「吾善养吾浩然之气。」彼气有七，吾气有一，以一敌七，吾何患焉！况浩然者，乃
天地之正气也，作正气歌一首。

天地有正气，杂然赋流形。下则为河岳，上则为日星。于人曰浩然，沛乎塞苍冥。
皇路当清夷，含和吐明庭。时穷节乃见，一一垂丹青。在齐太史简，在晋董狐笔。
在秦张良椎，在汉苏武节。为严将军头，为嵇侍中血。为张睢阳齿，为颜常山舌。
或为辽东帽，清操厉冰雪。或为出师表，鬼神泣壮烈。或为渡江楫，慷慨吞胡羯。
或为击贼笏，逆竖头破裂。是气所磅礴，凛烈万古存。当其贯日月，生死安足论。
地维赖以立，天柱赖以尊。三纲实系命，道义为之根。嗟予遘阳九，隶也实不力。
楚囚缨其冠，传车送穷北。鼎镬甘如饴，求之不可得。阴房阗鬼火，春院闭天黑。
牛骥同一皂，鸡栖凤凰食。一朝蒙雾露，分作沟中瘠。如此再寒暑，百疠自辟易。
嗟哉沮洳场，为我安乐国。岂有他缪巧，阴阳不能贼。顾此耿耿在，仰视浮云白。
悠悠我心悲，苍天曷有极。哲人日已远，典刑在夙昔。风檐展书读，古道照颜色。

– 文天祥

我永远不会为信仰而死，因为我的信仰可能是错的。

– 伯特兰·罗素

Against the advice of many who are far wiser than I am, I moved from Hobart to Melbourne in the January of 2009, leaving behind a stable job in the midst of the greatest recession in recent times. In retrospect it might not have been the brightest decision of my life. The economy imploded spectacularly shortly after the new year. The number of advertised IT jobs (as measured unscientifically by me by checking the number of IT jobs on Seek.com.au) fell by almost half in just a couple of months. At first I was attending a few interviews a week, but shortly that dried up to one interview in weeks, if not months.

I think I have amassed some experience from my job search, as well as gained some pent up frustrations, all of which I thought I’d sahre.

My first job interview here was with a smallish firm where I applied as a PHP developer. The interview process was the most rigorous of them all. I went in for a face to face interview, then for a 1.5 hour programming test (which I’ll estimate that 70% of applicants fail) and then passing that a 4 hour logical aptitude test. I passed the face to face interview, and I passed the programming test (Just barely! I believe the system administrator forgot to turn on error messages which meant it was a real pain in the ass to debug. The system hangs, which indicates that you have a syntax error, but you have no idea where. Imagine painfully checking you’ve got all parentheses and quotes right etc while the clock is ticking away. It also didn’t help when I was using the regex function wrongly and the system did not alert me to it. But thank god I passed.) As for the logical thinking test, I scored 81% as a programmer and a whopping 95% as a business analyst. However, I was told that I needed to score at least 88% as a programmer. I was dissapointed since I was pretty pleased with my result. I mean 95% as a business analyst must be pretty good! But oh well, such is life.

My next interview was with a mid-sized (around 30 people) web development/marketing firm as a PHP Web Developer. Kind of like Ionata, only bigger. I wasn’t sure what went wrong in the interview but I felt that we just didn’t click. Maybe I didn’t make the right impression, but I got the feeling that the Managing Director couldn’t wait to wrap up my interview and send me on my way. The interview was shorter than most and I have no idea why I didn’t get it. I guess there was just no chemistry?

I then had an interview for a junior Java developer job at a successful, mid-sized (around 30 people) grid computing company. I thought the two guys who interviewed me were brilliant. And I think many aspects of the company exudes confidence and brilliance that meant the guys at work there knew what they were doing. I actually thought the interview went pretty well and I thought we had a good exchange of ideas. They were a strictly agile software team. I said something along the lines of “I am probably not the best person to judge since I am young, inexperienced and have not worked in an agile envioronment before but from what I read, I disagree with quite a number of agile principles and here’s why. Of course if I join this company I’ll be happy for you guys to change my mind on it.” Obviously that wasn’t what the interviewers thought. Their feedback was that I was too stuck on my ways. I didn’t think it was very fair since I am so inexperienced that I could hardly be too stuck to my ways. In retrospect though, I probably could have presented my views just a little subtler and it would have been fine. I still think it was a little misunderstanding and I probably didn’t miss out by too much (I hope for ego’s sake!). But, oh well…

