Subang Jaya Old Boys Futsal for Charity 2012 Post Release

Subang Jaya Old Boys (SJOB) again successfully organized their charity event for the 3^rd time since it was first introduced in 2009. This year, the charity goes to Rumah Amal Limpahan Kasih in Puchong as the sole beneficiary. SJOB used futsal as their medium of donation. Amin Fauzi, the organizing director, said “Futsal has made it possible to bring more than 250 people to come and donate on the same day.” He added, “We created a futsal tournament for the public so that they can play sports and donate for the charity at the same time. It’s a win-win situation.” A total of 22 men’s and 11 women’s team registered for the tournament.

SJOB Futsal for Charity 2012 brought friends and families together in the name of charity. One of the participants, Izwa Fahzan said “The difference between this tournament and others is that we are playing for charity. Therefore, even if we lose during the tournament, we know that we’ve helped the orphanage. That gives a great pleasure to my team and me.” Another participant, Katrina Khairudin said “SJOB is one of the futsal tournaments that we’re looking forward every year. We’ve been joining their tournament since 2010 and very excited to be back this year.” The tournament was held on 15^th January 2012 in Sports Planet Subang Grand, Subang Jaya.

The tournament has been a local favorite among local Subang Jaya resident. It creates a healthy competitive vibes among friends. It reconnects old friends as well as created a network among new participants. One of the organizing committee, Muhsin Hassan said “We’re trying our best to connect the people through this tournament. We saw acquaintance became close friends. We even saw businesses grew after they played here.” Networking is one of the objectives of SJOB Futsal for Charity 2012. So far, it has benefited a lot of people.

The winner of SJOB Futsal for Charity 2012 for men’s league is Playground and for the women’s league is LDV. The winner for men’s league received certificates, medals, hamper, and Duct watch while the winner for women’s league received certificates, medals, hamper, and FCC Make up set. The total prize for the champion is worth RM 1,500. SJOB will organize another charity event in 2013. Interested beneficiaries and sponsors can contact them at subang.oldboys@gmail.com.

7WIEF

The Inside Story of the 7th World Islamic Economic Forum – Astana, Kazakhstan

View from my hotel room - Baiterek, Astana

If you read my previous post entitled The Hardest Part, you would know the hard choice I had to make between a job and a friend. I’ve chosen to work with WIEF Foundation in their 7th WIEF in Astana, Kazakhstan. For me, Kazakhstan was an eye-opener. We at WIEF had to work twice if not triple as hard as we were when we held the Forum in Kuala Lumpur last year. Language barrier was the most difficult part. The Kazakh uses Russian and we Malaysian uses English. The first communication barrier hits me a month before the Forum when the Kazakh replied my emails in Russian. I knocked my head on the table wondering how are we going to host this Forum if they can’t even reply our emails in English. Thanks to the technology, now we have Google Translate to help us understand what they said in their emails. After this incident, I started to learn more about Kazakhstan. Most of us realize the existence of Kazakhstan after the famous Jewish actor act in the movie Borat. There’s nothing much that we know from the movie except that Kazakhstan was a poor country. We know how the flag looks like from the movie. We know the name – Kazakhstan from the movie. That’s pretty much what we understand about Kazakhstan. However, from my experience in Kazakhstan, that’s not entirely true. Kazakhstan is not a poor country. They have so many natural resources such as oil & gas, uranium, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, machinery, chemicals, grain, wool, meat, coal, and so much more. It’s the 9th largest country in the world with 15.7 million people. The country can grow as one of the biggest rival to Malaysia and China in the developing countries if they wanted to. Kazakhstan per capita income is USD 11,510, which is a 17.8% lower compared to Malaysian per capita income (USD 14,012). This shows how much the Kazakh has grown within the last 20 years after their independence and they are growing fast.

Astana Mosque

Lets talk about my experience working in a former Soviet Union country. As for someone who was brought up in a British education system and graduated college from America, coming to a former Soviet Union country makes me a little nervous. What’s more when I saw the Soviet Union Emblem in the shoulder of the Kazakh immigration officer. I crossed my finger so that the officer would let me in. Lucky enough for me, I got through without any problem. So the first day of work in Kazakhstan starts. Aliou and I arrived in the morning. As soon as we arrived in our hotel, we started our internal meeting with Jackie and Said. Few hours later was the meeting with the Kazakh Government. The first thing runs into my mind during the meeting with the Kazakh was that none of them brought a notebook to write the minutes. It seems like they can remember everything that we talked about during the meeting. I have doubts that whatever we agreed upon will be fulfilled and true enough that happens. We have to meet them at our hotel since we will not get security clearance to enter their offices, which personally I think is ridiculous. It’s all about security in Kazakhstan. Everywhere we went, the question was about security, which for me was a little annoying. I think we’ve been spoil by being Malaysian as the security was not a problem. We have no problems shaking hands with the Prime Minister!

