Persatuan Bekas Kakitangan Felda.

7.5.2008.

PBKF had their 9th. AGM on 26th. April at the Dewan Merak Kayangan. I had received the notice from Khairuddin, and had wanted to attend, which would have been a first time for me. We were reminded by Jayos during our exFelda golf at Nilai Spring on 22nd. April. However, something came up, and I had to miss it. 

This morning I met Azimah at the Giant, Ampangan. She asked whether I attended, so it reminded me and here I am posting my blog.

I have a whole lot to say about Felda. I'll try to find time to post my comments some day, but to-day I'll just write on one issue - where is Felda going ? This is one question I would have liked to raise at the AGM.

Before the post of Chairman was "politicised" the last person to hold it was Raja Alias. The special thing about Raja Alias was, prior to that, he was also the Director General of Felda for many years. Assuming the chairmanship, after some colourful figures who had occupied it, was an easy transition, in fact a natural upgrading for Raja Alias. I believe those years that Felda was stewarded by Raja Alias, first as the DG, and later as Chairman, were the vital and formative ones that made Felda what it is to-day.

Rubber was the crop of first choice in the early years, but it was the large scale opening of oil palm schemes that put Felda on the world map. Of course, it was the result of extensive studies that made the choice possible, but the fact that on hindsight this was almost a perfect decision, made in his watch, must make it undeniable that to Raja Alias accrued the full credit . 

The spectacular commercial success of palm oil in the commodities market allowed Felda to rake in huge profits over the years, so much so that it was reputed that Felda at that time sat on one of the biggest cash reserves in any government held organization.

In fact, while huge profits were being made, Felda was run very, very conservatively. All administrative expenditures were stringently controlled. There were none of the free-spending ways with high-salaried appointments ,and company cars, and flush offices that seem so to be expected these days. The cars did come eventually, but it was, for many top executives, painfully slow in coming, and painfully cheap when it did come. 

The story was that sometimes the GM's would ask to be dropped by their drivers away from the main entrance of the venue they were headed for, lest their counterparts, who came in their Volvos and Mercedes's, saw the GM's stepping out of their Peugeot's and Toyota's. In short, high profits and low costs made it possible for Felda to amass a large reserve. All the time the focus was on the main core business, the commodities market.

What I hear now is that Felda is branching into, well, apparently,everything. It is involved in the soccer league, the sports car rally, in retail business in the towns, in the travel industry, in shipping,and in catering domestically and internationally, among others that's been heard of. 

There was also a case of a land purchase in the open market, where before, as a government-controlled agency, Felda could acquire land from State Governments at nominal premiums. A few years ago there was a big news splash on an IPO, which fortunately did not materialise. I mean, one goes public to attract funds, but Felda was flush with cash. Going public would only open yourself to a possible unfriendly takeover. It is easy for the inheritors of Felda to spend away all the loot so painstakingly accumulated by the pioneers. Some are even heard saying that the old management was not bright enough to see the opportunities for investments, for chances to grow even richer. Admittedly Raja Alias was not known for his risk-taking, nor his mettle for grooming real talent, but surely his narrow scope of outlook for the core business that was Felda's had meant that Felda stayed within its field of competence, and achieved real success doing just that. 

I would really like to see Felda's portfolio now, and compute all the financial return to investment on all activities. As I always say, it is easy to count all the money the company makes, it's not so easy to go out and make the money in the first place. The Felda pioneers enjoyed none of the creature comforts of the present-day executives. Their salaries were a pittance compared to what is being paid now. I don't think these pioneers want any compensation for their " lost" income. But I do think that they want to see that all that they have forsaken for is not poured down the drain.

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Continuation of Malay-Javanese wedding...

6.5.2008.

Just then Mr. Balun , my late uncle Jamaluddin's youngest son, passed by, then reversed his car. His sister, Eda & daughter were inside. I asked Mr. Balun for ten bucks, but he just pulled out a tissue paper from the box in front of him. I think this threesome was the entire Jamaluddin's representative, but at least somebody came from this family.

By the way, Sarkum says Meru is also his kampong. Sarkum Rantam, as is his full name, is a full-blooded Javanese ( what else can you be with that name ! ) who is now a permanent resident of Paroi Jaya. I used to tell him his name is pre-Islamic, but he says it's originated from royalty. Of course I told him I don't believe him, because all the Javanese in Malaysia came as Jawa kontrak. I think his settling in Seremban has a lot to do with his wife, as she is from Bentong, and Seremban is about halfway between Meru and Bentong. 

