Where Will You Be At 8th August 2008 From 8.00 am to 8.00 pm

Aarrrrghhhh............... I already knew that 8 August 2008 would not be a memorable nor auspicious day for me. The moment I entered my office this morning, piles of investigation papers waiting to be signed, a big handwritten note slipped under door informing a 2.30 pm meeting was cancelled, and few minutes later Mr.C came trotting into my office asking me to help him to rewrite our Secretary-General ‘s talking point for a Channel 9 talk show- Nasi Lemak Kopi ‘O’, minutes later followed Mr M asking me to make sure that all Parliment questions are answered by the respective officers (err..the truth is I am always the one ended up answering the questions.. Bakal YB) ....

Just when I was about to put on my thinking cap, Mr M reminded me of our 9.00 am meeting on blacklisting developers. Nevermind, let me at least read Mr. C’s draft first and type few opening sentences into my PC since I can type very fast. As usual, Mr. C’s choice of words can be deemed as “suicidal” considering our beloved Sec-Gen is making public statements on rehabilition of abandoned housing projects... Anyway, it is still far better compared to a junior officer, Mr. K’s drafted answers to Parlimentary questions – it could end any ministers political career.

Once I walked into the meeting room, Dr. P started to bombard me with questions... so i nicely told him, “Boss, let me at least have a sip first?” and I took a big gulp of my coffee. I have been working under Dr.P since 2004 and so far I only knew a few officers who can stand him (and his body odour).Though my Sec-Gen once asked, “How come you still work under Dr.P****?” I told him, “Dato’, you spoil my only chance to get away from him”.... Yes, it’s true... he stopped my transfer to another department. Anyway, our working relationship has gone through test and time... he used to issue me show-cause letter for defying his orders, I fought back by giving a lengthy reply plus refused to do any of his works for 3 months...It was a bitter sweet revenge... on one sweet day he was sent out of a Morning Prayer by the former Sec-Gen for failure to provide one report on time hahahaha.... the aftermath of it.... he asked my former boss, Mr. W.H to sweet talking me to complete one report...

OK... meeting was short and sweet so I quickly went back to my office so that I could quickly complete all the backlogs. Again as I was about to put on my thinking cap, my phone start ringing. Ignoring it is unprofessional, answering it means work not done. So OK I answered, who knows it might be Tan Sri KSN checking on departments or officers who are not answering phone calls. It was a purchaser from Johore telling me how his letter of complaint has offended one of the officers and wanted to know if it has any repurcussion on his case.

“Mr. *****, you should think before you take a leap. In this Ministry we do not take matters at face value but we would appreciate if for a day, a purchaser would say something to brighten our day instead of hauling accusation. As a working person you should know how hurt it feels if a client throw hurtful remarks to your company when you know its not entirely your fault. It is frustating, you want our help but you start accusing him of corruption just because he hasn’t answered your letter formally. At least he has explained your case over the phone.” ... and there goes 15 minutes.

On my next attempt to complete my Sec-Gen talking points, S called me to remind me of our movie date. My God! But today is the opening of Beijing Olympics ... we chatted for a few minutes as we had yet to see each other after he came back from Brisbane. I ended up using my lunch time to complete the talking point and signed all the investigation papers. So sad, so sad... boss shouldn’t be doing works during lunch time.

As I was about to grab myself something to eat at the nearest cafe, Mr.T walked into my room with a friend asking me to give him 15 minutes. Later, I found out that his friend is working for one developer company, which was compounded by my Unit for non-submission of project progress report and asked whether the company be allowed a waiver. Maybe because I was hungry or maybe I was mentally exhausted I gave the developer 30-minute lecture. Hahaha... by the time the lecture was over, I finally got the developer to pay the RM 40K compound. Unfortunately, I had to skip lunch as my boss called me into his office to discuss on Mr.K’s answers to the Parlimentary questions.

As I was about to get back to my office, I was stopped by a purchaser asking me to give her a minute as she came all the way from Kuantan. This purchaser, Miss Y, told me that my letter to her and the Public Complaint Bureau has helped her and the residents but she asked whether I could update her on my findings on her case. I told Miss Y that actually I was a busy-body. Her letter was passed around from one department to one department within the Ministry as her case is not clear. If I don’t provide her the first feedback from the Ministry, she would surely use any political channel. She laughed and admitted that she is actively involved with one political party. Anyway, we discussed on her case for 15 minutes and I told her to give me some time as I am too busy at the moment. She told me she understand as she could see people coming in and out of my office asking some urgent matters as we were discussing, phone ringing and there is an unfinish report on my computer screen.

