To be Fair

Taking a stand

In the last post, I made an annoucment of me going for a new post in Hong Kong as COO. Today, exactly 4 weeks after that announcment, I am back in Malaysia, my wooly scarf and corporate armour tucked neatly in the wardrobe. I have quitted my job in Hong Kong. For someone who has spent every solid moment of her life in pursuing hard deals in the business world, someone who has leapt boldly into new business challenges that come her way, this decision to quit, though unthinkable, was not a hard decision to take.

I knew before I joined the Hong Kong firm, the working hours in the new company would be far from humane. The package negotation had not been pleasant and I was told that it was a trumph that I managed to secure the same level as my previous job in Malaysia. All these for the price of being able to sample the working culture in Hong Kong, living in Hong Kong and to experience in person the breakneck drift of materialism getting caught with communism in the world’s fastest growing economy in China. After my grilling working hours, so I thought, I will have a place to stay in Hong Kong on weekends that I could engage in extra-curricular activities of scoutting every street, reading every social commentory there is in the newspaper columns, albeit making new friends outside work and understand how the society is changing in Hong Kong and China.

The finely crafted vision of work life balance was thrown into a shamble on the 2nd day itself when the PA came with the message that I should consider living in China. The writing was on the wall “I might as well stay in the factory in Shenzhen”. It was clear that this was not the deal I was in for. The days that followed, with an enormous cloud of suspicion, I did a quick review of the IT operations and workers welfare, and found many are “cutting corners” for the sake of politely put, financial prudency. Worst of all, all management decisions, big or small, were in the hand of the CEO. My title as COO, I soon discovered, was a mockery.

To be fair, I made great efforts to speak to the CEO but my attempts were elbowed out conveniently by the busy schedule of factory relocation and his impeding business trip to San Francisco. I hence decided that it is not worth spending my energy on realignment. Taking two weeks time-out back to Malaysia would be a face saving approach for both parties instead of direct confrontation. But when the plane touched the runway of KLIA, I knew I was not going back.

Though in the weeks that followed, I found myself caught in occasional panic seizure of remaining stagnant at my career crossroad, I am proud of my decision to leave. I am, afterall, responsible to chart my next career goal. I left the company that I was with for 11 years, to seek growth and not to entrap myself in the slaughterhouse of work. The knowledge that I was able to make a stand for what I believe in empowers me.

As a last note, I was never keen in registering my voter’s status, nor cast my ballot in any national election, a right every Malaysian citizen is entitled to from the age of 21. The 2nd day on my returning to my home country, I found myself in front of the voter registration booth. Despite years of procrastination, it took only 5 minutes for me to be endowed with an official status, which empowers me to make a stand to influence my country’s well being from now on.

posted by Vegie @ 9:44 PM