I then had another interview for a Java job. This time for yet another mid-sized (roughly 30 employees) provider of service desk software. I thought the guys who interviewed me were great. But what struck me was that the company is a little slack when it comes to keeping up with indutry best practices or the latest technology. They still used CVS (instead of SVN) and many of their components/frameworks (e.g. Spring/Hibernate) are non current versions. They advertise on their site that their application is fully web 2.0, yet they do not use a javascript framework. They do not have a one step, automatic build process etc. Now, I am sure the guys are great at what they do. And personally I am against the use of new technology just for technology’s sake. But imagine if I took this job, and 3-5 years later I interviewed for another job, the interview will probably go like this:

Them: So, in your previous company how did you guys do this?
Me: Oh, we used XXX version XXX.
Them: Hmm? We haven’t used that for years! People still use that?

I was convinced that I didn’t want the job even if I did get it. I don’t think I’ll be getting anywhere with it. But yeah, I got rejected for it anyway. The reason was that there were people more suited for the role than I was.

And my last and most recent interview was with a small, boutique educational software consulting company. There are under 10 people in the company and the interviewing manager made it clear that there are no plans to grow into the next KPMG. Now, I absolutely loved the interviewing manager and I think she loved me too. She said on the conclusion of the interview (and later when she rejected me on the phone) that she thinks I gave the best answer anyone has given in the interview and she was confident that I will be an asset to a company. Well if someone is going to massage your ego this way, you can’t feel anything but love for the other party can you? Sadly the job I was applying for was a one man contract job and given my experience, I simply am not qualified to carry out a job like that alone. There goes another job opportunity.

So that’s my job search story so far… A little gripes and complaints coming next!

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/5/3/nation/20090503202919&sec=nation

The decision to limit the number of reporters covering the State Assembly on Thursday is to ensure the comfort of pressmen covering the event.

Posting on his new blog www.zambry.com here on Sunday, Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said the number of people expected to attend this sitting would be overwhelming.

”But in the name of media freedom, I have asked the Information Department to allow all mainstream media including vernacular presses to cover the assembly,” he said in the posting, which was posted at 5.42pm.

Dr Zambry added that the approval for coverage would also be given to representatives from some new media as well as bloggers.

”I believe in freedom of the press and it is unfair to stop any mainstream media including Harian Metro and Kosmo! to report on the sitting,” he added.

He stressed that the directive to limit the number of reporters covering the sitting did not come from his office.

While press freedom should not be misconstrued as a power to write false news, Dr Zambry added that the Perak Barisan Nasional had been receiving unfair reporting since February.

No need for much commentary there…

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/103294

I am writing to express my personal approval of the Najib administration in its recent moves to liberalise Malaysia’s markets.

I think Malaysia’s many industries have been protected for too long, breeding inefficiencies and uncompetitiveness.

It is good to see us distancing ourselves from a centrally-planned economy in favour of a free market capitalist economy.

I think if the government continues to liberalise the economy, it will set the foundation for continued economic growth. This goes in line with Najib’s assertion earlier that the era of ‘government knows best’ is over.

Well, at least it is true in terms of the economy. Most of our leaders still feel the urge to go around the country telling people what to do. And our state-owned media is all too happy to report on our leaders’ lectures on life.

I join others in condemning the many acts of Najib in recent years (the bullying of the people of Perak and the handling of the Altantuya case among other things).

It paints a picture of a sinister and ruthless man who would do anything to get ahead of others. While I dislike the man, I do like his economic policies – so far.

All this might turn into the interesting scenario where Najib continues to be the man everyone hates but somehow he delivers results in terms of economic growth.

This is a particular tricky dilemma since it is so tempting to forgive someone just as long as he produces the results year after year.

In many ways it is similar to the political landscape in Singapore where one party (indeed one family) rule with an iron fist but people are willing to tolerate it for economic performance.

http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,25379762-31037,00.html

BORROWERS could get some relief from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) but journalists have no such hope.

The RBA has decided to bar journalists covering its monetary policy reports from leaving a “lock-up” to use the toilet.