Now back to the wedding story, the road leading to the wedding site was chockablock. What's with Malaysian drivers, anyway. They always seem to try and drive their cars as close as possible to wherever the event is, in this case maybe right up to the "pelamin". If they shop they seem to try and drive right into the store. So while the gridlocked drivers sorted themselves out, I squeezed between bumpers into the wedding compound, and the bride's mom - now Jimikoling's ex-wife - greeted us, " ingat lagi tempat ini, ya ?". I gave her my packet with my 50 + 10,and motioned to my wife, and they embraced.

Jimikoling's sister Nosa Ngat-ngat and hubby, Gaphal,  had greeted us earlier. I went straight to the food table. There was a fair-sized crowd, some eating at the tables, some milling around, all talking and laughing, and what with the loud music blaring out of the speakers, it was a right earful din. The two young girls manning the food table asked "nasi putih ke nasi minyak?" and I chose putih. This buffet-style feast is a fairly new thing in Malay weddings, perhaps more common in the last 6 - 7 years, I'm not sure. I think it benefits the caterer more than anything else. I personally detest it. In the first place it takes away the feeling of being attended to, as a welcomed guest who is ushered to a seat, and then has the food brought to him as in the old days. I mean, if you are taking all the trouble to have the kenduri, with all the tents and stuff, why not take one more step and have guests properly seated and served ? Buffet style means queing and jostling and grabbing food and taking enormous portions of everything and finally leaving half of everything in the plates and on the table uneaten and wasted. 

I had both hands on food and drink when I met my aunt, my mother's little sister, who is grandma to the bride. We embraced and she kissed me on my cheeks but I couldn't hold her because my hands were full. My other cousins were nearby - Mat Cit and wife, Narimah Obong and husband, Odin, and the grown up children. We don't meet often nowadays, except on occasions like this wedding, and I genuinely enjoy the contact. How time passes by, we all are made aware of, when we see each other, seeing the grey hair and the kids so grown up and unrecogniseable. We call each other names since small. Not complimentary names then, but I still call them so, but in my heart with warmth now, and not without affection.

I sat under a fan, picking at the rice, with my aunt chatting away beside me. It was hot in spite of the twirling fan, because these canvas tents usually are hot to sit under. This is the reason why I rented an air-conditioned hall when my two elder boys were married. I wanted my guests to be comfortable and not have their expensive silk dresses and batik shirts stick on their sweating backs. Now under the hot tent, without much "lauk" on my plate, I pushed away the mostly uneaten rice and ate some of the cakes on the table, and drank straight from the mineral water bottle.

Meanwhile, the loud music blared on, and the mc added to the noise-making. Except for Mashitok whom I met when I first arrived,I didn't see any of my other brothers. Later I found out that some came after I had left. But my youngest brother, Calit, had already told me that he would probably come early because he had to fetch Sabrina, his wife. 

I passed another brother, Padir ,on my drive home on Jalan Kopi, but I don't think he noticed me. I almost didn't notice him until I saw his familiar number plate. My aunt called the bride and groom as they were passing by from the "pelamin" to the house, and they came and my aunt said " ni Pa' Long " and I said "siji loro". I used to call the bride, when just a small girl at my aunt's house, siji loro, or "one, two" in Javanese. I don't think she remembered, because she just smiled, as did the groom. They looked a nice couple. They were in matching blue modern "kurung" and "baju Melayu" with keris. The bride has some of my cousin Jimikoling's features. I thought she looked slightly taller then the groom. But some Malays believe this is a good sign, "murah rezeki" - prosperous. I had half-expected the couple to don on the familiar Javanese wedding outfit. But often in these weddings, the couples would change quickly into a range of dresses, and to take plenty of photographs for posterity. 

Now it was approaching half-past two, and as I had not said my zohor prayers I signalled to my wife to get up and leave. This reception would go on until about 5 p.m. , having probably started at about 11 or 12. We took our wedding party tokens, in this case a paper bag with goodies, and stood up to take our quiet leave. In the old days, of course, it would have been a hard-boiled egg, usually coloured a bright red, tied to a bamboo stick decorated with paper flowers. Today it's often sweets, or potpurri, or even some momentoes like a keychain . We said goodbye to aunt and cousins, and at the compound entrance, to Su, and made our way to the car.

