Stage Time! Stage Time! Stage Time!

So I just came back from Malacca, attending the Semi Annual Convention for Toastmaster District 51. It was fun, educational and great networking session meeting some new friends and reconnect with some old friends, whom you’d only meet twice a year in occasion like this. Funny thing is, though most of us live in KL, we are too busy with our own lives to even get this chance to socialize (ok, I’m no toastmaster junkie anymore so I don’t go out much nowadays).

I should start with perhaps stating that the main reason why I went for the convention is because of my support to the Organising Chair, a strong iron lady and the fact that she has asked that I emceed the Saturday session, from the Opening Ceremony up until the conclusion of 4 Plenary sessions.

Ever since Darren Lacroix’s speech in KL about a year ago, that in order to be good at something you need to always grab stage time, stage time, stage time, I took a great deal of effort to never let go of opportunities. So I will enter speech contests, accept emceeing gigs, etc because I believe that I need to be good at what I do.

And I started that by emceeing the Young Corporate Malaysia 2^nd annual summit last year after being persuaded by a certain man-who-then-became-my-fiance.

It was scary, and I’ve done emceeing. But to do it in front of 1000 crowd and multiple CEOs was something else. I’m not the best there is, but I intend to become the very best one day, so I said yes when WMF, YCM founder tweeted me one day. Well, that shows how great social networking is right.

It wasn’t that bad I think, even though I get some congratulatory hand shake and perhaps hear some other not so great review about how casual I was when the topics are about the very serious World Economics.

Did I get demotivated? Not at all, when I have two things that really lifted me up.

Firstly when the keynote speaker, Tok Pa actually went down the stage as he was about to leave the hall and walked towards me at the rostrum and shake my hand. I guess it’s the fact that I made some Petronas jokes with him during Q&A.

And secondly, when Datuk Johan Raslan actually messaged me on twitter (waddup!) and said “You did a brilliant job as MC. Well done and thank you” I was overjoyed. I can’t believe he took the effort, to say that to me.

Well, no one can take those two things away from me.

So when I emceed the Toastmaster convention with hundreds of other great toastmasters who speaks very very well and one particular toastmaster who happen to be the Past President of Toastmaster International (the number 1 man in toastmaster worldwide), I was super nervous. I had to ask my co-emcee, Andrew to hype me up and end up jumping up and down just to get myself ready.

So in the end, it was not that bad. I had a lot of great feedback actually, even from those whom I’ve never met. Even one would say, “Even when I close my eyes I would know who is speaking. That is how unique your voice is”. I of course do feel quite skeptical.

Not until Distinguished Toastmaster Sivanangam came up to me and said that I did a good job, did I believe that I really did. And when Gary Schmidt said the same thing, I felt relief. So there is hope after all for me, so I can be good at this.

So as I reflect back on my school days when I was always the second option, because I don’t sound good enough on mic, I say it has shaped me to become who I am today. And my special thanks to Darren Lacroix for giving the best 3 tips ever – stage time, stage time, stage time.

As Papa Gerald Green put it,.”I don’t need to be first anymore. I just need to be available”

I’d say, ”I’m always available. I need more stage time!”

Toastmaster Experience - Aku Gagap!

I fumble badly today at a toastmaster meeting, and I felt incompetent. I ain’t too proud of the recognition of being the first Competent Communicator of my club, and felt strongly about stripping off my title there and then.

You can’t escape the fact that it was one of the hardest topic that you’ve heard (say me and the rest of the guests), hence people were reluctant to volunteer themselves. As I was falsely volunteered, I thought that I might have just given it a shot. Hey, how bad can it be? But then my mind went blank and I stare emptily at the crowd. My mouth was open, I was talking yet it did not make any perfect sense. Then I went blank again. Oh screw this, I could not take this crap I was making.

And all this happens when I was just about to minimize my toastmaster involvement, when I was just about to reduce my meetings participation, and focuses more on work. There and then I realize the fact that I needed more practice. In front of those very experienced speakers, I have made a name for myself. The girl who walked away from 2 table topic themes when she is in fact, a Competent Communicator (oh, just scrap that).