When the RBA releases key reports, like the minutes of its monthly board meetings, journalists are “locked-up” in the central bank’s Sydney headquarters. It gives reporters time to make sure their coverage of the reports is accurate before the official release time.

And it prevents the information from leaking early – something which could give speculators a licence to print money, if only for a short time. Printing money is of course the preserve of the RBA.

Now, after more than a decade of lock-ups without a breach of security, the RBA has decided journalists may not leave the room to use the toilet only a couple of metres away.

RBA Media Office manager Daniel Fitzpatrick greets them with a warning they cannot leave until the embargo is lifted.

Then, with no apparent sense of irony, he invites them to take advantage of a trolley laden with tea, coffee, orange juice and iced water.

“I thought they were supposed to prevent inflationary pressures,” said one journalist, who preferred to remain anonymous.

Still, it would not be the first time a central bank had inadvertently caused an uncomfortable build-up of excess liquidity with potentially disastrous consequences.

The next lock-up is on May 8, when journalists will be in seclusion for an hour and a half to analyse the RBA’s quarterly monetary policy statement.

Homebuyers will have their fingers crossed, hoping a hint that another interest rate cut might be on the way.

But journalists neglecting to make a pit stop before the lock-up will be crossing their legs.

Funniest news article I have read in a while!

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/102670

Information, Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim has called upon private television and radio stations to change by putting national interest above commercial value.

He told Bernama today that he would be meeting the management of private TV and radio stations soon to bring about changes as they had failed to deliver the government’s aspirations resulting in the BN’s poor performance at the general election last year.

“People will not blame the private TV and radio stations if they had complied with the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998.

“This will not arise if the Act is followed. There are stations that do not carry messages good for nation-building,” he told reporters after a cultural function at Simpang Pertang near Jelebu today.

Besides the (obvious) very real concern of clamping down on press freedom, one should also notice a theme with the ruling party’s direction since Najib’s takeover as PM: they have blamed EVERYONE but themselves.

The DPM blames the ungrateful Chinese and the communications minister blames the media.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/4/12/nation/20090412171356&sec=nation

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin revealed UMNO’s grand plan to regain the confidence and trust of the people:

Muhyiddin said that to continue empowering the party, the spirit of the members must be rejuvenated, and added that this could be done by organising motivational programmes and work camps in which leaders at all levels participated.

Yup, you read that right.

Motivational programmes and work camps.

That is supposed to make the people believe in the government again.

The cynic in me just can’t stop but wonder how much government funds will be spent on ferrying these people to 5 star beach-side hotels for the “work camps”?

Not to mention why are these people in politics if they have lost motivation? If they aren’t motivated they should be kicked out, not sent to be “re-motivated”! Are they still in school?

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/NewsBreak/20090403214052/Article/index_html

I feel a deep sense of humility at the opportunity to serve as your Prime Minister

Ya right. A 5 year old kid can tell the hypocrisy!

It must be a government with new approaches for new times – a government that places a priority on performance, because the people must come first.

Again, the ’same people must come first’ mantra. Been using it for years. Let’s look at a most recent example…I’m sure the perak situation (which was largely Najib’s idea) is putting the interests of the people at heart.

We must reach out to all parts of Malaysia – to all our diverse communities.

Translation: if we take care of the bumi enough, keep talking about Malay rights and be as racist as we can, we’ll always be voted in!

In our national discourse and in pursuing our national agenda, we must never leave anyone behind.

But it is ok to leave them behind if we have enough majority support anyways. Specially those who aren’t bumis, and certainly not those who disagrees with us!

We must reach out to the many who may have been disaffected and left confused by political games, deceit and showmanship.

Just like Perak…

We must draw on talented people across our nation, regardless of their position or background

Notice how he cunningly left out skin colour…

We must seek to include and unlock the potential of our young people

What he really meant, “we must make sure we brainwash our young properly so they’ll never disagree with BN.”

And so today, I pledge that I will work tirelessly to serve all of you.

Translation: “I did not kill the mongonlian, I promise!”

In this spirit, I would like to announce that the government has decided with immediate effect, to remove the temporary ban on TWO news publications, release 13 detainees from ISA detention, and conduct a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act.

