10/4/11 CHANGE....

Lives in Sarawak over the past two weeks is very interesting indeed. Over the past 10days, all over Sarawak, there were intense calls for a change. The Opposition is calling for the National Front to be changed, and likewise, the National Front call for the change onto the Opposition. The main issue is a push for a change of leadership, especially the number one position in the State Government. Today, after a tough fight, a call for a change seem to hit immediately onto the SUPP, one of the key component political party of the Sarawak State National Front. I'm not going to dwell on this, but, as I was flying to KL tonight I read the Harvard Business Review on one important article: The real reason people won't change!

(2) Be it at any position, or any Organization, there is always a resistance to change. Currently in the Middle East for example, the present leaderships are willing to flood their nations with their people sweat, tears and even blood, yet die hard to heed for the call to a change.

(3) The article, which was a well researched by an Organization Psychoanalyst revealed that a person or Organization refused for change is mainly due to a Big Assumption. The writer, in fact carefully, and psychologically refused to use the word, fear, in describing why a person or an Organization refused to change. Surely in most reading, the word fear, and refusal to leave the comfort zone would be used instead of his term: Big Assumption.

(4) In trying to fit his writing with my personal experiences in steering some changes in everywhere that I have been posted (or live), all through the flight, I just closed my eyes while my mind began to visit those faces that I have tried to change, making them better in a way I believe they should be. Probably, my little writing here, could help those who are looking forward to succeed but feel uncomfortable to change as needed. For the sake of illustration, I'm not going to use their actual names, rather just to called them by Alphabet, and the term he (him, himself, and alike) that I'm going to use is genderless.

(i) First and foremost let me challenge those whom used to say, change your ownself first before you could change others. This statement is in fact an excuse for one not to change, when being call to change. It is one of that Big Assumptions, a very wrong assumption for not to change. If it is truely correct that one must firstly changed before he could call others to change, then there will never be any call for a change. For the Muslim, let me argue this from two perspectives: Firstly, was Muhammad SAW really a perfect person when he start to call his people, the Quraish, to walk to the correct path? Did we really know the point in his life time that he being bestowed as a perfect person? Secondly, if so (Muhamad from the very start is a perfect person) what could we learn then from Allah saying that, after long years he (Muhammad) had been calling his people and preaching Islam onto them, then only Allah said, now I have given you a perfect religion and you a perfect ummah? Doesn't this mean, calling for a change for good must come from any person at any time. Allah saying in Surah Wal-Asri is very clear on such a responsibility. Therefore as a Muslim in particular, a change and calling for a change for good is a responsibility. We must make it, doesn't matter when, where, and by whoever! This also mean, we must change whether being called or not.

(ii) In almost all instances when new personnel is being recruited, I would request him (them) to see me, and at all times, I would advice him (them) not to look at himself as belonging to his peculiar ethnic of origin. Psychologically, this advice is inline with the writer finding that to a certain extend, there are those among us, due to our racial background, we simply refused to change. There are numerous reasons to why we simply refused to change once we associate ourselve too strongly to our Ethnic of Origin ie our culture. Say if a Malay works hard for a Chinese tawkey, there may these Big Assumption haunting into his mind that he may be seen among his Malay peers, as "kaki bodek", or even be called as "pengkhianat". Scared to be classified as those, fear to be disassociated with his ethnic general view, thus he may withdraw from working harder, smarter, or better. He reluctantly want to change even if he knew he must change, for his own good. I believe, this must be one of the key reason, why Islam discourage marriage among close family or ethnic. In general, socially and scientifically, hybrid gives better adaptation and performance. Thus, to change we may need to break away from our normal norms, be it cultural or familiy related.

(iii) In general everyone wants to have a better life. Everyone wants to be treated special. Everyone wants to be honored well. But what does it take to have so and so, that thousand and one good dreams that we want? Among us, we simply refused to change, say to work harder, be more efficient, be more productive, smarter, etc for fear, if we do so, there would be more and more things be dumbed onto our table. There is always that Big Assumption that hard and smart working person will always be over burden. We have that fear, fear being over loaded, if we work better! Why are we not taking a view that if we are being given much more responsibilities, we should treat that as an honor, as a trust, we being trusted and honored? If we had made such stance in our live, do we really care, on how much work being press onto our head. Surely, with the courage of wanting to do more, would force ourselves to gear for lots of changes, changes for a better way in dealing with our affairs.

(iv) They are also among us, whom assumed, if we had to deal with too many things, we definitely have to sacrifice lots of our personal matters. We may have to miss our family lives, missed our golf, missed our happy hours with friends, missed lots of our resting times and so forth. Basically, we fear to loose lots of our personal comforts. Our mind and soul seem to be drown with lots of negativity. Yet we never challenge ourselves, in order for us to maintain our personal comforts or even to make them better, that is the very reason why we must change. Say, if we refused to change our bad eating habit, that every day,our habit makes our weight getting higher and higher, with such scenario, do we think our health be forever great? Is changing from bad eating habit to good eating habit, a bad thing, a thing that make us loose our present welbeing? Basically, in this case, I won't say we refused to change not because it is difficult to change, just that because we are just a sloath (dam lazy)and we have no gut (coward) to stop our mouth from keep chewing! To change we must have the gut to challenge our sloath (being lazy) habit.

(v) A smart guys, he changes continuously, either through big leap or incrementally. Most important he changed. But there are those who feel that they feared to change, avoiding trying new things, indifferent to working new ways, especially when there are junior. They simply don't want to embrace their senior(s) and even peers, if, say they are able to do thing better. They are scared that they may loose their peers and even of the envy of the seniors. Accordingly, they may feared to be promoted, feared they might not be able to deliver as expected. They have no confident of themselves. They seem to be too polite, without realising, they are blocking the wrap speed of success of the Organization.

(vi) No doubt, there are among us who feared that they may loose their authorities or privileges if they changed. Say, there are those who seem to be expert in everything, not wanting to work as a team. Worst, they even refused to nurtured their subordinate(s) to be good or great. This type of stingy attitude, not only over the long run would make them into the deadlock of an Organization, but worst they will forever be living in fear, fear of unecessary shadows. I have seen, this type of personalities having a very stressful life style.

(5) To me, a change is about overcoming our ego. Challenging our sloath attitude. Discarding our cowardy. But foremost, a real internal push for change is when we realised our true purpose in life. A true, communal purpose of life, not only those personal ones.

(6) To get to the habit of always changing to a better, it would be nice if we could seriously think what good change could bring us, and accordingly, what bad will flooded us, if we refused to change.


Bukit Bintang-KLIA, Kuala Lumpur
17-19 April, 2011