Friends Of STAR

The last time I was involved in boycotting anything was a long time ago, back in 1975 when I was in STAR. The dining hall food was so lousy we decided to boycott it. And guess what happened. After only two hungry days, we had enough of boycotting and ate everything they threw at us including those hard-as-rock curried fish which could probably cause unlimited damage if used as a weapon.

So I was surprised when I received an email a few days ago asking me to boycott a well-known kopitiam. I like this kopitiam, they have two near my house and one very close to my working place. Of the three, I especially like one because it is owned by the CEO of a well-known GLC. Or maybe he is the franchisee. But he is my kampung mate and a classmate of my eldest sister. Of course, he is a Malay but I got confused when the email said this was one of the Chinese brand we must avoid. It becomes confusion of the highest order - in order to boycott a Chinese brand we must boycott a Malay outlet.

The word "boycott" actually originated from an English name, Charles Boycott. This is the story of how the word "boycott" came into being (from FREE DICTIONARY):-

Charles Boycott seems to have become a household word because of his strong sense of duty to his employer. An Englishman and former British soldier, Boycott was the estate agent of the Earl of Erne in County Mayo, Ireland. The earl was one of the absentee landowners who as a group held most of the land in Ireland. Boycott was chosen in the fall of 1880 to be the test case for a new policy advocated by Charles Parnell, an Irish politician who wanted land reform. Any landlord who would not charge lower rents or any tenant who took over the farm of an evicted tenant would be given the complete cold shoulder by Parnell's supporters. Boycott refused to charge lower rents and ejected his tenants. At this point members of Parnell's Irish Land League stepped in, and Boycott and his family found themselves isolated without servants, farmhands, service in stores, or mail delivery. Boycott's name was quickly adopted as the term for this treatment, not just in English but in other languages such as French, Dutch, German, and Russian.

OK, you guess it right. The email I mentioned probably came from a BN supporter though probably not endorsed by BN. But to say only pro-establishment supporters play this boycott game is totally untrue. It started much earlier. The first similar email I received was actually a call to boycott Utusan Malaysia and other mainstream media. This happened a few years ago. And then last year there was a call to boycott Gardenia bread because it was claimed the brand was owned by Syed Mokhtar. Unknown to many, the bread Gardenia is actually majority-owned by a Singaporean group.

And today my wife shows me her boycott list - probably she printed it somewhere from the Internet. A long list of items complete with alternatives. Very much similar to the email I received a few years ago asking me not only to boycott Utusan Malaysia but NST, TV3, The Star and a long list of mainstream media. 

I hardly read Utusan Malaysia or any printed newspapers. But I am an avid reader of Kosmo, an Utusan Malaysia publication. So there is no way I am going to boycott Utusan Malaysia. And I like steamed bread with chicken curry therefore it would be foolish of me to boycott that kopitiam.

Boycott is a stupid game. Just like Charles Boycott who was a stupid man. 

Ketika krisis hutang Eropah dan kelembapan ekonomi Amerika Syarikat kian meresahkan, Ketua Tabung Mata Wang Antarabangsa (IMF), Christine Lagarde terbang ke Beijing dengan agenda utama lawatan dipercayai bagi meminta bantuan China menangani kemelut berkenaan.

Diari terperinci lawatan bekas Menteri Kewangan Perancis itu dirahsiakan, namun dipercayai mempunyai kaitan dengan krisis kewangan di rantau itu dengan pemimpinnya sudah awal-awal lagi meminta China menyumbang kepada "tabung menyelamat" diwujudkan.

Sebelum itu pun, Ketua Kemudahan Penstabilan Kewangan Eropah, Klaus Regling sudah ke ibu negara China membawa bersama suara pemimpin rantau "kulit putih", cuba memujuk China tampil menyalurkan bantuan.

Mengapa China? Jawapannya sudah tentu kerana kekuatan ekonominya. Walaupun cuba dinafikan Amerika dan Eropah melalui propaganda mereka, China hakikatnya adalah kuasa ekonomi utama ketika ini, disokong dengan kekuatan pasaran dan kesediaan 1.3 bilion rakyatnya menerima perubahan.

Apa tidaknya, negara Tanah Besar ini mempunyai rizab tukaran asing terbesar dunia iaitu AS$3.2 trilion atau kira-kira RM10 trilion dalam matawang kita, ekonominya juga terus membangun. Justeru, kerajaan dan syarikat asing berlumba-lumba menjalin hubungan dan merebut peluang perniagaan di sana termasuk juga dari Malaysia.