Cheap political tricks…

as we move to enhance the confidence of our citizens in those entrusted with maintaining peace, law and order,

Again, same old crap that has been talked about for years. It hasn’t even moved towards the right direction!

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=632694&sec=transfers&campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=3436

Rafael Benitez is ready to launch an £18m bid to bring Cameroon striker Samuel Eto’o to Anfield, according to reports in Spain.

How awesome would that be! Torres + Eto’o == finally a real strike team for Liverpool!

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/101344

In the run-up to the Bukit Gantang by-election on April 7, PKR has been dealt with a severe blow by the police in restricting the issues that the opposition party can raise at its daily ceramah.

For instance, party leaders are barred from raising the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu in their speeches.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim is expected to stop in Bukit Gantang tomorrow as part of his campaign trail.

According to a state PKR leader, the police imposed several conditions when issuing permits for the PKR ceramah.

Among the main restrictions are:
No instigating the crowd by questioning the Perak sultan’s decision

No mention of the Altantuya issue must be made

No racial and religious issues can be raised

In addition, PKR must ensure that the crowd at its ceramah is confined to a specific area where the event is being held. [see below]

The police have warned that action will be taken if the crowd spills beyond the permitted area, said Lau Teck Hai, who had applied for the permits on behalf of his party.

Lau, who is political secretary to PKR’s Kuala Sepetang state representative Tai Sing Ng, was told to go to the Taiping district police headquarters yesterday where he was informed of the conditions.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/29/nation/20090329145923&sec=nation

Voters in the three by-elections of Bukit Gantang, Bukit Selambau and Batang have been urged to vote wisely to ensure continuous development in their constituencies.

First he starts off my threatening voters… If you don’t vote for us, we’ll do what we do to all other opposition held state –> withold federal funding…

Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in making the call, said people should put their trust in Barisan Nasional in view of the changes and reforms in the government expected to take place soon.

He then says the only thing UMNO knows how to say. I am sure when politicians first join UMNO, they are given a slip of paper saying: when in doubt, say we work for the rakyat and change is coming!

Has it not occurred to UMNO that after 50 years in power, maybe people have seen through their tricks and that whatever change the promised never did materialise?

He also urged all Barisan workers to remain calm and not to respond to any provocation by the opposition parties.

And then insinuates that the opposition is uncouth while Barisan is civil…

I recall that recently members of UMNO youth accosted a veteran politician just outside the paliarment chambers?

On Bukit Gantang, Muhyiddin said the opposition Pakatan Rakyat alliance would try to use the sympathy tactic by saying that it had been deprived of the Perak state government by Barisan.

However, he said, he was confident that voters would not be easily swayed by such argument as Barisan was the legitimate state government endorsed by the Sultan of Perak.

He then stresses that it doesn’t really matter who the people of Perak voted for since the Sultan has the final say. Kinds of run contradictory to their incessant speak of “rakyat centredness”…

Will he be our next DPM? Will our next DPM be as bad as (or dare I say) or even worse than our previous?

More examples of how systematically flawed democracy is in Malaysia. It is nothing short of a mockery!

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/28/nation/20090328210530&sec=nation

DAP and other irrelevant parties in Pakatan Rakyat are barred from displaying party materials during the tri by-elections in Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang and Batang Ai.

Election Commission deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said that as Pakatan Rakyat was a loose coalition which was not legally recognised, its component parties were not allowed to display party flags, banners and logos during the campaign period.

“We also do not allow irrelevant parties to apply for ceramah permit.

For example, in Bukit Selambau, we only allow PKR to apply for ceramah permits and display party materials. In Bukit Gantang only PAS flags can be displayed, he said.

However, Barisan Nasional component parties were free to display their respective party flags as it was a legally recognised coalition, he added.

He said this after visiting the nomination centre in SM Teknik 1 here on Saturday.

Declaring that Bukit Selambau was now under police jurisdiction, Wan Ahmad said loud music, blasting radios and loud speakers were not allowed when candidates parade with their supporters to the nomination centre.

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/99617

The final moments of Mongolian Altantuya Shaariibuu before she was brutally killed in 2006 has been revealed in vivid details in a French newspaper today.

Journalist Arnaud Dubus, who traveled halfway across the world – from Kuala Lumpur to Ulan Bator, Mongolia and finally to Paris – for his investigation, unearthed a piece of documentary evidence exposing how Altantuya was allegedly killed.

