A New Era for Myanmar

With 77.1% of the votes from the recent election, it seems that the people of Myanmar have chosen their next leaders.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) behind Ms Aung San Suu Kyi seems to have won the right to form the next government, assuming that all goes according to plan.

This is a promising step forward for the country, after languishing behind its ASEAN neighbours for so long. Her people are certainly pleased at this.

Having had the pleasure of speaking with some of them in Singapore, I sense their excitement at this new development, even as I hear assurances that their country is safe despite its less-than-stellar reputation. 

The Burmese that I met here are a welcoming people, and they are proud of their country, just not of the current governing body. A very common theme in our interactions revolves around how blessed we (Singapore) are as a nation to have a capable, efficient government. I have heard repeated variations of "if only we had your government" from them.

It makes me wonder what they can be if their government is a strong one, skilled at international relations and financial management, the way ours is. With their vast wealth of natural resources, they can easily become one of the most prosperous ASEAN nations. 

All we have to do now is wait and see. And perhaps make an investment or two there. Their rising prosperity will definitely impact ours.

Myanmar, may you rise from the doldrums and take your place on the world stage. Your people have spoken. They are ready.

Picture from Wikipedia

We Need To Move On From Paris

We live in an age when information is transmitted from one end of the world to the other seemingly at the speed of thought - the moment something happens, people on the other side of the globe know about it within minutes, if not seconds.

This has the advantage of bringing events to the focused attention of many people. However, that is also its disadvantage.

Knowing how the news networks and media work, it's all too easy to create a huge event to take attention away from other things that are happening.

Now that the whole world is focused on the deplorable events that occurred in the City of Love; on how other organisations, groups, and nations are responding; as well as on what governments are doing in light of this, the terrorist organisation involved is likely planning the next one at a location far away, while all our attention goes towards something it has moved on from.

We should certainly render all the help necessary, but we should not dwell on it. Instead, it is probably wiser to figure out what may be happening next.

The longer we stay focused only on this, the more of a head start they have, and the longer we will have to play catch-up.

It is time for us to move, time for us to act, time for us to work towards preventing the next one.

Finished Chapter One of Gemology Curriculum

Finally finished the first chapter of the gemology curriculum and half-way through the second chapter. 

It's been awhile since I've been creating curriculum. In all honesty, it's not my favourite thing to do because it can get rather tedious. Nevertheless, if I don't do it, then it will never be done.

So, onwards! 

Communication with Dealers from Other Countries

For the past week or so, I've been on a number of merchant sites, communicating with different dealers from around the world.

Truly, there are many kinds - there are some who are friendly and chatty and others who are purely business-like with no room for small talk; some who are quick to reply and others who take a long time; some who are accommodating to requests and others who refuse to make any changes.

It's quite an experience to talk to them and I learned that, above all else, clarity in communication is very important, since many of them do not speak English as a first language though they do try hard.

The other thing I learned is that timing is crucial. Sometimes, the timing needs to be gotten just right in order to strike a good deal for both parties. For example, I managed to get a delivery of some gems that I bought through the overseas dealer's Singaporean friend who happened to be coming back to Singapore the next day. I didn't have to pay shipping or fund transfer fees! It's hard to predict such things, but when they do happen, everybody is happy.

Clarity and timing. My two takeaways from this week.