To Yammer or Not To Yammer

The company has decided to introduce Yammer as a collaborative tool for us.  I see this move as a positive move to bring all staffs 'closer' virtually.  With so many staffs in a company from various departments, it is a good channel to get to know each other and share opinions on certain topics.

What we need to do is to promote Yammer not only as a tool to improve productivity and efficiency but also to achieve it in a more fun waY!  Yes! The Yammer WaY!  Since they are a lot of users who are working outside of office, with the cloud solution, they can still keep track of what is happening in the company and still collaborate with the rest of their team members.  Yammer client can be installed in all major smartphones, Blackberry, Iphone, Android, so we can always contribute in Yammer from anywhere.

The 2 challenges that I see now are:
** The level of maturity across all the users
It is not easy when some users are more internet-savvy than the rest.  They can differentiate the usage of a corporate social media channel like Yammer as compared to personal social media channel like Facebook.  So, Yammer tips and tricks in both English and Malay will need to be written to, hopefully, educate all users.

** The corporate readiness
Policies are to not established yet so users are confuse on the usage of Yammer in the workplace.  First step is always to introduce, next step: need to outline policies of what are the Do's and Dont's within Yammer networks.

I am excited about Yammer in the company but at the same time, concerned that something good like Yammer will just 'die' off if nothing is done to promote it for work purpose.  So, a note to self, first step is to dig up some good reading materials from the Net on how to get Yammer working as a productive tool and then share slowly with the hope to guide all users to see the benefits of Yammer and then eventually, get positive buy-in from top management :D

So, to Yammer or not to Yammer?  Definitely, Yammer all the way! :D

Till my next posting, peace to you all out there!

My review on the movie, 'The Help'

Last week, I had the opportunity to watch "The Help".  At first, I thought that it would be one of those draggy drama movie.  But to my surprise, it was an engaging movie!

The movie is a roller-coaster ride for me - there were times when I was laughing (Minny's special pie for Hilly?), scared (hearing Minny's voice over the phone during the Leroy's incident?) and of course, touched (by the relationship between Aibileen and the 3-year old Mae Mobley).  This adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's novel, centres around a writer who is trying to reveal the stories behind closed doors on the black maids and their masters.  Although it is predominantly based on racism in the 1960s, it touches the value of difficult friendships (in the case of Skeeter and the maids) and the courage to stand up on what you believe in.

I feel that being Skeeter is the toughest.  It is not easy to have a different point of view from the rest of your peers and being able to stand by them.  She could have done what her mum did, just follow along even though she does not agree, but no, she stood by her opinions, even when she knows that she would lose everyone around her.  Not an easy choice but at least, her conscience is clear.

I give this movie a 4 out of 5!  Worth watching -> better not in the theatre though, get the DVD, it is better to watch at home :) unless you want the cinema-quality popcorn, of course!

Till my next posting, peace to all!

Fri, 9th March 2012: Of My Friday Frustration

Firstly, let me start by saying that I still love my job - it is never boring and I am blessed to have very committed & hard-working team members!

I just feel down right now - maybe should not blog when you are emotional but hey, this is why I've put up this blog in the first place - for space to release my thoughts and feelings!  Prior to writing this blog, I've just posted a tweet:

When it comes to my work, I try to be a strong and professional person and try to be better at it everyday, but this morning, I could not help myself from shedding some tears after reading an email.  I feel that sometimes, emails must be re-read repeatedly before clicking on SEND button.  Sender may send it with good intention but when the good intention is put wrongly, the intention is lost hence, the emails will be perceived wrongly.  At the end, wrongly worded sentences can hurt and de-motivate people very fast.

I am so disappointed and in some ways, feel under-appreciated now!  I understand that currently, the system implemented is not perfect, but it does not mean that we are letting our hands off from the issues.  We are pushing so many parties to look at the problems - not easy to push these vendors.  We are getting responses now although not as fast as what I've expected but at least, something.  Just like all other things, systems need time to mature and people take time to adapt to new changes everywhere.  At the same time, year-end and stocktake activities are coming - 2 tasks that a lot of people from other organizations question - how come we are the champion of these activities whereas in other companies, Finance is to champion both activities while IT is to just provide the tools and system.  I told my team that in this company, it has always been under our department and because of that, we are better and more experienced in planning and executing the tasks, that's all.  I have a team of IT team members in the warehouse performing inventory tasks to help to clear the paperwork pending - I am proud of our teams who never questioned me on why are they doing other department's tasks.

