MCO-ing for a a bit longer

It's Day 9 of the MCO (Movement Control Order) here in Melaka (and for that matter the rest of Malaysia). Posting my thoughts here while waiting for my upcoming Skype meeting (still WFH-ing, remember?).

Yesterday, it was announced that the MCO that started on 18 Mar 2020 would be further extended by an additional 14 days, meaning until 14 April 2020. For us in Melaka, 15 April is a local public holiday (Melaka Historical City Day), so we'd be back to office on 16 April. Assuming there will be no further extensions....

This was more more less what I estimated, as mentioned in my earlier posts on MCO+Water Rationing in Melaka HERE and also WFH (Working from Home) HERE.

Speaking of water rationing, I'm happy to say that it has been raining quite frequently in the past few days, mostly in the late evenings and at night. The situation has somewhat improved, because as of late, we have not had water disruptions. So, I guess it has been raining in the right places, which is most important.

While this is a welcomed relief, no reason to go complacent and start washing car or soak in the hot tub. It's actually a reminder of our scarce resource, and that we should practice a sustainable lifestyle instead of just temporary measures.

Well, back to MCO, instead of crossing the 50% "milestone", looks like now the finishing line has been moved further back - more like only 25% of the journey now completed. From the news, there are still many people in defiance or ignorance of the MCO, which is aimed at effective social isolation (and not just "staying at home", which has become a popular catch-phrase). But some of these people appear to be not so clean (and have some reason to evade the cops). Others seem to have all sorts of reasons as to why they go out. Finally, we have the innovative people like this gentleman, who has left nothing to chance and designed his own HAZMAT suit from garbage bags (Macgyver would surely salute this guy!).

Until next time - Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay at Home! 😁

Practical Working from Home (WFH) in 2020

It's Day 5 of the MCO (Movement Control Order) here in Melaka, from 18 Mar 2020 to 31 Mar 2020 (as of today). This measure is drastic but necessary in order to "break the chain" of highly contagious Covid-19 Coronavirus, by social isolation. We're still allowed to go out to buy food and other essential supplies, but with some guidelines (like only one person in the car, for example). The short and simple rule is - "Stay At Home" (you'd be surprised how many people do NOT comply with this, either through ignorance or defiance). More info can be found over here (FAQ is in Bahasa Malaysia, though) and also in my previous post. For most of us, this means staying at home doing nothing, but (un?)fortunately for me and my team, we need to Work From Home (WFH hereon for short). Thanks to the nature of our job and this day and age of technology.

I'm no stranger to this mode of working, having started nearly a decade ago. However, with the advancements in technology, specifically in telecommunication and also IT, working from home has become more practical and do-able. Provided the necessary infrastructure is in place (more on this later).

Working from Home (WFH hereon for short) is also known as telecommuting, is we perform our daily job functions from an external location instead of the usual location. This is not the same as working in the field, where one still has to be on-site, wherever that may be. WFH is not a standard working mode - it varies across job functions, companies, industries and even regions.

Not every job or function is suitable for WFH. For instance:
- Service industry: Waiter, Hairdresser, etc.
- Manufacturing: Production Operators, Technicians (At least until IR4.0 is here)
- Field-work: Home Delivery and Repair Services
- Highly confidential: Finance, R&D (Bring your top secret stuff home and leave it lying around? I don't think so....)

In principle, there's a tendency for developed countries having higher adoption of WFH due to the nature of work and also the culture. Especially in Asia, where there is a concern from the top that people might abuse the system or only some people might be lucky enough (or cursed, more on this coming) to be able to WFH. Strangely, the same people do not have any concerns when we work our rear-ends off across international time zones and outside office hours....

Why do people take WFH (under normal, non-MCO days)? Sometimes, there is a need to be at home to take care of kids, elderly or sick - not full-time, but at least on standby or to have their presence at home. Sometimes, awaiting an urgent delivery or home repair. Whatever the reason, the expectation is that the employee will not compromise on their usual functionality - so if their immediate surroundings demand too much attention, the employee is better off taking leave rather than WFH. And sometimes, there's the controversial "not that sick, but contagious" zone where it's better to work in isolation, but not flat out go on medical leave. I've had to do so several times in the past during the school holidays.

While some employees may lament that they do not have sufficient entitlement for WFH (limited number of days per month or even none at all), actual WFH requires certain pre-requisites to be effective. Below are some steps I have taken in my own experience in order to function optimally:

1. Location

   I've fortunate enough to have some space to set up a desk in the corner of my bedroom to function as my primary home office. Not a fancy manager / glass desk - actually it's an old Mahjong table which I inherited from my late grandparents.... My family is understanding enough to know that when I am in working mode (the closed door being a subtle hint). Of course, it's not completely soundproof, but still better than being in the office when EVERYONE is in their own telco! Of course, if you live in a studio / apartment with your wife, four kids two cats and pet gold fish, you would probably WANT to go to office to get any real work done....

