Sorry Plight of Bank Employees

The National Union of Bank Employees have picketed against Maybank, CIMB and Bank Muamalat since last year over the banks' alleged exploitative and discriminatory practices. 

NUBE general secretary J Solomon accused the three GLC banks of exploiting and discriminating against workers, including withholding performance bonuses to employees except the CEO, refusing union members extensions beyond retirement age, deducting salaries and terminating the services of employees for participating in trade union activities, and mistreating pregnant workers, among others. 

Their vice-president Abdul Jamil Jalaludin then warned that NUBE members would manifest their anger at the ballot box if their plight went unheeded. 

Since these banks ride roughshod over their workers, NUBE will be campaigning against S Subramaniam in Segamat. “We’ll be urging the Segamat electorate to reject Subramaniam, the worst ever human resource minister,” threatened Solomon.

The three-day campaign is scheduled to begin with a picket in front of Maybank branch in Segamat at 5 PM on May 01, which also happens to be Labour Day. On May 02, NUBE would be picketing in front of two banks in Segamat. At noon, they would be in front of CIMB and at 5 PM, NUBE members will be picketing in front of Maybank again. On their third day, the union would be distributing 100,000 flyers to the public that highlights Subramaniam’s alleged unjust actions against bank employees.

“We are highlighting five points against Subramaniam. In short, Subramaniam is anti-union, anti workers, anti-Malaysian, misuses the law to conspire with banks and misinterprets the law, betrays Malaysian workers,” said the unionist.

Subramaniam, who is also MIC deputy president, has been representing Segamat since 2004. On polling day – May 05, he would face former health minister and current Johor PKR chief Chua Jui Meng.

Boardroom Tussle over Strategy

Accor SA, Europe’s largest hotel operator and owner of the Pullman, Novotel, Sofitel, Mercure and Ibis brands had sacked Chairman and CEO Denis Hennequin (left). On April 23, 2013, Accor’s Board of Directors met at Hennequin’s request with all Directors in attendance and it was unanimously decided that his position would be terminated with immediate effect – and it was all because he had disagreed with the board over strategy directions.

According to a Reuters report, there was disagreement over how quickly Hennequin was selling off assets to boost returns. Accor's top two shareholders, private equity firm Eurazeo (EURA.PA) and US investor Colony Capital, which own a combined 21.4 percent of the capital and command four board seats, want the chain to accelerate the sale of hotels it owns in favor of management contracts or franchises. Additionally, Hennequin had also resisted pressure to split its property holdings from its hotels business.

The company has plans to open 30,000 rooms a year through 2016 and by that time would operate 40 percent of its rooms under franchise agreements and 40 percent under management contracts. Accor will only own or lease 20 percent of the rooms.

Whatever the reason, a boardroom tussle over strategy that resulted in the removal of the Chairman and CEO is a very uncommon predicament.

As Don Sull, Professor of Management Practice in Strategic and International Management, the Faculty Director of Executive Education at the London Business School, and author of The Upside of Turbulence, pointed out that there are rare cases where the strategy may be putting the company at such risk that you may want to consider leaving. These are cases where there are ethical concerns or the company may fail if the strategy is pursued in its current form. If faced with a strategy that is severely flawed or that you just can't comfortably support, you may want to consider quitting (Amy Gallo’s “When you think the strategy is wrong” at blogpage http://blogs.hbr.org/hmu/2010/02/when-you-think-the-strategy-is.html, published February 04, 2010).

I am reminded that Hennequin was sacked; he didn't resign. So there's more than meets the eye on this issue. Having expressed "reservations" about the plan to speed up the implementation of the so-called strategy, he then summoned the Board. I can only deduce that he must have had grave misgivings. In any case, the information at Accor is sketchy. It is pertinent to note that his predecessor was ousted in 2010 over "strategic differences" with the board as well. I am going to keep tabs on Accor and see what happens next.

In an SPL game yesterday, three goals in 10 minutes secured a 3-1 victory for Motherwell over newly-crowned Scottish champions Celtic.

Gary Hooper opened the scoring for Celtic in the 40th minute but Henrik Ojamaa levelled five minutes later. Michael Higdon put Motherwell ahead from the penalty spot five minutes after that after Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew was adjudged to have fouled Ojamaa just inside the box. And in the 55th minute, right-back Mikael Lustig headed Tom Hateley's cross against his own post with Celtic goalkeeper Fraser Forster seeing the ball come off him and into his own net.

