Inaugural Eminent Person Lecture Series - TDM, Attended!

" The SUN NEVER SETS on the British Empire,
COZ GOD DO NOT TRUST THE BRITISH IN THE DARK " - TDM

Attended the Inaugural Eminent Person Lecture Series organised by my alma matter i.e. the Asia-Europe Institute(AEI-UM) at Nikko Hotel, KL. The guest speaker was none other than former premier Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad and he gave a talk titled "ASIAN in the 21st Century ".

TDM was in his element and he shared his views on amongst others China, India & ASEAN . On Middle East, his thoughts are that they will never develop because after giving their respective greetings i.e. Salam or Shalom (both of which means peace)...they will then proceed to harm, attack and/or bomb each other

Overall, a morning well-spent!

INDONESIA.......the 4th NATION, worked!

Indonesia is the 4th country i've actually "worked" in. The other 3 were the UK, Philippines and of course...Malaysia!

7 things I liked about Indonesia:-

• NOT having to wait for taxis.


• CHEAP Services e.g. Haircut, Shoe repairs by a Cobbler, Reflexology massage etc.


• ENTREPRENEURIAL people.


• One's patronage at most establishment are really valued/appreciated!


• RANGE of Choices to suit one's budget...from dead cheap to extremely extravagant.


• Spending around 1million Rupiah per month for a shared Room(Rumah Kos) with laundry & ironing thrown in!


• CREATIVE, elections!

Summary of my exposure:-

INDONESIA (the 4th NATION): Internship programme at the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta. Attached to the Political & Security Co-operation Directorate under Mr. Termsak. APSC is one of the 3 pillars of the ASEAN community. May - July 2009.

I like to dedicate the song "BERITA KEPADA KAWAN" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAaFPPTSvhY ) to all my Indonesian friends. I find this song so apt to describe Indonesia...so much potential and resources whilst at the same time so much sufferings!

PHILIPPINES (the 3rd STATE): Attached to NDT, Manila and went to PETRON Depot, Sasa City, Mindanao. Mindanao was my first ever experience in a 'conflict' area...skirmishes were taking place at Cotabato. What an experience...to be 'working' with one's back to the beautiful sea and experiencing cool sea breeze whilst surrounded by guards with guns & machine guns watching anxiously! Never been back to Mindanao, since.

United Kingdom the second Country (1991-1994)! As a student...mainly menial labour! Dish-Washer, General Cleaner, Kitchen Assistant, Cook & Head Cook. My main employer was Kelly's and Salina's German Coffeehouse in Sheffield.

Also did small-scale businesses...mainly food-related.

MALAYSIA (HOME COUNTRY). 1st Paid Job was as a Shop Assistant when I was 8-9years old...1st official Job - at Shangri-la Hotel, KL after my SPM. Other organisations included A&W, Athlete's World, EON Finance(EON Bank Group), UNISYS MSC...where I was attached to the PM's Department at the newly completed Putrajaya administrative city in 2000-2001, Perfect Know-How & Araf Vektor.

MY RM177 Comment / 177 Rupiah Ngobrol:

Having stayed in Indonesia (Jakarta, Bandung & Yogyakarta...in addition to Bali in 1996) - but NOT as a tourist, I'd learnt to appreciate Malaysia more. INDONESIA for me is a SLEEPING GIANT, so...so much potential...if only they can get their act together!

PS: This posting was supposed to appear before I went to Jakarta....BUT due to security reason(s) namely not wanting others to know of my absence, only NOW is the posting made!

ASEAN CHARTER.......tentative steps towards ASEAN UNION?

"...short of a Military Intervention,

there will NOT be a regime change in Myanmar"

~ anonymous ~

Yesterday, I attended a talk by Tan Sri Ahmad Fuzi(ambassador at large) on " ASEAN Charter: Moving Forward" organised by Asia-Europe Institute (AEI) as part of their Ambassadors Lecture. Kudos to the speaker as he managed to elucidate the ASEAN mechanisms and brought me up to speed in less than an hour what my friends doing the International Masters in ASEAN Studies(IMAS) takes hours to learn.

Matters that piqued me:-

• ASEAN Charter have "come to force" i.e. ratified in December 2008.


• USA was the first country to appoint an ambassador to ASEAN. However, the Japanese ambassador(Masahiko Horie) pointed out that Japan had appointed a "dedicated ambasador" to ASEAN back in October...unlike the US ambassador who is in lieu of another word "multi-tasking".


• Secretariat of ASEAN have an operating budget of just USD 10 million annually.


• ASEAN have more than 700 meetings yearly... However, this pales in comparison to the European Union who conducts hundreds of meetings monthly.

PS: I first met H.E. Masahiko Horie in February 2008 in Cyberjaya during the launch of DreamEDGE Malaysia and found him to be a very affable, approachable and hardworking ambassador. I believe it's a matter of time before his promotion as his services would be required elsewhere.