I am not too proud of myself. And I realize how I’ve always been putting off things, such as the fact that I don’t blog more nowadays. I was focusing more on other things that I felt matters, and shifting my focus on other things that have started to reach a decent comfortability level.

Balance it up girl! Don’t believe that you are good at one thing after reaching a certain comfort zone, and started losing grip on it. Keep striving for more excellence by comparing yourself with others, and your vision will be a moving target where you always aim to be better.

There it goes. A disappointment which resulted in a positive determination to be better. Let’s do it babeh…

Ps: I guess the fact that I don’t write much nowadays proves the point where my writing skills have suddenly deteriorates. Oh well…

Toastmaster - Hidup Mesti Terima Kegagalan

Sometimes in life you just have to learn to accept the fact that life does not always treat you fair, and learn to handle resentment as ethical as you can. Sometimes you must not take things too personal and accept what fate has chosen for you.

I was furious at the fact that I lost, cause I thought I had it pretty much bagged and ready to go. Luckily I didn't show the sign of pure bliss of confidence, else, I would have stormed out of the room deniably claiming my ‘lost’.

Ok, so there I was rewinding the moment, rethinking about . What did i do wrong? How could I have been ONLY second best?

Everyone congratulated me on a speech well done, and some said that I should have won. I gave a fake smile and gave the humble answer where I don’t think I was not good enough to begin with. Secretly I knew I was not making sense. If only you were there, you could see that I have moved leaped from my early un-confident speech. I have transformed myself. It was shaky at the beginning, but I went off marvelously once I have gained my confidence.

I spent that night on the bed, playing my speech on my head over and over again and comparing mine to the guy who won. I keep thinking about why life has been unfair to me, that the contest was not just about who’s the best. Somehow he appeals more, I guess. It’s not about who has the best English or the best content, it’s maybe about who warms up more to you even before the contest begin? Who has a more catchy opening? It’s all starting to make some sense.

This is what happened during the recent Area Humor & Evaluation Contest for toastmasters, and yes, I won 2nd place. I need regain my momentum and fight back to win the Divisional level. I just need to be better for myself, and everyone else.

Don’t worry. I’m just being a tad dramatic here, one like period, which I do have every now and then. Wish me luck for the next one.

Peace Not War

The first world war is what people terms as The End of War. Well, no one has then figured that it was actually the very beginning of a disaster.

What makes human think that they are superior? What has mankind do that they could be proud off?

Remember Hiroshima & Nagasaki – the mass massacre of more than 150’000 Japanese civilian and US prisoners of war, and injuring tens of thousand more? Imagine what the pilot must have felt the moment he agreed to take up the task of dropping Little Boy Bomb on the U.S. B-29 Enola Gay on August 6, 1945, which explodes with the force of 15kilotons of explosive AND three days later in Nagasaki, the Fatman bomb dropped by the U.S. B-29 Bock’s Car exploding with the force of 22 kilotons explosive. What then would be running through the pilot’s head when the nuclear weapon actually hit the ground?
You can see remain of dead bodies and shattered buildings within a mile. The survivors waited for death as emergency services were minimal. Cremation fires were burning day and night. This my friend, was THE merciless killings that had change the course of World War II.

At one time, Malaysia under the leadership of then Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad has reach-far in promoting peace and harmony.

Bosnia Herzegovina was a good example. The Muslims, Croats, and Serbs were racially indistinguishable, except perhaps for their religious belief. When Serbs and Croats partition the country among themselves through ruthless ethnic cleansing in particular the genocide of Muslims, it shattered the world.

Remember the Summer of 1994 in Srebrenica, a town in Western Bosnia Herzegovina where 8’000 Bosnian Muslim were murdered in a football field under the watchful eyes of the Peacekeepers (UNPROFOR)? After the United Nations peacekeepers withdrew their fleet, Malaysian troops (more than 10’000 in total) were the only one who has chosen to remain as garrison, and this are all done at our own expense. Tun Mahathir, enraged towards what was happening, went further than anyone in the matter. In the end, it just needed the push from the most powerful country in the world to put an end to it - when President Clinton finally made a stand and decided on taking some drastic measurement.