Dubai Police Show-offs

Image credit: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/world/dubai-police-show-off-ferrari-patrol-car/story-e6frfkui-1226629677676

Some of us may say that the Dubai Police are showing off. Maybe so but aren’t we all still green–eyed that they have the Ferrari FF (or Ferrari Four) and Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 among their fleet of patrol cars? These cars were acquired this month to be used as a deterrent for anyone considering breaking the speed limit, particular those owners of high-powered exotics. I also read that these cars will also be used in popular tourist areas to help promote Dubai.

Sigh! And I drive a Satria Neo.

Liverpool blasted six goals past a hapless Newcastle – and the goals came from Daniel Agger (3), Jordan Henderson (17, 76), Daniel Sturridge (54, 60) and Fabio Borini (74). 

Whatever. The Reds still sit in position No. 7 in the EPL table – Isn’t this pathetic? Brendan Rodgers is a disappointment alright!

Altantuya Billboards in Kuching

Image credit: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2013/04/27/who-killed-altantuya-billboards-demolished/

Bravo to DAP Bandar Kuching for coming up with the three billboards that featured Altantuya Shaariibuu. They screamed the words “Siapa bunuh dia?” (“Who Killed Her?” in English). They were erected in strategic points in the city in conjunction with BN chairperson Najib Razak’s visit to Kuching today – for the simple reason that the Altantuya murder case is still shrouded in mystery, as explained by DAP Bandar Kuching candidate Chong Chieng Jen.

The Altantuya name continues to make news due to the alleged involvement of persons close to Najib and not to mention that there is also speculation that Najib himself is involved. The latter has, of course, denied any wrongdoing.

But the BN stooge in the form of the Kuching South City council demolished the billboards last night, thus sparing Najib any embarrassment. Why are the authorities so afraid of the Altantuya name? If Najib's hands are not stained with her blood, what is he so frightened of?

Maybe DAP should print posters by the thousands instead and plaster them onto lamp posts, signboards, walls and anywhere they can get noticed. I say, it is more effective to blanket the city’s public spaces with Altantuya’s image – and see if enforcement officers can remove these bills before Najib sets his eyes on them. Malaysians have had enough of Najib!

This morning I was in Pusat Bandar Damansara to attend the HELP University Toastmasters meeting. I was an evaluator for an Ernst & Young speaker where he was supposed to use technology to enhance his speech. I didn’t think he fulfilled his speech objectives and his “lecture” was less than satisfactory. 

The trouble with many Toastmasters is that they seem to be in a hurry to complete their manuals. Thankfully, the other speeches and even the evaluations were alright. 

However the choice of the General Evaluator was a poor one because sadly, she didn’t know half of what she was talking about. E.g. She said the meeting should have started punctually but she neglected to mention that she was the cause of it because she herself came late.

The meeting had many shortcomings, e.g. members leaving their seats and standing in one corner of the room. I suppose they are rather new in Toastmastering and they have had had no guidance or support. 

Whatever happened to their senior members? HELP Toastmasters who were present were enthusiastic and energizing but they didn’t know how to properly conduct meetings. 

As such the quality of today’s meeting suffers. My score for this meeting is a 2 out of a 10.

Malaysian Women in Politics

DAP's Hannah Yeoh is standing for re-election in the Subang Jaya state seat. Check out her ceramah In Bandar Sunway’s PJS7 on April 21, 2013:

Yesterday, she was in Subang Jaya’s SS15 where she and other PR colleagues gave another ceramah to an appreciative crowd estimated to number about 3,000. I was there and I can vouch that the field that hosted the political talk was overwhelmed by the massive crowd.

Yeoh is one of DAP’s twenty-two women candidates representing 12.3 percent (from a total of 178 women aspirants standing for Parliament and state) with BN parties contributing 39.9 percent, PKR (16.9 percent), PAS (14.0 percent) and Independents (16.9 percent) – who are contesting in GE13. Altogether, a total of 579 and 1,321 candidates will battle it out for both the parliamentary and state seats and women make up only 9.4 percent! This is far below the 30% allocation for women designated in the Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women which Malaysia has signed and promised to implement.

Prominent women's rights activist Marina Mahathir told Malaysiakini that the low number of women election candidates was disappointing. She said, "The trouble is, at heart, none of the political parties really believe in gender equality".

"What women bring to the table is valuable, as valuable as what men bring and maybe even more so, because what women most care about is their families and their communities, which are the centres of any society".

"You do right by families and you'll do right for the whole country," Marina stressed.

 In fact, Indonesia has recognized this and in 2008 established a quota of 30 percent for women’s participation as candidates and in the top leadership of all political parties. If our neighbor can do it, why can’t we?

Psy's Follow-up

Psy's follow-up to his global hit Gangnam Style – i.e. ‘Gentleman’ – has already clocked up more than 211 million views on YouTube, and even South Korea's president Park Geun-Hye showered him with praise.

