Different style

Below article was posted by a blogger in Tan Kin Lian's blog. It presented a different style on the issue of responsibility and accountability. I am not making any value judgement here as it is not a matter of right or wrong. It is just a style, and people do it differently. (Former President of India APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22,2008) Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, leaders should manage failure? Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India 's satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India 's 'Rohini' satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources -- but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space.... By 1979 ...I went to the control center for the launch. At four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist of items that needed to be checked. One minute later, the computer program put the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts -- I had four or five of them with me -- told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, a problem developed. Instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure. That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference....Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure -- he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization. ...in July 1980, ... and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, 'You conduct the press conference today.' I learned a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team....

The new battle on foreign workers

We have discussed this many times over. Though some were more against foreigner workers, many narrow down to foreign talents that are not really talents but cheap white collar workers. And the gripe is that they are taking away these jobs from Singaporeans who are just as well qualified. Reading the msm today, a new battle is being fought between the govt and the opposition parties even to the extent of ridiculous challenge asking Worker's Party to just hire Singaporeans. This is the same kind of challenge asking Singaporeans to come up with alternative solutions when it cannot happen simply because the one being challenged is not in a position to carry them out. Ya, hogwash. So now we have the trade unions and the govt strongly for foreign workers. On the other corner, the natural opponents, the opposition parties. As far as workers are concerned, it is now an established fact that many jobs are shunned by Singaporeans and only foreigners are willing to accept them. So there should be no question as to whether the employers should or should not employ foreign workers for these jobs. What is needed is in jobs that Singaporeans want and are qualified to do. If these jobs are lost to Singaporeans, with so many things stacked against them, we are going to see many educated, qualified and angry Singaporeans hogging the net and kpkb.

Mahathir into blogging

Mahathir has joined the blogging world to say his piece. And this is a world that he had no special liking for when he was in power. For then, the msm was his mouth piece, saying and printing what he liked and his fancy. Things have changed when he lost power. He lost his voice in the msm. They no longer say or print what he likes. And knowing that he has no other choice by cyberspace, he accepts what he thinks is best. Now he has cyberspace to thank for in giving him a voice. Whether people listen to him is another thing. But at least he is talking again He is using his pen name of Che Det. Welcome to the world of talking nonsense, or saying what you feel, Che Det. No one is going to censor your free speech now.

Don't worry, we have plenty of rice stockpile

This is a very comforting message. And then there is NTUC Fairprice advising people to switch to housebrands that are cheaper or go for special discount promotions. And the govt has assured the people that they will help those who need help, directly. A Lily Cheong wrote to the ST complaining, yes, complaining that 'A 10kg bag of rice rose from $17.50 or $18.50 to $20.80 one week ago. On Tuesday, the price rose to $26.80.' Using the $17.50 as base, this is more than 50% increase in slightly more than a week. She added that for low price cooking oil, 'For a 2kg bottle, the price rose from $2.35 to $5.25 or $5.35 a week ago. On Tuesday, the price spiked again to $5.90...for cooking oil sold under Fairprice's house brand, labbeld a low price item.' Total increase is more than 150% from $2.35. At the rate this is going, the people better be afraid. Be very afraid. There will be plenty of rice and basic essentials available. But money will not be enough.

The fascinating world of internet

Blogs and forums are sprouting out daily in cyberspace. There must be several thousands of local blogs and forums out there, from students talking about their school and social lives to hobbyists, food and gourmets, pornography and social political sites. It is blossoming with each day passing. There must be plenty of interesting and exciting things said or happening in cyberspace. OK, I shall not deliberately avoid mentioning Stomp, CNA, P65s and other sites that are being promoted by the msm. All of them are competing for readership. With such a vibrant community existing in cyberspace, the strange thing is that there is no interest in the msm to cover this ground. All we get to hear occasionally is a brief mention of Mr Brown, Yawning Bread, Mr Wang and maybe TOC and no more. Oh, maybe about someone selling food or comics. And if there is any article on internet and cyberspace, it is about something that not many people will not bother, or about blogs existing in Siberia or Timbuctoo perhaps. I read something in the ST talking about starving a dog in Nicaragua and Bonsai Kitten where kittens are stuffed in bottles by Tan Shzr Ee. To be fair, she was skirting around to talk about the meaning internet rants and kpkb. She said people argued that internet activism is ineffective because it was easy and cheap, and would be ignored. She disagreed. She said 'internet furores create a sense of greater awareness, or at least an opportunity for one to find out more.' Views in cyberspace are intentionally and deliberately ignored for obvious reasons. They present a serious challenge to not only the approved truths, but also posed as a serious challenger for readership with the msm. No business enterprise will promote the interests of their competitors or give credits to them. That is expected. Will msm give greater coverage of cyberspace one day, devote a page or a column for it? Not much of a chance if they can help it.