Distraction

I need a distraction. I am currently just preparing for 2 trips. Bandung in December and Osaka i January. In between of those 2 trips, i am distracting my self with work. Just received words that I need to attend a meeting in Singapore this Thursday. I dislike business trips. It just suck the fun out of travelling. I need to keep an open mind ... Just take it as part and parcel of life. Just chill and enjoy the ride.

I want to plan for a short domestic getaway. I missed the sea and the white sandy beach. But its rainy season here in malaysia. I have to put that idea on hold and furthermore, I should save enough money for the upcoming 2 trips.

I am not sure how much pocket money i need to bring. I am planning to do a bit of shopping in Jakarta and just a light shopping in Osaka. I am looking forward to buy some winter apparels in Bandung and perhaps 1 or 2 G shock in Japan.

Dreading this business trip. Today, there was a plane crash involving Lion Air. An Indonesian low cost carrier. Its a devastating news

Crushing Hard

I have a huge crush on my dentist. For the past month, I have been visiting my dentist for a root canal treatment (RCT). The whole process was loong and excruciating but it was bearable since i like the dentist.

My dentist is actually a childhood acquaintance. I've known him since i was small. We were in the taekwando class together. He opened up his own practice a few years ago. The whole RCT has not been easy on me. The first session took almost 4 hours to complete and it caused me to bleed that i had to visit him again after a few days. The second one was fast and uneventful but the 3rd one was complicated. the session was completed in 2 sittings.

I have always been a bit choosy on my dentist. So now that I have met him, I wouldn't mind visiting the dentist every other month just to see his face.

MRT 2 drama

I may be bias since I am somewhat part of the company that is currently constructing the MRT2 (MG) but since everybody is putting their opinion out there, here is mine. 

To those who manage to sift through all the political agenda and see the real fact of the matter after reading and watching everything published on social media, I say kudos to you sir. Those who has yet to make up their mind, I say take your time coz the amount of info out there is overwhelming. There are numbers percentage calculations involved, engineering terms being thrown around (TBM VD TBM etc), the various different entities , different key figures giving contradicting statements and many more confusing things. Its a real life soap opera and I, like most of you guys, am a bystander (at least I think and hope that I am just that). I probably am standing slightly a little closer than any of you due to  my current position. I digress.

Nonetheless, to those who made up their mind and goes on agreeing with the cabinet decision to re-tender the 60% uncompleted underground portion of the project, i say, please use your brain logical thinking skill (provided you are blessed with such skill).

I am not going to discuss details, but merely appeal to your logical thinking. When the news broke on Sunday, my mind goes, MG is unable to arrive at a lower figure? So MG would rather let 20K employees lose job then just maybe cutting 2K position or apply some cost saving measure somewhere? MG dare to risk losing a huge project just because don't want to let go of a few billions? Why is MG being so hostile towards the gov now? Most of their big projects come from the government. Why are we picking fights with the ultimate employer? We are not interested to do anymore gov project ke?

This is the gov that G chose. The company gave extra leave for employees who need to balik kampung to vote. G's MD is the first to release an e-mail asking the employees who balik kampung to vote need not rush back for fear of civil unrest. This is the company that loss so much after selling their water asset to the Selangor gov. So when LGE issued the cabinet decision, my mind is just boggled with questions trying to find logical answers.

On Monday, the management rushed to prepare a response to LGE's statement whilst the employees went all out to social media sharing their feelings. Since I am just a kici mayung machai in the company, all i did was observe the bosses rushing into meetings after meetings. The employees (tunnelers) organize themselves as i think, they are all in survival mode. Their livelihood is being threatened. If your livelihood is being threatened, do you just sit there and accept or do you get up and do something to change it? 

Many brilliant minds out there commented, once the project is re tendered, works starts again, then they all will get their job back. How I wish that it is that simple. How I wish that digging underground tunnels is as easy as digging a hole by the beach. It can all be washed away by a crashing wave and other can easily starts digging a whole new hole at anytime. Again, I digress.

The point that most people missed is that MG did gives their proposal for cost reduction. Parties was still negotiating when LGE issued their statement on Sunday. MG suggested that an international consulting firm is appointed to really determine the real cost of the uncompleted portion and parties will just follow the consultant's proposal. To that, the gov gave no reply but issue a statement saying the underground contract is hereby cancelled. 

Let's do a simple logical thinking exercise. Assuming a new company get the underground job, they will start hiring, does the current tunnelers need to re-apply? Can the new company gives a guarantee that all these people will be employed by the new company? How long this hiring process going to take? In the meantime, what do you suggest these tunnelers do?

I can go on and discuss the issue on engineering design etc but those points may be too complex even for me to explain. I leave that to the engineering people to decipher. 

A few days after LGE issued the statement, Tun issued another statement saying that the gov will review its decision. Then a few days after, Azmin is saying a committee is going to be set up to review the whole contract. If its just a review and not an outright cancellation and re-tender as per what LGE said, whats the point of his statement on Sunday?! Cakap kosong? Just to crash the stock market? Making investors jittery? Driving the economy to the ground? Making the value of Rinngit even weaker? Showing G who is the boss, as if they don't know it already? 

LGE has to remember that he is the Finance Minister (for crying out loud). What you say have effect! Does he realised that? I am just wondering right.  Who in the world benefited/profited from his statement on Sunday?

Unless someone could gives believable explanation as to why LGE issue the statement on Sunday, the whole drama is not making any logic sense.