After we said our goodbyes, I received a call from Tuan H, asking me if I could have tea with him at Secret Recipe. I hesitated as I was supposed to meet S at 5.30 pm. Plus, I need to ammend Mr.K’s answers. I asked if we could postponed our tea appointment to Monday but Tuan H promised me it would not take so much of my time. I looked at my watch, it’s already 4.45 pm. I quickly went to Secret Recipe, and there I saw my new buddies, Mr R and Tuan I were waiting for me. I ordered Cornish Pie and Cafe Latte as I was so hungry and fed them with infos that they wanted. As I was enjoying my tea, S called. I looked at my watch...its already 5.15 pm. I had to cancel our date as I too want to watch Beijing Olympics opening tonight.

Our tea meeting finished at 6.00 pm and I quickly went back to my office to complete my work. Gosh! Ammending Mr. K’s answers really challenged my brain. At least he tried. Some officers had never even answer any Parlimentary questions. I punched out at 8.08 pm so I missed some of the Beijing Olympic opening performances.

Today was really a far-cry from my last year’s resolution to be in Beijing flirting with the hot male athletes or in Trafalgar Square drinking coffee with (actually I still don’t get why Zainal chosed this place as the place we celebrate our success) ... hahahaa... aiyoooo... I must make up for my lost... must...must ...must...

Note: This post can also be found at

http://rambomadonna.blogs.friendster.com/desire_dream_destiny/

How Much Do You Know About Buying A House? Part 1

I am in Muar at the moment, completing my investigation on an unlicensed housing development. This place kind of reminded me of Bau, a small town about 12 km from Kuching city. Slow pace, everybody knows everybody,cheap food, banks/shopping centres are within walking distance... I quite like it here...

During my first trip here, leading a team of enforcement officers doing a raid on an unlicensed housing developer premise, I wasn't enjoying it much as I didn't know the best place to eat, places of interest, and I can't remember hearing anyone associate this town with something of a must buy (like Kuala Terengganu-Batik, Kuching-terubuk masin, KK-pearl) other than Mee Bandung or Mee Rebus or Nasi Beriani Gam... However it was only my last 2 days that I managed to savour cheap and fresh seafood and grilled fish (ikan bakar) at Medan Ikan Bakar Sabak Awor... I fully recommend stall no.8 ... Wak Jos... or no. 10 Wak Man ...

On this trip, I managed to meet one of the unlucky house buyers, who almost lost his life savings of RM 15,000.00 to this developer. We met up for dinner in a stall along Bakri Road, well known for its Mee Bandung. What makes me want to meet this house buyer is that he did a lot of investigations and homeworks before reporting to us and most of the documents which he submitted with his complaints to the Ministry are professionally done. I found out from my investigating officer, Mr M that this man is not of a high qualification.

We discussed about his case and I complimented him on his efforts that help the investigation. Then he told me, if not because of what had happened to him he might not be forced to gather more information about housing and go to the extra miles of locating the land owners, bank, EPF, Ministry, Police Commercial Crime Unit, Land Office and other house buyers.

Well, I do agree with the house buyer. Sometimes many people fall victims to irresponsible developers like this unlicensed developer because they were too trusting. Only when it was too late then they started to realise their mistakes. We should do some homeworks too before making the biggest investment of our life... buying our dream home. At least buyers of abandoned licensed housing projects have better chances of getting their house compared to victims of abandoned unlicensed housing projects like this. Though my heart goes for them but my people hands are full too..

I praise him and a few house buyers whom I know and later befriended that really make a lot of efforts to help and co-operate with the Ministry. I believe there is a saying that goes... "God will help those who help themselves". Like in this case, we manage to get investigation completed fast because the buyer provided us with more than enough evidents to create a prima facie.

I told him contrary to my impression on the government before joining the service, like government officers are lazy, slow... I think any department be it a private company or government agency are the same. There will never be enough staff because the management wouldn't want to incur more overheads.

I explained to him my team not only have to attend to grievances of house buyers, we also have to educate or prosecute developers... and in between we have to provide reports to the top management, Parliment officers and play dumb to politically motivated display and comments by some parties. People like him not only make our day but also brighten our way.My team so far has been co-operating well with some NGOs who are helping consumers like HBA, NCCC, FOMCA and CAP. My aim now is for my team to deliver and get the credit, not the NGOs.

