You've Never Lived a Working Life Until You've Lived Through a DI.

Hahaha. Not really.

But a DI enriches your working experience in ways like no other ways can enrich your working experience. No matter which side of the fence you're on, whether you are the inquiror or the inquiree, emerge victorious or traumatised, a DI will leave its footprint in your inner being long after it's over.

I am fresh from yet another DI today. Prosecution isn't the sweetest of jobs. It doesn't gain you friends (especially if you are well-prepared prosecutor, compliant with the 10 DI steps and then some) and your colleagues, especially the alleged employee, will undoubtedly see the less friendly (or should I say just plain mean) side of you as they become the sausages on your interrogating grill.

But it's a job. It's MY job. And my job is to defend the Company. So take it personally.

That's right, everything's personal in every DI. What's not personal in a DI?

• The entire thing sparks off with the intention to create a come-uppance (personal)
• The alleged employee would be pissed off that someone has reported him/her and will go all out to exact revenge (a grudge is personal)
• If evidence to support the allegations are overwhelming the alleged employee will accuse the Company of witchhunting (getting personal)
• Witnesses for the prosecution will relish the opportunity to contribute to the downfall of their less-popular colleague (personal)
• The prosecutor gets to bask in glory as the defence crumbles in his/her hand (oh come on, no one hates to win) (definitely personal)
• The panel get a breather of their usual routine work for a bit to amuse themselves with some court-room antics (or spectator-sport, when things get rough) (indulgences are personal)
• The whole thing is a big juicy piece of office gossip (hell yeah)
• The prosecution team gets a pat on the back from boss if it's a job well done (personal gain)
• If it's botched up, no one in the DI room gets a bonus and the Company gets to make some savings (wins and losses again)
• Everyone learns everything, even though it's a lesson in how indispensable you are (very, very personally painful lesson).

Let's put that aside for the moment and let me share something useful with you today.

When you receive any document from the alleged employee, such as his/her reply to your show cause letter, do not tender it as evidence if the alleged employee has marked it "Without Prejudice".

A document marked as such cannot be tendered in court as evidence and makes no admissions whatsoever on the part of the writer.

If the alleged employee tenders a document marked "Without Prejudice" as evidence to support his/her defence in the DI, you should object to it (if the Chairman has not disregarded it already). A document marked "Without Prejudice" from the alleged employee shows that he/she is not genuine about settling the matter, so motion to disregard it and for both parties to adduce evidence from the DI proceedings itself.

So you learnt something new from this? See - told you a DI makes you better. *smile*

The Question

From now till May, I have to find a question, which for the next 24 months, I have to answer.

I have selected the area of unfair dismissal for my thesis, and I now have to find a specific problem regarding unfair dismissal and propose solutions to that problem.

My Dean has already listed a few websites for me to look up. I've my own collection of IR cases to read and reread over the weekend. I've to search for other people's theses on similar subject matters for added inspiration.

I don't know how common the subject of unfair dismissal is as a postgraduate specialisation in Malaysia. I have not encountered any local dissertations on it yet. I've read a good one from a University of Queensland student though.

My good friends who know me well and who know why I chose this subject matter, have been supportive but nonetheless very amused as to my choice. But I know you guys are also saying, in your hearts, "You go, girl."

Of course my main reasons for doing this are the fact that I am passionate and experienced in the topic and that it is relevant to my work, in that order. But I have a stronger reason.

When I find the question and present my answers, you will know what that reason is.

Transitioned.

Hello. It's been two months since my last post. And I've grown up since then.

I've been spending the last phase of my hiatus thinking and rethinking and rerethinking about what I needed to do to change my life. Which of course and needless to say needs to include doing something that I really want and I really like. And I was literally fighting with myself mentally every day to figure that out.

I like too many things, have done too many things. I figured it was time to specialise. But then that thought begged the question, specialise in what exactly? I love this too much to drop for the sake of that and have done that too long that I've become good at it to leave it for this. And then there are these and those which I am quite capable and very keen on taking up too. But at this stage of my life and career, is it wise to make a 360-degree turn?

Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

And then of course there are my well-meaning friends with their ratatouille of advices. I looked at myself in the mirror and asked the question my late dad told me to ask myself twenty-five years ago. "Who Am I?"

I then stopped the entire whirligig, got down on my knees, and prayed to Allah s.w.t.

For that is who I am, His servant.

I prayed to him to show me which is the right path to take, and whether I should even be doing this at all.

The next day, I woke up in the morning, and He showed me the light. My heart and my head were clear as day.

The rest is history.

I took the first step. I guess the time wasn't right in the years before, but it is so now. I made a decision which I knew was giong to change my life forever, for the better. In my mind, I saw a door open, leading out to a place where I have always, always wanted to be. Instantly, I changed. I saw and felt myself differently. I rise above the circumstances I am in, breathing easier.

I successfully registered myself for a Master of Science degree by research. Fourteen years after graduating with my first degree, I finally embraced my ambition of attaining postgraduateship.

A Masters may not be a big deal to other people. In the words of my good friend Sham Murad, "Sekarang ni bersepah orang ada Masters." But you see, it's not about the degree. It's about who you are and what you can do with that degree.

And for me, it's about finally doing the right thing and doing myself right, for the first time in a long, long time.