Thursday, May 17, 2007

Public vs. Private

Reading Dayang's blog, i started thinking of the differences of working in public (government) and private sectors in Malaysia. Somewhere in the newspaper i read, Malaysia has a statistically higher number of private sector employee nowadays. which is kinda surprising to me. But then, it's logical considering that i am a "minah kilang" (factory-girl) and counting MSes (Manufactoring Staff a.k.a Operator) per shift proves it all. here are some major differences i could think about..

1- Salary (& allowances) -
obviously, private sector won basic salary wise. but if u add the allowances up, the amount would be about the same. however, it's a horrible ordeal to try to get loans from a bank if ure working privately since they think that ur job security is very very low (wth??). if u dont believe me, try going to Bank Rakyat or even Public Bank. u will surely charged a higher interest in your loan even u r an engineer (vs. a teacher). sometimes, it came to a point i'm kinda disgusted to watch Bank Rakyat ad on tv. *sigh* and now, all public sector salary will be raised. what about us??? living cost is increasing yet seems like our salary isn't.

2- Workload -
This depends on what is ur job scope. i cant say one sector is less burden (thus less stress) but it all came to how much ure being paid. of course, being a trainee is much more leisure than being a permanent worker, rite? actually, it's nice to be a teacher where u hv a special day to be appreciated.

3- Office Hours -
Most of gov. working hours are either 8-5 or 9-6. like my parents, their hours r 8-5. normally my mum returns at 6 and my dad somewhere around 6.15. as for me.. official hour is 8-5.30 but working time really starts at 9 after b'fast. lol! but as i know, gov have official b'fast, brunch and lunch time where i only have b'fast n lunch time. another common thing wil be us working til late night. the latest i returned home was at 9pm. i'm grateful that i didnt have to stay overnight in the production floor like some others did. but yeah, here only handful of people leave the office at 5.30pm. most will start leaving at 6pm. not that we're rushing for traffic or so, it's just a norm.

4- Holidays -
Aha! Public sectors have way too many leave. "Sudden" leave like Agong's Coronation is granted for Public. since i am supporting manufacturing, we cant take leave since it's incovenient for factory to shutdown.

5- Training a.k.a Kursus -

Gov like to held their training in the hotels or tourism spot. which is a nice break from usual environment. hotels mean nicely fed (5 meals a day), a room to stay. Us? hmm we do have training center. but all meals on ur own expense. the only nice thing is that we can claim mileage. hehee. but here's the thing, i experienced the fun holiday when i was a kid, so i am not really complaining about this.

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when i just graduated and got a job in Intel, people ask me why i didnt apply a job in public sector. for now, the main reason would be the environment. i dont think i can work in the environment that is slow-paced or evryone is 'goyang-kaki'. i'll get bored easily if i have nothing to do. another thing is i dont like to work with people who know my dad! lol ; )

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Couple of weeks ago, Malaysia was shocked with the news of missing 5-yrs-old boy, Yin. Of course, being me, I can’t really understand how it feels coz I don’t have a child of my own. But I was thinking about how Yin actually ran away. Doctors said he’s a hyperactive kid, which I believe what 50% of young children are. Weren’t u?

Anyway, I myself once went missing as well. Hahaha. Unbelievable? I was 4. On my way to Tokyo with my mum to meet with my dad. Along came to the airport (Subang at that time) was my aunt. Me & my mum were at the immigration counter, where our passports were stamped before we walked to the terminal. All the way, I was hold by my hand and of course, at the moment my mum let go (to take our our passport). I seized the moment running away. Heheee.

Luckily, the plane was postponed for an hour due to some supplies shortage. Hence, the search party began. After almost an hour (I think), I was found, by a security guard. Wanna know where? Hahaha! In front of a toy shop we walked pass by before. I was pasted to the window of the store. Earlier, I was insisting of getting a toy but my mum refused to buy it for me, saying I will get a lot of toys when we meet my dad later.

Interestingly, since we were both late, our seats were taken by some illegal immigrants boarding the plane (they’re sent back to their home country by the government). So we ended up staying in the Business Class in the upper deck. Right behind the cockpit! And there came my 1st experience walking into the room with ‘thousand of buttons’.

Hmm.. that was really nice.. naughty but nice..