Kota Kinabalu

I just came back from a great weekend in Kota Kinabalu. I facilitated a team away day at the Sutera Harbour Resort in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah over on Thursday and Friday last week. Although I had been to Sabah before, I was not able to take time off to see the sights in KK. This time was even more meaningful as I was able to bring my wife along.

The team I facilitated had team building on Manukan Island, a 15 min speed boat ride away from Sutera Harbour. This was great fun, and the BBQ lunch was pretty fantastic too. I think I must have exceeded my seafood intake allowance by at least 20 times over the course of the few days I was in KK. The seafood here is fresh and abundant.

The away day I had put together went pretty well, and seeing the participants in a good mood atthe end certainly left me feeling satisfied and energised, so I was really looking forward to the weekend. I have a long time friend in KK, who I have known since we studied A-levels in the same college in the UK many years ago. I was really good to catch up with him, and go around Sabah with him. It was the first time he met my wife as well.

On Saturday, was my wife's birthday, so I surprised her with a birthday cake during dinner with the team. I had arranged this a few weeks before, and it was good to see it go as planned. The smile it brought to her face was well worth the effort.

The next day we were picked up by my friend and went off to Kundasang, a stone's throw away from Mount Kinabalu. This is about 60 km from KK, but it takes a good 2hrs by car as the "highway" is a single lane, windy road though the mountainns, used also by trucks. I was told that this is currently the primary road route to the East of Sabah.

When we got to Kundasang, I was even more surprised that my friend had a holiday retreat of his own in Kundasang, with a beautiful view of Mount Kinabalu. The climate here is cool and refreshing and the people everywhere are very friendly. There is also the Kinabalu Park nearby which offer a number of jungle lodges to stay at and many jungle trails for the adventurous. We did'nt have time to really do much, but we at least caught a glimpse of the awsome size of Mount Kinabalu. As if to add to its mistery, the legendary mountain is only visible in the early morning before being shrouded by thick clouds. The locals believe that the spirits of the dead rise to the peak of the mountain to rest.

After we got back to KK, we spent a little time and Beach 1 and Beach 2 near the Prince Phillip Park. Beach 1 is pretty hip, having been done up with swanky eateries and a cheerful looking promenade. The name of the beach, however, was not particularly inspiring.

We had a quick bite by the park and then headed off to the ariport. My wife was travelling Air Asia, and the new LCC terminal in KK was pretty inpressive. What's more impressive was that he flight was on time, while mine, a MAS flight, was delayed by 2 hours. I am beginnig to think that I might as well just stick to AirAsia for all flights, for leisure or business. Paying the extra money does'nt seem to buy me more reliable service on MAS.

My wife and I did enjoy the trip, and I think we will be going back there in the future. A longer stay in Kundasang will definitely be in the plan.

The Pearl of the Orient

Penang Island, my birth place, certainly has a unique charm. I never really lived in Penang, as I was brought up in Kuala Lumpur, and I was to young to remember the holidays I had here wiht my family before. However, I am starting o rediscover its charm after spending time in Penang with my wife, who also hails from Penang.

I have a confession to make, however. To me, the charm of Penang can only be expeienced during the Chinese New Year holidays, when a majority of the vehicles in Penang are off the road. It was such a pleasure driving around in this relaxed environment. Although many of the Chinese run shops are shut at this time, if you are on holiday, this really does not matter much. The places that sell the most tasty food Penang are mostly still open. One such place is this restaurant called Karaikudi, on Market Street. The interior is pleasntly decorated and the food is excellent. They serve the best mutton biryani I've ever tasted. Their daal makhani was also superb.

Being able to get parking easily is a big plus point, especially if you would like to see some of the sights in town. One such place is Kapitan Keling Mosque, which was refurbished by a Al-Bukhari foundation a few years back. The architecture is exquisite, and it is amazingly cool inside. The water used for ablution still comes from the age old well in the grounds of the mosque. The base of the minaret, separated from main building, serves as an information centre on Islam for visitors.

Another beautiful sight not to be missed is the Kek Lok Si Temple, on a hill in Ayer Hitam. During the Chinese New Year season, the entire temple (I mean every single structure) is lit up with lights and lanterns from sunset to about midnight. Sadly the walkway leading up to the temple is in total darkness midway. I was told that people have been robbed there before, so its wise to walk up only when there are many others walking together. The site of the temple on the hill top is well worth the walk.

I see many old buildings in Penang having been refrubished and integrated into new constructions. This is an excellent effort to retain Penang's unique charm and I hope this continues well into the future. Perhaps the government could consider provide tax breaks for money spent on refurbushment and maintenance on buildings of historical value, especially in places like Penang Island.

Happy Chinese New Year

Greetings to all who celebrate CNY. It was a good long weekend for me, my wife and her family in Penang. I was lucky to have gotten bus tickets for the trip to and from Penang . After witnessing the massive traffic jams on higways (if you could call them that given that the traffic was literally crawling), I was happy that I chose not to drive. I can't imagine what emotional state I would have been in after a 10 hour drive from Penang, followed by a 1 hour drive to Port Dickson at 3 am in the morning.

