HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

Meeting with S.Arunandy

I have been seeing him since 1997 when I started to represent my school and district for athletics. He is the common face for FTAAA officials and also as coach in KL. Only yesterday, I got a chance to meet him and got to understand him closer.


He is currently with Sri Garden School as Sports Coordinator cum teacher. He was in teaching line for 30 years in government schools i.e Miharja, Cheras and Sungai Besi and lead those schools to glory especially in athletics, where he developed the sportsmen & women and also the facilities.

He said” I’m doing this because of the passion and I get the satisfaction. You wont get full satisfaction in whatever you do but you will still do it, if you love it”.

Even his old students in 80s and 90s still calls him for gathering old boys gathering.

He started to notice me during the Inter Accounting Firm Games in 2005, where I beat his trainees (from KPMG) and he was amazed, how come an accountant can be good on track (he didn’t know that I was also in the KL Athletics team then). Then, he kept seeing me for the next 5 years. Yesterday, he asked me and I told him that I’m no longer with accounting firms.

Then I asked few questions:

1. What’s the future of the Malaysian Sports, especially athletics?

Till politicians are in the board, the sports wont develop. Sportsman (ex-athlete) should lead the sports association and also the Sports Council. Too many red tapes to be followed or abide.

2. What happened actually to 4x400M sea games squad?

The boys were selected under category B (which means they can go, under state or MAAU expense) but this boys were under Armed Forces team. So, Armed Forces has to pay. Armed Forces comes under Ministry of Defence and it takes another long process for payment purpose. So it dragged and they were playing ping pong among MAAU, Armed Forces and NSC. Their inefficient decision came to conclusion only 2 days before the event. So tha’s the story for reaching Palembang 48hours before the event.

Then, the organisers changed the medal presentation schedule to later date. MAAU, could not get any ticket during that 5 days as all were fully booked and MAAU didn’t want to pay additional allowance, accommodation fees, should the stay is longer. So, this made the boys to come back earlier that the actual medal presentation date.


3. What’s really happening now in MAAU and Sports Ministry?

There is double/triple standards played in the ministry. Look at Karate, they are performing but no proper fund and they want to sack the coach. But for football, they can even send a special flight to fly back the players to homeground.


When a budget is approved for RM1.2mil, the project will go to some ministers relative. He will eat RM600k. Then, pass it to contractor A, and he will take RM300k and sub-con to contaractor B. Con B will take RM150k and sub con it to Contractor C. So Contractor C will do the job for RM150k, when actual project was worth RM1.2mil. So 90% is eaten by the politicians and top management and job is done for 10%.

RM 20 is BACK!

The RM 20 notes was stopped production on 1995 and now it's back.

The other notes were also improvised as stated above. RM1 will be in polymer just like RM5.

All this notes will be circulated in middle of next year except for RM50. It's due to cash machines i.e ATM, parking machine, ticket machines need to be caliberated with the new scanning/recognition system.

Races that I had to skip

Sometimes when you have overworked / over trained, it's time for you to get rest. Else the universe will ensure you to get that.

This what happened when I got struck with flu n fever which made me to skip yesterday's race. This kind of thing is not new for me, as it has been happening for the past 4 years.

Here are the tournaments which I registered and skipped due to medical reasons:

2011: Larian Kitar Semula
2010: Centro Run
2009: Chin Woon Biathlon
2007: Mizuno Run

Anyway, it's time for me to get proper mental & physical rest and let my torn muscles to get back to normal.

Step Down/Backout if your UNFIT

During my 1st year in university, the road runners team were offered to take part in Penang Road Relay. The team was consist of 15 runners, including 3 reserves.

Of course, I was selected in the team, however, I just recovered from my injury after hectic season. Thus, the coach put me as reserve. I had to admit that I was unfit at that moment compare to the rest. So I decided took a drastic decision to come out from the team, and give another runner a chance to be in the team. The coach saluted my decision.

But I told the whole team and my coach that I will be back next season. As promised I started training and finally got podium finishing in following season for Malaysian University Sports Championship.

What I wanted to say is:

1. If you feel you are unfit for the task, just come out and get more training and exposure, so that you can perform to the expected level.

2. Just admit your weakness and humbly apologise for your downturn, but have courage and promise yourself to improve it in future.

Finally, should you face challenges / problem, try your level best to resolve it or minimise it, rather than putting in more oil to the fire and making the problem bigger. In order to do that, remove your "egoism".

Tony Fernandes and his beer

Arriving in a hotel in KL Sentral he went to the bar and asked for a pint of draught Guinness.

The barman nodded and said, "That will be one Ringgit please, Uncle Tony."

Somewhat taken aback, Uncle Tony replied, "That's very cheap," and handed over his money.

"Well, we try to stay ahead of the competition", said the barman.

"And we are serving free pints every Wednesday evening from 6 until 8.

We have the cheapest draught in Asia"

"That is remarkable value" Uncle Tony comments

"I see you don't seem to have a glass, so you'll probably need one of ours.

That will be 3 Ringgit please."

Uncle Tony scowled, but paid up. He took his drink and walked towards a seat.

"Ah, you want to sit down?" said the barman. "That'll be an extra 2 Ringgit.

You could have pre-book the seat, and it would have only cost you a Ringgit"

"I think you may to be too big for the seat sir, can I ask you to sit in this frame please"

Uncle Tony attempts to sit down but the frame is too small and when he can't squeeze in he complains "Nobody would fit in that little frame".

"I'm afraid if you can't fit in the frame you'll have to pay an extra surcharge of RM 4 for your seat sir"

Tony swore to himself, but paid up. "I see that you have brought your laptop with you" added the barman.

"And since that wasn't pre-booked either, that will be another 3 Ringgit"

Uncle Tony was so annoyed that he walked back to the bar, slammed his drink on the counter, and yelled,

"This is ridiculous, I want to speak to the manager".

"Ah, I see you want to use the counter," says the barman, "that will be 2 Ringgit please."

Uncle's face was red with rage.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Of course I do Mr Fernandes"

"I've had enough, What sort of Hotel is this? I come in for a quiet drink and you treat me like this.

I insist on speaking to a manager!"

"Here is his Email address, or if you wish, you can contact him between 9 and 9.10 every morning, Monday to Tuesday at this free phone number.

Calls are free, until they are answered, then there is a talking charge of only 10 sen per second provided you use Tune Talk

using other mobile carriers would incur our normal charges of 30 Sen per second."

