Follow me!

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THIS WEEK, I had a nice brunch with a friend at a stall away from the city centre, where, he said, serves the best chicken rice.

He drew me a map which he proudly called “GPS” to show me the way there. It looked neat, detailed and accurate, reflecting much of his own character.

I was to follow the direction he set but after stopping at the first traffic lights at a roundabout, I couldn’t figure out which way to turn and was completely lost.

I decided to turn on my waze. Within 10 minutes, the waze said in a most welcomed voice: “You have reached your destination.”

It was an enjoyable meal of chicken rice – with the wonderful story of this particular  chicken rice business being passed down from father to son and from son to another sibling. It was a heart-warming narrative despite some dramatic twists and turns.

Are you specific about what chicken parts you want to go with the chicken rice?

Drumsticks – these are probably more popular among Asians and yes, we are prepared to pay extra for drumsticks.

According to my friend, this particular stall did not take such an order.

The father cooked only whole chicken, and as such, he reasoned he was not able to serve all the customers with drumsticks according to their wishes since a chicken has only two legs. Therefore, his customers would have to take what was being served.

Business is still good because of the father’s secret recipe that yields tender and juicy chicken meat to go with his own specially made soy sauce.

My friend said some came especially for the soy sauce.

When the son took over, or to be exact, started business at another locality, he followed his father’s style – no orders for specific chicken parts.

One day, a customer insisted on making a specific order and it led to clashes between the young boy who has yet to earn his name and the clout of his father, and the demanding customer.

The son decided to give up the business after the unhappy incidence and the stall was taken over by his sister.

My friend said the sister broke with tradition and took specific orders, probably learning the lesson that it made good business sense to meet changing dining trends.

Over the chicken rice – not the drumsticks which I preferred – my thoughts were that the father could have told the son about his menu specifics but never taught him customer relations.

As we left, I turned on my waze and this time, it wasn’t as smooth since I was led into some small lanes.

Just as I wondered how to get out of my predicament, my friend’s car came into view – right in front of mine – and over the phone, he said: “Follow me!”

And sure enough, soon I was out on the main road – within minutes.

Follow me!

The next day, I took time off to run some outstanding personal errands.

There are places I have never been to.

I’m “road-blind.” Yes, waze, why not?

I set the directions. After wandering around for 30 minutes and when the waze finally buzzed “you are at your destination,” it was not the place I wanted to be!

As I stopped at the traffic lights, a car drove alongside. I wound down the window and asked if the driver could show me the direction to my destination.

He replied: “Certainly, I’m heading there, just follow me!”

From the experience, I learned there is a great difference between “telling” a person the way and showing him or her the way.

To digress here, it seems Sarawakians have been taken on a ‘merry-go-round’ by the federal government regarding the reinstatement of their rights under Malaysia Agreement 1963.

Most recently, many were wondering whether the State BN had also jumped on for the merry-go-round ride.

On Oct 23, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem said a Cabinet minister would table the motion, calling on the federal government to observe the State’s rights as enshrined in MA1963, the Inter-Government Committee Report and the Cobbold Commission Report at the coming State Legislative Assembly meeting.

However, on Nov 16, he announced the State BN had decided the motion would not be tabled as the Prime Minister had on Nov 13 said the federal government was ready to explore any misinterpretations of MA1963 with Sarawak and Sabah.

Most of us would agree confrontation is never a good way to negotiate. But are we out to negotiate when we are claiming back state rights as enshrined in the various agreements?

I like the daring challenge made by Apostle Paul – Be ye followers of me.

Paul assures his followers if they follow him, he will not lead them astray.

How I wished our elected representatives had the ability to also steadfastly assure: “Follow me and I will lead you to greener pastures and a better future for you and your generations to come.”

Incidentally, my two brothers have advised me it’s time to change from waze to google map.

“Google is accurate and knows the twists and turns better and it will lead you to your destination,” they assured.

Should I change?