Do you have a story to tell?

Thanks to my loyal blog reader for highlighting this to me. I saw this on paper too! Thanks to The Star for publicizing this.

 

Would definitely hope more of you to write in and share. As of now, we got 11 submissions. Still 89 more to go.. :(

 

This is quoted from http://thestar.com.my/education/story.asp?file=/2009/3/8/education/3385369&sec=education .

 

The website is http://whatsafterspm.blogspot.com

 

Facebook group is http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70405181412 .

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YOUNG Malaysians who have pursued different pathways after SPM are invited to write accounts of their struggles and successes.


A group of people fired by their enthusiasm for community service — namely Charis Loke, Gabrielle Chong Yong Wei, Goh Jing Pei, Kimberley Ho Mei Kay, Tara Thean and Yeoh Chen Chow — plan to compile and publish these stories in a book .


They hope to eventually distribute it to as as many secondary schools as possible.


The stories do not need to be about scholars with stellar results and thick resumes.


They could be of students who go to a local university after finishing Form Six, or youths who have to work in the pasar malam to foot their college fees.


The group believes that every educational background offers its own boons and banes and that there are merits in telling any story.


Partcipants must be Malaysians and below the age of 30 as of 2009.

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Check out at http://whatsafterspm.blogspot.com

Chinese Students Want To Know : How Do I Get Rich?

Thanks to Kumar for sharing with me on this.

What is your thought on this? Do you think Malaysians would think similarly?

This is quoted from Forbes .

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In February, three Wharton faculty colleagues and I had the pleasure of dining with 19 visiting students from one of China's most prestigious universities. The students were young. They were charming. They were very intelligent. And they were very, very goal-directed.

My colleagues and I had each prepared brief opening remarks, but the students were having none of it. They had elected a delegation leader, and the delegation leader, as quickly as possible, got to the question the students all wanted to address: What are the implications of the current financial and economic crisis?

A colleague in the accounting department gave them a careful, scholarly, even-handed explanation of how firms' decisions on the repricing of assets in their portfolio could perhaps have been used, perhaps unintentionally, to create false expectations in the marketplace, and could have been done in a way undetectable to auditors, leading to over-investment in toxic subprime assets.

No, that's not what the students wanted to discuss. With much less tact, I explained that, indeed, mispricing of assets at an inflated price could have been deliberately used to create the illusion of value, and this could then have been used to create the very real rewards of wealth for the financial engineering wizards responsible for the scheme.

This got us much closer to the questions that the visiting students wanted to address. Their first round of questions were basically, How can I get that job? How can I get a high-paying job in investment banking now?

My colleagues and I attempted to convince them that those jobs simply will not exist again, at historical levels of compensation, in the months or years before these students' graduation.

This led to a second round of questions, like, What can I do while working as a desk drone in an audit firm in China to ensure that I can get into Wharton, Harvard or Stanford, and get a job in investment banking later? The students were patient. They did not need a job with a $10 million bonus now, as long as the prospect of receiving it later would still arise.

I then suggested that perhaps they might work for companies that made things. Actual things. With a burgeoning middle class that would soon be larger than the entire population of the U.S. or Western Europe, surely there was going to be a huge domestic market for things in China. The students could pursue careers with companies that were working to develop and to sell appliances fit for a Chinese home, or mass-market, branded consumer package goods for the new middle class Chinese consumer.

This was met with stares from the students. Another colleague from the management department suggested that Chinese retailing and distribution offered two other growth opportunities for a bold young entrepreneur. Again, we got mostly stares.

I then explained that there are really only three ways for an individual to earn tens of millions of dollars a year:

--Create a company that creates real wealth and keep a piece of the company. Bill Gates did that at Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ), and he is, probably, still one of the five wealthiest men in America. Vanderbilt (railroads and shipping), Carnegie (U.S. Steel (nyse: X - news - people )) and Rockefeller (Standard Oil) did it, too. These men played hardball, seeking to crush commercial competitors, but they did successfully transform America and the world.

--Facilitate the creation of real wealth by others and keep a piece of each transaction. J. P. Morgan convinced European investors that they would earn far more investing in the fastest-growing industries in the United States than they would investing in their more developed, more mature and more slowly growing domestic markets. He directed the capital that led to the industrialization of the United States. American industrialists got rich. European investors got rich. America was transformed, and his share of each transaction ensured that Morgan became wealthy as well.

Venture capitalists, early round investors in new companies and firms that underwrite their initial public offerings all facilitate the creation of new companies and the creation of jobs and wealth, and profit from it. Early investors in Microsoft, Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), Oracle (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) and Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) all profited quite handsomely from it.

This used to be the principal function of Wall Street firms other than those principally in retail brokerage. But it produces individual Wall Street executive wealth only slowly, and only when Wall Street produces increases in national wealth. Patient men like Warren Buffett still facilitate wealth creation, and Buffett may be richer even than Gates.

--Steal it. Stealing money is much more reliable than earning it. You can steal wealth slowly, the old-fashioned way, buried within the operations of trading for the house account. Or you can steal it quickly, by using obscure and poorly understood financial artifacts to produce the illusion of wealth creation. Then you take a piece of the illusionary wealth, as personal cash, now. Then you exit and duck for cover before the entire game blows up. Better yet, you can sell your private equity firm to naïve investors for one final twist of the knife into the carcass of your nation. (Deliberate fraud, like those allegedly committed by Bernie Madoff or Robert Allen Stanford, is too crude to be of interest to young financial engineers, and too likely to result in extreme punishment.)

I then suggested that if students were not interested in earning their money through entrepreneurship (too risky), then investment banking in China offered the next best alternative for personal wealth creation. Facilitating investment in, and growth of, companies catering to the wants, needs, cravings and longings of China's growing middle class, offers Chinese investment bankers a path toward personal wealth by creating national wealth, much as J. P. Morgan did for America.

The students, though, were uninterested in banking in China. After the students left, it took my colleagues and me a couple of hours to figure out why this was so. I-banking in China is about improving China. The students saw i-banking in America as being about improving their own personal wealth, first and foremost; if the client could be assisted without too much personal inconvenience then and only then did they see American i-banking as also being about value creation.

I asked myself, What have we done? When I thought that the craze for private equity careers and investment banking careers among the brightest Western students was the fault of Western business schools, I felt both shame (for perhaps having contributed to this) and fear (for how we as a nation could possibly compete with foreign nations where the best and brightest young students sought real careers).

Perhaps the fear was unwarranted. Perhaps the best and the brightest students of other nations also wish to transform their homelands from economic dragons into paper tigers, following the Western model. Interestingly, our own students are indeed learning to manage, learning to market, learning operations and production planning and logistics; they are working hard to get ready for a world of things. Perhaps America doesn't have as much to fear from foreign competition as we thought.

Eric K. Clemons is a professor in the Information Strategy and Economics Group at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.



-----
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Public Service Department PSD (Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam JPA) Overseas Scholarships

Public Service Department PSD (Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam JPA) Overseas Scholarships for SPM 2008 Students quoted from here .

Some of the major differences for this year's JPA Scholarship would be that the interviews would be done based on field of studies, and it would be conducted by people of that field. So, applying for medicine scholarships would be interviewed in groups by doctors from multi races, applying for engineering scholarships would be interviewed in groups by engineers from multi races etc. And it would be in a smaller groups of 4 students each.

