The Perak Lesson

The political development in Perak over the past week has a lesson that we in the welfare services can learn from. As much as you and I are dismayed by the manner the power transfer took place, citing the constitutions and the unquestionable authority of the royalty, the very essence of good governance through the electoral process was conveniently ignored. Abiding the law is good but it is still subservient to abiding the conscience of the people at large. Amidst the change of government lie a very serious issue of what service is all about. Do one need to be in power to serve? What are the hidden agendas of wanting to get into power? How can this development be a lesson to societies like ours?

1. We must remember we are elected to serve and to fulfil the obligations of what our vision calls us to be. Being in a position to serve, which means being given authority, empowerment and publicity, can tempt an officer of the society to aggrandise self beyond our call to duty over time. We need to constantly hold ourselves in check if this temptation rear its ugly head and to remind ourselves that while we may be the bigger cogs in the design of our work, yet they still need smaller cogs to make the society operate smoothly.

2. Our positions are given to us because the people who put us up trusted us to discharge our work faithfully, fairly and without any self interest. If possible, sacrificially. As easily as we are put up we can be taken down. We need to preserve our reputations as good stewards of the offices we are placed in charge. We may be able to deceive men but God is all-seeing.

3. The fear of God must remain central in whatever we do. Services to the disabled and the needy are in line with the characteristics of a compassionate God. As long as what we do are aligned with God's will He will bless our work and enable it to be taken further. But as soon as disunity, dishonesty and disorder overcome us then we have allowed evil to permeate our work and dissociate with the intention of God's will. Often societies fall through such developments.

The Perak lesson reminds us to stay alert to any signs of putting self above service. If we are unable to control the desire to use our work for self gain it is better to step down than let the society be affected. The society will profit from the services of its officers and workers if there is love and common desire to build it up. I have hope that more of our politicians will see this as their real purposes in public services.

Internalizing Our Vision

Happy Chinese New Year to those of you who are celebrating. I hope the symbol of the ox represents strength, wellness, perseverance and, especially pertinent this current year, ability to endure hardship. Believe it or not, hardship is part and parcel of our very existence. It is folly for anyone to wish for a good life every day of our lives. Rather it is wisdom to be wishing for strength to sustain hardship and inconveniences.

I was reflecting over the word BERDIKARI in our name. We said that we want to bring Berdikari or self reliance to our trainees. Then I asked myself this searching question:

Is it possible that we apply the same Vision to our society? Is it possible that we become self sustaining and self relying one day?

Hard thought and tough target to be addressing at the start of our 'life'. It is my belief that nothing is impossible (without pushing our desires beyond human possibilities and trying for the moon) and beginning to think, plan and do something about it can actually bring us to that place where vision starts becoming reality. It involves much work, many tears and frustrating moments as well as many partners to hold us up. It is possible, only if we believe it to be so. Do you agree with me?

Chin Woo Donation Pix

Here's the group picture of the recipients of the donations and some members of the Association before we had our lunch.

Visit the Revamped PBSNS Website

In line with our new identity, the PBSNS website was revamped today. New look, new contents. Simpler and updated. Please take a look. Here's the link again. Hope you like it.

It's Good to Be Noticed

Last week I was informed that the N. Sembilan Chin Woo Athletic Association wants to make a donation to us. I was pleasantly surprised. We have not made contact with them about our work so they must have heard of us privately. My understanding was we will be one of four beneficiaries of the surplus funds collected from their fund raising for another project recently. It is good to be noticed. Today David and I attended a luncheon at the Dragon Oakland Restaurant where I received a cheque for RM1200 from the Association. I took the opportunity to distribute text of our new brochure (yet to be printed) in Mandarin to the predominantly Chinese speaking guests to create awareness among the Chinese community here. Reporters from SinChew, Nanyang and ChinaPress attended so we can expect additional publicity when the news is published.

Being Self Driven

All organizations can benefit from people who are self driven towards the established goals. Although there are managers, executives and supervisors, whose roles seem, as their titles implicitly suggest, to be ensuring that work gets done, and that lower rung employees are incapable of carrying them out without someone checking in on them, I believe that we need to have faith in our staff that they ARE capable of understanding and executing instructions and policies. Granted that there will be differences in styles and methods, what is important is they are on track to bring their work to fruition. The rest is managing individualities.

Before I started this post I thought about the team I have in Persatuan and how blessed I am that they are self-starters and even initiators of great ideas. They have passion towards fulfilling the dream of the centre and that count a lot towards what we set out to do. We can have two identically paid staff of different passions. It is easy to conclude which one is more valuable and effective.

I think of our human body as a terrific example. The liver is one of the largest internal organs, and probably the most important one, yet little understood. But the liver does its work quietly, self driven if you may, to ensure the entire body is healthy. If you must know, the liver detoxifies our blood every second, that is how important it is to us, or else we will not live very long.

Whether our helpers is a staff, a volunteer or a committee member, the fact that they go about discharging their work responsibly is a blessing to us in PBSNS. We appreciate them all.

New Year Greetings

May I extend this New Year greeting to one and all. May 2009 be a good year to you and your family and that God's grace and mercy abound in every situation you find yourself in. May you look back to this day a year from now to be filled with thansgiving that God has indeed walked with you and granted you your heart's desires.

Have a blessed and joyous New Year 2009!