Ervan’s Weltanschauung

Ramadhan is once again upon us.

30 days of fast, from the break of dawn till sun set, abstaining from food, water, and other earthly pleasures. I am always not too keen in fasting. Unlike any other Muslims who will really look forward to the month of Ramadhan. This is the Holy Month where any good deeds are greatly rewarded by Allah. Thus many will seek to please Allah by abstaining from food and water, perform the night prayers, and give alms to the poor. But every year, after fasting for a few days, I see things beyond the requirements of fasting in the month of Ramadhan…

What do I see?

The strength of the Islamic faith. Come Ramadhan, does not matter if you are rich or poor, everyone, with no exception is required to fast. Even the rich has to abstain from food, and thus they too, would know what it is like to go on without food or water. Of course this is during the day time though.

Talk about putting yourself on someone else’s shoes. Here is a good example of you being on somebody else’s shoes. And yes, the view is definitely different and you, can appreciate the situation better and thus more understanding for the poor.

I can even find fairness in Islam. The beauty of the moon based Islamic calendar. Has the month of Ramadhan been based on the sun, let say for example falls in the month of July, Muslims in North America will be migrating to Australia just for the shorter Ramadhan hours. But the moon based calendar allows a fair balance of fasting in the winter and summer months.

Indeed, Allah is fair. Allah has arranged His creations to follow a certain set of rules. Earth orbits the sun in 365 days, and the moon orbits the Earth in 29.5 days. All has been set in motion and man has already found ways to calculate the calendars up to thousand of years in advanced.

Somehow, I do wonder, why some still lack the faith to use what that has already been given by Allah for their convenience?

Wallahualam. Only Allah knows.

You like Japanese food? Contrary to popular belief, Japanese food is not about sushi and raw fish. There are more to Japanese food than just, sushi, sashimi and unagi…

On Wednesday night, a couple of BB and TTDI old boys were invited by Reezan for dinner at Mama Mia Cafe at Desa Hartamas (near the Projet Station, next to Guardian pharmacy). The reason, to celebrate my birthday, and a small gathering before the start of Ramadhan this Sunday.

Mama Mia cafe does not look like a normal Japanese cafe or restaurant. In fact, your first impression on seeing it, you just could not make up what they serve. Plus with the fact that the place was rather empty except for the loud noise made by the boys, you could be forgiven to assume that the food in Mama Mia cafe is nothing to shout about.

But once you taste the food, you glad that you tried it instead of giving in to your misconception. The katsu was very crispy and tasty, and you can actually feel the chicken meat instead of the usual just bread crumb taste. The Yakitori and karaage were really tasty, and the unagi, man, it tasted gooooooooddd.

And what better to top a very nice dinner with good old cakes for dessert? And here is where Mama Mia Cafe is different, it has such a variety of desserts that you just do not know which one to choose. The cafe helped us by letting us try different cakes in small Japanesey style portion….and boy they tasted goooood…

Mama Mia Cafe is definitely the place to go to when you are in the Hartamas area. And if you do buy Projet fuel, even better, as you could get the katsu don meal at a very special price….

I remember last time, I met a person from an NGO. She was rather unfriendly towards me, especially when she found out that I was working for a National Oil Company. And somehow, the topic of Corporate Governance came up. And how my then company lacks the social responsibility towards the people by virtue giving all it’s profit and divident to the Government. And the best part, she got so fed up with me, that she told me that I do not know what is Corporate Governance is all about…

I am glad that UCL has taught me a very important lesson. I remember a lecturer told me that never accept his idea, and try to create your own idea and perception. Text books are not to be treated as a bible, but as something for you to learn and shape your idea. That’s why when there is a list of of sustainable and ethical corporation as listed by NGOs, UN and the media, true to my UCL root, I challenged the report.

Shell was number 1, even though we all know that they displaced the Ogonis in Nigeria. And yes, one of the famous Ogoni used to study in UCL, that is how I know about the displacement. And the one company that should be in the list, is not. PDVSA, who gives out cheap oil to the poor in the United States is not in the list. And are you telling me that they are not ethical? And before you get political, remember, they give cheaper oil to the poor! That’s the more important thing. And don’t worry, they are very sustainable, as they have reserves for at least 60 more years.