In his Liberation report, which was written in French, Dubus wrote about Altantuya’s relationship with political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda and the role she played in the purchase of French submarines by the Malaysian government.

“In March 2005, Altantuya and (Abdul Razak) Baginda departed for Europe, touring France, Germany, Italy and Portugal in the red Ferrari of Baginda, staying in posh hotels and dining in the finest restaurants of the old Continent.

“This trip, however, was not only for tourism: the contract for the sale of the submarines had been signed in 2002, but important details had yet to be settled,” wrote Dubus.

“We knew that Baginda was used by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak as an intermediary for weapons systems deals, especially the high level ones,” a regional security affairs expert had told Dubus.

Dubus also quoted Altantuya’s cousin as saying that Altantuya and Abdul Razak were in Paris in March 2005, where they met with Najib.

“A picture taken at the end of March 2005 shows the three in a Parisian private club,” he wrote, disputing a denial by Najib that he had ever met Altantuya.

He said that the story “turned dramatic” when in October 2006 Altantuya was informed that the commission paid by the French-Spanish company Armaris – which sold three submarines to the Malaysian government for one billion euros (RM4.7 billion) – had arrived at a Kuala Lumpur bank account.

It was revealed that 115 million euro (RM541 million) commission had been paid to Perimekar, a company owned by Abdul Razak.

“Altantuya rushed to Kuala Lumpur, in order to claim her share of the commission from Baginda; she said she was entitled to US$500,000.

“Baginda and Altantuya broke up prior to this. A jealous Rosmah Mansor, the feared businesswoman and wife of Najib, objected any payment to Altantuya.

“Altantuya arrived in Kuala Lumpur with two other Mongolian women, one of them was a shaman responsible for putting a spell on Baginda if he refused to pay.

“For several days, Altantuya harassed her ex-lover. On Oct 18, Baginda could no longer tolerate the daily scenes made by Altantuya in front of his house,” wrote Dubus.

Subsequently, two police officers from the special unit tasked to provide protection to VIPs including Najib, were asked to “neutralise the Chinese woman.”

The case was not a perfect crime, said Dubus. Altantuya was kidnapped by the two police officers in front Abdul Razak’s house.

“The taxi driver hired by Altantuya for the day did not appreciate that his passenger was kidnapped under his eyes without payment for the fare. He took note of the registration plate of the kidnapper’s car and filed a complaint at the local police station.

The police were able to quickly identify the car.

“Events unfolded that even the Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak could not impede. He tried to cover the case. A few hours before the arrest of Baginda, he sent him a SMS: ‘I will see the inspector general of police at 11am today… The problem will be solved. Be cool’.

“A few hours after, Baginda was arrested as well as the two police officers, Azilah and Sirul.”

Abdul Razak was initially charged with conspiring in the killing of Altantuya but he was acquitted without being called to enter his defence.

Dubus said that the case is not only embarrassing to Najib, who is linked to the case, but also DCNS – the French military shipbuilding company which bought over Armaris in 2007.

Shows Najib is a lying, murdering bastard.

Note: figures cited are from memory. I don’t claim that they are 100% accurate, but they should be somewhat accurate (i.e. 1.7 million can mean anything from 1.5-.19 million). If you want figures, go find them yourself by reading the PBG annual report.

Those in Australia will have no doubt read about the recent Pacific Brands (or PBG, its ASX ticker) debacle and the intense media and political critism of Sue Morphet, PBG’s CEO. I personally think such critism is ridiculously out of proportion with her wrong-doings (assuming there is any). Most of what people read about are sensationalised garbage the press churns out. I thought I’d set a couple of things straight:

First of all it is a complete myth that PBG’s announced job cuts are solely due to greed and the need to boost corporate profits (as implied by the countless of idiots who has more than their fare share of say in the public). PBG’s finances well and truely fucked. They have a total of 800 million in loans, 500 million of it due in 2010. They have little or no cash at hand and they are pretty much at the mercy of their banks. In simple terms: they run a very very real risk of going out of business in the next 1-3 years. Sue’s action has everything to do with survival and absolutely nothing to do with greed or profits. Even then, her Pacific 2010 plan has to be executed to perfection to avoid a bankruptcy. It seems the general public would much rather loose all 9000 of PBG’s employees than to loose 2000 of them in an attempt to save the other 7000.