But the ‘powers that be’ may not be all that great. Iraq is a good example of how sometimes power and money can become the strongest motivating factor. After spending more than USD500 Bil (and USD3 Trillion long term) and losing more than 3,900 American coalition personnel, some say the US authorities are now moving in as parasites - reaping the oil benefit from the country. Iraqi civilians killed ranges from 81,532 to 1,120,000 where 70% do not have access to clean water, 80% without sanitation and 90% of Iraqi’s 180 hospital lacks the basic medical and surgical supplies. Whether the lives lost equate the Million of Barrels of oil gain, you be the judge of that. 79% of the Iraqi has already voted to oppose the presence of Coalition, and 64% American oppose the war in Iraq. But, did anyone cares to listen?

America has not been all that successful in winning their wars. Probably they still have not recovered from the deep cut of losing the Vietnam war.

Well, the deep cut of living years in oppression and detest towards the Western was the main reason that pushes Osama bin Laden to plan the perfect revenge on the America’s World Trade Centre Towers on September 11 killing 2,752 people. It may have well resulted in the invasion of Afghanistan, but it clearly shows that revenge will come your way at one point or another. And when it does, it is an option of whether you can fight back, or exemplify Japan during Hiroshima, where they picked up the pieces and recover. If the United States can plan the perfect war on Hiroshima & Nagasaki, why do they stumble when they are given back the taste of their own medicine? Isn’t there such belief as karma – what you give, you get back in return?

At this point in time, Malaysia is going to war amongst ourselves. Political drift have causes the people to forget the very reason that independence was achieved. Somehow, you’d see that sons and father argue about their belief, and husband and wife separated due to clashes in opinion.

We should consider ourselves fortunate that our democratic voices are being heard of, and that our kids ie Tan Hong Ming (from the PETRONAS TV commercial) do not know the meaning of races. Don’t let the fate of 13 May become another nightmare streak that may be repeated. Do not let this happen! Treat others the way we want to be treated. It is time to turn away from even the mini-war that we have amongst each other and unite towards making a better future.

So, turn to the person right next to you, and give a friendly shake. Be reminded to thank your friend and yourself for the wonderful country of Malaysia.

So, what happen in the past define us. We will not be able to go back in the hope of trying to change the past, but then rest assured that the course of the future is still something that we can steer. What happens now may be the present that we have chosen. But the future of tomorrow is still very uncertain. So, be cautious when making decision! Peace, and out.

Note: Again another Toastmaster Speech. Speech #7 from the Manual. Peace and out.

The SuperModel Me

Note: My 5th Speech for Toastmaster 'Body Movement' made in TMI. There was quite a few body movement imititating the supermodels. Haha... Enjoy..

Ready
Pose
Action
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What do you need to become a great supermodel?
Height? Look? That certain poise? And the list that never ends.

I had my first modeling encounter when I was in Form 4 when I was spotted by a Talent Scout while making the normal window shopping round in Sungei Wang. I was with my best friend at the time, when came this girl who approached me and gave me a card.

A week later, I was already in a boarding school in Jasin. When I made the normal routine call back home every week, my sister mentioned to me that someone from the Agency called. It struck me. Were these people serious? Would this be my ticket out from the boarding school that I hated so much, at that time? I nearly made the decision about skipping school and pursue what could be a different path than now. I thought that as my sister was already doing some part-time modeling, so probably it runs in the family.

Well, that was 10 years ago minus the pimple and fat acid. I have definitely evolved since then.

When Tyra Banks came out with ‘America's Next Top Model’, it was definitely any girl’s favorite show. Everyone wants to be best friend of Gisele Bunchen, Naomi Campbell and Tyra Moss. They want to look, dress and be like a model. Sorry boys, but just bear with me for the sake of your wife/girlfriend.

You know how some ladies are we term as plastic? Ladies, at times, we are drawn to the kind of lavish lifestyle of Beverly Hills, or OC. Some talk with a made-accent when they are just plain ‘Mek Yah’ from Bachok, Kelantan. At some point in time, everyone is trying hard to be the Mat Saleh celup.