Back to under-appreciation, it is so sad to see that the many effort and tasks done well are not given recognition.  I am not asking for myself because I believe that without the team members that I have, there is no way that I could perform my work.  I think that the best way, although may be viewed as extreme, is to imagine the company without these team members!  Or imagine we are back in year 2000 (12 years ago), before this department was established.

There is a way to motivate team members to perform better and more, but before we demand for more, I believe that we should, at least, give credit where it's due.  It does not take much and it does not hurt to simply say, "thank you for a job well executed & keep up the good work!".  I've always believed that without these team members and those certain vendors that we have been doing business with, there is no way that we are in this position in the first place.  While the objective is to push our people to perform better, let's not forget to reward them for the good job that they have done all this while.  Else, tiredness will sink in and the feeling of being taken for granted will emerge - soon, we may lose those valuable assets.

Oh well, what a start for my Friday, ya?  I wish the rest of you to have a better day today!  To my team members, thank you for your all your contribution & keep up the good work, you are appreciated!  Okay, got to rush for my acupuncture!  Till my next post, peace for now!

Speech done for Mum's Retirement Party

In order not to lose this special once-in-a-lifetime speech, I 've decided that it is best to place it in my blog.  So here's the speech that I did for mum's retirement party.


"A very good evening to all who are present here tonight. The excellent principal of SM Maktab Sabah, Pn. Hj. Nuinda; Chairperson of PIBG, Datuk Fatimah Syara; Penolong Kanan Pentadbiran, Pn. Samsiah Almalik; Penolong Kanan HEM, Datin Rosiah Liman; Penolong Kanan Ko-Kum, Mr. Jahid Paki; other teachers, wardens, staffs & all the students of Maktab Sabah.

First and foremost, my mother & our family would like to thank you for celebrating her retirement together with the Hostel Annual Dinner. This is such a perfect timing for us as the hostel has been our home sweet home for the past 26 years.

I remember when my mum was transferred from SMK Menggatal to here, I was only 9 years old.  This hostel compound was the playground for my siblings and I. I am proud to say that my sisters Linda, Veronica & I, together with our brother, Valentino, are Maktab Sabah products.  Royline, on the other hand, joined SM Stella Maris, unfortunately :)

It was not easy for us to be in a school that our mum is working in, all my teachers know my mum so cannot be too naughty in class lah :D but mum managed to integrate the hostel students as part of our extended family and we grew up having hostel friends and seniors to help us in our studies too :). I guess that is one of the plus points of growing up as Matron's children.  So personally, the hostel is a sentimental place and will always be dear to my heart.

On this special occasion, my mum and our family would like to thank the hostel management and the school for the home that we have in the hostel and for the 26 years of having our family to be part of the hostel family. We, also, would like to apologize for any shortcomings or anything that may have offended or hurt anyone throughout our 26 years here.

Finally, we are proud of my mum that she has spent her 26 years with this school. I cannot imagine of any other place for her and for us, siblings, to grow up in. It has been such a wonderful 26-year and we hope that the school and hostel would continue to excel for many-many more years to come. This place will always be remembered and will always be special in all of our hearts :). Once again, mum, we are proud of you, happy birthday & we all love you dearly.

Thank you very much."

To those who would want to watch the video, just click HERE


Please forgive the quality of the video as my sister was using my iPad to take the video and also, please ignore the background noises/comments too.  Hahaha, Presley's shout, my sisters talking etc... anyway, still love all of you!


Till my next entry, peace to all models and mortals out there!

What a leap day for me and Erykah Badu!

29th Feb 2012 - What a day!  29th Feb comes once in 4 years and yesterday was definitely, a memorable one!


Salary came in and I have a few things to settle. So, went to the ATM to do my withdrawal.  Entered amount to be withdrawn, waited, card returned, screen went back to main page but no cash received.  I thought that maybe I wrongly did something or maybe I missed any notification on the screen, so I tried again.  Entered amount to be withdrawn, waited, card returned, screen went back to main page and again, no cash received.  I was puzzled and decided to check my bank balance, WHAT THE HELL? My balance got deducted and here I am, still cashless!  So, I had no choice but to go to the bank to settle the problem.  I explained the situation to the bank officer, she said this is not a common occurrence but it does occur.  Yes, there was a court case reported in Sarawak on this.