Ketika ramai masih tercari-cari tapak di China, seorang anak Melayu, Mohamad Azhar Jamadi sudah lama berurusan di sana. Bekas pelajar Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman (STAR), Ipoh berusia 41 tahun ini sudah bertahun-tahun menjalin hubungan dengan kerajaan dan usahawan China.

Hasil hubungan baiknya, beliau mendapat kepercayaan dilantik menjadi ahli jawatankuasa pertubuhan yang besar juga pengaruhnya, dinamakan Jawatankuasa Pembangunan Mampan-Persatuan Pertukaran Antarabangsa Beijing (BIEA-SDC) ditubuh dan diluluskan Kerajaan China pada 2005.

Ringkasnya, diatas kertas objektif jawatankuasa beribu pejabat di Beijing ini dilihat begitu ilmiah, tetapi sebanranya ia wadah terbaik buat mana-mana kerajaan dan usahawan yang mahu merintis hubungan dengan pemerintah atau komuniti bisnes di China.

Kisah Azhar amat menarik. Beliau bukan saja sekadar ahli jawatankuasa, tetapi turut diberi kepercayaan mewakili persatuan berkenaan di rantau Asia Tenggara dan Malaysia. Memang namanya tidak begitu dikenali di sini, malah mungkin Azhar sendiri tidak sedar betapa "besar" beliau miliki.

Anak muda kelahiran Melaka ini menjadi orang Melayu pertama dan satu-satunya dilantik serta diiktiraf BIEA-SDC mewakili mereka bagi rantau ini. Tugasnya kini bagi mempromosi forum yang dianjurkan jawatankuasa berkenaan di Malaysia dan negara serantau.

"Sebenarnya sebelum dilantik menganggotai jawatankuasa itu, saya sudah lama menjalin persahabatan dan kerjasama dengan pihak di China berkaitan perniagaan saya di Malaysia dalam pembangunan dan pengeluaran produk kejuruteraan untuk pengurusan pelupusan sisa pepejal, pengangkutan dan sebagainya.

"Atas perhubungan akrab dengan beberapa orang kenamaan di China kerana urusan perniagaan, tak sangka pula mereka percaya dan memberikan pengiktirafan serta penghormatan kepada saya untuk dilantik ke dalam jawatankuasa terbabit dan menjadi wakil di Malaysia serta Asia Tenggara," katanya.

Dengan status dan kedudukannya dalam organisasi itu, Azhar diberi kuasa menjemput, menganjur, membuka dan menyediakan wadah yang boleh membantu mana-mana pihak dari Malaysia, termasuk agensi kerajaan bergandingan bagi meneroka peluang perniagaan, menembusi pasaran serta menjalin jaringan ekonomi dengan China.

"Tanggungjawab saya tidak terbatas pada perkara berkaitan ekonomi saja, sebaliknya turut mempelopori inisiatif memperkasa jalinan hubungan perdagangan, kebudayaan, dakwah, persaudaraan, bantuan, sokongan, keagamaan, warisan dan sebagainya secara dua hala di antara China-Malaysia," katanya.

Biarpun terpaksa berulang-alik menguruskan pejabat perniagaan di Puchong dan melunaskan tanggungjawab di Beijing, Azhar tidak sedikit pun berasa ralat. Tanggungjawabnya kini semakin berat kerana sibuk menguruskan mesyuarat persiapan penganjuran forum BIEA-SDC di Hanwang, tidak jauh dari Beijing, Mei nanti."

"Forum kali keempat ini dijangka dilangsungkan Mei depan disertai wakil kerajaan dan usahawan dari seluruh dunia bagi membincangkan pelbagai isu semasa dan secara tidak langsung membuka peluang bagi peserta mencari produk dan pasaran baru."

"Sayangnya belum ada lagi penyertaan dari negara kita, baik daripada pihak kerajaan atau komuniti usahawan ke dalam forum ini. Saya amat berharap usahawan Malaysia, terutama sektor perusahaan kecil dan sederhana dapat merebut peluang itu, begitu juga dengan kerajaan kita," tambahnya.

Azhar Jamadi ialah dari batch 1983-87. Black house dan drum major 86-87.

Mohd Osman Kassim, batch 74, passed away this morning at Hospital Kuala Lumpur. Osman, born and raised in Dungun, attended STAR from 1969 to 1974 before furthering his education in Dublin in 1975.

I last met him over teh tarik about three weeks ago when he was temporarily discharged from hospital. By then he had already lost weight and looked completely different from the normal jovial Osman we used to know. 

DEATH AND LIFE ARE ONE 

AS THE WAVES AND THE OCEAN ARE ONE 

AS THE SKY AND THE STARS ARE ONE 

AS THE BODY AND THE EARTH ARE ONE