Let's have a beer

This phrase may soon be spoken by local Muslim men (or women, for that matter) without much apprehension, in the same league of that other popular sentence, `Jom kita pekena teh tarik.'

Alcohol-free beer from Iran is now available in Malaysia. The beer is called Istak and is brewed from the same grains (barley and malt) as normal beer except that there is no alcohol content because of no fermentation, or so it seems.

Yesterday's Harian Metro carried a report quoting En. Azizi Ahmad, the Executive Director of Malaysia Iran Corporation (the sole importer), that Muslims need not doubt the `halal-ness' of the drink. Apparently, some quarters of the general public have reservations on the legality of the drink from the Islamic standpoint because of the word `beer'. The controversy boils down to whether `no alcohol content' equates to `halal'. Read the full newspaper report -> here.

Looks like En. Azizi is facing his biggest challenge in marketing his product here in Malaysia... and that is the problem of perception. To many people, beer is an alcoholic product. It is part of a group of beverages that Muslims are prohibited from drinking. Even though it is alcohol-free, Istak is sold in bottles that look like any other normal beer bottle. Even the liquid looks like ordinary beer. So you cannot fault the average Muslim citizen to be a bit skeptical. The fact that it is manufactured in Iran, a very conservative Muslim country, does not help allay this doubt.

Alcohol-free beer has been around for a long time. I still remember a TV advertisement of such a drink when I was studying in the UK in the early eighties. Barbican - the alcohol-free lager, was the drink's name. But having doubts about Barbican is understandable. It is brewed in a normal brewery in England. And it is not targetted at the Muslim consumer anyway. Similarly, Guinness produces a malt drink with zero-alcohol content called Malta. It is not a popular drink among Muslims because it still carries the Guinness mark.

My next encounter with alcohol-free beer was in Cairo some years ago. Our Egyptian host took us out for dinner in one of those lovely floating restaurants that sail along the Nile River. For his drink, our host ordered something that came in a can that looked strikingly like beer. When he popped the can and poured the contents in a glass, it sure looked like beer, complete with froth. I was a bit surprised at first but later found out that it is a no-alcohol beer that is very popular in Egypt.

When I was posted in the United Arab Emirates, similar alcohol-free beer is sold widely in the supermarkets. It even occurred to me that if I could bring some of these drinks into Malaysia, I could probably make a fortune. That is, if I can surmount this perception problem. If you can recall, A & W had this same problem when they first introduced root beer.

The next question that comes to mind is probably, `How does it taste?'

Personally, I wouldn't know. I have not drank any beer, whether pseudo or the real thing. But according to some friends who have, the pseudo beer tastes nothing like the real one.

Who are the people who would want to buy and drink alcohol-free beer anyway? Muslims who have the hidden desire to drink beer but dare not cross the line by taking the real thing?

In the end, it all comes down to personal choice. We'll soon see if Istak becomes a popular drink in Malaysia.

Right... I'm knocking off from work now and would be meeting some friends for a drink. Perhaps I'll have a beer. Cheers!

How to behave in a committee

For those of us who work in big organisations, it is quite inevitable that we find ourselves to be a member of a committee. Committees are meant as a way for people from different sections to meet and work towards a common interest. It helps to bring out different ideas and opinions to be heard and shared. Committees also serve as an avenue to distribute workload.

The flip side to this is when the committee is made up of hard-headed individuals, decisions don't get made and work gets bogged down. It is even worse if the committee is led by an ineffective chairman. But the ineffective chairman is not as bad as the irresponsible one... the one that takes the credit when the committee does something good. When there's a cock-up, the members of the committee share the blame.

I've had my share of sitting in committees and sub-committees during the early years of my career. Nowadays I prefer to work as a lone ranger. Tough sometimes... but quick and efficient.

Here's a light-hearted look on this subject that I came across from one of my old files:

How to behave in a committee

Having served on various committees, I have drawn up a list of rules :-

1. Never arrive on time; this stamps you as a beginner.
2. Don’t say anything until the meeting is half over; this stamps you as wise.
3. Be as vague as possible; this avoids irritating the others.
4. When in doubt, suggest a sub-committee be appointed.
5. Be the first to move for adjournment; this will make you popular. It’s what everyone is waiting for.

Work hard and stay cool. Have a good week guys.