Well, back to my story... The bank officer checked in the system and yes, the system says that I have made 2 withdrawals but I told her no cash came out of the ATM.  She said that they will check the system etc and will call me back.  Today I received a call from them saying that they are still in the process of verifying etc and that my account will only be credited after a week, if it is legit.  A week???  What the hell?  Don't they know that people have commitments and bills to pay?  What a disappointment!


Another disappointment that is worth mentioning is about Erykah Badu's banned concert.  She was supposed to perform last night, 29th Feb 2012 and due to the publication done by The Star on Mon, 27th Feb, the concert is banned by the Malaysian government.  The published photo of Ms. Badu was questioned as she had the arabic word of 'Allah' tattooed on her bare skin (pix below):

Here's the news clipping taken from Telegraph UK:

Malaysia bans singer Erykah Badu for Allah tattoo

Muslim-majority Malaysia has banned a planned concert by Erykah Badu after a photograph appeared of her with the Arabic word for Allah written on her body.

The Grammy-winning R&B singer was scheduled to perform Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, but some Muslim groups said Badu was an unsuitable role model for young Malaysians after seeing a publicity photo of her with what appeared to be temporary tattoos of the word Allah on her bare shoulders.

A government committee that includes police and Islamic policy officials decided to forbid Badu's show because the body art was "an insult to Islam and a very serious offence," Rais Yatim, the information minister, said in a statement.

The photo of Badu had "triggered public criticism that could jeopardise national security and cause a negative impact to the government's image," the statement added.

The 41-year-old, Dallas-born singer had already arrived in Malaysia. She can stay as a tourist but will not be allowed to perform, an anonymous Information Ministry official said.

Razman Razali, managing director of the show's Malaysian organiser, Pineapple Concerts, said his company hopes the ban will be reversed.

Badu is "worried and dismayed," he said. She was slated to perform in an auditorium that can hold about 3,000 spectators.

It was the first concert by a Western performer to be banned in Malaysia in recent years. Several other stars, including Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne, were told to dress modestly while performing.

The photograph of Badu, which also appears on her official fan website, attracted attention after Malaysia's most widely read English-language daily, The Star, published it Monday.

On Tuesday, the newspaper apologised to Muslims for what it called an "oversight," saying it deeply regretted any offence sparked by the photo, which was "inadvertently published." The Home Ministry summoned The Star's editors to explain the photograph, which caused some Muslim activists to demand the newspaper's suspension.

I saw 4 comments to this news and got curious, so here they are:

In Foxnews, there were more than a thousand comments.  Very mixed reactions from so many people but mostly... *sigh*  I remember in 2002, when I went to Australia for a business trip, when we told the taxi driver that we were from Malaysia, he mentioned about Anwar's sodomy case.  Now, we will be known as the conservative Malaysians who banned Erykah Badu's concert.

While I do not condone to such display of temporary tattoo in a sensitive nation like Malaysia, I am amazed with the amount of negativity received by our Malaysians, up to the point of banning her concert.  I thought that once a personal apology is given, we would be liberal and matured enough to forgive a foreign artist for a photo-shoot taken somewhere else, and continue with the concert and we could enjoy her music and the event organizers will not be losing their investment.  It's not as if she purposely put the temporary tattoo especially for her concert here and it's not as if she's planning to perform with that 'accessory' in her concert here.  It was a photo taken somewhere else and for something else!  Again, very disappointing... *sigh*

What have we become?  We should uphold our values but at the same time, be more tolerant and considerate of others, and be more forgiving to those who may not understand.  Frankly, my fellow Malaysians, I am very disappointed and at the same time, I am scared to be living among those who are too fanatic.  Here we are, a multi-cultural, multi-racial nation, living together in a community and yet, there are some of us who are so narrow-minded.  IF the number is so small, I don't think that the ban would happen.  IF the tolerance level is this low for a foreigner, what would the tolerance level to a fellow Malaysian then?  I don't want to even think about it.

Sad but true, we are so far away from being the 1-Malaysia that we dream of or we claim to be.  What a disappointing leap day *sigh*

Anyway, my mortal and model readers out there, I wish you peace and let's pray for a better and more tolerate nation.