Muid Latif Calls For 911!

Muid Latif need help from the creative industry,
Muid Latif is talented and hardworking,
Muid Latif can handle pressure,
Muid Latif can work with Project Manager nicely,
Muid Latif can stay back for work,
But recently Muid Latif haven't got pay for his work,
And Muid Latif is looking for a better opportunity.

Download Muid's resume now and help spread the word.
Thousand appreciation.

What Happened?
"Muid, it's no use..if you help people, they WILL NEVER help you back". That's what my sister had taught me, but being too human, I'm denying the facts. You see, when you work your ass up to get things done, at the end of the day, appreciation is all you need to cure and soothe yourself. But when a person could not control of stress, like me, My efficiency faded and drained down the river. Emotionally disturb and things got out of hand. Is this the real me?

I help people find jobs, getting jobs, even to a point some friend who I had help now doing great in this particular company and that other company. And what do I get? So, all this while I've been chasing rainbow huh? Yeah... as simple as that.

Reality Check Please!

ef·fi·cient Pronunciation Key (-fshnt) adj.
1. Acting directly to produce an effect: an efficient cause.
See Synonyms at effective.
2. Acting or producing effectively with a minimum of waste, expense,
or unnecessary effort.
3. Exhibiting a high ratio of output to input.

"Muid, we are looking for a designer who can do website, graphics, programming, art direction, multimedia, video editing, desktop publishing, project management,(multi-tasking) Oh, here is your contract, we are only paying you RM1,500. Oh yeah, it's actually RM1,200 with EPF and SOCSO reduction. "Er.. no O.T. (overtime)?", I asked. "No", he said. "So, how long is the confirmation process will take?", asked Muid. "Six (6) months". Oh, and we don't give bonus to empoyees who work less then a year. If we do, we only give 5-10% increment or half month salary as the bonus.

Passed so many interviews, and company could not be able to hire me for RM2000, not to imagine, my current expected salary (more than 3k). It is too hard to hire a senior designer these days? Where do people like us, senior, go to? We got better skillsets, experiences, awards, achievements, tons of portfolio, and why is that the industry are so blind to see all this? Why must the industry treat us, web designers like dogs? Isn't it unfair? So what happens to the talents and creativity we've gained from art schools? so we got nothing?

cre·a·tive Pronunciation Key (kr-tv)
1. Having the ability or power to create: Human beings are creative animals.
2. Productive; creating.
3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative: creative writing.

tal·ent Pronunciation Key (tlnt) n.
1. A marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment.
2. Natural endowment or ability of a superior quality.
3. A person or group of people having such ability: The company makes good use of its talent.
3. A variable unit of weight and money used in ancient Greece, Rome, and the Middle East.

Muid, takkan la you kerja macam ni, diaorang bayar gaji sikit ni? Muid, "Nak hidup".. he said, "But you achieved a lot, you're in the magazines and newspapers, you even give talks to art colleges and support the industry! In fact, you are one of the invited final Judges for the 6th Philippines Webby Awards...". People in Malaysia really don't bother people like us. In fact, there is no such association for creative young people like us. The 4A Association only for registered companies or the fee's are to bloody expensive, only people in big firm can affort it. You won't believe that there are such things like 'Persatuan Pereka dan Pembina Laman Web Malaysia" rite? Nuh... why? The goverment doesn't know that people like us exist. It's always the Advertising people and the Writers who get more attention.

"Were all the web designers not helpful and not supportive among each other?" he asked. Well no, because they are affraid that they will loose their reputation and seniority. Knowledge to a designer cannot be share to other people. In other words, they are intellectually stingy (kedekut ilmu).

Then go for international firm lah! Muid said, "No! They won't hire me, I've tried sending my resume, it didn't work". I have to know somebody there, then I can apply.

