Eerily Familiar

My dad has always been very cautious of his words. To him, the fear of ISA is very great and understandably, the recent events further reinforces his views. He also reads MSM and regular subscriber of the Star. But there is one thing this cautious man always do since he is eligible to vote many decades ago.

Without fail, he will vote for opposition. You know about the pre-1999 election daily ads about unrests and disturbances? He voted for opposition. And Pak-Lah-is-so-nice-and-a-big-change-Mahathir-era 2004 election? He voted for opposition. Whether it is Ops Lallang or 1969 election, he voted for the opposition. In his views, thanks to the way the electoral system is shaped and the election machinery employed by BN (formerly the Alliance), the opposition stands little change of ever capturing the Federal government.

But he did one thing I never expected.

You see, on the Sunday Star frontpage, the headlines read, PM moots idea of direct membership. Basically, Abdullah felt that this can facilitate for people interested to be associated with BN but don't want to join any component parties.

Source: http://www.bizarroartist.org/gallery/bizarro/bogeyman.jpg/view

My dad just remarked that this drive will fail. He said that this drive is akin to the 60s when the Alliance (consist of only 3 parties, namely UMNO, MCA and MIC) started a membership drive to cater for the same thing and importantly, they wanted to arrest the decline in popularity. My dad was apparently "recruited" by his friend to support another person's bid for some chairman position within the Alliance.

We all know what happened in the 1969 election and the fate of the Alliance since then.

So back to 2008, is Abdullah's idea really new? To be fair, there are no details at all about this BN "membership" or "club" drive so we would never know. But knowing how BN works, people like Shabery Cheek and Samy Vellu echo two important views that will ultimately doom this idea.

You see, people like Shabery Cheek don't see the point why the biggest component member with the highest number of MPs in BN should keep surrending what is rightly theirs when the command the biggest number of MPs with the highest membership numbers in a single party. And on top of that the existence of UMNO is to perpetuate the idea of Malay suzerainty over this land eventhough in reality everyone is created equal in the eyes of God. To surrender any powers to a single multiracial party like BN would end up diluting its voice as the big brother in BN.

As for Samy, well, his mindset perpetuate the idea that MIC is the only political voice in BN that can defend the downtrodden Indians. To similarly yield their numbers to BN directly would be no different from being drowned by a sea of voices of which 90% may most probably be non-indians. Nevermind the MIC track record to date is for all to see which also contributed to the rise of HINDRAF.

Yes, it is eerily familiar. BN will fail just as how the Alliance failed, simply because their platform of making one another bogeymen only ended up making them a big coalition of bogeymen. This is why Pakatan Rakyat, despite PAS being painted as an Islamic extremist party, DAP, being a chinese chauvinist party while PKR, an Anwar fanclub, appeals to the rakyat. These 3 at least showed their willingness to hear out from one another despite the differences and exhibits a level of trust working towards the betterment of the needy and downtrodden regardless of colour.

Are they perfect? Absolutely not. But at least there is an option now, a viable one at that. The other is just good at playing sandiwara, to entertain the masses when their audience are bored to death and wanting real change.

The Showdown

I can never compare myself to our folk hero, RPK. Seriously, what he is doing is something many of us who hide behind our pseudo names would think twice about doing in real life. Yet, deep down, who amongst us, given a choice, will not uphold justice and righteousness? Aren't we called to stand and help the weak, downtrodden and helpless?

Source: http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/

I pray that the good Lord will keep RPK and his family safe and sound while justice be served. That the high court proceeding on October 6 to 10 will bring about revelations and evidences for the court of public opinion.

Where is my country heading to? Perhaps it is right to say, we live in interesting times. But I sure hope RPK will be safe. If not, I am sure the rakyat will respond accordingly. Let's hope things will be sorted out and the cruel killers of Altantuya face the gallows. As a nation, we owe it to her family and her.

Meanwhile, I have my own little battle to wage. My boss came back to me today to tell me that after his discussion with everyone (READ: senior management), they came to a conclusion that my 2 weeks notice is insufficient and instead, any short notice will depend on whether he is satisfied I have "completed the work to his satisfaction".

"You leave me with no choice, I have to give my 24 hours notice then."

He was shocked to hear that. I told him the 2 weeks notice is a notice, not a request. He disagrees because it has to be consensual (huh? he thinks this is sex is it?). I had to quote the staff manual description of course and give him an English definition of what notice meant in case he misunderstood...:P

Source: http://intrance.in/news/2007-12-28

That was when he raised the new project specter.

Which I exorcised it by telling him, it is a straight forward project with 2 months deadline and he has sufficient resources to manage it. He wasn't too pleased when I use two precise words; resource management.

Well, it didn't end there but suffice to say he knows my new employer is involved in a common project and he threatens to purposely delay the project out of spite for depriving him of a staff and blames it on my new employer. He wants my new employer to explain to our customer, what caused the delay. Well, any intelligent person can tell you that no one is on a project alone, they have other team players. But tsk, tsk... he said it out of anger. Shows how mature he is.

My respect for him has dropped. Whatever his reputation is in the market, I am sure it is merely hearsay.

Anyway, I am serving my 2 weeks notice. The responsible me tells me that only flash the 24 hours notice card as a last option. Wait, I did flash to him, but that is to pull a Mahathir. I mean, Mahathir didn't exactly raise the water prices right?

Starting a new project while serving the notice?

I tendered today.

Leaving my present employment for greener pasture. There is no push factor but given the events that transpired today, I realised a push factor is in the works.

Anyway, I gave my current employer a 2 weeks short notice. Why 2 weeks? Why not 24 hours? Well I could leave in 24 hours. My new employer is paying for it. But they are unwilling to let me go. They cite various reasons why 2 weeks is too short of a notice. It ranges from need to do a proper handover (which is not a problem considering most of my projects are at the completion stage), informing the clients (again, I only need to call a handful) and training up the newbies to take over (yeah, apparently all they need is 3 months of training to catch up).

I spoke to the CEO. He said he is fine so long as my present boss is ok with it. My present boss said he will need to speak to my manager.

Source: http://www.pensabah.gov.my/dasar/isuair_bi.htm

And his conclusion?

I have to start a new project. And see to it until the end. Then only he considers whether I can go.

So that will most probably take at least a month. Yes, he wants nothing less than a month notice. But he is using another way to get it. It doesn't seem to occur to him that out of spite I might screw the project. Or that I will just dilly dally until the full notice are served.

The question is, what should I do?

Then came the realisation. Remember the part on Mahathir raising the whole issue we are selling cheap water to Singapore which he then up the ante by asking for an even higher price? Yup, I am pulling a Mahathir.

I am giving 24 hours notice.

You have to hand it to that guy. His wisdom applies even if it is not related to water. Afterall, my new employer is paying for it. Why not right?