The basic rule is, to dress to impress, the walk that people will talk, and definitely to have the look that kills.

Ladies best friend are their 4-inch high heels that kills their feet. Learn to stand like a supermodel by practicing your posture. This means that you pull your shoulders back and create the illusion that you’re leaning back a little, rather than hunching forward. This obviously, I fail rather badly.

How do you walk? Train yourself to keep your weight balanced. Put one foot in front of the other (literally) and walk such that your footprints should form a single line. This is what most acrobat would do well. And don’t take big steps as you will look ungraceful, and you do not want to have the ‘FALL’ing experience in front of a crowd. Trust me, it is not all that fun. Been there, done that. You just have to remember to recover gracefully as if nothing has ever happen.

Face expression is a critical element in modeling. Have you watch the show Zoolander, played by Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson. Two dumb witted characters who would come out with various patented look. There are various impressions such as the sultry stare, the creepy stare or even the trying-too-hard stare.

To be successful, you must develop your own signature walk. Inject some personality into it, and grace your audience as if you are the legendary diva. Move your body swiftly, Remember to experiment, as practice makes you perfect.

If you can’t do any of the followings, you can just dress like one. The Gucci dress, Prada shoe, and scarf from Hermes makes you feel like you are worth a Million Dollar!

But I do secretly fancy having my face printed a thousand times. And yes, I do have my famous moment when my face was used for our various brochures in some of the program organized by PETRONAS and montages produced in-house. I didn’t get people asking for my autograph sadly, but I am happy to lead the kind of life I have now.

I am proud to be handing out business card with an Engineer title at the back, one which I only recently acquire 3 months ago when I changed to a new job. I would rather have people wondering about what I do, rather than having my face plastered all over the tabloid over some scandal which I would probably have asked the papers to put up in order to publicize my career.

So, be happy with what you have, and I’m sure that things would work out for you in one way or another. Sometimes, when you secretly want something badly, it will eventually work out for you. Fingers crossed!

Pengalaman Masa Silau - Gunung Ledang

(ALL pix courtesy of Aiman - i curik so cause i know you won't mind :p)

When Aiman called me up on one fine day to join the expedition to Ledang, I was overwhelm with joy. It’s been a while since I got geared up for any action-packed adventure, so it was an instant agreement on my side.

When I put down the phone, it suddenly struck me. It has been a while since I last work out in the gym. I squeeze on my arm muscle and starting jumping up and down to measure the strength I’ve got prepared for the expedition. You see, climbing the 6th hardest mountain in Malaysia is not an easy task. I was gasping for air after the 5th jump, and look ridiculously embarrassed when my brother came into the room. “Looks like someone badly needed to shed off those weights huh” he said.

So I advocated myself to running and lifting weight in the gym for the next one week. It was definitely a crash effort, but nevertheless worth the shot. I need to be mentally and physically prepared, as well as try to at least look good in my sports attire.

I was all geared up that fine Saturday morning. The 2 ½ drive was nothing compared to the sole admiration for the beautiful green lushes. With the spirit of Malaysia Boleh, a group of 15 of us went marching ahead while humming the song “Inilah Barisan Kita, Yang Mahu Mendaki…”.

The joy was not just mine. We had Amir, our evergreen entertainer who would sing all the Malay songs you could imagine dated from the 70s. I wasn’t sure whether it was the exhausting hour going up the hill or the exhausting sound of Amir’s sometime not-so-lovely voice that made us decided took the took a 10 minutes break, but it was indeed the break we need.

I wasn’t sure why, but then it had just occurred to me there and then. “Isn’t this the mountain where the story of Puteri Gunung Ledang originated?” Choi! Everyone gave me the unbelievable stare, and Amir quietly whispered to me, “You don’t talk about the mystical creature whenever you are in a jungle. It’s forbidden for whatever reason that you should be aware off”

I suddenly had cramp in my stomach. I gulp the remaining saliva in my mouth and gave the frightful look back to Amir. My good friend Aiman then winked and we continue our journey up the challenging hill.

