My first non-taxi commute was quite an introduction. As soon as we left the building, a torrential downpour rendered my umbrella useless. My pants were soaked to the knees in water. The combination of walking up a hill and no planned storm drains on that street made for an exciting morning.
Geoff, the CEO of OWW got back from the UK a day earlier than expected. This did not change the culture of attendance and punctuality in the office. Within the first 30 minutes of meeting him, he welcomed me in the Western tradition of pretending to give me a hard time, making fun of my Blackberry and telling me not to use his internet to plan, “Lonely Planet excursions” after business hours.
I completed my first SRI rating and realized that I am learning a lot of normal business terms like:Key Performance Indicators (KPI), terms of reference, supply chain, local sourcing, share repurchase, dumping, and price-fixing. Sean will give me feedback on my rating next week, so I can see what I am doing wrong and right. I tried to pick a beer brewing company to rate, but Irene already had dibs on it. So now I am looking at another holdings company. It is a bit frustrating to start a new company with an annual report in a different format. I was just gaining fluency in finding what I need on the last company’s report.
At lunch, Devern, Andre, and I finally reached the topics of race and politics—the subjects I’d conducted research on and were advised to avoid before I got here. We discussed Barack’s effect on the perception of African Americans in the US; white guilt; US model minorities (especially Chinese and Indian). We covered the plight of the Chinese in Malaysia (although they are the market-dominant minority, they lack certain civil rights that every race in the US currently enjoys). According to law, the Malaysian president must be an ethnic-Malay, Muslim. All other Malaysians are forbidden—the ethnically Chinese, Indian, or other indigenous peoples. Several decades ago, the Malaysian government sanctioned massive affirmative action called the New Economic Policy (NEP) that included hiring, scholarship, and political benefits for Malays. The goal was to reduce the income inequality between the Malays and Chinese Malaysians. By 1991, when the NEP ended, many Malays attained middle-class status, but still had far less than 30% control over Malaysian industries (Malays are 50.4% of the population). The result was the introduction of a modification called the National Development Policy. Currently, it is hotly (passive-aggressively) debated whether or not this positive discrimination should continue. I naturally have a soft spot for the underdogs and I understand the frustration of Devern (a Chinese Malaysian) and Andre (a Chinese Indonesian). At the end of the conversation, I still thought, “What about the indigenous people? What about the Indians?”
Taking Danielle’s advice and ignoring Geoff, I planned a “Lonely Planet” excursion to Central Market—a night market with lots of art, souvenirs, and cheap stuff (sunglasses, watches, etc.).
I walked around the neighborhood a bit before I went inside. I have my eye on a hookah and a few other things. I will definitely return with some friends.
I had Indonesian food for dinner (a soy cake/omelet with peanut sauce). The first half of it was delicious, but I think that all of the fried foods finally caught up with me. I could not finish the last third.
When I returned to the villa, Zahir (I guess he’s like an RA) came by to chat. Although I did want some alone time, I took advantage of his local knowledge once I realized that he wasn’t leaving. I still want to know about the local music scene. He mentioned classical/folk music briefly before we spiraled into rants about Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber.
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