"I will never use this bar again"

"OK Uncle , but remember, we are the only bar in Asia selling pints for one Ringgit... so that Now everyone can drink"

Tibi Run - 10 Dec'11

No training for 2 weeks due to flu/fever and new job settling down. So I just wanted to jog and try to grab a medal. Putting on weight made my run slow. I started from the back as the crowd was lesser. But the quality runners were there like Gunaseelan, S.Ganesan, Ramakrishnan and Klang runners.

The track was chalengging due to hills. I went slow. Even Suresh overtook me at Bkt Tunku. I even slowed down at the killer double hills.

Finally pushed upon reaching parliment and finished the race with a medal and timing of 43:25.

My next race will be next week, "Recycle Race".

Know this Sports Person - SUSI SUSANTI

She wan the 1st women badminton Olympic medal in 1992.

She became the only women player to win Olympic, World Championship and ALL England simultaniously.
She married to another Olympic gold medalist, Alan Budi Kusuma, and became the 1st badminton couples.

Susanti was the most dominant women's singles player in the first half of the 1990s, winning the All-England in 1990, 1991, 1993 and 1994, the World Badminton Grand Prix finale five times consecutively from 1990 to 1994 as well as in 1996, and the IBF World Championships in 1993.

 All of this came during a relatively strong period in women's international badminton.

Even the Chinese and Korean players were really scared to play against her.

Upon her retirement, there's no player to replace her standard.

Recently, she was given the honor to light up the torch for Palembang SEA Games. 

Where Did our Tax money Goes?

1. PKFZ RM12bill
2. Submarine commission RM500mil
3. Sime Darby RM964mil
4. Paya Indah Westland RM88mil
5. Posmalaysia (transmile) RM230mil lost

6. Eurocopter deal RM1bil wasted?

7. Terengganu Stadium Collapsed RM292mil

8. MRR2 repair cost RM70mil
9. Maybank Overpaid BII RM4bil
10. Tourism -NYY kickback RM10mil
11. 3 paintings bought by MAS—————– RM 1.5M
12. Overpayment by Sport Ministry————- RM 8.4M
13. London 's white elephant sports complex —- RM 70M
14. MRR2 Repairs—————————— RM 70M ( same & expanded in item 8 )
15. MATRADE repairs ————————– RM 120M
16. Cost of new plane used by PM————– RM 200M
17. InventQ irrecoverable debt —————- RM 228M
18. Compensation for killing crooked bridge —– RM 257M
20. Lost in selling Augusta ——————— RM 510M

21. Worth of AP given out in a year ———— RM 1.8B
22. Submarines (future Muzium Negara artifacts)- RM 4.1B
23. PSC Naval dockyard ———————— RM 6.75B
24. The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1

billion loss (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit)



25. The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s

is believed to have cost some US$500 million. (RM1.6 billion)


26. Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia

RM30 billion in the 1990s.


27. Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion).
28. Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd.

operation to shore up the stock market


29. Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam
30. The sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton for one Euro making a loss of

€75.99 million (RM 348 million)

Same as No:20?


31. Wang Ehsan from oil royalty on Terengganu RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007


32. For the past 10 years since Philharmonic Orchestra

was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500

million.Hiring a kwai-lo CEO with salary of more than RM1 M per annum

!!



33. In Advisors Fees, Mahathir was paid RM180,000, Shahrizat

Abdul Jalil (women and social development affairs) RM404,726 and Abdul Hamid Othman (religious) RM549,675 per annum



34. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching

Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the

amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase

of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is

unable to give a breakdown. Govt paid more than RM6k per notebook vs

per market price of less than RM3k through some new consortiums that

setup just to transact the notebook deal. There was no math & science

content for the teachers and the notebooks are all with the teachers'

children now.



35. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two

private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million.

Expanding on No 2?

36. RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion

"Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge"



37.RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephantCustoms,

Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation ofthe

Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge



38. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks



39. National Astronaut Programme – RM 40 million



40. National Service Training Programme – yearly an estimate of RM 500 million



41. Eye of Malaysia – RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket



42. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink



43. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid

compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to 20 highway companies.

RM380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from

the toll hike in 2008 alone.



44. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies

connected to Sarawak Chief Minister and his family.



45. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System RM7.9 billion. At a time when MAS incurring losses every year, RM1.55 million used to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman's (Munir) office.

Expanding on No:11

46. Putra transport system bailout which cost RM4.486 billion.



47. STAR-LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion.



48. National Sewerage System bailout costing RM192.54 million.



49. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway bailout costing RM142 million.



50. Kuching Prison bailout costing RM135 million.



51. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam bailout costing RM8.3 million.



52. Le Tour de Langkawi bailout costing RM 3.5 Million.



53. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in

BursaMalaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of

BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits.



54. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of

commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives

of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits.



55. Since 1997, Petronas has handed out a staggering 30 billion

ringgit in natural gas subsidies to IPPs who were making huge

profits.In addition, there were much wastages and forward trading of

Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since

the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we

have absolutely no idea of the amount.



56. RM5700 for a car jack worth RM50



57. Government-owned vehicle consumed a tank of petrol worth RM113

within a few minutes



58. A pole platform that cost RM990 was bought for RM30,000



59. A thumb drive that cost RM90 was bought for RM480



60. A cabinet that cost RM1,500 was bought for RM13,500



61. A flashlight that cost RM35 was bought for RM143



62. Expenses for 1 Malaysia campaign paid to APCO?



63. RM17 billion subsidy to IPP



64. USD24 million diamond ring for Ro$mah --- cancellation of order

-- how much compensation???

Wisdom Words

1. If time doesn't wait for you, don't worry. Just remove the damn battery from the clock and enjoy life!
2. Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is like expecting the lion not toattack you because you are a vegetarian. Think about it ....!!
3. Beauty isn't measured by outer appearance and what clothes we wear, but what we are inside. So, try going out without clothes tomorrow and see the admiration !
4. Don't walk as if you rule the world. Walk as if you don't care who rules the world ! That's called attitude ! Keep on rocking !
5. Only one percent of boys have brains; the rest have girlfriends! Are you the brainy one ? 
6. All desirable things in life are either illegal, banned, expensive or married to someone else!

 

Big 4 Auditors face break up

LONDON - The world's top four audit firms will have to split up and rename themselves under a far-reaching draft European Union law to crack down on conflicts of interest and shortcomings highlighted by the financial crisis."Investor confidence in audit has been shaken by the crisis and I believe changes in this sector are necessary," Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier said on Wednesday.