On the drive back, I stopped for zohor prayers at the As Syarif mosque. It's a fairly large one and looked quite new. On closer inspection I found the usual problem with all facilities in this country. Malaysia will rank up there when it comes to the construction of anything, highways, towers, seaports and airports and all the rest. But maintaining them is a different story, no, in fact it's the indifference story. In this case, you see litter everywhere, the ablution area less than spotless, shoe cases in disarray and other small stuff, giving an impression of benign neglect. What remained spanking new and proudly displayed were the PAS and PKR flags hung on many vantage points throughout the area we passed. Not a single BN flag of any description could be seen, except for one lone poster of the former MB. 

As I sped off along the large highways, I realized how well-costructed they were, how beneficial to people these must be, all built by the BN governments at State and Federal levels. And yet BN received a proper thrashing at the last GE. I wonder why.

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A Malay-Javanese Wedding.

6.5.2008.

Last Sunday Idah & I went to a Malay-Javanese wedding in Meru, Kelang. The Malay portion is from my first cousin, Jimikoling, while the Javanese one is from his wife, Su, who's from Meru. Since Jimi is the husband, the Malay part precedes in the hyphenated adjective.

To begin with, it was a long drive from Seremban, and felt more so since it was immediately after my golf competition which I completed at 12 noon. On long journeys I prefer to drive my 19-year old MB 300SE, so there was no question as to who drives that car - me. The last time we were here was when Jimi got married about 20 years ago. Anyway, the wedding invitation came with a schemetic map, so in the end the house was easily located. My wife was no help, though, although she was looking at the map while still on the NKVE. This time PLUS got it right with clear signage directing to Meru on the highway. Once we reached Meru town, the As Syarif mosque and Jalan Kopi that were clearly indicated on the map, together with the bunga manggar markers prominently tied to a few strategic posts helped us reach our destination in good time. I think it was a smart 75-minute drive.

There was no way we could park the car anywhere close to the house. So I chose a spot under a small tree on the roadside about 100 meters away. As I was parking the car, Rizal my nephew parked alongside, with my brother Mashitok and my sister-in-law Yah Doktor Bahagian Dapur (Calit gave her that monicker). I gave Rizal a kick in the shins and asked for RM 10, which he grinningly obliged, which I put together with my RM 50 that I later gave to the bride's mother. (my wife just called - we're visiting her sister who's unwell in Taman Melawati, so I'm stopping here and will continue later).

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Golf. Pt.4

5.5.2008.

I'll continue in this chapter for the time being, seeing as to how dismal the main news are in the papers this morning - the train derailment (again) in Seremban ( again), the untimely passing of a rising local enterpreneur, the stale political news, etc.

This time I'll talk about Chin Chin Choi. He's an old friend of Wang hantam, at least until today, because since Wang hantam is the source of this story, that friendship might not survive. 

About 30 years ago Chin Chin Choi was already playing golf. Being in the bank, just like Wang hantam, they got acquinted. Chin soon suggested Wang hantam also play golf. Wang's immediate reply was "why waste time hitting small balls on the padang - stupid !".

Eventually, before retirement, Wang took up the game, and Chin began to teach Wang how to play. After all, Chin had been playing all these years. Now, what about Wang's comment about the stupid game ? Well, this bugger is nothing if not bull-headed, once he's made up his mind. Once he finally decided to play golf, he put his heart and soul into it. And thus it has come to pass, in spite of a 20-year advantage, Chin Chin Choi has now been reduced to pleading to Wang hantam EVERY morning to give him, Chin, extra strokes. 

The moral of the story is, don't bring a horse to the water, because if it decides to drink it, you'll have to stop it from finishing all of it ! So this morning Chin escaped, because it rained and the siren went, and play was suspended.

At 9 o'clock I saw Wang challenging Chin and Lee to a putting contest on the practice green at the 10th. tee-box. Since there was no hope that this group would play, because to play they would be obliged to rent a buggy, and hell will freeze over before Wang hantam would unroll his RM 1 bills from the old newspaper wrapping to pay for the buggies, Wang was still, at 9.01 am trying to squeeze some money out of Chin Chin Choi.

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Golf. Pt. 3

3.5.2008.

I'll jump a bit to-day to golf pt. 3, before I forget to write about what happened at the club this morning. Lee Hon Seong asked about my blog last week, and has found it. This morning we met at the club, and he said to write some more about Wang Hak Tam ( I call him Wang hantam because he always hantam the wang ).