Total scholarships are still the same at 2,000.

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Press Release: PILN Scholarship Offer 2009
Modal insan adalah merupakan aset negara yang paling berharga. Justeru, Kerajaan sentiasa mempergiatkan usaha-usaha yang berterusan untuk menghasilkan modal insan yang berkualiti. Penajaan biasiswa bagi para pelajar untuk melanjutkan pengajian di dalam dan luar negara adalah merupakan salah satu inisiatif yang perlu diteruskan. Ini merupakan pelaburan jangka panjang yang hasilnya bakal dinikmati apabila mereka pulang berkhidmat dan seterusnya menjamin kesinambungan keupayaan negara di masa akan datang.

Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) akan melaksanakan Program Ijazah Luar Negara (PILN) bagi tahun 2009 untuk pelajar cemerlang lepasan SPM 2008 mengikuti pengajian di universiti luar negara dalam bidang-bidang kritikal (Perubatan, Pergigian, Farmasi dan Sains Perubatan Veterinar), Kejuruteraan, Sains & Teknologi serta bidang Sains Sosial yang diperlukan oleh perkhidmatan awam dan negara. Jumlah keseluruhan bilangan biasiswa yang disediakan bagi tahun 2009 adalah 2,000.

Setiap tahun PILN menjadi tumpuan banyak pihak sehingga mewujudkan pergantungan harapan yang tinggi terutamanya di kalangan calon dan juga ibu bapa. Pada tahun 2008, misalnya, JPA telah menerima sebanyak 15,220 permohonan. Daripada jumlah tersebut, sebanyak 7,282 permohonan memenuhi syarat minimum yang ditetapkan sedangkan bilangan biasiswa yang ditawarkan adalah terhad iaitu sebanyak 2,000 sahaja.

Bidang pengajian yang menerima permohonan terbanyak ialah Perubatan, manakala, negara pengajian yang menjadi pilihan utama calon ialah United Kingdom, Australia dan New Zealand. Walau bagaimanapun, semua permohonan tidak boleh dipenuhi kerana tertakluk kepada kekangan kuota pelajar asing bagi bidang perubatan di universiti luar negara.

Berdasarkan pengalaman lalu, bilangan permohonan bagi tahun 2009 dijangka akan meningkat di kalangan calon yang cemerlang. Namun bilangan biasiswa yang terhad akan menjadikan PILN terus kompetitif. JPA, dengan ini, menasihatkan agar calon serta ibu bapa menerima hakikat ini dan berusaha untuk menimbangkan sumber-sumber alternatif penajaan yang lain.

Menyedari persaingan yang kompetitif dalam PILN 2009, usaha penambahbaikan terhadap kriteria pemilihan telah dimantapkan meliputi pencapaian akademik, penglibatan dalam kegiatan ko-kurikulum, sosio-ekonomi (termasuk tanggungan keluarga) dan prestasi temuduga.

Mulai tahun ini, panel temu duga dilantik daripada pegawai-pegawai Kerajaan pelbagai profesion dan kaum mengikut bidang-bidang tajaan. Misalnya, pelajar-pelajar yang memilih bidang perubatan/kesihatan akan ditemu duga oleh pegawai perubatan/pergigian/ farmasi yang terdiri daripada pelbagai kaum. Satu jawatankuasa khas akan menyelia urusan temu duga bagi memastikan pelaksanaannya telus, adil dan saksama.

Temu duga akan dijalankan secara berkumpulan mengikut bidang-bidang pengajian (misalnya perubatan/pergigian/farmasi/perubatan veterinar, kejuruteraan, sains dan teknologi dan sains sosial). Setiap satu kumpulan terdiri daripada empat orang calon dalam kelompok yang sama dan calon-calon ini akan ditemu duga dan mengadakan perbincangan mengikut topik yang diberikan oleh panel dalam Bahasa Melayu dan Bahasa Inggeris.

Seperti tahun-tahun sebelum ini, calon yang memohon untuk mengikuti program perubatan adalah diwajibkan menghadiri Program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor. Program ini akan dilaksanakan selama lima hari mulai 23 hingga 27 Mac 2009 di 49 buah hospital-hospital Kerajaan yang telah dikenalpasti dengan kerjasama Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia. Aspek-aspek yang didedahkan adalah seperti keadaan dan tanggungjawab seorang doktor di Jabatan Kemalangan/Kecemasan, Jabatan Pesakit Luar, Jabatan Pembedahan/ O&G/Orthopedik, pengurusan di bilik mayat, on-call dan lain-lain yang bersesuaian.

Calon-calon yang berjaya ditawarkan penajaan PILN akan mengikuti kursus persediaan di pusat-pusat pengajian yang ditetapkan oleh JPA. Calon-calon diingatkan supaya mengekalkan tahap kecemerlangan mereka kerana penajaan ke universiti-universiti di luar negara hanya akan diteruskan ke atas mereka yang mencapai had kecemerlangan (cut-off point) yang ditetapkan, rekod kehadiran kelas melebihi 90 peratus dan tiada rekod disiplin.

Calon-calon yang tidak berjaya mendapat biasiswa di bawah PILN masih berpeluang untuk mendapat tajaan JPA di IPT tempatan yang diiktiraf termasuk kampus-kampus cawangan universiti luar negara di Malaysia (University of Nottingham, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology dan Curtin University of Technology) dan AIMST University.

Maklumat lanjut mengenai PILN 2009 akan diumumkan kemudian.

Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Malaysia
Putrajaya

26 Februari 2009

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Permohonan Tajaan PILN 2009 Bagi Lepasan SPM 2008
Permohonan Tajaan Program Ijazah Luar Negara (PILN) 2009 Bagi Lepasan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia 2008

Permohonan adalah dipelawa daripada calon-calon yang menduduki peperiksaan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2008 untuk mendapatkan tajaan Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) atau Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) bagi mengikuti pengajian di bawah Program Ijazah Luar Negara tahun 2009.

Permohonan boleh dibuat melalui aplikasi atas talian (on-line application) melalui laman web http://www.jpa.gov.my mulai tarikh keputusan SPM 2008 diumumkan secara rasmi.

Tarikh tutup permohonan tajaan Program Ijazah Luar Negara (PILN) 2009 adalah 7 hari selepas permohonan dibuka.

Maklumat lanjut mengenai program/bidang kursus, syarat-syarat permohonan dan cara memohon boleh diperoleh dengan melayari laman web http://www.jpa.gov.my mulai tarikh iklan ini disiarkan. Calon hendaklah membaca dan memahami kesemua maklumat mengenai program/bidang kursus, syarat-syarat permohonan dan cara memohon sebelum membuat permohonan.

Program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor di hospital-hospital Kerajaan yang terpilih di seluruh negara akan diadakan selama 5 hari mulai 23 sehingga 27 Mac 2009. Program ini diwajibkan kepada semua calon yang memohon untuk mengikuti pengajian dalam bidang perubatan di bawah tajaan JPA.