I’m in charged of handling the delegates of the 7th WIEF. My job scope includes handling their airport transfer, hotel bookings, visa arrangement, and shuttle to the venue. Therefore, I have to meet up with the locals. There I learn a lot about how the Kazakh do their work. In my opinion, the way the Kazakh do their work is almost the same as how Malaysian do their work. Some are very professional and some couldn’t care less. The only difference are that the woman that I had to work with are extremely gorgeous. Even the lady at our hotel concierge is beautiful. I was distracted for the first couple of days but gain my focus after that. For once the rumors about the beauty of Kazakh woman are true.

One of the most embarrassing moment I had was at the Astana International Airport. The Forum was in a couple of days and the VIPs, speakers, and delegates are arriving. Astana Airport requires everyone to go through a security check as they enter the airport. The security in Kazakhstan is tight as usual. I took off all metals and bags at the security counter to enter the airport. I went through the metal detector and got my wallet, belt, watch, etc and run to the arrival hall as one of the Ian (one of the VIP) is arriving and expected to see me at the airport. I saw the WIEF registration counters at the airport. It all looks good and ready for the delegates registration. So I tried to talk to one of them as the counter looks really attractive with the gorgeous ladies behind it. Couple minutes later, Ian texted me,  “we’re here.” Then, I greet him and say hello. We chat for a little while. I brought him to the WIEF registration counter to get his credential and then guided him to his transport outside. It feels great to finally meet someone that you’ve been emailing for the past few months. Once its done, I walked back to my driver and ready to head back to the hotel as it’s already 2 AM. Right before we left the airport, I realized that I don’t have my bag with me. As sleepy as I was, I ran all the way back to the arrival hall and meet with their airport security. My bag wasn’t there. I asked one of the registration ladies to help me with getting my bag as the officers doesn’t speak English. Luckily for me, Sulu (the registration lady) was there and she speaks excellent English. Then, the security brought me to the detention room and I immediately saw my bag on top of their desk. Everything that were in my bag were taken out, including all the rubbish and left-over food plastics. I was so embarrassed. To make it even worst, Sulu is actually really hot. I wish I could take the left-over plastics and wrapped the embarrassment over my head. I had to write a letter to the authority saying that it was my mistake and nothing went missing. Again, as I don’t speak Russian nor I know how to read or write, Sulu was there to assist me. Double shot of embarrassment. She wrote the letter in Russian and in English. I signed it and I was let go with my bag. Fuh! That’s it. No more impressing the ladies when you’re sleepy because at the end of the day, you’ll just embarrassing yourself. No more. Period!

The Venue - Palace of Independence

The Pyramid

7 WIEF Banner on Palace of Independence

Little Sweat from Heaven

10 years. It has been 10 years since I ran a marathon. That was SJ10K in Subang Jaya back in High School. Not a big running fan myself but as I grew older, I stopped playing sports like rugby and football. It’s hard to gather 22 friends and play together nowadays. Everyone is busy with work, life, girlfriend, family, and some boring excuses such as trouble waking up in the morning or has to accompany girlfriend shopping. I mean, the guy is holding his girlfriend’s handbag on his shoulder for God sake. Might as well you ask your girlfriend to hold your balls in public. That would be sweet ain’t it? That’s the problem that I saw with Malaysian guys nowadays. Your manhood just got flushed in the toilet bowl my friend. No matter how gangster you are, the moment you’re holding your girlfriend’s handbag, you lost your balls man. Period.

