When justice is not abstract

Coming from a country with very slow justice system, I learned quite early that poor people never gets justice as the wealthy have the money to hire prestigious lawyers (abogado de campanilla), the time to wait for the conclusion of lawsuits (usually decades), and the gall (and money as well) to hire third parties (intimidators or contract killers) to resolve disputes. The rich has the whole justice system in their hands, starting with the police all the way up to the magistrates.

All along, I thought justice had nothing to do with business. I was so wrong.

Starting up a business in Singapore, a country well regarded for its efficiency and rule of law, taught me that justice is a human construct that should pervade every aspect of society. For without a fully functioning justice and law enforcement system, anarchy reigns. If you're a businessman, that means contracts are not enforceable, property rights are unprotected, conflicts take forever to get resolved (if ever), and standards in any transactions or processes are based on the whims of those implementing.

That list of complains can actually be summarized in a word -- trust. Justice is the social construct that enables trust to grow. And without trust, social interaction of any sort, especially those that will involve exchange of valuables, is not possible.

Let me draw some examples based on our recent experience.

It takes 30 minutes to register a business in Sg (Singapore) but 2 weeks in Ph (Philippines). To get the certificate if incorporation in Ph, you have to fall in line for a day or two and hope that whoever signs the certificates are not busy lest you get told to come back the next day again. In Sg, everything happens online and we paid using credit card, all from the comfort of home.

To get permits from the other government agencies, you'll get reminder from relevant departments in Sg. In Ph, you'll only know which permit you lack at a critical moment just when you badly needed them.

It takes one dollar (32 pesos) to start a company in Sg but in Ph, you may be required to put up a capital of varying amounts (which sometimes look so arbitrary).

I can go on and on, but running a business does not end at incorporation. Actually the importance of justice and trust is even more important once business starts.

Imagine if one of your clients decide to swindle you. In the Ph, filing a case at a court takes a lot of time and money (especially when the judge and the client's lawyers are good friends). Even if you win the court case you'll have to share whatever you can claim with the police, otherwise they won't carry out the court's decision. In Sg, a business case filed in court can get resolved within a year if not sooner. And implementing court decisions is easier as well.

Back in college, discussing topics like justice and inequality, in the light of philosophy, theology, and other academic subjects, have become an intellectual exercise for me. Starting up a business in two different countries made me relearn those lessons, this time with my hands, heart, head and bank book in tow.

So, what's the story?

Back in Japan, I used to assist in Technical Presentation and Technical Writing courses. Students were taught how to make their presentations/papers better. Topics covered range from grammar to powerpoints to proper pronunciation; they learned details of how to produce good materials. At the end of the semester though, most of them still delivered mind-numbing presentations and undecipherable papers. I thought the students were struggling with the language as they were mostly Japanese, but then when I moved to Singapore, where the medium of instruction is English, I still encountered the same drudging presentations and papers. It's not the language and it's not the technique. It's even simpler than that. In most of those materials, there is no story.

I've sat through a couple of presentations this week and reviewed two papers for an international conference. In all instances, I was bored to death. I almost fell asleep at one of the presentations and it took me two days to get through a 6-page paper as I couldn't get past the first two incomprehensible pages. While listening/reading, I kept asking myself, what's the story? Tell me a story instead of giving a bunch of technical mambo-jumbos.

Why is it too difficult to make a presentation that presents a technical topic in a story format? I realized presentations and papers can even follow the fairy-tale format, something that even young kids will understand. Consider these parallels between a fairy-tale and a technical presentation as a complete story arc:

• In a land far far away... >> Current situational context (social, technical, etc)
• Then an evil witch suddenly appears... >> The problem to be solved (technical, social)
• But there's a reluctant hero who can save the land... >> State of the art but with gaps
• The reluctant hero needs to get a magic sword... >> The proposed method that can improve state-of-the-art and solve the problem
• The reluctant hero battles the witch... >> Experimental or simulation details/results
• The hero prevails and the witch is vanquished... >> Discussion
• And they live happily ever after... >> Conclusion

If that seems too many to follow, consider these:

• What's the current situation and what seems to be the problem?
• Why do you want to solve it and what's your solution?
• Convince me with your result.

Dear students, please heed this advice. The next time you write a paper or prepare a presentation, ask yourself, what's the story that you want to share? And then write/tell it like a fairy tale.

As I strongly believe, proper story-telling is fundamental to sharing, discussing, and discovering ideas, which is what research is all about.

It’s more fun in the Philippines and unfinished websites

A new slogan by the Department of Tourism — “It’s more fun in the Philippines” has become viral among Filipino netizens. Unfortunately, a similar campaign slogan had been used by Switzerland in the 1960′s. If it worked for them then, it might work for us now. Some people even say that the slogan is not catchy enough, or that it doesn’t really capture what travel to the Philippines is all about.

Regardless all of the brouhaha, my only concern (actually, pet peeve) is the website for the slogan: http://itsmorefuninthephilippines.com/

Check it out and you’ll realize that there’s nothing in there but a couple of photos and a contact form. It seems that the website had been launched prematurely. Doing so makes me think that DOT is not yet ready with their campaign slogan, that this whole project is actually half-baked.

I had a similar experience with another website run by a start-up company. I was eager to do business with them but their half-finished website made me think twice.

If a website is the face of the company to the outside world, and especially if it is the primary point of contact between the company and its customers, then what does it say about the company and it’s products when it’s unfinished and unpolished? Would you do business with them? I won’t.

DOT better do their best with updating their campaign website.

Update: a couple of months after I wrote this, the website was revamped and now it looks nice and cozy. You would want to visit the Philippines after seeing this website.