Calon-calon dikehendaki menyemak maklumat terkini mengenai permohonan melalui laman web http://www.jpa.gov.my:

Keputusan panggilan bagi mengikuti program Pendedahan Kerjaya Seorang Doktor : 18 Mac 2009
Keputusan panggilan temuduga JPA : 25 Mac 2009

Temuduga JPA akan dijalankan di beberapa pusat di seluruh negara mulai 31 Mac hingga 3 April 2009. Bagi calon yang terpilih untuk menghadiri temuduga diwajibkan untuk membawa Borang Pengesahan Pendapatan Bulanan Keluarga yang telah disahkan dan dokumen-dokumen lain yang ditetapkan.

Pelajar-pelajar yang memohon tajaan MARA boleh menyemak maklumat terkini mengenai permohonan melalui laman web http://www.mara.gov.my :

Keputusan panggilan dan maklumat temuduga MARA : 27 Mac 2009

Pertanyaan mengenai masalah teknikal semasa mengisi borang permohonan atas talian boleh dibuat dengan menghubungi talian 03-88853550 atau 03-88853559. Talian-talian ini dibuka setiap hari dari jam 8.00 pagi hingga 10.00 malam mulai tarikh keputusan SPM 2008 diumumkan secara rasmi.

Pertanyaan mengenai program tajaan JPA boleh dibuat dengan menghubungi talian 03-88853892 (10 talian), pada setiap hari bekerja mulai jam 8.00 pagi hingga 5.00 petang atau emel di alamat piln2009@jpa.gov.my

Pertanyaan mengenai program tajaan MARA boleh dibuat dengan menghubungi Bahagian Penganjuran Pelajaran MARA di talian 03-26915111 (sambungan 1133, 1109, 1120, 3623, 3624, 3629, 3620 dan 3619) pada setiap hari bekerja mulai jam 8.00 pagi hingga 5.00 petang atau emel di alamat webmaster@mara.gov.my.

Calon-calon hendaklah sentiasa melayari laman web http://www.jpa.gov.my dan laman web http://www.mara.gov.my dari semasa ke semasa untuk mengetahui perkembangan dan pengumuman terkini mengenai permohonan PILN 2009.

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Chen Chow's Other Posts
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Talk on Global Economic Crisis & Moral Changes

Invitation to Attend a Complimentary Public Lecture“

The Global Economic Crisis and Moral Changes”
by Prof. Dr. Arthur Kleinman of Harvard University

Greetings from Centre for Extension Education, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR-CEE). The University is proud to announce that an inaugural public lecture on “The Global Economic Crisis and Moral Changes” will be held in conjunction with the launching of the Harvard Ezra F. Vogel Malaysia/Singapore Initiative programme. The programme is a joint collaboration with the Harvard University Asia Center and Lam Kin Chung Morning Sun Charity Fund.

The distinguished Speaker, Prof. Dr. Arthur Kleinman of Harvard Medical School, will share his insights into moral dilemmas and problems afflicting today’s society. Prof. Dr. Kleinman will also explore the dynamic relationships between economics, politics and the professions and, perhaps, even religions.

On behalf of the University, I take great pleasure in inviting you to this talk. Twenty (20) complimentary seats are also provided to members of your organisation on a first-registered-first-served basis.

The talk details are as below:

Title: The Global Economic Crisis & Moral Changes(programme information enclosed) Speaker:Prof Dr. Arthur Kleinman of Harvard Medical School(physician and anthropologist)
Date: 28 March 2009 (Saturday)
Time: 2.45pm – 6.00pm
Venue: Auditorium, Level 3, Wisma MCA163, Jalan Ampang, 50450 Kuala Lumpur Admission: Free (First-Registered-First-Served Basis)
*Refreshments will be served*

Kindly return the list of participants as attached before 18 March 2009 for registration purposes. For enquires and registration, please contact Rajes/Nitthia/Odie/Yong atTel: 603-79572818/603-79555181 ext 8212/8210/8201/8611 H/p: 6016-2233 563 Fax: 603-79573818. Email: cee@utar.edu.my.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely
Dr Prudence GohDirector
Centre for Extension Education

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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

BarCamp KL

Thanks to Daniel Cerventus for the info.

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BarCamp KL is an unconference organized by various communities and people all around KL and Malaysia.

It would be on 4th and 5th April 2009.

Do check out at here for more info.

Speakers!

Michael Teoh
'Ideas for Forward-Thinkers' - Ways to Generate Ideas for Anything and Everything, but most specifically business!
'Differentiating Your Business! An Edge of Survive and Achievement!' (subject to availability)

Kamal Fariz @kamal (not sure which topic yet, all interesting!)
Executable plain text stories with Cucumber - Have your clients write their requirements and you run it direct.
Config management with Chef
End-to-end automated web app testing (incl. js) with cucumber + celerity

Khailee Ng @khailee (topic TBC, perhaps 'how to defeat wild bears with your fists', or something as mind-blowing)

Ikhwan Nazri @tekong (How to work in multiple mobile offices and still being productive aka Home office is soooooo last year) ;)

Ahmad Siddiq @sysstream
Wi-Fi Ninjutsu Exploitation - WEP, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WPA-802.1x, WPA2-802.1x, CISCO LEAP? oooh the fancy names of wireless security :D
Defeating the iPhone passcode (for teh graet justice)
Facebook pwnage - from legal frame injection to illegal redirect (for teh graet justice)

Edwin Wang (everyday.com.my)
Social Networking is the next big thing or is it not?
Setup your own social networking for less than RM 1000
Everyday.com.my journey from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

LV Chong (http://livooi.spaces.live.com/)
Breathe Life Into UX - Who says user experience is intangible? Come and transformg it to real life!

Native Web Application (NWA) vs Rich Internet Application (RIA)


-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Creative, Painless Ways to Downsize Your Life After A Layoff

Got this email from Kelly. Scan through the article. It seems a good read, and could potentially be helpful to our life!

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We just posted an article, "100 Creative, Painless Ways to Downsize Your Life After a Layoff" (http://www.jobprofiles.org/library/job-search/100-creative-painless-ways-to-downsize-life.htm). I thought I'd bring it to your attention in case you think your readers would find it interesting.

 

January Trades crash

Our trade figures really look worrying.

This is quoted from The Star
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PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s January exports were down 27.8% to RM38.3 billion from the same month a year ago with electrical and electronic exports falling due to a slump in demand.
According to the Statistics Department, although the country recorded a trade surplus of RM8.83 billion in January, its 135th consecutive month of trade surplus, month-on-month exports decreased 16.9% from last December.

It added that total imports decreased by 32% to RM29.47 billion from a year ago.
Intermediate goods accounting for 67.4% of imports while capital goods accounted for 16.4% and consumption goods accounted for 8.2%.

Total trade, including exports and imports, were down 29.7% to RM67.77 billion compared to a year ago.

It said among major exports, electrical and electronic products made up 35.9% or RM13.74 billion, liquefied natural gas made up 10.9% or RM4.18 billion while palm oil made up 7.2% or RM2.77 billion of total exports.

It said Singapore, Japan, US, China and South Korea accounted for 51.7% of exports while Asean accounted for 24%.

The top five import sources by value were China, Japan, US, Singapore and Thailand. Asean accounted for 23.3% of total imports.