The big auditors said the plans would bump up costs and would not improve audit quality, while smaller rivals accused Mr Barnier of a climbdown.Policymakers have questioned why auditors gave a clean bill of health to many banks which shortly afterwards needed rescuing by taxpayers as the financial crisis began unfolding.

Mr Barnier said recent apparent audit failures at AngloIrish and Lehman Brothers banks, BAE Systems and Olympus "would strongly suggest that audit is not working as it should".More robust supervision is needed and "more diversity in what is an overly concentrated market, especially at the top end", he said.Just four audit firms -- Ernst & Young, Deloitte , KPMG, and PwC -- check the books of 85 per cent of blue-chip companies in most EU states, a situation the Commission said was "in essence an oligopoly".

UK data shows the Big Four profit margins are 50 per cent higher than the next four audit firms, the commission said.Under Mr Barnier's plan, the four top firms will have to separate EU based audit activities from non-audit activities, such as tax and other advisory services -- "to avoid all risks of conflict of interest".There would have to be legal separation of audit and non-audit services if over a third of revenues from auditing comes from large listed companies and the network's total annual audit revenues are more than €1.5 billion in the EU.

Ms Claire Bury, one of Barnier's top officials, said these conditions, if approved by EU states and the European Parliament, would alter all the Big Four's business models and even one or two of the next tier down in some member states."They will have to change names as well. I suppose we will have branding issues at the end of the day," Ms Bury told a press briefing.KPMG's European head Rolf Nonnenmacher said: "The capability of firms to provide quality audits will be diminished if auditors are separated from wide-ranging advisory expertise including, crucially, risk management in the financial sector."

PwC's UK chairman Ian Powell said Mr Barnier has not provided "any concrete evidence for any positive impact of these proposals on audit quality or properly assessed the additional cost burdens for business."Deloitte said the plans would create an audit regime in Europe inconsistent with those in other markets while Ernst & Young said they would have minimal impact in preventing future financial crises.

The Commission said it was difficult to quantify the costs.Public tendering of audit work by listed companies would be compulsory and include consideration of second-tier auditors.Commission officials indicated that as the measure dealt with major structural reform of the market, the industry would need time to adapt but they hoped the new rules would be in place within three to five years.

EU states and the European Parliament will have the final say on Mr Barnier's draft law, a process that involves haggling and likely changes.BDO, one of the next tier audit firms, criticised the Commission for ditching mandatory joint audits following "lobbying and extensive influence of the largest firms"."The remaining proposals appear to be worse for the market than no proposals at all," senior BDO audit partner James Roberts said. REUTERS

Chong Wei confident because no Lin Dan

He lost 2 consecutive times in a week to Lin Dan in Semifinals of Hong Kong and China Open. Though he lost in rubber sets, he seemed to be unmatchable to Lin Dan's speed.

Now LCW is confident of grabbing Macao open and it's because of absence of Lin Dan. Damn, hope he can still win and not loose to Chen Long or Taufik.

What kind of confidence is that. How to win 2012 Olympics gold.

Larian Hari Koperasi Antarabangsa - 26 Nov

This was another horrible run after Putrajaya Night run. Though I was absent from training for 2 weeks. I wanted to test myself how unfit am I.

It was only 5km and the medal offered was 150placing. So I was confident of getting into the finisher medal positions. Since it was opened only for Malaysians and cash price was awarded, it attracted the few national top runners like Venugopal and Sharudin and also some sukma and state runners.

When the run started, I got stick in the middle and the road to run became narrow as it was blocked by parked cars at both sides. So, I had to push myself to clear from the slow runners. However, since it's 5km, a strong start is required, else you will be left behind.

There were a lot of slow runners in front of me and a big group of them left the main flock. I had to push myself and manage to overtake some.

Then come a hill, where it really slowed my pace. After the hill, Kei Ming, followed me and paced me. I tried to push but the unfitness played the part. I let him to overtake me and same goes to poh Chye.

When it comes to Stadium, I knew, its the final 1km, so I pushed to the max and reduced the gap but still lost to them. My placing was 66 with timing of 25:59.

But I said "I will come back".

SEA GAMES 2011 CURTAIN GOES DOWN

After 12 days of debacle, finally the curtain was closed yesterday at Stadium Jakabaring, Palembang. Next host will be Naypyidaw, Myanmar on 2013.


It was a mixture of feeling for Malaysians on the performance of the team and also as host. Let's focus on the host:

1. Opening ceremony was different by honoring their sports legends to light up the torch.

2. Traditional and modern performance by the dancers and artist for both closing and opening ceremony. I felt it was like a live concert. Furthemore, we had our own Jacqueline Victor performing on stage.

3.All the teams has won gold medal except for Brunei

4.There were 6 games introduced for this games i.e vorinam, paragliding, roller skating, kempo etc which had 79 medals and the host grabbed 49 of it.

5.As usual subjective games became their advantage to grab medals and their medal tally went up to 182 gold medals which is no match to the other countries.

6.The football match was a nightmare especially when it involves Malaysian team. The Malaysian players’ bus was stuck outside stadium for 45minutes where the fans shouted and showed sign of vulgarism. In addition, the ticket booths were burnt and heavy vandalism was happening outside the stadium. There were sense of respect when our national anthem was played were they were just sitting down or walking around. It was 100k of audience at the beginning and at the end of the match it was only a mere of 200 audience.

The doping squad came just after the final whistle was blown and they wanted some samples. Why can’t they wait till the medal presentation ceremony. Do we see Lee Chong Wei or Fedderer going for doping just after the match ends.

I was with A.Jayakanthan (former national player) and he said that Indonesians never liked Malaysians especially in football.


Now for our team:
1. The target was too low by MSN and it didn’t match the sports association’s target of 60medals. End of the day we got 59, which is 2nd best haul outside Malaysia.

2. We had Aliyah young whom made history by becoming the youngest gold medal winner

3. Of course, football maintained/retained the gold medal. But some players, like fakir sharani and muslim need to be dropped. Fahmi was the real saviour of the team and my suggestion is to send him outside the country

4. The synchronised swimming was fantastic by grabbing all the gold medals

5. The diver could also ensured clean sweep if they participated in another event but it was great performance.

6. Alex Yoong and Philipa young made great come back and overall titles for water ski.

7. Sam Chong proved age is no barrier and came back from retirement to win a gold medal for us
8. Fencing team was no hopers but shocked everyone by grabbing 2 gold medals.

9. Archery team proved they are too strong for the rest.

10. Karate despite the sabotage by the MAKAF President and Malaysian official, they still grabbed 4 gold medal. Without Arivalagan, the team is going to screw up in future.