Just days after its release, the music video has become the fastest video to hit the 100 million views mark, beating the previous record set by Susan Boyle's ‘I Dreamed A Dream’.

‘Gentleman’ also smashed the record for the most views in a single day after it notched up 20 million hits in its first 24 hours.

And his signature horse-riding dance from Gangnam Style is replaced with a pelvic thrust apparently known as the arrogant dance. Sorry, I am not a fan of his and so I will not be showing the said video here.

Interestingly, KBS, a major South Korean radio and television network, has banned the rapper's new video, claiming it could provoke anti-social behaviour. In the four-minute promo, the entertainer is shown jaywalking and kicking a cone that says 'no parking'. The state broadcaster said the scenes set a bad example to younger viewers and fell short of its standards.

Yesterday, I was at the Taman Indrahana Toastmasters meeting where I delivered my CC #3 speech titled “The Frog Prince”. The particular speech was based on a MAD cartoon (see below) that I chanced upon. To cap a good evening, I was also voted Best Speaker. I would give this meeting a score of an 8 over 10.

Nurul Izzah's Ceramah in KL's Kerinchi

This is Nurul Izzah’s ceramah in PPR Kerinchi, Kuala Lumpur on April 18, 2013. She deserves the support of all Malaysians!

She is going to have a very tough fight on her hands. But I believe she can still pull it off and win!

Celtic retained the Scottish Premier League championship title following a comfortable 4-1 victory against Inverness Caledonian Thistle. 

Celtic’s goals came from Gary Hooper (61, 73), Joe Ledley (66) and Georgios Samaras (88) while Aaron Doran's reply in the 90th minute on behalf of Inverness was scant consolation.

 

Also on Sunday, Liverpool and Chelsea battled to a 2-2 draw. 

The latter made the breakthrough as Oscar scored with a near-post header from Juan Mata's corner (26) following poor marking from Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger. The Reds equalized when Suarez dinked a lovely ball over Branislav Ivanovic after good work by Stewart Downing, and Daniel Sturridge did the rest from close in (52). 

No sooner had Liverpool got back on level terms than they were again behind. Suarez handled a corner and Eden Hazard stepped up to send Pepe Reina the wrong way with his spot-kick (57). Then in the 97th minute, Sturridge crossed from the right for Suarez to nip in at the near post to head home.

On Saturday, the “old boys” came together again – although this was my first function that I attended with them.

They are the former students of Malacca High School (batch of 68-72/74) and Banda Hilir English School (62-67). The ‘55+3’ reunion was held at the Tiara Golf Resort in Jalan Gapam in Bukit Katil, Malacca.

The Boston Marathon Bombings

A woman kneels in front of a memorial to the Boston Marathon bombings victims, at the barricades surrounding the scene in Boston, Massachusetts, April 18, 2013. Reuters pic.

On Monday, two explosive devices were detonated near the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon, killing at least 3 people and leaving more than 180 others injured.

Going by the comments I read on Facebook, many Malaysians were appalled if not outraged by the bombing incident. 

I am not trying to take away the grief and the pain Americans and others feel about this heinous attack but on that same day itself, there were many other victims of mass violence elsewhere too. 

Take Iraq. At least 75 people were killed and 356 more were wounded in a series of attacks across the country. Only the far south and Iraqi Kurdistan were spared (Webpage http://original.antiwar.com/updates/2013/04/15/iraqs-bloody-monday-75-killed-356-wounded/, published April 15, 2013).

It is sad to note that the Iraqi casualty numbers have become just numbers, and worse still, they are almost meaningless because the public is numb to the reality of what the numbers mean. Death is too common in this country and many more will die today and even tomorrow.

I wonder. Do Malaysians mourn those who died in Iraq or Syria or Afghanistan or wherever people are dying because of the violence precipitated in the name of some cause or other? 

I am reminded of what George Bernard Shaw said in "Caesar and Cleopatra": “And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand”.

Last Thursday, we had our 24th meeting of the Sunway University Toastmasters Club. We were literally mobbed with guests, some of whom wanted to check us out and others who wanted to sign up! It was a meeting that saw an attendance of upwards of fifty people. The meeting room was filled to the brim. Even the food ran out and we had to replenish it. 

But even better, we had five quality speeches and the evaluations were just as good. I had to double up as the Table Topics Evaluator and an Evaluator for an Ice Breaker speech. 

Oh yes, Nurdina Kasim did a wonderful job as Toastmaster-of-the-Evening! All in all, this meeting deserves an 8 over 10!