The trail was a tricky one, and definitely the Nike shoe that I had for the last 4 years is not up to it. But the real challenge has yet to come. We had the shocked of our life looking at the steep rock curving 90 degrees that we had to climb. There was no safety harness and felt relief that the wall climbing experience I had in Summit before has become a worthwhile investment.

As We reached the top of Gunung Ledang, there was a sigh of relief from all as we inhale the fresh purified air, and the feel of wind brushing our hair. We didn’t had the Malaysian flag with us, or else I bet you that it would be the typical picture of climbers with the Malaysian flag and fist going up the air plastered on my office wall.

Aiman and I decided to enjoy our time climbing down admiring the beautiful scenic view. We thought that as we are walking in the middle, we are not too far off from the front group and if we couldn’t catch up, we could always fall back with the rest of other team at the back. So Aiman the photographer decided to snap more pictures of the creatures of the jungle, and of yours truely of course.

We were almost ¾ way down the mountain when we lost the earlier trail. We can still hear Amir’s loud voice singing Ekamatra’s song from behind. Aiman pointed out to a big opening on the right side of the trail, but I was hesitant on following the trail. Well, girls may not be good at road signs or remembering the street, but we do have good intuition about certain things.

There were no other trail that was visible; hence I decided that I might be wrong, as always. The route was slippery, and the ground was covered all over with fallen leaves. It doesn’t at all look like the familiar trail that we’ve taken.

My feet were already killing me that I tried hard to focus on getting down the mountain as quick as I can. And in all that time, I was thankful that Aiman was there at my side. I slipped and fall at times, and had to crawl down in order to keep myself at balanced. It has been a while since the wind carried Amir’s tune, so we were sure that we are no longer on the right trail, but we remain silent to the probable fact that we might be lost.

I was in painful tear of joy when we finally found a trail leading towards another familiar route. I didn’t want to look back at the 30 minutes detour we had. As we reached the base camp, we saw the familiar looking group waving and jumping in joy. Apparently we were 1 hour behind the last group, and they were about to notify the authority if we did not show up within the next 10 minutes.

I wasn’t sure about what had happen. We had finally broken our silence on the way back to Kuala Lumpur. “I think we got lost” was the first sentence that Aiman managed to utter to myself and 3 other friends who rode the car. “But I thought that you were sure about the way?”, I said.

Apparently he didn’t want me to worry, and kept my focus by saying that we were almost there. He knew that there was something unusual with the gigantic tree that he kept seeing on our way down. He felt like we were being watched. Aiman may sound like a Muslim name, but it belongs to a Chinese boy called Eng Yao. Realising the fact that we may have fallen to the passage of some mystical force, he tried to recite the various religious texts he knew .. Christian, Buddhist to even rehearsing Bismillah in his head. He couldn’t finish any of the content, and felt the shivering cold wind gushing through.

I clearly was more focused on the thumbing paint of both my feet, that I didn’t felt anything supernatural about it. But Amir then gave me the frightful look that said, “I told you that you should not mention the mystical creature, for whatever reason that you should be aware off”.

Could it be the reason, or are we just two stubborn climbers who should have followed the big group instead of trying to be smart? For whatever it is, shh… just an advice, When you go to the jungle, never mention about the mystical creature … well, for whatever reason that you should be aware off. And this is a true story that has happen back in May of last year. Peace and out.

Tisu Bang...

Malaysians are a generous bunch.
Hmm, Malaysians are a generous bunch?
Aha, Malaysians are a generous bunch!

We may be skimpy on paying the tolls, parking ticket, that extra tips to the waitresses or some (ehem) even resort to stealing the papers and magazines from the office, but we never say no to those who offer tissues for a reasonable barter trade of your money.

The normal scenario where you see a blind old man accompanied by a young looking women, or a young boy from the Tahfiz school, or another familiar looking kid asking “Tisu bang”, or with the mini poster of “I-am-from-Rumah-so-and-so-and-we-need-your-donation-to-help-build-our-home”, or some “Please-Help-My-Sister-She-is-Suffering-From-Cancer”. This is some typical catchy phrases that would definitely attract you.