I will share more in my next postings...

Steamboat and Seafood Platter

I love to cook, I love to bake, and to complete it all ... I love to eat. Since I am sharing an apartment with a colleague we usually eat out. However, lately I started to feel the pinch of the fuel hike (as though that my pay is big) and "finally" understand the importance of eating healthily that I decided to cook at home.

So off I went to my favourite supermarket in Plaza Damas, near Sri Hartamas to get the freshest and the best ingredients for "whatever" I want to cook. I love to shop there as it is near to my house and offers fresh organic veges (me...going organic? I can't believe it myself). On my way to the supermarket, I walked pass the Bread Story, Penang Village, Yik Mun Pau Cafe and Kenny Rogers without giving them a glance... (so good to be true??? okay lah maybe got "see-see" a bit la)...

And so I took the trolley and went straight to the fruit and vege section... telling myself I am a new person now. Reminding myself that I must eat organic stuff... Non-organic products contain harmful pesticides and chemicals... I was doing OK until I passed the seafood section... the big prawns, squids, fishes looked so tempting ... like sashimi ...Then I tell myself... sashimi is healthy right??? And in the trolley it goes the nice prawns, squids and fishes...

Then I stopped at the poultry section, and at the same moment my tummy started to make a weird sound. I started to feel dizzy... and I think my eyes were deceiving me. The chicken wings started to look like Chillis Buffalo Wings... And I told myself... its OK... I can cook nice chicken soup with that .... (err ... farmers injected growth hormones through the wings right?)...

Hehehe... I think I just cut the story short ... want to know what happened to my groceries???

Well I did healthily on that Saturday ... enjoying steamboat enough to feed 3 persons ....

And this was wat I ate on Sunday ... Halleluya ....

My New Life as The Head of Housing Enforcement Unit

Errr... contrary to the title of this posting... I have been with the Ministry of Housing and Local Government since January 2003. My first position was Assistant Director of Public Complaint Unit, Monitoring and Enforcement Division. Later, in 2007 I joined the National Housing Department due to a major restructuring exercise by the Ministry and in October 2007 I was promoted to Principal Assistant Director and lead the Enforcement Unit.

Yes, the title make me sound like a very tough and scary person... but if i may, I prefer to be liken to Lara Croft of Tomb Raiders :P... I have always wanted to have smaller waistline and big boobs anyway... In fact I am a very simple woman (and cute), dedicated and blissfully "married" to my job ... as well as my other jobs... (not including that %^*& job).

Initially when I took over the Unit from another "iron" lady ... (oh yes. this is not a myth... only women in this Ministry can lead the enforcement team..) I knew that I need to do a lot of changes due to the ammmendments of the Housing Development (Control and Licensing) Act 1966 [Act 118]. Plus, most of the staffs were loyal to this lady especially Kak "R". Furthermore, during the reign of Dr.P, there was a fraction (like Team A and Team B of MCA) between Enforcement and Complaint Unit. So I could sense during my first day... the cold shoulders, the tensions, the murderous stares ... hehehe I exaggerated a bit here...

I knew I have to win them over and make them trust me especially Kak "R". Everytime we had a conversation I must be careful not to say bad things about the "Iron Lady". "Thesaurus" and "Air-con" must be used to the max ... and so far I am proud to say that my efforts have been paid off. My office is the busiest in the division ... maybe also due to good feng shui. A lot of backlogs have been settle, new alliances have been formed (with the project monitoring division), few paperworks have been presented and as of today I would say I have manage to "rebrand" the Unit. From the "close door policy" unit to a "7-11" unit.

Suffice to say that most of my problems doesn't come from the "old-timers" or support staffs. It is a few new PTD officers, proud of the premiership of the administrative and diplomatic service that affect my efforts... normal comments like "this is not my job", "let me minute to the support staff" irks me. If u want act like a Tuan DO (district officer) in a federal agency, you must still be living in the past...

Why? Because it is a very common scenario in the goverment service? Sorry, I don't share the sentiment. I think it is the same everywhere. I used to work for a company in Kuching and my conclusion is ... its the same for any "kerja makan gaji". I do keep the recommendation letters from all my previous bosses and I resigned not because i don't like the companies, it was because I was moving places. KK-Kuching-KL....

To me we are just typical Malaysians... we feel the adrenalin rush doing things in the last minutes, we find pleasures in finger-pointing, and we sooo love blaming the government than fate/fengshui if bad lucks befall us ... (yalah ... who wants to blame God?) ...