I had a chance to joined a marathon in Bukit Kiara today with what supposedly with my WIEF colleagues but they all had to leave to Astana, Kazakhstan this morning and left me running by myself. Works come first and I’m not backing out just because they can’t make it. I got up at 4.30 AM and made my half-boiled egg in the kitchen. Then run upstairs as a morning practice for the marathon. By the time I got ready, it’s already 5.15 AM and I have to be there by 5.30 AM. Oh crap. I thought I was late so I drove over the speed limit just to get there in time when I realized that I’m actually one of the first group that arrived there this morning. I got my sweet parking spot close to Bukit Kiara in Securities Comission’s parking lot and took my time stretching. I haven’t run 7KM for a really long time so I hope I don’t get injured or sprained ankle while I’m at it. I couldn’t find anyone that I knew so I decided to go for a slow jog to warm myself up. I was already sweating 30 minutes before the race and I figured that it’s good enough.

7.00AM. 12KM woman starts and I can see all these fit ladies are eager to run their brains out. Since I’m not as fit as they are, I chose 7KM to run. I figured, why do I have to punish myself just to impress myself unlike Barney Stinson in HIMYM. I got my sweet new shoe as a gift from a friend on my birthday last month and it is awesome. Nike Lunareclipse is just awesome. It kicks my 2 year old Adidas running shoe just like that. I practiced in KLCC park every Friday after work. I ran at the gym. I feel healthy and I’m trying to kick this fat out my body once and for all. The marathon is just what I needed to close my 2010. So, I started running at 7.20 AM. The target is to finish 7KM within 45 minutes and be part of the first group to arrive at the finish line. Sadly for me, I didn’t time my run but I arrived with the first group which makes me very proud. All these weeks of training works and it worth the effort.

I saw Azri Malek and few other friends at the finish line. I didn’t know the others so I decided to head home after I received my certificate. I would like to thank you Malakoff for organizing the marathon. Everything was smooth and well organized. Everything was well thought of. Cheers to that. Well done!

Malakoff marathon is just what I needed to close this hell of the year. Started with Australian adventure and closing this year with a marathon. I’m ready for 2011. Bring it on!

My Magic Number

Where It Begins

Few Runners Arrived as Early as 6.00 AM

Doctors Are Ready

Malakoff Marathon

Finish Line

Malaysia’s Best Job

The Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2010, is once again giving back to the local community, and with that, one lucky young person will again get the chance to mix it with the best and rub shoulders with the best tennis players in the world. That’s because they would have been selected as the winner for the “Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2010, BEST JOB IN MALAYSIA.”

The Winning candidate for the Best Job in Malaysia shall receive:-

1. The opportunity to work as part of the IMG ( http://www.imgworld.com ) team that produces this world-class ATP World Tour tennis event, for a six week period (August 23 – October 5, 2010).
2. A personal development grant of USD 2,500 (that’s two thousand five hundred United States Dollars!) on conclusion of the six week internship.
3. The right to write a blog on the tournament website for the six week period of the internship and the chance to join the panel that will select the event Best Media Coverage and Best Photo Award winners.
4. A chance to spend time in every area of the tournament management, from the media centre to the player lounge, marketing to court operations and more. This will be the ultimate training experience for someone interested in a career in sports marketing. Being part of the tournament team will leave you with amazing memories that will last a lifetime.

The Successful Applicant Should Posses The Following Attributes:

1. Applicants must be Malaysian presently residing in Malaysia and over 17 years of age. Previous winners are not eligible to apply and the successful candidate must be available to work full time for the designated six week period.
2. Should have an interest in and passion for marketing and the promotion and sport.
3. Should be pro-active, open-minded, resourceful, creative, reliable and hard working.
4. Should poses strong organizational ability and have excellent interpersonal and communications skills.
5. Can reliably work under pressure, handle long working hours and meet deadlines.
6. Be a good team player and have a great attitude towards work with our professional team.
7. Require fluency in spoken and written English and have basic office computer skills.

If you think you have what it takes, please complete the application form via this website and attach your CV and a passport size picture (file size note more than 200kb) for submission through this website to the tournament before 11:59PM on Friday, July 30, 2010.

As applications are received, selected short-listed applicants will be invited to participate in face-to-face interviews. Interviews will be scheduled between August 9 to 13, 2010 in Kuala Lumpur with the winner being announced and introduced to the media at a press function shortly thereafter. Due to the heavy number of applications expected, we are unable to notify candidates that have not been invited for interview. If you have not been contacted for interview by August 6, 2010 (Friday), please consider your application unsuccessful. We thank all applicants for taking the time to submit an application.