Somehow we think that giving money to the disadvantage is actually our legal ticket to any wrong doings we have done in the past. But I bet that there are somehow, perfectly two reasons why most Malaysians are a generous bunch.

Firstly.
Ladies, do you know that some boys are a show off! Boys, you are out on a date with this girl who got your heart beating fast that you can’t think straight. So you reach into your wallet in the hope that she would go ahh at the sight of your kind generosity to help the disadvantage.

Or let’s face the second reason.
Malaysian is just a generous bunch!

This is perfectly the valid reason why the very first thing I’ve done when I assume presidency of DDYPC is to organize a fund raising during the fasting period for 2 of the orphanages homes for 39 kids in Rumah Haluan Penyayang, Shah Alam and another 25 kids in Baitul Fitrah, Rawang. The effort put forward by the dedicated DDYPC committee has enabled us to collect more than RM 9’000 from the Development Division’s community. Not bad huh. These are the great Samaritan in PETRONAS.

However, this is not the typical scenario that you see overseas. Well, probably because they have completely eliminate the so called ‘Poor-Index’, or enforcing zero tolerance towards open charity such as what we see at the side of the street. And surprising, it has worked well as the people are not at all a thrifty.

Believe me or not, your act of giving openly, however good the intention it is, just does not feed all too well in this community.

Do you notice that the more you give, the list of people receiving multiply. Have you noticed that if you stay for two hours in places like Rasta or Uptown, you would eventually bump into the same “Tisu bang” again. Well, these people do the hourly sweep you see.

It is not my place to condemn, but some people say that they get a monthly income of approximately RM5K at least (tax free), which is 2 times bigger than the normal salary of a PETRONAS entrant. And some people say that we in PETRONAS enjoys the lavish benefit of Oil & Gas in this country. Hmm.. probably it is the best time to swap job. At 3 am when their shift is done, ‘through some personal experience’, you can see the handicap man drive away in that Honda that you always long for.

Hence people, listen. Realising this, why don’t you use your will power to channel your fund accordingly? It can be through zakat, or through various other efforts put by our company, PETRONAS. Remember the spirit of Energy Receive, Energy Return, Aspiring People Everywhere?
PETRONAS is the One-Stop-Solution for the Community.

Helping the kids – we have got the BAKTI program which helps underprivilledge students in improving their communication skills
Orphanage – Every year, we organize the Sentuhan Kasih for us to realize their dreams, and of course to give some duit raya as well
Community Service – Have you heard of the ongoing effort we are doing with the Penan, a community living remote off Sabah
Education – You can always volunteer to become a speaker at any of the Career Talk

And lots of other things on the list which continue growing. And right now, we have hundreds of dedicated PETRONAS staff serving voluntarily to drive the effort.

So, I am convinced that Malaysians are a generous bunch, and they just need to be directed to the proper way to channel their hard earn money and sweat. So, if you seek any advice, I can be consulted anytime as your Financial Adviser should you need to make that generous decision.

Aku DAN Minyak

This is what i talked about during my 3rd Toastmaster Speech in MCOBA building on Tuesday. Something very close to my heart.
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To celebrate our anniversary, I asked my boyfriend to take me out to some place expensive. We drove around, and he made a quick stop in SHELL (mind me) and turn to me and said. “Sayang, this is the most expensive place I know”.
(Bam..) Well, of course he was just kidding around but this onviously is the impact of RM 1.92 vs RM 2.70

Oil price has made a shocking increase from the usual USD 30 to a startling USD 130 within this last 5 years. In it’s heavily consequence of subsidizing the masses, the government made a bold decision last month to increase the petrol from RM 1.92 to RM 2.70. Some says that the reaction by the government shows apathy to the suffering of its people.

Let me try to educate you how the RM 2.70 came about?
Fuel price in Malaysia is controlled by the government using a formula under the automatic pricing mechanism introduced in 1974.
The calculation is made based on the actual cost of petrol or diesel, the operating costs, margin for dealers, margin for retail oil companies and the balancing number of duty or subsidy.