Hoax emails that continue to live on

If you are a citizen of cyberspace, you would surely have an email address. And when you have one, there is no escaping the situation of receiving chain and hoax emails that are forwarded from your friends or acquaintances.

Forwarded emails are not spam; they are messages from well-meaning friends who feel that the item being forwarded would be of use to you. These messages can be humourous, inspirational or informative in nature. They arrive at the sender's inbox as a forwarded message from somewhere else. Most of these types of messages have been forwarded so many times that their origin is no longer known. Among such messages are hoax emails that have been propagated for such a long time as to reach urban legend status.

I have touched on this subject of forwarded emails before in an earlier post -> here. I do not mind receiving forwarded emails from friends because they generally contain jokes, motivational articles and other informative stuff. In fact, I continue to forward some of the good ones too. But I am quite dismayed when friends forward me hoax emails (especially relating to get-rich-quick schemes) without thinking twice about the content they are passing on.

Today I received an email that falls into the hoax category. It is the one that claims that Ericsson would give free laptops to anyone who would forward the promotional email to 8 other persons that they know. This hoax has been circulating for about two years now. While the original email was text-based, this latest one is a jpeg graphic that includes a picture of a sleek laptop.

Click on it to read the full text. Just make sure you are not one who continue the forwarding, okay?

It is easy to see that the mail is not genuine. Firstly, Ericsson does not make laptops. Secondly, the T18 model mentioned is actually a mobile phone. An obsolete model at that. Furthermore, Ericsson no longer manufactures phones on their own; they do it together with Sony. Hence we have Sony-Ericsson. A simple google check reveals a number of websites that confirm the hoax.

I've sent a message back to my friend saying that he's been duped. I included a link to a website -> urbanlegends.about.com., just in case he needs further convincing. I also suggested he send a similar response to the guy who forwarded the mail to him in the first place (as it happens, another mutual friend).

These friends are educated and professional people. And yet, they can be influenced into doing something so absurd because of the temptation of easy money, or in this case, a free laptop. No wonder hoax emails will continue to circulate cyberspace...

Barat is not East, my friend

The photograph shown on the left is a floor directory signage at the new government office block located within the Johor State New Administrative Centre (JSNAC) in Nusajaya. The signmaker obviously has got his compass directions confused, or at least, doesn't know that Barat means West.

While we are at it, the second photograph is a signage at the lift lobby. The jawi spelling has a missing dot on the last letter. They also have not yet pasted the relevant numerals.

JSNAC maintenance crew should make a thorough inspection of all the signages before the general public spot more bloopers.

All the pics shown here were taken earlier today at my first visit to the new government offices. The whole JSNAC complex is basically still a work in progress although I can see that 4 main buildings have been completed. This include the State Assembly and the Menteri Besar's office.

One wing of the Government office building as viewed from the central courtyard. The other wing is a mirror-image

East wing viewed from the side

West wing viewed from the side

Unfortunate but lucky

The title of this post sounds a bit like a paradox but I’m the sort of guy who will always try to look for a positive thread when unfortunate things happen unexpectedly. An example of such a situation is when my car broke down while I was on my way to Kuantan last year (click here for the story). Yesterday, an incident happened that illustrates a similar situation.

Last night I took an express bus from Kuala Lumpur back to Johor Bahru. The bus left Puduraya Terminal promptly at 9.00 pm. Traffic was not heavy and we got out of the city and entered the highway smoothly.

We were about half an hour into the journey, just before Sg. Besi toll, when we heard a loud exploding sound. The bus began to shudder but the driver managed to control the situation and slowly brought the bus to a stop on the road shoulder.
He got off and investigated. The front left tyre had exploded.

I went down to have a look. Brand new tyre, the driver says. Just replaced three days ago. He wasn’t sure what caused the burst. Good thing he was driving around 70 km/h at the time.

And so we had to wait by the roadside, opposite Technology Park Malaysia, for the replacement bus (the 10.00pm from Puduraya) to come.

This mishap caused me to reach home much later than expected but at least I reached home. If the burst had occurred while the bus was traveling at high speed at a later stretch of the highway, things may have turned out even worse. This is what I mean about being unfortunate but lucky at the same time.

For the 4-D punters among you, the license plate of the bus is JJG 9507. But you buy it at your own risk, okay :-)