Apply at http://www.malaysianopentennis.com

Malaysia's Best Job

Malaysian Open Tennis 2010

From a Friend to a Rockstar

Let’s rewind our life to when we were in primary school. Let’s go back 14 years. Can we still remember vividly how we look like and what exactly are we doing back then? There’s always an event or a person that makes you remember vividly what happened back then. I remember back then I was a dork. I remember that I had a crush on a girl from another class and wrote my first love letter to her. She replied my letter but I never got to read it because it was confiscated by my class teacher. I got a good 30 minutes lecture from him about love, relationship, and lust. (Yes, my teacher talked about how this can go on towards lust. Come on man, I wasn’t even circumsized yet!) He was surprised to see bunch of 10 year old kids sending love letters to each other. Honestly now, I’m surprised that I did that too. I don’t know what she said but I remember she rejecting me since there’s another guy who’s interested in her. Who wants to date a dork anyway? Despite of the feel of rejection, I moved on. (I don’t think I know what moving on even means that time) Then our school host a singing competition called “talentime”. I remember that name because I saw this cute girl singing Mariah Carey “Hero” and won the competition. It touched me. I don’t know who she is but I knew that it was my first crush. I try to find out who she is without telling other people. Again, if they know a dork wants to date a singer, they would laugh. Before I embarrass myself, I would get near her on my own way. I knew she’s in the school choir team. Those days, not many boys wants to join the choir team as it was not the “coolest” thing to do. I joined anyway knowing that she’s in the team and hope that she recognize or realize that I’m there. I never had guts to approach her at all. I joined the school choir team for three years because of her. So, three years has gone by and we took UPSR exams together. That time, I was still not sure if she knew that I exist. So, I took a chance. On the last week of school, I asked my friend to send a letter to her. Everyday my heart beats fast and as it only left 5 days until we’re leaving our primary school, I’m out of time. On the last day of school, she replied. It was also the UPSR results day. I was happier when she replied than getting my results. Oh did I mentioned that I got her phone number? Well, it was her home phone number. We don’t have cellphone yet back then. That was my first phone number from a girl.

Let’s come back 14 years. Life takes us around the world. Life taught us a lot of things. 14 years is a long time. A lot of things changed. So as who I am and who she is. I always knew that she could sing. I always knew that her voice could capture someone’s heart in the future. I always knew that. But I never knew the kind of person that she’ll become. A ROCKSTAR. Along the 14 years we’ve known each other, there’s a lot of things happened in between. A boy becomes a man and a friend becomes a rockstar. Sure a lot of things have changed since then but one thing that I know for sure is that I am proud of the person that she’s become. I read her stories from time to time. I watched her on youtube whenever I can. Surely who we were back then and who we are right now are different but one thing for sure is that whatever she’s become, a rockstar or a superstar, she’ll always have a place in my heart. Congratulations on your latest album launch!

The CD that Changes a Friend to a Rockstar

Yuna Decorate CD Cover

Yuna Decorate Back Cover

Closing the Deal

There’s a lot of things that we can do to close the deal. Most of the deals were closed by signing a contract or maybe just a simple handshake. Some deals need more than just that. I attended a lot of weddings last weekend and I realized something about life, marriage, weddings, diamonds, and soulmates.

We need something to close the deal. That’s why there’s a diamond. It’s a sign of commitment that we are giving to our partner. I dedicate my life to you. I’ve been looking for you my whole life and thank god finally I found you. Or just a simple I Love You. All these are just words. It touches heart but didn’t close the deal. That’s why diamonds are expensive. Because you can’t just buy them everyday. You buy them for something special. I bought it before. Sadly the girl did not deserve it. And I shouldn’t have bought it at the first place. She’s not even my wife and what makes a girlfriend deserve a diamond from her boyfriend. I see a lot of rich boys buying Prada, LV, Coach, Tiffany, etc for their girlfriend…and for what? Because she’s pretty and you want to show that you can take care of her? I’m not condemning other guys. I was one of them before. But why did we do it? Why did we spent thousands of ringgit just to make her feel better? I asked myself the same question. The questions running over and over in my head. Why and why did we do it? Now, I’m strongly disagree in buying designer’s product for girlfriends. I think guys who bought those stuff for their girlfriend are stupid. Especially when you’re using your parents money to buy them. Trying to spoil them with lavish lifestyle but with your parents money. Driving your daddy’s car. I mean, all these are for what? To impress the pretty girl that’s too stupid to think that it’s your parents money and not yours? If you do it, than it means that you’re stupid and she’s pretty and smart. Or maybe she ‘thinks’ that she’s smart. I salute the guys that bought these designer’s with their own money. It’s a cruel world outside and if they are to spend a lot of money on their girlfriend, they must get something back. It’s like an investment. Well, it is an investment. What about the returns? Does she worth it? If yes, then you should marry this girl. If not, your relationship or marriage just gonna end up with break-up or divorce.