-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Talk by Dato' A.K. Nathan, Group MD of Eversendai

Talk by Dato' A.K. Nathan, Group MD of Eversendai

 

Online Registration - http://www.thr.fm/raaga/special/millionaire/

 

Deadline 6th March 2009

Time: 1.30pm - 7.00pm
Date: 29 March 2009
Venue: The Istana Hotel Ballroom
Cost : Free
Target Participant : Aspiring entrepreneurs (within the age group of 20 to 40 years old) personally handpicked by Dato A.K Nathan via online registration.

The interested candidates are urged to answer 3 simple questions via online registration form and the answers should be within 15 words for each question. The successful applicants will be notified via email.

Introduction
Dato' A K Nathan, the group managing director of Eversendai corporation, a self made man, rags to riches Malaysian Indian story which can inspire you to achieve more than what you have today.

"Eversendai" founded by Dato' A.K. Nathan in 1984 is a highly reputable player in the structural Design, Fabrication and Erection of steel structures and Coal Fired Power Plant, having been involved in the construction of iconic landmarks such as the Petronas Twin Towers, the Burj al-Arab hotel in Dubai and the Burj Dubai - currently the world's tallest building. Eversendai has executed the heaviest, largest and the tallest structures and completed over 100 projects in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand.

Having to curtail his pre-university course due to financial difficulties, he started work as a printing machine operator and subsequently as an insurance agent. With no formal education in engineering, Dato' Nathan has grown Eversendai from a one man show to a corporate structure with 6000 personnel with sheer hard work, persistence and perseverance. His first foray into the construction sctor was accidental, when he was given the opportunity to work on the Dayabumi project where he learnt the techniques and the Japanese work culture which he has incorporated in his management.

Dato' Nathan has steered Eversendai into one of the largest steel contractor in the Middle East with fabrication plants in Dubai, Sharjah, Qatar and Malaysia. Eversendai has awarded the "2005 International Achievement Award" by the Construction Industry Board, Malaysia, the 20th International Golden Construction Award (New Millennium Award) by Trade Leaders Club - Madrid, Spain, Ernst & Young
2008 - Master Entrepreneur of he year Award, Ernst & Young 2008 - Entrepreneur of the year award, SME Platinum Award 2008, SME - Brand Laureate Best Brand Award 2008, MCIEA 2008 - CEO of the year award by Construction Industry Development Board Malaysia.

DUAL March 2009 Update

***************************** 

www.dual.org.sg

 

1.  Thurs, 19th Mar, 7:00pm - 9:00pm - DUAL Drinks

2.  Sat, 21st Mar, 3:00pm - 6:00pm - 2009 LSE Alumni Association of Singapore Amateur 8 Ball Pool Championship

3.  Mon, 6th Apr, 7:00pm - An evening talk with the Stanford Club of Singapore on "When Will They Ever Learn?  An Organizational Behavior Perspective on the Recent Financial Crisis" by Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer

4.  Thurs, 9th Apr, 4:00pm - 7:30pm - Tiger Brewery Tour & Social Networking at the Tiger Tavern with Imperial College Alumni Association

 

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1.  DUAL Drinks

Do come down and join us for DUAL Drinks every third Thursday of the Month!  It will be a great time to relax, catch up with old friends, and meet new people!

Date:    Thursday, March 19th, 2009
Time:    7:00pm - 9:00pm
Venue:  Brewerkz Restaurant & Microbrewery
            30 Merchant Road #01-05/06 Riverside Point
            Singapore 058282
            Tel: (65) 6438 7438
Cost:    $5 for 2 soft drinks
            $15 for 2 beer

 

2.  2009 LSE Alumni Association of Singapore Amateur 8 Ball Pool Championship

 

For the first time ever, the LSE Alumni Association of Singapore is proud to present their first ever pool championship! Get set for an afternoon of friendly competition with attractive prizes, great fellowship, a high tea buffet and a recreational afternoon for one and all!

Event Details
Play Style: 8 Ball Pool – Singles and Doubles Matchplay

Date:            Sat, 21st March 2009
Venue:         Pool Junction
 !                  IOI Plaza,  210 Middle Road
                   #01 – 01, Singapore 188994
Time:           3:00pm to 6:00pm
Price:           LSEAAS Members - $20
                    DUAL Members      - $25
                    Gue! sts                   &nb sp;  - $30
                   Pay as you show up, confirmation necessary!
RSVP:        alexanderphua@gmail.com

Event Schedule:
1500hrs – Registration and reception
               Single Players
               Dou! bles Teams
1530hrs – Competition start
1730hrs – Finals and Prize Giving
1800hrs – Event end

For competition rules, please see attached PPT slides.

 

3.  An evening talk with the Stanford Club of Singapore on "When Will They Ever Learn?  An Organizational Behavior Perspective on the Recent Financial Crisis" by Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer

 

You're invited to join fellow alumni for a rewarding and insightful discussion with Professor Jeffrey Pfeffer of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business as he shares his insights on the recent turbulence in the financial markets.

 

Professor Pfeffer will discuss how a lack of focus on understanding failure, over-reliance on compensation as a management tool, and omnipresent managerial hubris make organizations so bad at learning from past mistakes. Unless we get better at predicting what reward systems are actually going to do and unless we get smarter about designing management practices that don't produce destructive behavior, Pfeffer maintains the current bad news will get recycled in the future.

 

Date:    Monday, 6th April 2009

Time:    7:00pm

Venue:  The American Club

            10 Claymore Hill

 

Cost:     $25 for Stanford Club or Stanford GSB Alumnus/spouse

             $30 DUAL Member

             $35 Guests

 

RSVP by 30 March 2009 using the attached Registration Form.

 

For more information, please contact Richard Hartung at rlhartung@stanfordalumni.org

 

4.  Tiger Brewery Tour & Social Networking at the Tiger Tavern with Imperial College

 

The Imperial College Alumni Association of Singapore would like to invite members of DUAL to join them for their Tiger Brewery Tour & Social Networking at the Tiger Tavern.

 

Date:    Thurs 9th April

Time:    4:00pm - 7:30pm

Venue:  Asia Pacific Breweries

Cost:     DUAL members $10; non $12

 

RSVP - please register with Yap Tiong Peng via email tiongyap@igard.com.sg (indicate "Tiger" in the subject line).

 

Please see attached for further details.

 

*************************************
www.dual.org.sg
DUAL is the Distinguished Universities Alumni League, an umbrella organization comprising members from the following 18 alumni clubs - Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Cornell University Hoteliers, Dartmouth College, Imperial College, INSEAD, Johns Hopkins University, London Business School, London School of Economics, MIT, NUS MBA, Oxbridge Society, Princeton University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and Yale University

3rd Brand's Thailand International Sudoku Open 2009

Thanks to Mr. Bala for the info.