It is also a myth that PBG’s executives are overpaid and that they gave their executives massive pay increases to lay off people. The unions (and the press happy to be their servants at stirring up public anger) claims that executives had a 7 million dollar pay increase in 2008, almost doubling their salaries from the 2007 figure of about 7 million. They also claim that Sue had a massive pay rise while she hatched plans to close factories and move jobs out of Australia. What nobody bothered to explain was that Sue was promoted from division manager (of underwear and hoisery) in 2007 to the post of CEO in 2008. If you think that when someone is promoted from a division manager to CEO, he/she shouldn’t get a massive pay rise then you obviously know nothing about business. Her total renumeration was justly increased from about 700k to about 1.7 million. Nobody also bothered to point out that Paul Moore retired from his post as CEO in 2008 and in PBG’s renumeration accounts for 2008, there were two CEOs instead of one. In other words, in 2007 PBG was paying for one CEO, but in 2008, PBG was paying for two CEOs. Now it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that when you pay two CEOs, your total executive renumeration goes up. It is also important to know that Paul was also paid 3.5 million dollars in retirement benefits for 2008, a payment that is non-recurring. Thus, of the 7 million dollars executive pay increase that unions were unhappy about, about 5 million was due to their retiring CEO, and about 1 million was due to a newly promoted CEO. Other executives did get pay rises in 2008, but it is by no means as massive a pay increase as the the newsmakers would have you believe! Besides, PBG has been involved in numerous acquisitions in recent years (and borrowed heavily to do so, hence their debt), meaning many of its executives now find themselves managing far larger divisions than before, justifying their pay increases.

The critism that PBG’s executives are overpaid are also unfair. To illustrate this, consider a company that is incredibly similar to PBG which is also listed on the ASX — David Jones (or DJS). Both are consumer/retail oriented, both have a yearly revenue of about 2 billion and both have a yearly profit of about 100 million. In 2008, DJS paid their CEO, Mark McInnes, a total of 6 million dollars. That is more than 3 times the 1.7 million dollars Sue recieved! In fact, Mark’s fixed salary (around 1.9 million) is more than Sue’s total renumeration for the year!

I also find the arguments that PBG’s management shouldn’t close down factories after recieving millions of dollars in federal funding absurd. A company’s management’s duty is to its shareholders. Its job is to act in the best interests of those who own the company and employ them. A politician’s duty is to the public at large. I wouldn’t list an elected politican’s job description here, but one thing is for sure: it is not his/her duty to subsidise private companies! And even if he/she choose to do so under extra-ordinary circumstances, he/she should make bloody sure that there are clauses in the contract to prevent the company from running off. So why are we all so mad at a bunch of dutiful people doing their jobs but so forgiving of those who have betrayed our trust and wasted precious tax dollars?

It is also amazing that nobody bothered to commend PBG for being one of the very last clothing company to move manufacturing offshores. Name me an Australian label that manufactures most of its clothings in Australia? I honestly can’t name one. From the mass-market supre to high end designers like Mimco, none of them manufactures their stuff in Australia.

I find it incredibly sad that people are so happy to quickly jump to judge others when they are so easily mis-led. It is ridiculous that Sue has to hire a guard to protect herself and her property and that many of the commentators on News.com.au actually condones such criminal acts. In my opinion, the act of condoning crime is crime itself!

I think it would be helpful for most people to take a step back and take a better look at Sue Morphet. It was her efforts that made Bonds such a well-loved product in Australia, and it wasn’t her fault that she inherited a company with a balance sheet that is so hopelessly screwed. Sue is also one of the most senior women corporate figures in Australia (and let’s be honest, there are shockingly few of them). In many ways, she can be seen as a role model to aspiring business/professional women everywhere!

I know it sucks to be unemployed, especially at these times (I am unemployed too), but most of us are far too old to be throwing unreasonable tantrums at undeserving people. It is my sincere hope that those 1850 made redundant can find employment soon. Even more than that though, I hope the public would open their eyes and see and sense will triumph over emotions.

How do I know all this? I bought PBG shares, lost money and sold them. That’s why.