11. 6 gold from athletics was expected but 4x400M was the eye capture when they got it within 48 hours of arrival and not there for the medal presentation. Shahidan Kassim should step down.
12. Takraw became from bad to worse when they could not even secure a silver medal.

I can move to comment more, BUT what’s after this? We have London Olympics, Asian Games and Glasgow Games and we need to react now on this few ways:
1. Politicians should step down from their association positions
2. Local coaches should be given chance to guide the team
3. More state level competitions to be organised especially in aquatics
4. Proper exposures to be given to the athletes

For me, 59 gold medals is merely meeting expectations.

Meeting Janakey Raman

Yesterday I was at Lavangam Toastmasters meeting and I had the privilege of meeting Mr.Janakey Raman, the author of "The Malaysian Indian Dilemma".

Before I introduce myself, he said that he has seen me in TV an he really wanted to meet me in person. How privileged was I.

I got his book and his autograph too. The book speaks abt the Indians in Malaysia and their histories and sufferings. He even said that Hinduism spread to worldwide which influenced Indonesia and Singapore too.

It was really great meeting him. We did exchange contacts and he liked the way I presented the speeches too. Though his book sounds anger but his speech was polite.

4x400M team runners came back without their medal

It was really shocking to see a team which on arrived 48 hours before the race, then run and won the race, within next 12 hours they had to return to Malaysia without their medal.

Not because their medals were stripped but their flight was scheduled before the medal ceremony. This made them not to reach the podium and listen to the National Anthem.

Kannathasan, Yuvaraj, Schzuan and Yunus whom were in the winning team were the underdogs though we got gold and silver medal in previous 2 editions.

When I witness their race, I could really see that they gave heart out to win the medal, by the 1st runner Kannathasan whom gave the lead. Then Yuvaraj widen the gap to at least 20 metres and the other 2 maintained the gap.

The best part, was they came here without a coach. Damn..

There were few childish mistakes were made:
1. How can you arrive to the venue 2 days before the event, if it's overseas location
2. Since you already got the ticket, why cant you allow them to rest for 48 hours before leaving the location.
3. Why weren't they were selected at primary selection itself and you need to wait for 48hour before the event.

I just feel that the President should step down. He is just there to just hot up the seat and eat government's money.

Please appoint former athlete to manage the association like Dr.M Jegathesan or Ishtiaq Mubarak. I'm still waiting, when can I see the Malaysian Athletics to go back to glory days like SEA GAMES 1997 with 14 gold medals.

Good Bye Old Palace, Welcome New Palace

The King has entered into the new palace today at Jalan Duta, which is worth RM800 (though some ay it would have reached RM1 Bil.

The old palace will be made as Royal museum.

First of all why do we need a new palace. The King will only stay there for a day in a week. This is how we are wasting our tax payers money for unnecessary things.

Damn...

Cakera Keras

"Great Power comes with Great Responsibility ", by Spiderman. But some people they made the position to be so cheap because they buttered their predecessor and there were no other candidate to take over the position.

My so called Area Governor, was not even able to resolve a problem and I felt she did took some unreasonable steps. She sent out the email on the roles and by the stating the clubs’ names. Every club’s name was stated in full except for my club and i was disappointed when i discovered this.

So I just told her to be fair, just spell out my club’ name too.There started her unreasonable arguments saying that we actually changed the name of the club and we didn't inform them on the full version. I said the Club has its name from the day it was chartered and even asked her to check TI website.

She came back to me by making reference to the Division B blog which she was managing before. Damn, which is the ultimate reference for a Club’s name, is the Div B blog or TI website? In addition, her friend went and consulted with a staff of the company and that fellow told that the company is no more known as Deloitte KassimChan and now is known as Deloitte.Unknown to all of them the management wants the club to be known as Deloitte KassimChan. We have to respect their decision.

It would have been more appropriate if both of them could have just called me to settle the case in easier manner rather than making presumptions.It is always good to get facts right then making presumption especially when one is at a leadership role.

Then, yesterday, when she was here, she assumed that I will order the food. She never even confirm with me or inform me the num of pax to order. She acted innocently by saying "I thought you will order". I told myself to be cool.Then she got some puff for vegetarians but the rest she bought chicken rice from a non halal restaurant. Damn I had Malay member. Luckily he didn't eat. Else that another issue. I gave my vegetarian puff to him.

Her opening speech was very confusing by telling us the hare and tortoise stories, which I didn't know what the moral of the story. I thought she was supposed to differentiate the leader between team player and single player.

The table topics session was was conducted with such disappointment. She had a chain story and we had to build 2 sentences from it. She created a wrong mood which made the story not interesting and we were lost in the story.We had arranged the room was in class room style and she wanted to have it on u shape. So she commanded everyone including the GE to arrange the room. She could have been polite.

Then I realised Siew Peng was evaluating Patrick when both of them were from the same club.She could have thanked the individual for making it a great outcome after all this hassle.After the meeting ended, she could have helped us to rearrange the room or ensure everything is in order instead of leaving immediately after the meeting..

For a good leader, the following ingredients are important:
1. Planning an event
2. Follow up on the task
3. Segregation of duties (no one is a superman/woman)
4. Appropriate communication through emails
5. Sense of ownership on an event or on the position itself

If you don't know ask advise from appropriate people for the relevant matter. Being an Area Governor has lots of planning or responsibility. I have been a past Area Governor so i know how challenging it is.

Meeting with former National / Selangor Players

Last Friday, I was at Royal Selangor Club for my usual athletics practice. Upon end of the training, I went to shower and normally I will go back home. But on that day, I meet with former national player A.Jayakanthan while he was having his tea / beer with his teammates.

I approached him to say hi and he asked me to join them for a drink. So I obliged his request. Then, he introduced me to his teammates and most of them were former Selangor players. Moreover, I got introduced to K.Gunalan (former Selangor and National Player) whom played for Sea Games, Asian Games and World Cup Qualifier.

I was feeling amazed and gifted to shake hands with him and the other players and had long chat with them. I told them, I was formerly from KL athletics team and we started to chat about the current situation abt the sports in Malaysia and also the Malaysian football.

From there I got to know, Malaysia CANNOT win gold in this year's sea games. With insider politicking, money swindling, high profile recommendations and management without knowledge of the sports,racism he said, sports in Malaysia would not go far.

For him the real sportsperson recently was Nicol David and Lee Chong Wei. He said a lot of talents were not recognised because of above said reasons.

He even said some of the commentators in TV whom is commenting abt football, does not even qualified to be there.