This is how it is calculated:
Product Cost : RM2.7637
Marketing Cost : RM0.0692 (fixed)
Distribution Cost : RM0.0262 (fixed)
Dealers' Commission : RM0.0950 (fixed)
Companies' profit : RM0.05 (fixed)
Duty or subsidy : (RM0.30)
Total Pump Price = RM2.7041

So you see, no retail oil company or dealer makes money from the hike of fuel prices. Oil companies pay for the product at market prices, but have to sell low, so the government reimburses the difference, hence subsidy. So, let me try to spell this out clearly to you, we (PETRONAS) have NOTHING to do with the fuel hike.

In fact, we do not even earn as high in the increasing oil price scenario. Exxon Mobil who preached about being the top of the Big Four Company in world earns USD 40 Bil in 2007, just USD 1 Bil higher than the year before due to the increase in price in producing 1 barrel of oil, as any other Oil & Gas majors in the world including PETRONAS.

Friends, We realize the fact that as PETRONAS was set up in 1974 with the seed capital of RM 10 Million by the government, we are obliged to generate income and value back to its shareholder, which is the government. Hence, after 34 years of hard earned work by the people who are loyal to serving the nation, we can boast on our 2007 Year End Financial Statement of RM 570 Billion in accumulated profit in which last year, we proudly sit on No 121 in terms of revenue of the Fortune 500.

Some critics have the misconception that we had it easy just because we are an Oil & Gas company, but do you know that not all National Oil Company (NOC) stand as tall as us? There come about a perverse fact that PETRONAS Carigali, the arms of the Exploration & Production for PETRONAS is duly given the right to explore and produce the blocks in Malaysia just because we are a linked to a government entity. This statement is very misleading as much as it is not true.

As an operator in this country, PETRONAS Carigali has the same rightful ownership to the entire Oil & Gas field in Malaysia as other operators such as Shell, Newfield or even ConocoPhillips in its quest to bid for the national interest. In fact, most blocks offshore Sabah & Sarawak are operated by the other operators like the famous deepwater Kikeh by Murphy Oil or even the Shell’s MLNG. However, I do have to admit that having an Oil & Gas reserve on our very own backyard does have its perks on gaining the capability advantage.

PETRONAS is perhaps a National Oil Entity, for now. 20 years down the road, it might transform itself into an International Oil Company, where in the depleting Oil & Gas scenario in Malaysia at present, we will see the company aggressively venturing out to the International arena. Then it would be a question of whether the 65% of profit going back to the government is justifiable. It would be the sort of birthright that we dare not question.

I admire my bosses who have spent 20 or even 30 odd years serving the company, and indirectly the nation. These are the loyalist who could have resigned and work elsewhere and easily earning triple or quadruple the salary they are enjoying now.

Statistic which was released sometime in late 2007 made a comparison between the earnings of Oil & Gas technical expertise in different part of the world. No surprise there that the earnings of the locals in Asia Pacific are the lowest, in which the expatriate working here are earning 4 times higher than the same locals who has the same years of experience. You would see this scenario everywhere, regardless of which nationals they are from.

This, ladies and gentleman, is the sole reason why PETRONAS staffs migrate to other companies, especially in Middle East. Two years ago, the whole section of technician in MLNG of about 40 staff resigned and works in Middle East, and a lot of other pursuit by other individual soon followed. A colleague of mine who has worked for 6 years was offered a USD 10K salary plus benefit to migrate and work in the Middle East. At this critical point where there are lack of expert in the Oil & Gas field and the eagerness of other companies racing to offer better compensation, some of my collegue who merely work for 2 years even migrated to other service providers and consultant offices which are offering … a lot more.

Nowadays, the 30 something thousand of PETRONAS staff are mostly juniors. In my division of about 1,200 staff, 50% of them are junior staff with experience of less than 5 years. Can you imagine the struggle that PETRONAS has to accomplish in trying to excite the staff to continue being loyal to the national’s agenda?

So, it is not that PETRONAS boast about being a loyalist by being underpaid and serving the nation undividedly, but we are. Take our bonus away, take our other benefit, scrutinize our every movement and decision, and you take away those loyal ‘government’ servant who wants nothing more than loyally serving the nation.

So please hear us out. If you can’t support us, join us and then you see. Thank you.