 

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3rd BRAND'S Thailand International Sudoku Open 2009

Host:	Thailand Sudoku Association
Type:	Sports - Tournament
Network:	Global

 

Start Time:	18 April 2009 at 10:00
End Time:	19 April 2009 at 18:00
Location:	Central Court & Forum Zone, CentralWorld Shopping Complex
Town/City:	Bangkok, Thailand

 

Phone:	6626819971
Email:	info@thaicrossword.com

 

 

GENERAL DETAILS

Date: Saturday and Sunday, April 18th – 19th, 2009

Venue: Central Court and Forum Zone, 1st floor, CentralWorld Shopping Complex, Bangkok, Thailand

Division: International Open Division (Individual), open to all without restrictions

Prizes
- Champion: Trophy + USD 5,000 + Gift Set
- 2nd place-getter: Trophy + 60,000 Thai baht (equivalent to approximately USD 1,700) + Gift Set
- 3rd place-getter: Trophy + 20,000 Thai baht (equivalent to approximately USD 570) + Gift Set

Entry Fee: USD30 (entry fee and coffee break only, not included accommodation and other travel costs)
*** The application fee can be paid upon Bangkok arrival.

Format
- 5 preliminary rounds. Cumulative scores will be collected.
- After 5 preliminary rounds, the top 5 players who have highest cumulative score will go to final round.
- The Sudoku puzzles will comprise of many Sudoku variations i.e. Sum Sudoku, Jigsaw Sudoku, Samurai Sudoku, Greater-than Sudoku, Even-odd Sudoku, and etc.

- More details about Sudoku puzzles will be announced when available.

Accommodation
==The Arnoma Hotel (3.5 stars hotel) offers the rate of 3,000++ Baht/ night for a single room and 3,400++ Baht / night for a twin or double room.
The Arnoma Hotel is located on 99 Ratchadamri Rd., Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330, Thailamd Tel:(662)655-5555
Note: The above rates include American breakfast, free use of fitness center, etc.

Concise Schedule
Saturday, April 18, 10.00-18.00 hr,
at 1st floor, Central Court and Forum Zone, CentralWorld Shopping Complex
Registration / Opening Remark / Round 1-3

Sunday, April 19, 10.00-18.30 hr,
at 1st floor, Central Court and Forum Zone, CentralWorld Shopping Complex
Competition resumes / Round 4-5 / Final round / Closing and prize presentation Ceremony

For Application and Inquiry, contact Mr.Nuttakrit / Mr.Nawapadol / Mr.Songyot by Email: info@thaicrossword.com or Telephone (+662) 6819971-3 or Fax (+662) 6819974

How to apply
Send us your info about the below topics as well as your recent photograph at the above-mentioned address. (you may send them via snail mail, email or fax as your choices) For the photographs, you may attach with you email.
-- Name:
-- Age:
-- Nationality:
-- Occupation:
-- Address:
-- Telephone Number: (please indicate your city's code)
-- Email:
-- Past records in any tournament:

About the Venue
- CentralWorld Shopping Complex:
The Thailand's first lifestyle shopping complex, located in the heart of Bangkok with total facilitating area of 550,000 sq.m. The CentralWorld is furnished with more than 500 famous brand name stores. See more details at www.centralworld.co.th.

Writers and Contributors needed! (Amnesty Malaysia's Youth Blog)

Thanks Kimberley for sharing on this.

----

The Amnesty International youths from Malaysia have just set up our new blog at http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.amnestyfrontliners.blogspot.com and we really need new writers and contributors.

We chose the name Frontliners cause "Amnesty International Malaysia Youth Network" was just far too wordy, and also Frontliners which means the forefront of a battleground is a symbolism for our fight for the advancement of human rights in Malaysia.

If you have an article or news that you would like to share on the site, or if you would like to be on the team of writers, please message me here or email the blog coordinators at amnestyfrontliners@yahoo.com. Our pieces will be categorised into News & Updates, Urgent Actions, Life Stories (pieces on activists, former ISA detainees, members of the malaysian LGBT community, etc) & Opinion Pieces on various human rights issues.

It doesn't matter where in the world you are, or whether or not you\'re a Malaysian youth-- all contributions are welcome!

So please help us get this site up and kicking together.

Warm Regards,

Kimberley Ho,
Secretary,
Amnesty International Malaysia Youth Network.

MIT Undergraduate Admissions talk on 21st March 2009

MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (MIT) CLUB OF MALAYSIA will give a free undergraduate admissions talk for students (parents also welcomed) who wish to apply to MIT this year or in 1-2 years.

The talk is in the Royal Selangor Golf Club, Jln Kelab Golf (off Jln Tun Razak), 55000 Kuala Lumpur at 1030am-12 pm, Sat 21 March 2009.

Strict Dress code: Smart casual (T 03-9206 3333, location map available at http://alumweb.mit.edu/clubs/malaysia).

MIT Educational Counselors and Alumni in Malaysia will share with the audience about campus life at MIT, what MIT offers, what to prepare for applications to MIT, Financial Aid and other interesting questions/topics raised by the audience. Please visit www.mit.edu for additional information on MIT, application procedures and financial aid.

If you need further information, do leave a note here, and I will connect to the organizer.
-----
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

World Water Youth Forum!

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Share ideas and have your voice heard! Take your part in the World Water Youth Forum (16th-22nd March 2009)!

All the way through ages, water-related problems have been one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. Following a UN survey on the important issues for the 21st century water ranks second. Following this premise, it can be said that prospects for human development are endangered by an intensified global water crisis.

The 5th World Water Forum thus aims to bring more to the world than merely ideas and debate amongst water experts; it aims to bring the world to Istanbul to improve our understanding of divergent points of view and allow us to share solutions.

Taking action is manifold. Every segment of society is responsible for the effective management of water issues. Inspired by the idea that youth should be accepted as partners for development, helping to chart a united course and shaping the expectations for everyone, many students and young water professionals are vying for being representatives of water awareness. Young people that are either affiliated with NGOs or student clubs or not tied to any organization or company, have creative ideas and are ready for making a difference. Thus in order to intone a strong voice in the water issues, active participation of youth is crucial. It is crucial that YOU(TH) participate!

If you have suggestions, ideas, knowledge, products or strategies related, then don’t lose the opportunity to tell the world! You are welcome to participate. Come to share the experience with a diverse worldwide community of experts and politicians.

Should you have any questions or comments regarding the upcoming WWYF, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to seeing you in Istanbul and your participation.To find out more about registeration please visit our web site:
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://youth.worldwaterforum5.org

-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Contemporary Buddhism Seminar Series

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

How to Weather the Economic Storm by Datuk Tony Tiah

Thanks to Jason Khaw for the info.

 

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"HOW TO WEATHER THE ECONOMIC STORM"

Speaker: Datuk Tony Tiah

Date: 15 Mar 2009

Time: 1.30PM

Venue: Tabernacle of David

*Admission is free. Open to public*

What's After SPM? - Call For Contributors!

A lot of us care about Malaysian Education. A lot of us care about the future generation of Malaysia. We have discussed a lot in a lot of forums/blogs/seminars etc. What we need now is action, and we hope to use this following initiative, to bring Malaysians across all walks of life, to come together to support this initiative. We want Malaysian youths (age below 30) to share their stories that we hope could provide alternatives/possibilities to Malaysians, who might not be as fortunate to know of all the options.



This is an effort to build the future of our country's younger generation. An effort initiated by a bunch of youth for youth, which we hope would be able to do its bit for the sake of our motherland.