By the way, talking about parents giving their offsprings names without due consideration about future embarassment, Wang hantam has a brother called Wang Fak Yu. I cannot imagine how he went through life with that monicker. Maybe in Malaysia it's not too bad   ( though I doubt it ). If he, say, studied in the US or UK, my god ! Going back to Lee, and I must quote him, otherwise Wang hantam will come after me, he said Wang hantam used to roll the golf ball around on the ground before hitting it, under the pretext of checking whose ball it is. In the process, of course, the ball gets to sit pretty for better contact. No wonder Wang hantam has been hantamming the wang ! 

This morning one of the senior golfers who went to A'famosa on Wednesday refused to acknowledge my good morning greeting. I think I know why. Yesterday as I was waiting for my "kakis" to tee-off, I overheard him saying to another golfer nearby that he won a prize. I naughtily interjected the he shouldn't have won because someone saw him move his ball. He got annoyed and shouted to me "rubbish, bullshit!". I was only saying it in jest, and he knows it. But if he was really angry, then I might have struck at something sensitive. 

This getting angry over tongue-in-cheek comments by me by a few senior golfers has become a puzzlement for me. It's not as if I've just joined the senior golfers, and they are not familiar with me. Those who know me better will know that I have a good sense of humour, and my comments shouldn't be taken too seriously. Perhaps I shouldn't shoot off my mouth so carelessly. But I'm not about to change, I'm too old to change. I guess I'll just adopt the attitude - "those who matter won't mind, those who mind won't matter".

Normally we play "3-1-1". That means 3 balls for the game, 1 ball "insurance", and 1 ball "buy".The monetary value can be RM 1, 2, 5 or even 10 per ball. That means if you play RM 5 per ball, you can lose a maximun " full house" of 5 balls for a total of RM 5 x 5 balls = RM 25. Mostly these people play for RM 1 per ball, and I think this is better. The most you can lose over 9 holes in a flight of 4 would be 5 balls x 3 persons = RM 15. But you can't lose to everybody, and certainly not "full house", so normally you would lose around RM 5, which is OK. 

The trouble starts when you play for serious money, like RM 10 per ball, with multiple frames and "all fringes" (usually worth 1/2 ball), "double-up on the buy", and double up on "losers option" for the second nine. If, say, you lose "single frame" with no "fringes" to all the other 3 "full house" in the first 9, you would lose a total of RM 150. If you played 2 frames with the same results, plus, say 2 fringes, you would lose RM 310. If you "double-up" the second 9 with the same results, you will end up the full 18 holes RM 930 poorer !

Some people start at RM 20 per ball, and triple up the second 9 ! This is when the cheating starts, when friends become enemies, sadly. I don't play for such big sums, simply because I can't afford it. But I have played for RM 5 per ball quite often, since this is an acceptible rate for the more serious golfers. Even at this rate, spotting my opponents sometimes as many as 8 strokes for 18 holes   ( a discount of almost 45% in terms of strokes given), I have lost a few friends. These are, to me, sore losers who should have known better than to just add the odds on themselves when playing with me, knowing full well the vagaries of the game, and more than that, their own mental strengths. 

You see, I'm a late comer to golf. I only got my handicap at the age of 43. But through the years, I taught myself with the help of books, magazines and later cds, and became aware of the mental side of the game. When I play, I know that I'm playing against the course, not the other golfers in my flight. Because golf came late for me, I am mature enough to realise that only the correct analysis of the way that I play can help me play as well as I possibly can. For instance, I have accepted the fact that I can't drive it 240 meters, and that the long irons are difficult. I also know that putting is almost 40% of all the strokes in a round of golf. So what have I done ? I bought a high tech. forgiving driver, replaced all my long irons with woods and hybrids, and practice, practice, practice my chipping and putting.

Where you can buy technology, you buy technology, because you sure as hell can't buy skill.I'm proud to say that at 63, on a good day I can still break 80, no problem ! Now, as an added measure, I try to visualise my target rather than think of the number to shoot. In golf, the target is the hole, not how many strokes you'd like to make per hole. 

So, Wang hantam, and Lee, or Ng the Voice ( Ng is the lawyer with a distinctive voice that no high court judge can mistake) if you read this, think twice before you challange me to a round of golf. For you information, my S-yard driver, my hybrids and both pairs of Nike shoes were paid for by my victims. Ha, ha.

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My golfing career.

2.5.2008.

I can hardly call it a career. If golf was a career, I would have starved long ago. Let's just say it's an interest that has lasted - until now, that is. 

I wasn't exactly into sports, of any kind, when in school, until I was accepted into a boarding school when in Form 4. At this particular school, sports were compulsory, and I had to pick up at least one. And that was it. 