Sometimes people are too dependent on a certain set of data. People just absorb what they read. But, they lack one thing. To observe, and actually doing the thing that they have read. And sadly, I do see that a lot in every day situation. Too bad really, especially Muslims, they kept on forgetting that even Allah told them to seek for the truth. I learned not to accept news at face value at UCL when I should have always been doing that since I was born.

For me, I can’t convince everyone that my previous company was good. True, the data is not there. It was never publicised. But, I am observant. And I do know, my previous company has done a lot to the community wherever its presence are felt. They might not donate material stuff (which is truth to be told, always the favour of many multinationals to say that they are doing community service). But they are doing something more worthwhile.

People in Kerteh, being taught English by the young engineers working at the various plants there. Orphans in Bintulu being taken care of by the staff of the LNG plant in Bintulu. An orphanage, a forgotten orphanage in the fringe of the weathiest suburb in KL, being taken care by a group of volunteers where a majority hails from my previous company.

And you ask yourself, what else do this people want? Like the Malay saying, kuman di seberang lautan nampak, gajah di pelupuk mata tiada nampak. Frankly, it is hard to satisfy these people. And for me, I am glad that I just kept quiet when that person told me off.

For me, I was involved with community work. And I know I have made the difference for those people that I helped. And that is much much more important than a petty person who tries to find fault. My 6 years in the company also has taught me many things. But the most important lesson of all, is by being humble and always care for the community. And trust me, a lot of us has made a lot of difference to the little people that are sometimes forgotten by the rest especially by the organisations that were supposed to help these people.

Life is a journey. Life is short. Rather than finding faults in others and trying to be boastful of yourself, isn’t it better if you try to make a difference for yourself while enriching the life of others?

Malaysia, Truly Asia.

I like that sentence. It captures the essence of Malaysia, which is truly Asia. Malaysia which is multi racial is represented by three main races, Malay (from the South East Asia), Chinese (North East / Asia Pacific) and Indians (South Asia). Yes, Malaysia is the melting pot of the region.

But Malaysia is still a long way to go from Bali, Thailand and Singapore. Long to be the favoured destination of many tourists. Let’s face it, what Malaysia try is to join the bandwagon, and ensuring that we are not left behind.

Things that we have done. Petronas Twin Towers was built to gain more recognition by being the tallest towers, and they were overtaken by Taipei 101 after only 6 or so years. KLIA was built to be the regional hub of South East Asia. Last I checked, most airlines still prefer Changi, making it the prefered airport in South East Asia. MSC was to be the next Sillicon Valley, and it seems that even India has beat Malaysia to it.

And don’t let me go on to other stuff. But let me bring in the idea of the iPod. When it first came out, iPod was another mp3 player. Expensive, but with a very huge capacity. And the marketing of iPod has made it the most popular mp3 player around. Yes, I am one of the many who bought an iPod. And believe you me, it was one of my favourite purchase….

iPod has an edge over other mp3 players, it’s the experience that matters. It does not matter if other mp3 players are cheaper (but hard to master its controls), and the ingenuity of the iPod is its design and experience.

After all, music is the universal language for humans. As I am typing this, I am listening to a Japanese song on my iPod. I could have enjoyed it with any other mp3 player, but I prefer the iPod experience. After all, I got more than 5 GB of music, and well, it’s nice I can hear my whole collection on the go….with my iPod. And it looks just so cool to be wearing my iPod handphones…

The bottom line is, Apple has created a totally new market for the mp3 players. And they kept on improving on it. Last I heard, we got iPod Video which allows you play video (what? on a small screen?). Oh, I forgotten to mention, iPod is just part of the equation. iTunes is the other, and the iTunes music store is the real driver and that’s what other mp3 makers fail to realise…..

Tranversing into the Malaysia rebranding. I myself am not sure how can we rebrand Malaysia. We have always been the follower, and never the innovator. Perhaps we could start with the tourism sector, which is after all one of the biggest contributor to Malaysia.

They have set the ball rolling, with "Malaysia, Truly Asia". But what can we do to make the Malaysia experience?