So, to all of you who have gone through some path after SPM, my plead to you is "Please share your stories. It would create dreams and hope and possibilities for hundreds of thousands of Malaysian youth!"



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Project What's After SPM: A Hundred Different Journeys


One book. One hundred stories.
For you. For hundreds of thousands of Malaysian youths.



Website:- http://whatsafterspm.blogspot.com/
Facebook Group:- http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70405181412 (Please help to spread the words around!)


For most of us, the end of secondary school education (or the lack of it) marked a turning point in our lives where we moved from studying together under an umbrella education system (SPM) to embarking upon vastly different pathways.


The transition process for the more fortunate ones would no doubt have been aided by the various resources made available to them: school counselors, advice from worried parents and knowledgeable seniors, counsel from helpful relatives, visits to campus open day sessions, mountainous stacks of college brochures, education sections in local newspapers, education resource websites etc.


The same, however, cannot be said of hundreds of thousands of kids all over Malaysia who have no regular access to the internet, are not blessed with well-informed family and friends, and who complete secondary school with little or almost no awareness of the opportunities that abound for them, as well as kids who are simply ignorant of the opportunities that surround them or just do not possess the faith and self-confidence to pursue their passions.


Therefore, we have decided to spearhead this project in hopes of reaching those kids and sending them this message: "Look, kids, now that you have completed secondary school, there are a million opportunities out there for you, a million pathways that you can undertake, a million places to visit, and you should explore those choices as much as you can. You can do anything you set your mind to. All it takes is keyakinan, a little bit of strategi, a little bit of tuah, and lots and lots of semangat dan usaha."


We are now looking for a plethoric collection of stories of young Malaysians who have pursued different pathways after SPM. The stories will be published in a book to be distributed to as many students and secondary schools as possible (tentative target: to distribute at least 2 books to each of the 5000 secondary schools in Malaysia). And we would like to invite you to participate in this project by submitting your story, or persuading your friends to submit their stories.


It does not matter whether you are a scholar with stellar results and a 3-inch thick resume, a typical student who went to a local university after finishing Form 6, or a youth who has to work in the pasar malam at night to foot your technical college fees in the day. It does not matter whether you have chosen the oft-beaten path or the road less travelled. We believe that there every education background offers its own boons and banes. And we believe that there are merits in telling any story.


Topics


Participants may touch on all or concentrate on one or a few of the following topics:


(a) What socioeconomic/education background did you come from and how did it contribute towards making you the person that you are today?


(b) What obstacles did you face in pursuing tertiary education and how did you overcome those obstacles?


(c) What prompted/who inspired you to pursue the pathway that you have undertaken/are currently undertaking?


(d) How did you find out about the pathway that you have undertaken/ are currently undertaking?


(e) What are the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing the pathway that you have taken/are currently undertaking?


(f) If you have had had a unique education background, please elaborate on your unusual circumstances (Examples: kampung boy who ended up in Yale University/home-schooled girl who faced difficulty persuading university admissions officers to admit her/student who pursued cosmological astrophysics at Cambridge under the prestigious Gates Scholarship/teenager who dropped out of school and pursued full-time modelling/youth who took a gap year after SPM to participate in humanitarian missions in Tibet/boy who has worked as a professional computer hacker since age 14/youth who entered a seminary to pursue priesthood/student who designed a new degree course at Smith College).


(g) If you have succeeded in securing a rare/prestigious scholarship/ undergone a rigorous university application process (Examples: Kofi Annan International Scholarship), please elaborate on the application process.


(h) What advice would you give to someone who hopes to pursue the same pathway that you have undertaken/are currently undertaking?


(i) How was the experience at your previous/current place of study and how has it changed your life? If you have had a non-academic pursuit (s) (establishing your own restaurant/working full-time as a social worker etc), how has your pursuit impacted other people?


(j) Is there any other issue regarding post-SPM education that you wish to discuss? What other pertinent advice would you give to someone who is about to complete SPM/secondary school?
Reminder: Remember that the purpose of submitting your story is not to flaunt your achievements, but to share your unque experiences with your readers. As you write, try to retain the relevancy between your experiences and the reader's interest.


Participation rules


1. Participants must be Malaysian citizens.
2. Participants must be of age 30 or below as of 2009.
3. Each entry will consist of a photo (to be printed in black & white), an introduction blurb written in 3rd person perspective and a main article written in 1st person perspective.
4. The introduction blurb is to be between 30-50 words, and must mention the participant's age and place(s) of study/pursuit (see below for examples).
5. The main article is to be between 600-800 words.
6. All articles are to be written in English. Participants who struggle with English may write in Malay/Chinese and have their articles translated by the committee members.
7. Articles may be edited for clarity, brevity and/or intelligibility, though the committee will strive not to tamper them.
8. All participants must use their real names. Pseudonyms will not be allowed.
9. About 100 entries will be selected for publishing. The committee's decisions will be final.
10. The photo may be of any style as long as it shows the participant's face. Black & white photos are prefered, as the book will be published in black & white.
11. Participants will retain the copyright of their photos and articles.
12. All entries are to be sent to whatsafterspm@gmail.com.


Deadline
March 31 2009


Diversity
We encourage young Malaysians from all walks of life to participate in this project. We strive for inclusivity and diversity in terms of:

(a) Socioeconomic, ethnic and geographical background of participants
(b) Secondary school background of participants (national schools, vernacular schools, international schools, private schools, religious schools, boarding schools, home-schooling, apprenticeship, dropouts etc)
(c) Pre-university education background of participants (STPM, matriculation, A Level, IB, SAM, ICPU, AUSMAT, ADP, foundation program, diploma, home-schooling etc)
(d) Tertiary education background of participants (local public/ private university, foreign public/private university, polytechnique, vocational school, technical school, ACCA, college, twinning program, external program, self-study etc)
(e) Countries where participants pursued tertiary education (Malaysia, US, UK, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, Korea, Egypt, Taiwan, China, Indonesia, France, Germany, India, Brunei etc)
(f) Education funding methods (parents' sponsorship, bank loan, PTPTN loan, JPA scholarship, Bank Negara scholarship, Petronas scholarship, ASEAN scholarship, US schools financial aid, MARA scholarship, GIC scholarship, private school scholarship, study grant, bursary, personal savings, part-time jobs, busking, own salary earned during gap year etc)
(g) Fields of interest of participants (pure sciences, arts & humanities, social sciences, medicine, law, engineering, entertainment, culinary arts, business, entrepreneurship etc)


Samples of introductory blurbs


(a) Mohammad Ghazali, 18, is currently setting up his own football memorabilia business at Berjaya Times Square with his ex-classmates after completing SPM at SMK USJ14. He spends his free time coaching orphans in football for free. He also owns a personal collection of jerseys autographed by over 50 Manchester United players, and wants the Devils to reclaim the English Premier League.


(b) Tee Le Yin, 26, a former national swimmer and philately enthusiast, studied A Level at Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore under the ASEAN scholarship prior to pursuing War Studies in King's College, UK. The former national swimmer is currently pursuing her MBA at INSEAD, France under the Maxis scholarship.


Book specifications


1. The book will be printed in black & white to minimise production cost and market price.
2. The book will be between 200-300 pages thick.3. The book will be published by end of 2009.