2. Workstation / Equipment

   Like I said, I have my ancestral Mahjong table, and hijacked a chair from my dining table. Not completely ergonomic, but will do for now. Who would have guessed I'd have to spend 2 weeks of full-time WFH? We've been trying to go paperless for ages now, so most of the work is done through the company-issued laptop and company servers (which, judging from the speed, could be located in another continent). I'm using my own USB headset, a fairly old model (Logitech H390). Unfortunately, I don't have a printer, photocopier, scanner, etc. at home. So in a pinch, I'll use my cellphone camera to "scan" something.

3. Network Infrastructure

   To WFH requires massive amounts of online data transfer, with a high-bandwidth, stable Internet connection. Unfortunately, I don't have a Unifi connection so I use the hotspot from my company-issued phone. With some forward-planning, I copy large files to my company-issue laptop to work "offline" at home, and upload them once I'm back in the office again. Of course, I'm actively practicing good data security and keep all devices, portable drives, etc. secure.

4. Minimize / Eliminate Distractions

   This is the hard one, especially when the whole kampung is at home too. That is why, I really consider the reason for WFH-ing in the first place. If it's not possible to do so effectively, I would rather go to the office or take leave.

5. Personal Health / Well-being

   Actually, while at the office, there's better opportunity for social interaction and taking breaks to detract from the monotony of the situation. Even commuting to and from work, getting up for a stretch, walking to the coffee machine or meeting room is better than sitting at home. When WFH, I can actually sit through the entire day at my Mahjong table-cum-workstation, and this can lead to poor posture (due to the mismatch in height of my chair), lack of physical activity and other problems (unless you have anti-social tendencies and actually enjoy working alone without interacting with your colleagues). Some of my colleagues have also pointed out that WFH is not all a bed of roses like it appears to be.

WFH is still counted as work - the idea is to be fully functioning during this time. I do my part to set a good example for my team (who are in a similar predicament now expecially during this MCO). Hopefully, this Covid-19 pandemic gets under control ASAP. Depending on how the next two weeks go, there may be a possibility to extend - if you ask me, I think it should be extended at least until mid Apr 2020. Great care needs to be exercised when the MCO is lifted, as I can imagine everyone would rush out after 2 weeks of staying at home - it would be disasterous if there were a "backdraft", like glowing embers under a smoking pile of burnt peat....

In conclusion - for those of you who have the option to WFH - don't misuse this to the point where the employer would be forced to revise its policy!

MCO and Water Rationing in Melaka - a double whammy

Unless you have been in deep meditation somewhere in the middle of the desert, or have somehow managed to decouple from the world, you should all be well aware of the Covid-19 global pandemic that is (as of the time of this post) bringing the entire planet to a grinding halt. For us here in Melaka, this unfortunately overlaps with an extremely long dry spell that has left our taps running dry. Alas, two negatives do not make a positive....

Regarding the latter, Melaka historically has always had troubles with water - either too much (flooding) or too little - like we are currently experiencing. While past incidences were sometimes triggered due man-made mishaps (contamination of the water supply), the current predicament seems to be mainly due to the prolonged dry spell. It has not rained consistently for months now, save for the occasional downpour which a) may not be in the right place where the water catchment areas are located and b) may be heavy but too brief - only sufficient to make the dust stick to your car.

There are currently 3 water catchment areas in Melaka: Empangan Durian Tunggal, Empangan Jus and Empangan Asahan. There is a 4th Empangan (Malay for Dam) project at Jernih that is still far from completion, having been put off since 2018 but recently rejuvenated - which is too late to remedy the current situation. The malay proverb "sediakan payung sebelum hujan" or "prepare an umbrella before it rains" aptly describes the situation. Of course, there is another saying involving lavatories and certain bodily functions which I choose not to use, but more or less implies the same meaning....

As a result of this shortage of rain, the water levels at the dams have been decreasing rapidly. It was forecasted by the state authorities that the dams might be completely empty by April 2020! Thus, two months ago (from 29 Jan 2020), water rationing was implemented in Melaka, with water supply turned on and off on alternate week days (extended to include weekends as well in the later stages).

Now, as if life weren't challenging enough, over the past few weeks, Malaysia has seen an alarming increase of Covid-19 confirmed cases and even deaths. There is a lot of material online regarding this as well as preventive measures, so I shall not repeat here. Though a words of caution - do not blindly believe everything you read on the Internet and Social Media, as there is a lot of Fake News in circulation. In response, the Malaysian Government has issued an MCO (Movement Control Order) from 18 Mar to 31 Mar 2020. This has been done in order to impose social isolation in order to effectively break the chain of virus propagation, given the highly contagious nature of Covid-19. This essentially means everyone is to stay at home and only go out to purchase food and other important business.

My own humble opinion - 2 weeks is definitely not enough. The virus has an incubation period of 14 days (so they say) - but our detection is also not 100%. There should be additional time given for any more cases to be detected and isolated beyond the weeks, also since it will take a while before we have everyone fully adhering to social isolation guidelines. I'd say, at least until mid of April 2020 (but again, this is just my gut feeling).

So far so good through Day 3 of MCO, but believe me, being stuck at home is not as good as it sounds - at least to me. As the situation is quickly escalating on a global scale, more and more countries are forced to implement such measures, so chances are you know EXACTLY what I am talking about....

Well, for humanity's sake, I hope we can all put aside our differences and do our part to save ourselves!