Anyway, in the time between naps on the bus, I began to think about "Ops Sikap" that the traffic police launch every holiday season. By definition, it is meant to reprimand errant drivers for displaying lack of courtesy on the roads. However, it seems that Malaysian police mostly focus on speeding as errant driving. If I had a sen for every time I saw vehicles weave in and out of lanes without giving signals, driving without both headlights or rear lights working, or using the emergency lane to overtake from the left, I would be a millionaire, but somehow, the police are blind to these displays of errant driving. Makes you wonder if the police are just too lazy to chase after these drivers when they can easily send out a few thousand summonses via mail just by sitting down and pointing a speed trap camera from a comfortable perch along a highway. Perhaps they don't see the significance of these "little" things in making the roads safe for everyone.

How is it there can be so many errant drivers with poor driving ethics on the road in the first place. I think it all roots down to the way in which vehicles and driving licenses are issued. Sorry to say, the plain truth is that there is still plenty of corruption in the system. More often than not, if you go to a driving school, you will be openly offered the "easy way" or the "hard way" to get your license. Likewise, vehicle inspections at JPJ offer no guarantee that they vehicle is in genuinely good condition and fit for the road. Evidence, you ask? Just open your ears and eyes, and it will become evident.

Facts don't figure

Part of my job involves benchmarking of manhour numbers to determine what is called a People Index, which is used to compare the workforce population and demographics to other simlar facilities. Great concept, jsut like any other benchmarking effort, but I wonder really how accurate the benchmarking is. It seems that so many assumptions are made, that the essence of local factors that can and do have an influence on various parameters are lost in a sea of data. This is especially so when the comparing across different regions, where the dynamics of the economy are just not the same. I wonder how "normal" normalised data is, especially if the parties doing the normalising have no clue about the backrgound of a particular site? Hmmm..... I wonder.

Traffic Control

I heard in the news recently that the traffic situation in KL is getting worse. But this is not the first time it is being mentioned. It seems that the follow through mechanism in the civil service just does not work or more likely, does not exist. Some of the solutions, such as the dual purpose tunnel, are very impressive, but it serves to treat the consequences of the root cause rather than contending with the root cause itself.

And what is the root cause? Well, there are simply too many vehicles on the road. You can't blame people for having vehicles and for using them. It is their right, after all, in a free country. However, if they had reliable, comfortable and reasonably priced alternatives, I'm sure the wise people of KL would choose to public transport instead of being stuck in traffic for hours and facing the horrors of poor driving practices on KL roads (what causes this is a subject that deserves a dedicated discussion).

Rather than just charging flatly for all vehicles, there could always be a discount for non single occupant vehicles. This would encourage people to pool cars. In fact the concept of pool cars has not at all been exploited to its true potential. Every office management could play a part in this by setting up car pool committees to arrange for the pick up and send off of staff coming from the same general location. In fact each building could have a car pool committee for maximum impact. The government could incentivise this effort by rewarding the most effective groups with fuel subsidies etc.

This is one of many ideas that can be rolled out in cities like KL where having more roads and parking is simply not an option.

More Than Peace

I am very thankful that we have had many years of peace in Malaysia and I hope for it to last forever. Like many others, I cannot help but be concerned with the developments involving Hindraf and more recently the exposure of one of our ministers in being involved in what I consider an immoral act.

Many politicians in our country harp on the fact that there are some who try to disrupt the peace in this country. But peace is not merely defined as the absence of war. I think the Dalai Lama said it best:

Peace, in the sense of the absence of war, is of little value to someone who is dying of hunger or cold. I will not remove the pain or torture inflicted on a prisoner of conscience. It does not comfort those who have lost their loved ones in floods caused by senseless deforestation. Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed and where individuals & nations are free.

Malaysian Airlines System (MAS)

I am somewhat proud of any home grown brand or successful business, and I would certainly like to see the same for our national airlines. Looking at the recently released financial reports for MAS, they seem to be doing a lot better than were a year ago (on the that the numbers truly reflect better things to come rather than just the sales of property and other extraordinary gains). However, I fear that over-aggressive cost control measures in inappropriate areas may affect costumer satisfaction.

I am not sure when MAS lest did a customer satisfaction survey, but I would not count a very impressive result. On my last trip to Singapore on the 22nd of November from KLIA, my flight was delayed by 5 hrs. In fact the 10.40pm flight I was scheduled to board never arrived, so I made a beeline for the other available flight via the transfer desk. All MAS had to offer at this point was a meal voucher redeemable at a fast food chain at KLIA. I missed my dinner meeting with some colleagues in Singapore, and ended up checking in at the hotel in Singapore at only 1am. Needless to say, I was exhausted in the morning when I rose to attend another meeting.

As if that was not enough, the return flight was delayed by another 3 hours, but this time no compensation was offered at all. Incidently, I missed a wedding of close friends daughter that evening in KL. The quality of service provided by an airline is core to its business. On this ocassion, MAS certainly failed to display an acceptable level of service. If its customers are really important to them, I would have expected them to take a more proactive approach to ensuring that all customers were well taken care of.

I recall a story from a business book that mentioned how an airline gave a baby a lifetime of free flights due to the delays in the flights the child and her parents suffered. Not only was the dissatisfaction diffused instantly, but by having one person always choosing their arline by preference, she will likely influence other to fly the same airlines in the future so that her flight is always free. Interesting approach?