Though I was not Selangor fan, but I always admire the team as they are MU of Malaysia in 90s and 80s. Especially for Gunalan, the Indonesian, Thailand and Singapore Strikers were scared of him if he is playing during his heydays.

My next write up will be abt him in On Dec 1. Just watch out for my article.

CICM Run - 13 Nov

I decided to take part in 5km, as to test hows my speed workout goes for the whole month. I knew with the flat route except for a flyover, the race will be challenging with state juniors are in the contentions. Furthermore, Jack Toh(seasoned road n track runner) made his return after long time.

When the race started, a huge number of kids overtook me and sprinted all the way until after 500M, they were tired and started walking. Maybe over excited. The front group comprises of Klang boys whom are state juniors and Jack Toh with another Melaka State Runner lead the pack.

I maintain a decent pace till the water station. Then I saw Kei Ming was chasing me from behind, I increased my speed, but then got worried of being pressurised from behind. So I allowed him tom overtake me but I was closely following him.

Reaching at the flyover, he stopped and told me his calf is aching (should be over pressurising). So I moved on and when I got down at the flyover, it's just 800M to the finishing where people were cheering for us at the finishing line.

I got 12th with timing of 22:24. I was expecting for top 10 but it's ok running with quality runners.

The refreshments were adequate. It was nasi lemak, watermelon, vico, 7up revive and water. But the nasi lemak was crap. It was merely white rice with sambal and it was a tiny packet.

My next run will be in 2 weeks time.

A screwed up up week for me

People always look for good finishing. But it was other way round for me.

On Wednesday, I wanted to change my bike insurance to AmInsurance. So I went to the branch near my house, but the person in charge was on leave. So I went to another branch at Jalan Ipoh, but the personnel was dealing with another customer on his own sweet time. So I moved to head office at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng and the lady there said, they wont do for motorcycle, so she asked me to go to Jalan Lumut and it was already 4.30pm. Getting frustrated, I just went to post office(HQ) and they said they won't deal with AmInsurrance, so I just renewed with the existing company, Allianze. Without my knowledge, the lady also did personal accident policy which caused RM25 and said it's compulsory from end of last year. I Just got psst off and I came back with the insurance. Anyway, I didn't had any PA, so in a way it's good, but in future, I know that I need to be extra alert on this insurance matters.

I went to see my ex-boss on Thursday for my career progress and he was not there in office. It was a waste of time for me.

On Friday, I went to service my bike and the handle was not in proper shape. I did inform him during the last visit, but he said everything is OK. He noticed it himself on that day and serviced it and charged me RM5 for that when I bought battery from him for RM70 and dealing with him for the past 2 years. I'm thinking of changing the shop again.

Today morning, it rained and I had to drive to Setia Alam to collect the number for tomorrow's CICM run. So I had to pay RM8.80 for toll. Then, when I went to collect the number. The lady there don't even know how to speak Malay or English. She was searching my name under ladies category and said my name was not registered. WTF....Can't she ask me before checking it. Then I moved on to collect my shirt and another chaos happened, when they said size "XS" finished and other sizes are available. Damn, I asked that elderly person, that I have stated it on the registration form, but he said it's 1st come 1st serve basis. I told him, we have stated on registration form on our desired size but he still insist on 1st come 1st serve basis. In addition, he said it's difficult to determine the actual number when you are ordering in bulk. I told him closing date is your determination. He said no, it's difficult. I told him that I have been running for 11 years and I never faced this kind of funny situation, but he still insist on 1st come 1st serve basis. I had no mood to argue with him, so I just took the shirt with size "S" and came back. Damn, I also paid the money man !!!

When I went to Train the trainers, 2 of the members were treating me as if I'm no longer member of my division and saying that my support was only for other Division. Damn, you people were the one whom excluded me. I did offered my assistance to the current Division Governor, but she kept silent.

Now my DVD burner is giving problem.

Damn, so many things happened during the week. Hope next week will be better off.

KNOW this Sports Person - Mokhtar Dahari

He was one of the best players in Asia in the 1970s and is known as the best Malaysian footballer during that time, a legend in Malaysian football. During the 1970s, Mokhtar played for Malaysia and Malaysia became a powerful team and defeated asian giants such as South Korea and Japan.
He was nicknamed "SuperMokh" because of his playing skills, his strength and his ability to score many incredible goals throughout his career. One of Mokhtar's famous moment was when Mokhtar shook hands with Diego Maradona before a friendly game with Boca Juniors.

Although not recognised internationally, Mokhtar scored 175 goals for Selangor, 20 goals in 13 appearance for Kwong Yik Bank, and 125 goals for Malaysia, giving a total of 320 goals in his career[1]. Mokhtar is the all time top scorer for both Selangor and Malaysia. Mokhtar is still known as a legend for Selangor and Malaysia.

Mokhtar was famous for his speed. Roars of "Supermokh" from the crowds were common. Many of the younger generation idolised him. Even more tried to imitate his moves on the field. Mokhtar once scored a goal from the half way line through an incredible shot in a 1–1 draw against England B in 1978, dribbling past half of the opposing team coached by Bobby Robson.

There was once his bike was stolen and he announced that he would like to quit due to that sabotage. He was not able to travel to his training and competition venue. But the fans organised a campaign and collected the money to get him a new bike.

When other teams offred him a higher salary, he said "I will live and die for Selangor"

Importance of water

2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs

1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal - helps digestion

1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure

1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack

SEA GAMES 2011 Target

When Malaysia achieved 55 gold medal in 1997 SEA GAMES in Jakarta, it was the best performance outside Malaysia, then.

The best performance outside Malaysia, so far is 68gold medals at 2007 Bangkok Games. But now, for 2011 Games, the target is only 40-45 by our Minister and it contradicts with MOM's target of 60.

First of all, why can't we target higher? It would be good if they can give solid reason for such kind of targets. It could be because, some of the games which Malaysia it not participating are the non-Olympic Sports i.e fin swimming, muay thai, shuttlecock kicking, petaunque.

Nest, just because, Lee Chong Wei is not playing doesnt mean, the entire Malaysian squad is not able to perform.

It's Olympic year next year, and we need to proof if the Road to London athletes are really performing.

Short Term solution is never be there for Long term

Teaching Maths and Science in English will be continued till 2015.
The two subjects will be fully taught again in Bahasa Malaysia starting 2016 for primary schools and 2021 for secondary schools.

This was declared by our Deputy Prime Minister whom also the education Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin. It was only done when our "Jibby" came into the picture to resolve it.