Finally,  I want to congratulate my friend, Lily & Awie as the first couple among our friends to close the deal. I’m very happy for you guys. The wedding reception is beautiful. Very happy to meet the old friends of ours as well at the reception. Congratulations again and may God bless your marriage until the end of time and  bless you with a lovely family.

Awie & Lily's Wedding

Yuna and I @ the wedding

Young Corporate Malaysian Summit 2009

When Tun Mahathir first starts his career in corporate world, he was young and visionary. Even Najib starts his career in corporate at a very young age. Leaders lead by examples. I was really happy that I went to Young Corporate Malaysian Summit yesterday. Well, I feel really awkward at first when I enter the building. Everybody is wearing a really nice corporate outfit complete with their coat and tie. I came with jeans and sports shoe. Luckily I decided to wear jeans. Imagine if I came with shorts and flip flop. I think they will throw me out even before I get in.

Lets talk about what’s the convention is all about. Young Corporate Malaysian. The name speaks for itself. It was meant for young generation like me as a stepping stone into the corporate world. As a fresh graduate, I’m really interested in getting myself into the corporate world and join all these bright young man and woman in helping Malaysia to grow over the next 30 years. There’s one thing I want to share with the world about young educated Malaysians nowadays. We are not afraid to ask questions anymore. During the Q&A session, I realized that a lot of great questions came up to the speakers. Some of these questions are kinda sensitive but needed to be said. We all know that our government and media only tells the good thing about the country but the contrary must be dig on the internet. For example, Mr. Andrew is currently a student in one of the university in the United States bring up the very first question of the day. He touched the issue which I think quite sensitive but needed to be said. The meritocracy system in Malaysia. He wanted everything is based on merit instead of race. As we all know, government gave more scholarships to Malays rather than the non-malays to study overseas. Why is that? Before I answer this question, I would like to recall what Tun Mahathir said in one of his interview with BBC Hardtalk. He was asked about this as well. Malay Muslims cover 60% of Malaysians population and the Chinese Malaysians cover around 20%. On the other hand, Chinese Malaysians controls 80% of Malaysian economy which makes them the richest people in Malaysia. There’s no balance between the Malays and the non-malays. In this lovely multicultural country that I call home, we need a balance society so that everybody will live happily. Tun Mahathir mentioned that if the Chinese are rich and live in the city while the Malays are kept poor and live in the village, one day the Malays will come to the city and burn everything down. Lets stop there and think about it. In a multicultural nation, if there’s no stability in economy among races, there will be no stability at all. What Tun Mahathir said is true. If I were denied my education and were kept in the village, one day I will start a riot against the government. I will lose trust in my own government that is lead by the Malays. Malaysia has been my mother for 23 years but what kind of mother would want her children stay home and do nothing. One day the child will blame the mother of her lack of encouragement towards education. The economic stability of the races are really important. That’s the key to political stability in Malaysia. We need each other. Personally, I think the Chinese are great businessman. Malays were not nurtured in business while the Chinese are. There’s something that we all can learn from each other. Malays have the power of ruling. If we can use the power to enhance the business and boost Malaysian economy, why not? Dow Jones are over 10,000 points again. That means that America is out of recession and soon will be the world, including Malaysia. Work together as one and boost our country’s economy. After all, we all step on the same ground, breathe the same air, and feel the same heat.

Another thing that makes me happy during this convention is to see two Malaysian from Oxford University came back to Malaysia in the interest of helping their lovely country to grow. I applaud both of them. Omar Mokhtar and Dato’ Justin. Both of them are really good speaker and I believe that I can learn a lot of things from them in the future. These are faces of young corporate Malaysians. Young, bright, and a leader of a big company. Not just a some politician or rich man’s son who only knows how to party and get all the pretty girls and wanting to be the CEO but don’t even have the qualifications that most young Malaysians have  – A Bachelor’s Degree.

Overall, the convention was a success. I thank the organizer and the sponsors for making this happen. I will definitely come again next year and I’m considering of joining the committee if there’s a chance. It was a great event and I was happy to be there. Good job guys!

Young Corporate Malaysian Summit