CMSA Malam Malaysia 2008

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2008-09-23T20:25:00.005+12:00

for those who would like to read our post-mortem thoughts, here goes:

Venue

Food

Events

Logistics

Protocol

Technical and Equipment

Decorations

Publicity

Money Matters

Survey Results (last updated: 18/9/2008)

General

Final Thoughts

once again thanks for those who have responded. your feedback means a lot to us.

to those who said that Malam was just bad all the way and that you might/will never go to Malam again, thank you for your raw honesty :)

i do feel really bad and with deepest regrets, on behalf of the team, i apologise that we did not manage to make Malam an enjoyable one for you. however i do hope that you will give the team next year a chance to prove themselves.

to those who said that you had a great time - your encouragements do mean a lot to us - to know that our efforts have not gone entirely down the drain. thank you! :)

Malam means a lot to me personally. and that's why i do take each comment very seriously and think and reflect. your comments have shown us what we've done right, what we have not done right, and helped us to learn from our mistakes, and also to accept failure as a stepping stone to success.

in all, thank you for helping me grow up a little bit more ;)

have a great week ahead and hope to see you at the AGM on saturday! :)

Post-Mortem

2008-09-18T23:58:00.001+12:00

We just had our post-mortem and final meeting. The following posts will be some responses to the survey and also some matters that we have discussed.

all in all, i hope that the following posts will be helpful to you if you are thinking of being in the Malam committee next year. Even if you are not going to be in any committee, perhaps the following posts might give you some insights on organizing events and running projects.

before i start rambling, grateful thanks to those who have seen me through and giving me a chance - especially Mark Hii and Seng Cheng and Prakash and Joshua (year 2006 Malam coordinators). Also once again, a thousand of thanks to the team! your dedication and commitment made things happen! :)

i won't be able to share everything here on the blog. But i do keep everything in a folder so feel free to grab the Malam folder fromme and you would have lots and lots of information there :)
Please do feel free to have a chat with any of us if you need more information etc. Especially to those who are going to do Malam next year - we will be more than happy to spend some time with you to share our thoughts and help in any way that we can :) Coz that's the spirit of pass it on :)

Post-Mortem: General

2008-09-18T18:46:00.051+12:00

in general:

Great MCs u had there!
MCs!!

thanks! Navin and Chu May will be really encouraged to hear this! :D By the way, this is the first time that they are emcee-ing a function. am grateful to the friends who have suggested Navin and Chu May! and also super grateful that they agreed to do it! yay! :D

Nice attempt... Also good job on reducing the ticket price, I know u guys put much effort in that, perhaps put as much effort in the actual event itself, that's the part the audience see and feel...

thanks for the acknowledgment on the ticket price :)

anyway, in all honesty, i think we did put in as much effort as we could for the actual event. well, perhaps, taking a step back and putting myself in the shoes of someone who has perhaps attended Malam quite a few times, well, i might perhaps say the same thing. or perhaps this is your first time attending Malam. well, i dunno who you are, but imagining myself as a guest and an audience, ya, perhaps i might say this too. coz thinking back - not everything was really up to par :p anyway, do refer to the post on performances :p and thanks for your honest feedback! :) it's great!

on another tone, for my team and my dear friends, kindlye bear with my honesty and perhaps even biasness as i say this: yes, we might have fallen short of your (and some other people) expectations, but for four full months - the team has sacrificed a lot to make Malam happen - that effort is already worth applauding. the sleepless nights, the stress, the sacrifice, the commitment, the meetings they have to attend, the plannings, the effort to bring people together for rehearsals etc etc... :)

however, i always have to remind myself that sometimes it's the result that matters.. it's like i could have poured hours into studying but still not do well in my exam.. :p so regardless of the effort, sometimes it's the result that matters. so perhaps, my efforts weren't still enough. the irony of life?

anyway, please bear with me and hope that you will be able to understand my sentiments for my team :)

constructive criticisms leads to growth. so ya, thank you again for your i do believe that we are capable to do better and with all well-wishes, may the team next year pull off a great show!!

Very well done especially the team members' effort. Keep up the good work.
Job well done.
Great job. Well done.
Bernard looks cool!
generally well organised. :) Loved the level of commitment put in by the comittee
It was a well-thought out event! You guys gave much thought to making it like "home"...and the jokes were funny as!

i have a feeling that the above comments are mainly from those who have been seeing the team working and preparing for Malam :p anyway, even if you aren't, thanks for the encouragements. and to those who have been seeing us through the whole Malam process, giving us the moral support and encouragements, especially my flatmates when i was so stressed with the financial part, THANK YOU very much!!!