Royalty/payment
1. As this is a community service project, none of the participants, project committee members and project advisors will receive any form of royalty or payment.
2. A fund raising campaign will be held later to raise money for the project. However, all excess funds will go towards distributing the books to students and secondary schools for free.


Contribute
1. We would greatly appreciate anyone who wishes to contribute towards our publishing fees.
2. We also welcome anyone who wishes to help in translating the book into Chinese and Malay after the first edition of the book goes into print.


Enquiries/contact
The organising committee members Charis Loke, Gabrielle Chong Yong Wei, Goh Jing Pei, Kimberley Ho Mei Kay, Tara Thean and Yeoh Chen Chow are not committed to any organisation. They were simply brought together for this project and are bound by their sincere enthusiasm for community service.


Participants, parents, interested sponsors and translators, as well as general inquirers may contact committee at whatsafterspm@gmail.com.




-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Sharing at UM AIESEC

Thanks to Jing Pei for sharing with me this opportunity to have a dialogue with UM AIESECers.



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Global Economy Crisis has affected the world and the people in so many ways,
and of course one of it is us the soon to be graduated bunch
so what can we do to prepare ourself for this economic downfall?

Guess what!?

Goh Jing Pei an AIESEC UM alumni will tell you how!!!
She’ll be sharing her expertise with her colleague Yeoh Chen Chow currently working as Product Manager at JobStreet.com!
Don’t miss out your chance to learn something from them!
(there’ll be a Q&A session so you guys are most welcome to suck out all the information you want from them!)

So see you guys next week!
(please do invite all of your friends to come as well and spread the words!)
Below are their profiles :))

DATE: 05/03/09 (Thursday)
TIME: 8pm-10pm (please be on time, we do not want the externals to be waiting for us)
VENUE: DP1, KPS, UM

Jing Pei is currently working as a consultant with PPEARL, a boutique HR consulting firm which speacialising in assessment and psychometric testing. Graduated from Univerisity of Malaya in 2007, she has a major in East Asian Studies where she did a special concentration in China Studies, with minor in International Relations and Strategic Studies. Jing Pei was an active member in AIESEC in Universiti Malaya, where she was playing her menial roles as executive, project leader and LC mentor. She was handpicked to participate in RealAcad Venture Capital Camp in 2006 and China Synergy Programme for Outstanding Youth in 2007. In 2008, she organised two prestigeous international conferences with Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR). During her leisure time, she is also a professional bum and part-time history researcher. You can occasionally catch her crooning on stage with igemz.

Yeoh Chen Chow is currently working as Product Manager at JobStreet.com, focusing on JobStreet CAMPUS . Previously, he was a Consultant under Customer Relationship Management Service Line within Management Consulting of Accenture , KL. He graduated in 2005 from Cornell University with B.Sc in Electrical and Computer Engineering and triple minors in Industrial System & Information Technology, Information Science and Engineering Management. Chen Chow is also co-founder of Recom and he has been actively involved in youth development in Malaysia.





-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

David Plouffe, Chief Campaign Manager for Obama to speak at Cornell Convocation

Obama's presidential campaign manager to give 2009 Convocation address
By Susan Kelley

Political strategist David Plouffe, chief campaign manager for Barack Obama's historic presidential run, will be the keynote speaker at Cornell's Convocation in Schoellkopf Stadium at noon, May 23, the day before Commencement.

"The Class of 2009 sought an individual who has had a profound impact on the society that our class has been prepared to enter," said C.J. Slicklen '09, 2009 Convocation chair. "Mr. Plouffe was the mastermind behind one of the most significant and groundbreaking elections in our nation's history."

Plouffe (pronounced Pluff), a partner in the campaign consulting firm AKPD Message and Media, is credited with the campaign's successful overall strategy in the race for the Democratic Party presidential nomination by prolonging the primary past Super Tuesday and then masterminding the Democratic presidential campaign.

After winning the election on Nov. 4, Obama credited Plouffe in his acceptance speech, calling him "the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the ... best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America."

Plouffe is working on a book about the 2008 presidential election to be published by Viking Press in the fall. He began his political career when he went to work for Iowa's Tom Harkin in his 1990 re-election campaign for the U.S. Senate. He subsequently managed election campaigns for governors and congressional senators and representatives. In 1999-2000, Plouffe led the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to raise a record $95 million for House of Representatives races across the country. He began working with Obama on his 2004 campaign for the Illinois Senate.

Cornell's Commencement ceremony will take place May 24 in Schoellkopf Stadium at 11 a.m.
Convocation, which is funded by the Student Activity Fee, is under the supervision of the Office of the Dean of Students and the Senior Class Council.

For more information, contact Slicklen at cjs75@cornell.edu.

-----
Chen Chow's Other Posts
Subscribe to Chen Chow's blog

Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share

Feel free to quote any post within my blog, as long as you link it back here. Sharing is always a good virtue. :)

Cartisans seminar on Top US Universities

To all of you who have long term aspiration to study in US, this could be a very good seminar for you to attend!

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Cartisans Consultancy (http://www.cartisans.com/) is organizing a seminar entitled 20 Things You Need To Know To Get Into Top US Universities on Saturday 1:20pm, 7 March 2009 at Cititel Mid-Valley.

We believe this is a great opportunity for students to hear from experienced admissions consultants and get their questions answered. We want to get students and their parents thinking about applying to top US universities and understanding what's involved right from the start of the year instead of waiting until the last minute, which places an undue burden on their counselors and teachers at the end of the year.

The seminar will address some of the myths and fallacies surrounding university admissions and give students a clear idea of what they need to do. Given that it has become increasingly difficult for parents to afford an overseas education, we will also address financial aid questions because we feel that the lack of funds does not mean a lack of opportunity.

This seminar will only be open to 150 pre-university students who are planning to apply for entry in Fall 2010. Thus, tickets will be sold at a nominal fee of RM30 for a set of two (one student, one parent) to cover some of the administration and venue costs involved.

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If you are interested, do reply here, and I will put you in touch with the organizer.

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Blog Discourse Survey

Thanks to my loyal blog reader for sharing this.

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AN online survey is currently being conducted as part of a PhD research into blog discourse from a language perspective. This survey is targeted at Malaysian bloggers who blog in English as well as Malaysian non-bloggers who post comments in English. Those aged between 18 and 25 are invited to participate.

For details, visit
www.tinyurl.com/bloggingresearch.

Bucharest International Student Model United Nations (BISMUN)

We are honored to announce the launch of ASD's (Law Student's Association) first edition of Bucharest International Student Model United Nations (BISMUN). The event will begin Thursday, March 19 and will end Monday, March 23 2009.

The MUN is targeted at students from universities all over the world and is meant to increase students' interest in global issues and the UN. Within the conference, the participants will be able to exchange opinions and ideas about world policy, establish new contacts and learn about Romania and Bucharest.

BISMUN is the most ambitious project of this kind in Romania.

The participants will meet within the amphitheaters of the Faculty of Law Palace of Bucharest, Romania and discuss up-to date topics of international interest within the following committees:

Security Council
1. The crisis in South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
2. Piracy around the coastline of Somalia.