"What are they?", my friend said. It seems that they were just too 'kroni' when it comes to hiring people. When you go to interviews, it's like going for Malaysian Idol audition. Looks must come first, work second or they expect too much from us. Fuck, I'm not a graduate from New York School of Arts for crying out loud! In fact, In Malaysia, skin color must come first. A part of facing racism in Malaysian company, I couldn't not apply and local company because I'm Malay, because they only want Chinese Designers and Indian Programmers.. Wait, I passed a Speedy Video shop at Selayang and it says "Chinese sales assistant ONLY". Oh, there's another one, go to a disco club in Penang, at the entrance, it says "Non-muslim = RM30, Muslim = RM45". This is today's issue. The fact that we must face everyday. It's all about colours.

rac·ism Pronunciation Key (rszm) n.
1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character
or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

dis·crim·i·na·tion Pronunciation Key (d-skrm-nshn)n.
1. The act of discriminating.
2. The ability or power to see or make fine distinctions; discernment.
3. Treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice: racial discrimination; discrimination against foreigners.

"Muid, are you racist?" No, I'm not. I got so many Chinese and Indian friends. I work with a Jewish boss. So I'm not racist. In fact, I prefer to work with non-bumi's. The Malays are most backstabbers I can tell. They are the one who love to see me fall, and they would do things to make sure I get nothing in the end. I like to be exposed to new culture. You cannot label me as racist.

"So where do Malay stand at?" Well, you can find them at Warung Kopi.., disco clubs, shopping complex, Uptown & Bangsar (see the 'mat rempit'), and most of them work in the Government sector. You can see them in the news, and alot of goverment officers love to do corruption (please refer to Kosmo newspaper, 19 March 2005). Because it's all about status, skin color and culture. Mr. Jordan F. MacVay has a very strong point about Malaysian.

What Happen Next?

Option One:
"So what are you going to do?", Muid said, well, let see. I shall give up. I want to throw all my diploma, degree and experiences that I have because it's no use. Despite of getting 7As, Grade 1 in SPM (MCE), all drained...

"I think I want to work as sales assistant in 7 Eleven. "And waste your whole career??", yeah, why not? I sell my car, I pay off my debts, I try to get ALONG.

Option Two:
Or, I work and downgrade my experience/skills to become a junior worker and get tons of disrespect and laugh from friends. And MY ENEMY would love this.... they going to be so happy to see I fall.

Option Three:
Attend audition for Malaysian Idol, Akademi Fantasi, masuk pertandingan-pertandingan menyanyi (which doesn't benefit my time at all, sadly). Why do Malaysians too obsessed with karaoke? Their only wasting time and money. Tired of seeing old pakcik (uncles) and makcik (aunties) on karaoke at kenduri kahwin (Malay Marriages)

Option Four:
Be an artist. But Artists in Malaysia will have to limit themselves. National Art Gallery won't accept people like us because we need to graduate from London School of Art or at least an overseas graduate. The other galleries eat our money too much. No revenue or buyer anyway. We want to create modern art but the judges insist of conventional art to be use in our works... deng! Malaysians still don't understand the Installation concept. They are not art literate and national/local school teach kids and students how to draw... no fucking aesthetic, no art & design fundamentals.

Option Five:
Open a RM2 ringgit company, look for clients, lick client's **s again, plead and beg them to hire us as consultants, get work things done, face the SSDD (Same Shit, Different Day) again. Compete with others, do the same thing. Get listed, and be cocky and annoying people in the industry? I don't think I'm opt for that yet thank you. My PR skills need to be improved, no business can comes in if I can't manage to get a good client, good paymaster. "Eh, Muid, can you build us a very big portal? We like to have MySQL and database running too. We pay your RM2,000 enough lah", said some cheapskate client. So, what the fuck is that? What's going on now? How can we grow? How can our creative industry grow?

Outro
This is the result you can see if we are under pressure, can't find solution to our problems. People just can't able to see what's happening. It's funny that I can't seems to find the 'term' thankful (syukur) when I wrote this. I hope I will be enlighten.

So what is happening to our creative industry? Nobody cares.
What about Malaysian Design Identity? Nobody cares..
Nobody absafuckinglutely cares....

Everybody speak for their mind, this is my rights to say what's in my mind in this blog. Love me or hate me. I'm cool with it.


* is this my last dance?