But end of the day, they still want to change it to Bahasa malaysia. Our English Language in Malaysia is already poor and we are just happy with it. The change would not deter the love on our National Language.

Are we going to be like the footballers i.e Ronaldo, Tevez or Eto whom are struggling to speak English.

My concern was, why change in 2016. Why cant they just change it next year, if they say most of the teachers has changed to Bahasa Malaysia.

It's time to say "The End" to "Bee Ann".

Melaka Convention 21 to 23 Oct

It's the 1st convention being held in Melaka. Though the Ivison comprisos of 2 states but it's a challenge for the Johor people to come over to melak o organise stuff. Furthermore, the organising chair, Azizah is from Seremban.

Of course we can't compare to KL or Penang convention. But atleast they maange to get a hotel which was convinient to shopping complex, seaside and nearby to budget hotels.

I went with Singam on Friday and Valli was folowing us too. The afternoon session was usual council meeting, with excetion of clowning from Victor Ong. I did.t go for the welcome night as I was meeting my former hostel roomate and we went partiying at MOVIDA. The prices were cheaper than KL and it was buy 1, free 1.

On saturday, for the opening ceremony, we had past International prsident, Gary Schmidt and what i liked was the flag march in by the cadets was done marvelously. Speeches by Gary, Sivanganam was meeting expectation whereas Ariff made it 1 step further. I had high hopes on Papa Green where he always make me to cry with his speech. But on that day he made me to sleep during the function. Luckily I came out, else, I would have snoored.

The gala night was normal, except for the mucical instrument play by Tey Bin Yuen. I was getting nothing nor my club for awards. So I decided next year will be my year.

On sunday, the contest was close fight. The winner as usual mwas Uncle Stephen but the other 2 podium finishers taled abt politics and sex which I felt was not in good taste.

For Evaluation, Pala was clear favarite. The best rookie would have been Moganraj from JB where he presented enthusiatically on the speech but went down the stage and went over the time too. I feel like I saw myself 10 years ago.

Overall, though they had hiccups in lack of delegates, no proper rehearsal and chief guest, they still made it. The food was good with different kind of cusine. Only thing the vegetarian food was bad with just fried rice and appalam.

Am I going for the next convention.......Let's wait and See.

I'm available on market NOW

1/11/11 became an auspicious day for me where I came out from hell. Yes, I left my firm and now I'm awaiting for good offer for which interviews that I have gone.

May may say I made a wrong decision by just resigning without a job.

But I just needed a break.
-I have been working till midnight for the first 6 months
- to settle my personal stuffs to ensure my life path is going right direction

Of course I have my contingency plan where I was actually offered by another medium audit firm. And I can also go back to Deloitte at anytime due to my current contribution in Toastmasters.

I didn't like the firm for various reasons:
- Incompetent/Irresponsible staffs which made me to do their works too
- Heavy workload ( 3 listed companies for a manager to handle on his own)
- Some of my bosses screw me till every can notice it and they even say F*** You.
- Even during my holiday and MC, i had to work
- I don't see anyone motivating or encouraging each other to create better working environment
- I can foresee the Company may have going concern problem as they are loosing clients and they new clients are lesser than what they loose
- Different kind of treatment for different managers/staffs

However, I still learnt a lot on technical matters, people management and work management. Thus, I will never say I wasted my life in MAZARS but I will never be there anymore, nor encourage anyone to go there.

MAAU became MAU

Our beloved President, Shahidan Kassim has changed the name from Malaysian Amateur Athletics Association(MAAU) to Malaysian Athletics Association (MAU). The word amateur has been dropped.

He feels that athletics need to go professional as most of the athletes are training full time, thus the name amateur doesn't suits.

But even Usain Bolt or Tyson Gay is also professional and they are training full time. But they are being paid by the sponsors like Nike or Adidas. Moreover, IAAF didn't drop the word amateur.

Our athletes are being paid peanuts. We used to be one of the powerhouse in athletics where we became overall champ for athletics during SEA GAMES 1997 when we racked 16 Gold Medals.

But for this year's SEA GAMES, getting 2 gold would be damn good already. There are 13 categories whom qualified under category B:

1. Yap Jeng Tzen - Negeri Sembilan - acara lempar cakera
2. Mohd. Hakimi Ismail - Perak - lompat kijang
3. Adi Aliffuddin Husin - Terengganu - lontar peluru
4. Fatimattul Awang - Terengganu - lompat jauh
5. Nor Shahidatun Nadia - Kedah - lompat jauh/kijang
6. K. Ganthimathi - Pahang - 800m/1500m
7. Zabidi Ghazali - Terengganu - 100m
8. Siti Zubaidah Adabi - Johor - 200m
9. Mohd. Ikhwan Nor - Terengganu - 100m
10. Kathleen Ong - Johor - lompat bergalah
11. Mohd Nor Imran - Johor - 100m
11. 4 X 100m -
12. 4 X 400m -
13. YuanYu Fang - wah tak pencen-pencen lagi atlet berusia 35 tahun ini?


Category B means, the expenses will be born by the association and will be reimbursed by the Malaysian Sports council, should the athlete gets a podium finishing.

I don't know till when Shahidan Kassim would like to hold the position and kill our athletics team. The power crazy man whom holds position in more than 12 sports association also intends to stand for Olympic Council of Malaysia, President post so that he can swindle more money.

I'm still waiting, when will athletics prosper.

World Footballer of The Year 2011

Nominees:

Eric Abidal (Barcelona, France)
Sergio Aguero (Manchester City, Argentina)
Karim Benzema (Real Madrid, France)
Iker Casillas (Real Madrid, Spain)
Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid, Portugal)
Daniel Alves (Barcelona, Brazil)
Samuel Eto’o (Anzhi Makhachkala, Cameroon)
Cesc Fabregas (Barcelona, Spain)
Diego Forlan (Inter Milan, Uruguay)
Andres Iniesta (Barcelona, Spain)
Lionel Messi (Barcelona, Argentina)
Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Nani (Manchester United, Portugal)
Neymar (Santos, Brazil)
Mesut Ozil (Real Madrid, Germany)
Gerard Pique (Barcelona, Spain)
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United, England)
Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich, Germany)
Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan, Netherlands)
Luis Suarez (Liverpool, Uruguay)
David Villa (Barcelona, Spain)
Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid, Spain)
Xavi (Barcelona, Spain)


Out of 23 Nominees:

Only 1 player from African continent
No Asian players nominated
7 players are out of European continent
7 players are from Spain
8 Players are from Barcelona

Messi looks good for his 3rd straight title.