Economic and Social Council
1. Environmental Sustainability - The progress toward the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 7 in the regions of Africa and South-East Asia under the „Agenda 21".
2. Combating violence against women and children in Western Asia - The present status and measures to be taken.

Human Rights Council
1. Human Rights and the issue of national security: is it possible for a country to protect itself against terrorists without logging its citizens - call, internet and email history?
2. Peacekeeping forces in Haiti: obedience for human rights and criminal accountability.

1st Committee (DISEC)
1. Measures to prevent terrorists from acquiring weapons of mass destruction.
2. The situation of the nuclear weapons in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

2nd Committee (ECOFIN)
1. Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty(2008-2017) - financing for development to end hunger, poverty and lack of access to clean water and basic health services.
2. Joint efforts to be made by states for the purpose of diminishing the effects of the global economic depression, under the scope of IMF and World Bank.

6th Committee (LEGAL)
1. Criminal accountability of United Nations officials and experts on mission.
2. Nationality of natural persons in relation to the succession of States.

For more details, you can visit our website ( www.bismun.ro ) or contact us via e-mail: secretariat@bismun.ro.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Bucharest this Spring!

Best regards,
BISMUN Organising Committee

JobStreet.com 2008 Financial Results

JobStreet.com just announced their 4th Quarter Results yesterday and also this means the entire 2008 results.

Operationally, JobStreet.com does fantastically! Am always amazed at how the firm is able to really leverage on it, and grow well.

Looking at Q4, revenue does drop marginally by 4% from RM23.149 Million to RM22.234 Million, due to the tough economic situation. This is based on y-o-y comparison. Looking in terms of Profits from Operating Activities, it went up from RM7.053 Million to RM8.110 Million. That's a 15.0% growth!

However, due to the bad economic situation, JobStreet.com decided to recognize some impairment in its investment worth RM5.363 Million. This would mean that moving forward, all these loses have been recognized.

For Profit before taxation, it drops from RM7.607 Million to RM3.001 Million, and Profit After tax drops from RM6.991 Million to RM2.163 Million.

However, if we look at the entire financial year of 2008, then things would be a lot more rosier.

Revenue went up from RM83.079 Million to RM102.331 Million, which is a 23.2% increase. Profit from Operating Activities went up from RM31.424 Million to RM45.203 Million, which is a huge increase of 43.8%. Profit Before Tax (after deducting the impairment loss and loss on disposal of an associate) grew from RM33.663 Million to RM39.324 Million, which is an increase of 22.7%. Profit After tax grew from RM30.283 Million to RM34.983 Million, which is a grew of 15.6%.

Looking at above, the way I see it, margin from operating activities does increase from 37.82% (Taking RM31.424 Mil divided by RM83.079 Mil) to 44.17% (Taking RM45.203 Mil divided by RM102.331 Mil). So, seems to me that there is a growth in productivity!

Above is what I interpret based on what I understood of the financial results. I am not a finance or accounting major and above are all analysis done in my personal capacity.

For all the detailed financial results, do go to here

For official JobStreet.com press release, it is quoted from Bernama

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JOBSTREET.COM REPORTS RM1.7 MILLION NET PROFIT FOR Q4 2008
Friday 20/02/2009

KUALA LUMPUR – 20 FEBRUARY 2009-- JobStreet Corporation Berhad (Main Board: "JOBST") Posted Its Quarterly Results For The Final Quarter Of 2008 With Revenue And Net Profit Attributable To Shareholders Declining 3.9% And 74.6% Respectively. The Significant Decline In Net Profit Was Primarily Attributed To A Provision For Impairment Loss On Investments Of RM 5.4 Million.

The decrease in revenue for the quarter was mainly resulting from lower sales from JobStreet SELECT (search & selection services) and JobStreet RESOURCE (contract staffing) by 53.8% and 16.2%, respectively. In addition, lower distribution income from the Group’s investment in quoted unit trusts also contributed to the decrease in revenue. The Group’s core products of JobStreet ESSENTIAL (job posting) and JobStreet IMPACT (career website management service) performed relatively well and registered growth in sales by 1.8% and 65.8% respectively during the quarter.

The global recession has affected investor sentiment worldwide and cause valuations on many stock exchanges to fall. In this respect, as discussed above, the Group booked a provision of RM5.4 million for impairment of its investments in quoted securities which significantly impacted the profitability for the quarter.

On a year to date basis, the Group managed to finish the year with a 13.6% improvement to its bottom line, as the Group’s core business operations in its principal markets in Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines continued to grow in 2008.

A quarter-on-quarter followed by a year-on-year comparison:-


Q4 2008RM'000 Q4 2007RM'000 %Increase/(Decrease)
Revenue 22,234 23,149 (3.9)
Profit before taxation 3,001 7,607 (60.5)
Profit after taxation and minority interests 1,703 6,709 (74.6)


Year Ended
31.12.2008RM'000 31.12.2007RM'000 % Increase/ (Decrease)
Revenue 102,331 83,079 23.2
Profit before taxation 39,324 33,663 16.8
Profit after taxation and minority interests 32,824 28,886 13.6

Mark Chang, CEO of JobStreet Corporation Berhad says “In view of the current market situation, we want to be prudent in recognizing some impairment on our quoted investments.” He added, “Many companies have started to cut down on their recruitment activities in response to the recession and our challenge will be to come up with innovative and effective recruitment solutions that best meet their needs during this difficult time.”

About JobStreet.com

JobStreet operates the JobStreet.com (www.jobstreet.com) online recruitment websites presently covering the employment markets in Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Japan and Thailand. The Group currently services over 50,000 corporate customers and over 6 million jobseekers. JobStreet is listed on Main Board of Bursa Malaysia Securities (JOBST).


Source : JobStreet.com


FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
NAME : Simon Si
Head. Regional Communications
Tel: (03) 2176 0394
Fax: (03) 2698 7200
E-mail : simon@jobstreet.com
DATE OF RELEASE : 20 FEBRUARY 2009
RELEASED BY BERNAMA MEDIA RELATIONS & EVENT MANAGEMENT









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Youth Leadership Academy, Malaysia

Thanks to Suyin for highlighting this to me!

 

This would be a very useful program for all of you who are in the 1st or 2nd year of university to participate in this. McKinsey & Company is one of the most prestigious companies in the country, and arguably one of the toughest companies in Malaysia to get into.

This Youth Leadership Academy would enable you to learn from the best, and really develop yourself personally and professionally!

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Youth Leadership Academy, Malaysia 

The Youth Leadership Academy is dedicated to nurturing and building capabilities of future young leaders. As a participant, you will have the opportunity to improve your leadership skills, and be inspired by Malaysia's most successful corporate leaders and young professionals. 

We are looking for a diverse group of 20-30 of the most talented and driven Malaysian undergraduate students in their first or second year of studies at a university in Malaysia. Candidates must demonstrate strong leadership potential, personal drive, and a passion and energy for making a difference in our community and country. The deadline for the application is 15 March.

For more information about the programme, and how you can sign up, visit our website at www.mckinsey.com.my/YLA or e-mail us your questions at YLA_Malaysia@mckinsey.com

We look forward to meeting you

The YLA team
www.mckinsey.com.my/YLA
YLA_Malaysia@mckinsey.com