Would ROS by any other name smell just as stupid?

Technorati tags: Stupidity, Bureaucracy, Idiocy, Malaysian Civil Service

(with apologies to Bill)

Walski is, of course, referring to the Registrar of Societies, and not the flower. It's a short rant about the idiots that still exist in Civil Service. And it's a true story.

Poster created at Despair, Inc.
(cow pix taken from Machai.net)

As part of Walski's role as a process industry professional (yes, Walski is employed - male, too), he is involved in trying to get started the Malaysian chapter of an international technology organization, which comprises companies that support this technology. Walski is part of the pro-tem committee, incidentally.

Like it or not, we have to get the chapter registered with ROS so that it would be a legal society in Malaysia. So yeah, we had to go thru the whole rigamarole of drafting the constitution, calling for the inaugural meeting which then approves the constitution, etc.

So far so good. We took the pains of taking into account all of the "important" demands of the ROS guidelines, despite them not at all being applicable to us. Nevermind, it had to be done, so we complied.

Then, comes submitting our application to ROS, and the preliminary interview. And this is where is gets interesting. Interesting in a very stupid way.

The pro-tem committee had decided to call the organization the Fxxxxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx Society of Malaysia, or by it's obligatory Bahasa Malaysia equivalent, Pertubuhan Fxxxxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx Malaysia. And what a big mistake that turned out to be.
(the implication of using "Malaysia" in a society name, in the full post)

Although it's nowhere stated in the "official" requirements, i.e. the ones that are published, when the word "Malaysia" appears in the society name, it's members are required to come from all 13 states! This was certainly news to Walski. That's what the person from ROS informed our pro-tem chairman (fortunately for the ROS person, Walski was not present).

Now, where this "requirement" comes from is anybody's guess, because you'll not find it published anywhere, as far as we could tell. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

So, since all the member companies are based in the Klang Valley, the ROS person (Walski is being very restrained and polite here) told us that we could not call ourselves Pertubuhan Fxxxxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx Malaysia. We couldn't call ourselves Pertubuhan Fxxxxxxxxx Fxxxxxxx Selangor, or Wilayah Persekutuan, because:
(a) it's stupid to call a national chapter of anything in that manner
(b) not all the companies are exclusively registered in KL or Selangor, but a mix of both territories

We're scheduled to meet with ROS again in the very near future. Plan B is to drop Malaysia from the name altogether. Let's see what the ROS fucks people have to say this time. And Walski will make sure he's there this time.

If you happen to visit their website, do not be fooled by the intelligent looking interface, and the seemingly easy-to-comply rules pertaining to setting up a society. The rules and regulations may be clear-cut. The people you'll probably have to deal with aren't.

It's amazing to Walski that such idiots roam the Civil Service. That said, it's now no longer a wonder to Walski why the Governmental "Delivery System" is in such a crappy shape. It's probably run by morons.

Just like the ones at ROS.