Flexible working hours seems to be the epitome of Asian work practice. Shops don’t open until 11 in the morning and then stay open until 10 in the evening or even later. In Malaysia some restaurants and cafés stay open 24hours per day. Life seems to bubble and boil all day, except of course for dozes in the afternoon. So I was surprised to be asked to speak at a ‘Work Life Balance’ conference in Kuala Lumpur.
The serious issues were that major employers here didn’t see the need for flexible working. So women with young families couldn’t adjust their working day to accommodate the kids going to school. People with ill relatives or older parents couldn’t take time off to provide care. Consequently the opportunity for work was denied to a significant proportion of the population. Put another way, employers could only choose from candidates who had no other calls on their time.

 
I was asked to speak on ‘Work Life Balance in the UK.’ To make sure I was up to date on the latest Human Resource issues my friend Cecily Lalloo gave me a huge amount of advice and guidance. Cecily runs her own Human Resources consultancy in England.
Held in a five star hotel in KL, the Conference had speakers from USA, Switzerland and New Zealand. The CEOs of many of the leading international companies in Malaysia participated along with Malaysian Business leaders. One of the most outstanding contributions was made by the keynote speaker Senator Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the Minister of Women, Family and Community Development.

Allan with Senator Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, other dignatories, organisers and speakers

Another highlight was the presentation by Datuk Dr Rafiah Salim, Director of the NAM Institute for the Empowerment of Women. Malaysia is a member of the Non Aligned Movement, NAM, countries. This is a grouping of 118 developing countries without formal ties to the main geopolitical groups.
With these powerful women throwing their political weight behind more flexible working arrangements in Malaysia the prospects of many working people achieving a better work life balance is good.

Details of the conference, along with the papers given and presentations made are on the following web site.

In the gathering dusk the incessant and hypnotic drum beat permeated the crowd and people paused to listen. As the tempo rose, heads turned to find the source and those nearest the corner started to drift towards the sound. Soon there was a steady movement in that direction. In the next street the crowd stood entranced by the performance outside the Chinese temple. The lion dancers, in extravagant attire leapt and cavorted to the complex and incessant beat. Camera flashes caught the exotic costumes in mid flight and the audience applauded each new acrobatic set piece.

This was just one of the hundreds of street performances, working demonstrations and craft stalls that made up the George Town Festival. Chinese Clan Temples, normally private, were thrown open to the public. Mosques, Hindu temples and churches welcomed everyone. Historical Chinese Merchant Mansions had conducted tours and the gates of the old British Fort were opened in welcome.

The Chinese Malaysian settlements of Melaka and George Town were granted World Heritage Site status on 7 July 2008. So on 7th July 2010 the second anniversary was celebrated. In one street there was a Malay heritage cultural performance whist Indian dance and music throbbed a few streets away. In yet another venue a crowd sat and watched open air Chinese Opera whilst munching on some of the tit bits produced by the numerous food stalls.

We were delighted to by a set of wooden toast tongs ingeniously made by a local man from reclaimed orange box wood. Now we can safely extract hot toast from our toaster.

George Town Festival Pictures