Now comes the crunch...

Retrenchment...

Corporate jargon such as: "Manpower Rationalization Exercise" is a candy-coated word for "Retrenchment". This is a last-resort move by companies to save their ass from further deterioration.
That said, one of the largest media houses in Malaysia has called for such a practice.
But, this is not new. They have offered voluntary layoffs since 1998 and went on doing so for a number of times.

The changeover...

Prior to the new government, the said media house has played a role in executing their political master's agenda. With public trust diminishing over the years, sales have dropped. Our currency has never improved since 1998 and the cost of a newspaper has never increased. Basically, the profit is driven by advertisement and poor customer service has driven many advertisers to a rival media house. Another issue is the quality of the product. The media house suffered a talent drain as many of the good writers have either quit or joined a rival company.

Poor leadership qualities and succession rate...

When personal development is gauged on kissing ass and being a "yes-man", many of the talented folks who worked in the media house became disillusioned. They persevered and when they can't take it anymore, they leave. Those who chose to be in "the right camp" ascended. As an eyewitness, I saw how the Editors yell and scream at their charge. Instead of being professional, they punished their reporters by victimizing them. 
One jarring example was at one particular set-up in the media house, a news Editor had sexually harassed one of the female reporters by using the editorial operating systems messaging board. 
But this was swept under the rug as the said person was under "protection" from the higher-ups.
Another guy who tried to do the same by sending short messaging on his expensive personal device wasn't so lucky. The case was blown out of proportion and the guy had to leave before a domestic inquiry was called.
The journalist union in the media house was weak. Reporters continued to be abused. That's how bad the working conditions were at this place.
As the media house continues to decay, those who rose through default was politically-appointed to succeed some who had to leave. All they need to do is to continue kissing ass and spread propaganda. 
The final in the coffin was the appointment of a group of mediocre Editors to helm their company. These guys were the worst of the lot and it's no surprise the impending doom of the media house was compounded by a lot of poorly made decisions.

Fear, not the hardship and sufferings...

I sympathize with those who got retrenched. But life goes on. Get another job elsewhere, weather it out and hopefully, things would get better...

KIFAC 2019 - Part 4

Unmarked distances...

With Pak Sani and his wife, archers from Bandung, Indonesia...

We have reached the climax of our shoot in Batam and the last round was field targets with marked distances. 
It's actually similar to what we have done the day earlier with the exception of distance markers placed on the shooting line. 
As usual, the barebow folks would shoot at the last station where six target butts were placed with 20cmx3 triple faced targets.
From what I have learned the day before, to get things right, I must place my shots low and the results actually showed. I had fewer misses compared to the unmarked distances and as we progressed, some archers struggled with keeping up.

Playing the mind game...

Most of the archers experienced at least a 30% drop in their overall scores. They might have taken some things for granted, but a few meters in terms of distance and elevations can result in a miss or a poorly placed shot.
The guys in my flight, Pak Liswantoro, and Pak Dedi felt this when most of their arrows had missed its mark.
As they struggle, I maintained my lead. 
I had a few badly placed shots and some misses on the 30m and 50m marked targets.

Pak Ilham, one of the event organizers...

Michelle, taking her shot at the 20m marked targets

Pak Dedi in action...

With Liswantoro (L) and Dedi (R)

The game continued until the third pool where we were given a break. Michelle and I had our packed lunch and exchanged notes on the shoot.
She didn't do really well with at least a dozen missed shots.
I told her to take it easy and make it up at the last station. The game continued till the last arrow landed on the target face. 
At 30m, I did pretty well until the last target face where I had two misses. 
Right there, till the end, the 50m marked distance targets proved to be a "deal-breaker" for most of the archers.
Those who did very well the day before were 30 points behind.

Samo, at the 30m marked distance targets...

Archers at the 30m target butt...

A good day to shoot!

Making their way to the last station at the field course...

All in a day's work...

After we were done, we went back to the staging area to pack up our gear. I had some souvenirs distributed to some fellow archers and key people who organized the game. In no time, the results were published on inseo.net, an online repository for archery events and its results.
Despite having a bad day, Michelle came up in second place. My scores were the same compared to the previous day where I was ranked sixth. On the second day, I came in fourth and overall with two days of scores combined, I landed in fifth place.

Michelle (L), flanked by the champion Mardhiyatillah (CTR) and Nurul Hidayu from Satria Archery Club, Johor.

Summary

The Batam field shoot was well organized in terms of time management. This was their first time and the guys should be given a pat on the shoulder for finishing on time.
They have plans to organize two events of similar nature yearly and with adequate marketing and promotion, they will succeed.
Michelle and I have had a great time shooting at the course. 
If we set foot on the island again, getting decent accommodation would be our priority...