From 23, it will be shorlisted to 3 players on Dec 5 and winer will be announced on Jan 9, 2012.

Happy Deepavali

Putrajaya Night Marathon - 15 Oct

I was my worst run for the year.

This is my 2nd night run after Energizer Run. I knew it's going to be humid due to lack of trees and open space buildings.

I just bought "K-Swiss" last month and I knew it's a bit heavier compared to a normal racer. But one of my running friend told me to try it for long run so that the shoe will get adjust to my foot step.

As I left the house in a rush due to house works and Toastmasters, I forgot the muscle plaster for my ankle, to avoid the pain to increase.

As usual, I took my bike there, so that I wont have problem in parking, and I was glad that I just got the parking at Perbadanan Putrajaya which is few steps away from the start/finish line.

I was one hour early before the gun-off, so I had adequate time for warm up and stretching. I just went for 2km jogging and I started sweating as if I ran 10km.

Then, went into the cage and push myself to be in the 1st 5 rows so that I won't stuck with the slow runners and medium slow runners. I didn't really wanted to push myself but wanted a decent finishing of 1:45.

When the race started, I quickly moved away from the slow runners group and had adequate gap behind. I knew I was in top 25 at least. I overtook Hong Zhi Shen, Bagwhan singh and few other my running friends.

Upon reaching, 10th, I started feeling tired and I couldn't push much. Then, I saw Hong Zhi Shen overtaking me, followed by Stanley Cheong. I tried to maintain the gap but I couldn't. My ankle started aching and I started to feel dehydrated.

Though there were water stations and they gave banana and water melon at certain points, I just felt like running in an oven. Reaching 12km, I was going on jogging pace and my leg was getting heavier. Then I realise, it was due to the shoe.

Bagwhan Sing and other runners whom I normally think it's peanuts to beat them, it was otherwise yesterday. Even, some veteran ladies overtook me.

The scenery was nice with lighting's on the building and musical instruments at certain juncture which boosted my run.

Upon reaching the finishing line, I just went to medical camp and took ice for my hamstring.
They did gave finisher T-shirt, mineral water and snack pack which contains bun, puff, cake and banana. But no milo or 100+ as they were shaking their legs.

There were also no proper distance markers to ensure we are at correct pace. I clocked 1:54, which is one of my personal worst.

Now I new how to prepare for night marathon and what shoe to choose for racing. I will come back stronger on the next race. Watch out for me.

Sri Garden Charity Run - 9 Oct

After going easy at Adidas KOTR, I thought of pushing myself for this run. Furthermore, with few other races in Malaysia which separated the crowd, I was in thinking of going for top 10.

When I reach the place, I saw Stanley and Ghejan. Then came the nightmare when I saw Kenyans (Negro). There were 8 of them. There goes my chance of getting top 10.

When the race started, I allowed the main group to go first and followed Ghejan. The route was all flat except for 1 part where there was slight hill. There were marshals at most of the junctions except for 2 confusing junction where luckily we manage to follow the person in front of us.

Ghejan was pacing me till the Gurdhwara (Kg.Pandan). Then , I realised that there's only 2km more to finishing lane. Thus I increased my speed and overtook the white man in front of me and never looked back. Going towards finishing lane, it was at field and it was like paddy field.

I got num 15 with timing of 25:10. If minus the Kenyans, I would have been in top 10. Damn.

The goody bag was filled with 7up revive, mineral water bottle, stress ball, pen holder and sandwich.

Know This Sports Person - A.Jayakanthan

This mad was a deadliest winger during his heydays. His combination with P.Maniam(current Selangor coach) at the wing made our win against Australia on 1992.

He has represented the country from 1990 till 1993 and his major tournament was Asian Games (1990), Sea Games (1991), Medeka Cup (1993) and few other international friendlies.

As for local league, he was with Selangor till he retires. He was also in the team when they beat South Korean team at Vietnam Independence Cup in 1992.

For him, stick with your love but never mix with money and politics. Currently, he is a staff of Royal Selangor Club (RSC) and actively plays football for veteran categories representing the club along side with K.Gunalan and Santokh Singh.

I had pleasure to be his jogging partner recently at RSC and upon that we had long chat about sports scenario in our country and also methods to keep up our fitness level. Wait tll i catch a picture with him.

Malaysia's Cash Pool

For the past few years, Our Prime Ministers has announced that Malaysia is in deficit which means more cash outflow compared to inflow.

When we are planning how to generate funds for our country's development, we forgot where are our cash is going too.

This year, it was clearly stated, Malaysia's cash pool was in English Premier League. Our pride was there when 4 companies (Genting, Air Asia, Malaysia Airlines and Berjaya) sponsored teams such as Aston Villa, QPR and Cardiff.

Definitely, from tourism perspective, its and attraction to get Europeans to Malaysia. Furthermore, to prove that a small country like Malaysia to show that we can be great nation. It's also a chance to get our home grown players to feel the sense of training and playing method at European soil.

But my question is, do we want such huge investment now when we are still struggling with deficit.

Adidas King of The Road - 2 Oct

Adequate training cum adequate recovery is the recipe for succesful outing of a competition. I'm still bucking up on my training. Therefore, I wanted to take it easy. As usual to show I'm taking it easy, I wear my specks.

This is my only 3rd time I'm wearing specks to run (after 10/10 run and Malakoff last year). I was stuck in the middle of the crowd and it was around 60M from the starting line. When the race started, it took around 1 minute for me to reach the starting line. Then only I started my timing. Yet, the crowd was slow and I had to jog till I reach the U turn.

Only then I started to run and followed Jeff ooi whom was dressed in his sleeping dress with duster. I followed him till the 1st toll and realised that he was slow, so I overtook him and tried to catch Hanna Bobice.

Upon reaching half mark, I realised that there were few pelathon in front of me which would enable me to move forward.

So I pushed and over took the pelathon. I even got past Gejhan and he was also slowing down. Upon reaching final 6km, I was pacing Brian Lee and followed him till the end. I got more motivated when the 10km joined us at 4km mark.

Finally, when I saw it was 800M to go, I pushed myself to max and finished the race.

The timing was 1:19.22.

The water stations were adequate at every 3km. I just felt that RM50 is too expensive though we get branded vest. At least, there should be breakfast upon the competition, rather than just the cereal which finished quite fast.

PUDU Charity Run - 25 Sept

I was suppose to go for Siemens run, but the registration was closed, so I opted for this race. I wanted to test myself if I have recovered from my RAT RACE. When I reached there, I saw few people and not many good runners as most of them went to Siemens Run and Taiping.

