Thank You America

I am truly elated to know that Obama has won the US election, the
first black president. To me, it is the next big thing since Tiger
Woods..Thank you America. You have shown to the world that we can seek
change without resorting to violence. You have shown to the world that
change can be done through the ballot box and not through bloodshed.
Thank you and thank you..

A good career dad: is this a misnomer?

A friend of mine sent me this email as an advice. I have read it before but I thought I should publish it here as it beckons a very deep message especially to workaholics with young kids.  

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.
SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'
DAD: 'Yeah sure, what is it son?' replied the man.
SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.
SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'
DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'
SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.
SON: 'Daddy, may I please borrow $25?'
The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities. '
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?
After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think:
Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.
'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.
'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.
'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.
'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.
'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.
'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.
It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company or the department that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. 

I have 6 kids. The eldest is 15 and the youngest is now 3. There are many many times that I missed their birthdays, their parent-teacher meetings at their schools, their sports days and many more just because I had to work or attend meetings abroad. Its always my missus who would be their dad and mum at the same time. I know they would want their dad to be around when they won prizes or performed their class singings at the end of the final school term. I tried not to miss these but there were many times work had to come first.  There are times when I looked at my eldest 2 daughters and wondered if I had spent enough time with them when they were just little kids growing up.  Like any guilt-trodden dad, I am now fighting to gain back those lost years but I do realise, they were only kids once.  I now have to accept the fact that my eldest daughters are no longer small kids. they no longer want to be with you all the time. They want to go out with their own friends and peers. Gone were the days when they want to  "ikut jalan" to almost everywhere that I went, even to fill up the car fuel tank.  

All is not lost. I now make sure that I give time for my younger kids.  I would make sure that I spend at least an hour a day with them playing frisbee, kaki tiga or basketball or fishing at the back of my house. Fridays or sundays will always be spent with them on the swimming pool at the polo club or a night out at the movies if there are suitable shows on. I now feel that my kids appreciate my presence more as they always look jubilant as soon as I arrive home from work. Just last night my little 3 year old son haziq who is still clingy with both of us came to our bed and squeezed himself in the middle. I asked him why would he want to sleep with mum and dad. And he gave me the simplest of answers.

"sebab haziq sayang babah sama babu"

Questions that bother me?

Since the day I was at law school, the following questions have been bothering me.

Can we survive as a nation without:

1. Oil?

2. Gas?

3. Subsidies?

4. Personal income tax?

I once posed this question to my university law professor who was an expert on constitutional and administrative law on the most effective solution for a government to increase governance and reduce the risks of abuse of power by public servants.  He gave me a crudely simple answer but I thought it did and even until now makes some sense, reduce the size of the public sector and their powers, privatise their services and let the private sector deliver public services.  It does make sense. The less power that a person has, the less opportunity for him to abuse it.  The less services that public officer needs to deliver, the less opportunity for him to "rent out" his authority for his personal gain.  That is why to me, corporatization  and subsequently privatisation of public services do make sense.