Ugly Houses of Malaysia

Malaysian McMansions : we have a characteristic Malaysian Ugly House ... the entire genre of "terrace house parks" with ...

- poor ventilation,

- streets uncovered by trees, 

- small trade zones out of walking distance,

- unlimited private parking on public spaces,

- etc.

It gets really funny when the Malaysian notion of a rich person's house is "bigger shitty houses" - now they're three-storey tall, cost a million bucks, and have all the same flaws as the tiny old places.

Uncommon Moralities

"monetising anxiety is the great game"

Becoming unafraid to die, to lose, or to suffer.

It's amazing how little emotional intelligence Malaysians have. I am not referring to sentimentality, or passion ... we have that in spades, it disgusts me, but that is a separate issue from the first.

When I talk to people about motivations, some seem uncertain of what I mean. Getting anyone, to do anything, on Earth, depends on presenting incentives to the subject. All action is a matter of carrots, and sticks - if the subject feels comfortable, it is a carrot, if the subject feels uncomfortable, it is a stick. But many people do not have this understanding of themselves, or of society in general.

Absolutely nothing gets done, if someone is neither comfortable nor uncomfortable. A content person does not breathe. Mostly, we can capture the sticks using a language of anxiety.

* Parents are anxious about the experiences of their kids, so parents do things, and whinge about sacrifice to make themselves feel better.

* Singles are anxious about their future experiences, so they do things, and whinge about passion as if it is something to be proud of - gold-plated anxiety.

* Carbon dioxide makes you anxious, so you breathe.

Many common anxieties lie in fear, which is a great motivator. Fear of death, kiasi, fear of losing, kiasu ... two memes from Singapore. Perhaps I have been overly conditioned by my parents who made fun of kiasu and kiasi people.

If you suggest to someone that they begin their moral belief system with two rules : you are not allowed to be kiasi, and you are not allowed to be kiasu, then you get some interesting outcomes.

The Price of Time

I have an idiot friend who doesn't understand how money works. They also don't like being called an idiot in public, but small matter ... who needs fragile friends? It is not really their fault however - they would see eye to eye with many others in the world, few of whom are truly useful to me in the grand scheme of things.

So this one absolutely loves to ask me why my time has a price tag of X, where X as of today sits around ＄1,000/week, for casual engagements. I must have explained it a hundred times ( facetious) by now ... a price tag is a supply-side offer, and is completely unrelated to any demand-side rationalisation which might motivate anyone to accept that price. For all practical purposes, all price tags in all markets are pulled out of someone's arse. All that needs to be noted is that ＄10 is not ＄100, and ＄100 is not ＄1 million. My job as a supplier is to advertise my price clearly. I don't need ＄1000 urgently, and I have more important things to do, so there is zero pressure to sell time - my sales target is zero. I haven't offered, or accepted anyone else's offer, to negotiate, so I have no obligations to analyse either supply or demand from any party whatsoever.

Often enough, when I say my time is limited for friendly assistance, they ask me why I am busy, and it is extremely tiresome to repeat myself : I have other things to do. Unfortunately they also think it is their business to have me provide an updated list of my current activities, which in the past I have provided perhaps ( again facetious ) a hundred times before.

Begrudgingly, they typically then turn to the following argument : "you choose not to be employed, therefore your opportunity cost is zero". Here is where I make special efforts to avoid offending the fragile inquisitor, on a regular basis. I try to explain that just because someone chooses to work for minimum wage, it doesn't mean their opportunity cost is minimum wage. Of course, the absolutely mid mind cannot fathom why anyone would work for less than the maximum pay they could command, so usually at this point I have given up trying to issue free tuition in economics, and I have turned to a discussion of how I am no longer motivated to engage ( which further triggers the snowflake ).

Ah well. Commoners. I remember in 2010 a similar type of chap ... friend of friends, dropout management consultant, working for Rocket Internet's Malaysian invasion. They told my headhunter flatmate that they couldn't fathom why I was asking for ＄1,000/week ( then, the USDMYR was 3.45, today it is 4.67 ). I couldn't understand why they couldn't understand it was cheap.

Yes, I think I am cheap. I haven't raised prices by much in 15 years, lol.

No one is expected to take me seriously. But if my attention is demanded, it comes with a small and simple price. Subject to negotiation, if I can be incentivised to raise my sales target for time to greater than zero, I suppose.

Generally,  I remain committed to the notion of falling back to minimum wage work whenever needed for the entirety of my life, and dying a natural death when I can no longer work. It seems horrifying to some people, but I find it to be the most natural thing of all. It keeps life simple.

Disruptive Market Takers

Ordinary market maker process :

1. Offer a price

2. Wait for takers, or get bored and retire the offer 

Ordinary market taker process :

1. Browse price offers

2. Take a price, or offer to negotiate

3. If offer to negotiate is not taken, go away

Disruptive market taker process :

1. Browse price offers

2. Harass market makers without negotiation protocols

3. Repeat 2. on a regular basis

I do it to others. My friends do it to me. Seems fair.

The Rule of Law in Malaysia

 Chats with my countryfolk. Malaysians often don't believe in the rule of law. I sometimes meet business owners or corporate staff who frame it as, "we're not here to be righteous," or "we're not here to demean ourselves in the eyes of the law." Whereas, I prefer to frame things in more legalistic terms. 

In conversations about "righteousness versus law," I like to say that I prefer to avoid such notions as "living people good, dead people bad," as associated with popular concepts such as "murder is unrighteous," rather ... I personally have no moral quandry with killing people, but if I had to I would want to know beforehand, if it was legal or not to do so.

In conversations about "we don't want a criminal record, so we'll use extra-judicial measures to ensure this," I prefer to say that's a problem because if I'm going to play a game ... and life is a game, for the most part, as far as I'm concerned ... I want to know what the rules are so that I can beat competitors based on the rules.

An acceptable reposte is that "well the real rules in Malaysia are, the law is not the final rule, and we do accept other ways of doing things, therefore you lost that round if you tried to abide by the law and someone else didn't, and they weren't penalised, but you were." 

And that's precisely what it means to reject the rule of law. Potato, potahto, it really is just a matter of preference, I suppose.

What do you prefer?