Then I saw Ronnie and few school boys and knew that top 5 maybe difficult but top 10 is on hand. There were confusion saying that prizes are only for top5 and some said top 10.

Since the distance is only 7km, thus it's expected to be hilly. When the race started, it was already hilly. I tried to follow Ronnie for the 1st km but later, I had to follow my pace to ensure I finish at respectable position.


I was at 5th position when I went Bank Negara, then overtook the 4th place guy and maintained 4th position till mid of the hill. Then I realised, 1 white guy was pacing me behind and pressurising me. I gave him chance to overtake me and he just sprinted for 100M and went away from me.

Upon then, I was alone as there were nobody behind me as far as I can see. I kept my energy to overtake the white guy towards finishing. My expectation was wrong where I thought we will go through the "Tugu Negara" but instead we went straight to JKR and finished the race at Padang merbok.

I finished 5th with timing of 32:32.49.
At least I'm happy to finish in top10 again since Bareno Run.

My School - SMK Maxwell

I went to SMK Maxwell for my form 6. This school is located at strategic location which is:
1. near to Jln Ipoh
2. 1km away from Chow Kit
3. Infront of MIC
4. Nearby to UMNO
5. 1k away to The Mall
6. Near Balai Polis Sentul

The building will look similar to Bangunan Sultan Abdul Samad (former high court). The school was actually known for its gangsterism, fights and student crime.

But all this started to detirorate since I left the school. Now it became the "examplary school". This the news I got from The Star, 25 Sept:


"The Education Ministry has selected SMK Maxwell as a co-curriculum benchmark for the Federal Territory.

Deputy Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Maglin Dennis D'Cruz said this followed the success of the school in achieving numerous successes in sports at state and national levels. The school has excelled, among others, in hockey and badminton.

He also suggested that the school be turned into a national heritage"

Atleast now I'm proud to say that I was a Maxwellian.

RAT RACE - 20 Sept

It's my fourth edition. I wanted to keep myself cool as I didn't had any mental support / encouragement from my firm. Furthermore, I was busy on that day wrapping up a report and chasing for documents.

When I reach at the venue, my teamates were not there and I had to take care of their goddie bag. They only reach at 4pm and the race is at 5pm. We had to take picture, warm up and put on our bib. Damn, and nobody wanted to take care / transfer the bag from one point to another.

All this even made me more stress. At 1 point of time, I didn't bother and just gave my bag to my junior and started my warm up and went to the starting lane.

There were no countdown, and the gun was shot. The runners ran like the building was in fire. I was in the front pack, which was lead by the bankers. The wheter wasn't humid and was drizling but I still carried water.

Upon reaching Jalan P.Ramlee, I was getting exhausted and just maintained my pace. There was watre station at KLCC and upon that it was my office building and glad that my office people were there to cheer for including my bosses.

That gave me a motivation to run but then when I reached Changkat Raja Chulan, it was up hill and I was slowing down.

After Menara Weld, I knew it's the finishing and I could not slow down as there were people following me behind. I saw a guy wom was just 20Metres, so I sprinted and overtook him and he was still chasing me but reaching Bursa hill he slowed down and I cross the finishing lane.

The race was competitive and I could feel that I ran fast but my timing was 20:28 with position of 14 in my category and 23 overall.

Damn, will try to dip below 20minutes in future race.

Rat Race 2011 (prelude)

I will be taking part in tomorrow's Rat Race (a corporate run). It will be my 4th edition.

It's a special race where you will be wearing office attire to run and it will be held in middle of the town (Jln Ampang, Bkt Bintang, Sultan Ismail).

Here are my previous results:

Year Timing Firm Position Category
2005 20:20 Deloitte 16 Open
2009 20:18 Ernst & Young 11 Open
2010 20:40 Ernst & Young 4 Mixed


This year I will be representing MAZARS in mixed category. No targets this year. I just want to maintain my top 20 (overall) as I was doing it previously.

Difference Between Malaysia Day & Independence Day

Most of us always confuse between these 2 days though the gap is 16 days.

Malaysia Day (16 Sept):
Formation of Malaysia (previously known as Malaya) where Sabah and Sarawak joined Malaysia and Singapore went on their own.

Merdeka (31 Aug):
It's the date that British went out from the country and we are on our own. But this applies only to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore as Sabah & Sarawak was still partial administrative of Philipines and Indonesia. That's where Merdeka is not celebrated in Sabah & Sarawak on 31 Aug till today.

Run For It - 11 Sept

When the world is celebrating the 10th anniversary of "9-11", I was at Klang to run. This was the run to test my stamina and fitness level after back from injury and flu bug.

On Saturday night, I had to attend my running friend's wedding dinner (Suresh). So, I whacked chicken and mutton there.

As the run clashed with Taiping and Solomon, the turnout was lesser, yet good runners were still there. My target was to get top20. When I started the race, I followed Alam Shah for the 1st 3km and thought I can pace him. After that, he started to increase his power and left me. The route was generally flat except for 2 overhead bridge.

I was following another triathlete for the next 2km, then he slowed down, so I over took him and after the 1st water station, I was left alone. That slowed my pace as the guy in from was around 200m gap.

Furthermore, my "back" started to feel hot which was due to the chicken and mutton which I ate during the dinner.

At final 3km, one of the Klang runner came from behind and paced me. That, increased my running pace and momentum and even overtook the guy whom was 200m away from me. Then, he also got tired, but I manage to pace with the 6km runners.

When I saw Jalan Tengku Kelana, I knew It's just around the corner for finishing, so i increased my pace and never bothered abt the people behind me and just headed to finishing lane.

My timing was 55:26:24 with position of 2o. Two years a go I did 14 seconds better.

My next race will be Pudu Charity Run. Definitely, will aim to do better as it's my usual 7km route in KL.

Know This Sports Person - Rosman Alwi

A boxer must have physical build. A basketball player must have height. Neither of these attributes determines a cyclist’s capability in emerging a champion in cycling race.

His career is filled with many trials, bitter sweet. For two decades Rosman who was born in Kampung Datuk Keramat had won the title of champion of Asia and the Sprint World Championship.In 1987, Rosman appeared to dominate the Sprint King Asia after the Asian Championships 200m.

In 1995, Rosman won the "World Championship B "at Velodrome Rakyat, Ipoh. At age 40, Rosman competed in the SEA Games final in Kuala Lumpur in 2001 before announcing the retirement. He won several consecutive sea games title.

In 1985, Rosman Alwi made history by being the first cyclist to win double gold at the Asian Championships