When I started work after university, I was posted to a small town, and was introduced to tennis. I was given, literally, a junior "Slanger" tennis racquet that had a small break in the wooden frame that was tied with tennis gut, by one of my new office mates. When I moved job to KL I bought my own "Wilson" racquet, my first and last. I still have it somewhere. 

In 1978, I was transferred to Seremban. There I met my old senior at college, the late Dato' Ismail Mansor, who was the State Secretary, and therefore Deputy President of the Seremban International Golf Club. One day he called me to his office, asked me to fill up the SIGC application form he had with him, and endorsed it right there with the note that I'm permitted to pay the RM 250 entrance fee in two installments. Subsequently I was inducted as a member and continued to pay the RM 20 monthly subscription without ever owning a single golf club or stepping onto the golf course for 9 years.

In 1987, after joining Hamzah Pilus hitting balls at KGNS in the evening ( by then I was back in KL, and the traffic was not what it is now ), the both of us decided to get our handicaps at SIGC. I remeber I was tested by the Club Pro, Barrie Bluah of the then famous Bluah golfing brothers. It was then that I was totally hooked, so much so 36 holes on weekends became quite normal for a number of years. I have gone down to, at my lowest, handicap 6 a few years ago, and am playing a rather inconsistent 9 at the moment. Which is more than I can say for Hamzah, whom I last played with late last year,who's still happy with his 22. ( to be continued ).

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The US Presidential elections.

1.5.2008.

You can't ignore the current run-up to the '08 US Presidential elections. Everywhere you look you read, hear or see something about it. Being the most powerful nation on the planet also means that many are interested, because whatever happens in the next 6 months is going to affect the world in one way or another.

I want to make my comments now, to see whether some of my premises would be proven correct in November. Before that let me just say that certainly in America it's the right of the haves to become the political leader - if you don't have the dough, it's no show. Just see how much it cost to run this campaign. In fact many of the apparently qualified candidates had dropped out early simply because they ran out of money.

One of the good things is that the President is popularly chosen, not because he's his party's leader. Now, THAT would be something in this country, wouldn't it ? 

The other good thing is how whatever the candidates do and say, even if they happened many, many years ago, can affect their electibility. How awsome if this was to happen here in Malaysia. Now that's accountablity. A politician would shoot out of his mouth at his own peril. So now it's down to McCain for the Republicans      ( the elephant ), and Clinton or Obama for the Democrats ( the ass ).

Here's my prognosis. The Democrats would win if their nominee is Clinton. McCain means another 5 years of the same - the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the economic strategy, the foreign policy, and that by a 71- year old. 71 is not THAT old by world leaders' standard, but it means less chance for big changes in the way of thinking because of hardened arteries and hard hearing. 

The Republicans would win for the 3rd consecutive term if Obama is the Democratic nominee. America is ready for a white female President, not for a black one. The big-state , blue collar,Chicano, Asian and mid-lower income support of Clinton shows this. The Chicano and Asian vote is reflective of a conservative tendency for the status quo amongst the newer immigrants. Once the nation-wide Presidential elections take place in November, the 10% black votes would be insufficient to carry a black candidate. 

Why Obama is making such a strong showing now is because many Democratic office bearers who hold sway in their constituencies hate the idea of another domineering Clinton in the White House. This is why the Kennedys, for instance, jumped onto the Obama bandwagon early. Obama also enjoys the support of the richer, better educated and younger crowd because these people are more open to the idea of trying something different. 

The media plays an important role in America. The major newspapers often take sides, and at the moment the lean is towards Obama, because Obama is news, while Clinton is old issue. But the media has been wrong before, as in this race, and as during the two senatorial elections that Clinton had won in New York, against the dire predictions of several influential newspapers. The economic achievements of the Bill Clinton Administration is noteworthy, and his political i.o.u's are many. So why is Bill not making a serious dent on the Obama movement ? Again, there is that element of political jealousy, perhaps of cutting to size the large impact of a successful presidency, now seemingly leading towards another spouse taking over where he left off. In spite of the patronage that Bill has bestowed on party bigwigs, maybe even because of it, some receipients have chosen to grab this opportunity to cast off a hated sense of indebtedness and grandoisely rationalised libertarian fancy for a perceived shining star in the Obama phenomenon.

So ,Charles Pinkus in Washington State, whom I used to know as a Peace Corps teacher in Kuala Pilah back in the 60's, prove me wrong.

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