Final thoughts

2008-09-18T18:46:00.050+12:00

start early!

i was late in setting up the committee and applying for grants. grr. i suffered the consequences.

so ya, if someone decided that i'm wise enough to give an advice, it would be:
start as early as you can!

especially for the grants! even if you dun have a committee yet - it's okay - as long as you have your top 4 and a sponsorship team - get the money and MAS ticket in A.S.A.P.!!!

a BIG team
one of the reasons of having such a big team (yes, about 30 of us) was so that we could involve more people in organizing Malam. that's 'home' by itself.

if you were with us during our Malam prep, you might have witnessed firsthand the unity and teamwork amongst the team was just so.. warm! that was home.

most of the team are 1st and 2nd year students, some of them have not attended Malam before - that's also why we brought them into the team - you always need to start somewhere. also we need to 'train up' new leaders. can't always be the old people doing the work kan? :p

dear team,

thank you for teaching me things along the way! it was great getting to know each of you better. how to relate to you; how to handle and solve issues; how to respect; how to care.. and even how to have fun amidst the stress :)

i hope that each of you have picked up a few skills along the way; gained some new experiences; made some new friends... and had fun! :D may Malam 2o08 be a sweet memory for you! :)

btw, i know the excuse of time and budget constraints might not be very acceptable... things such as.. aih. we are all students also ma. need to study for tests and do assignments leh! aiyo. no money, how to be grand ler? bili-bala-bili-bala... anyway, one thing that made me proud of the team is that despite their busy schedule, despite the budget constraints, they still managed to work within their limitations and they were still very committed to doing what they are supposed to do. despite the flaws and weaknesses, despite the challenges we have to overcome, i'm glad that we all managed to pull through!

also, not forgetting the CMSA 2008 committee who helped out in any way they could, thank you! :D

and also, to each of you who have been visiting this blog and bearing with my long posts, those who have seen us through and gave us advice, those who have done the pre-Malam and post-Malam surveys, and most importantly, you gave us a chance and attended Malam 2008,

THANK YOU!!!

come to think of it, aren't we all in ONE BIG TEAM? working together to achieve a single goal - bringing home closer! :D

go team! :D

anyway, this might or might not be the final post for the blog. depends. haha. perhaps the team next year will continue on with the blog; perhaps not - it's up to them. we'll see.

thanks for visiting this blog! good luck for your final few weeks of the last term in uni!

(^^)9

Post-Mortem: Venue

2008-09-18T18:46:00.044+12:00

Most people thought that it was average.

We had comments saying that the hall was too wide with the reference point as the stage. Guests sitting at the sides of the ballroom were not able to see the performances clearly. A person suggested that it would be better to get a squarish hall rather than a long one.

Had a few comments saying that it was congested. We should also work on the seating plan. Someone mentioned a careful consideration of the location of charis, tables etc for easier viewing. And also allocate strategic space for performaers to dance and move in/out from performances.

the story:

once again, APOLOGIES!!!!!

man, i've been saying a lot of sorry's. but sigh, well, still, sorry.

anyway, these are some thoughts and explanations from us:

we looked out at least 4-5 venues before deciding;
btw, CHCH has a limited number of hotels that has a hall that can fit such a large number of people (i.e. more than 150 people);
after taking into account as many factors we can think of (you can see me if you want to have a look at our analysis folder :p), we decided that though this might not be the best, but it would be the best amongst the rest - not only in terms of the package that they offer us, but also the overall ambience was really cosy;
basically we have to work within our limitations.

some lessons to learn from:

where would be a better venue?
make sure that we get to use the venue during the day - and not only an hour before the event. it's a long story for that - but anyway, hope the next committee will be very insistent on this the next time :)
anyway, having the venue during the day will definitely give us more time to solve unexpected problems

A friend suggested to use the UCSA ballroom instead of a hotel ballroom - which wil probably save money and even make things grander. Also, the location of the UCSA ballroom is quite good for most students.

the story:
i had a wee chat with the ballroom manager. however the cost was about the same as renting the hotel ballroom we had this year. and since most people in the survey said they would prefer the hotel ballroom - so ya.

anyway, i think this is definitely an option that the next committee should consider :)

Post-Mortem: Food

2008-09-18T18:46:00.043+12:00

my response will be in blue...

food refill process too slow. couldnt get any chicken or lamb until Ka Mun came to us.
clarify on buffet table settings. allow for seconds. soup run out. hmm.
Food delay
Just the waiting for the food.
Besides having to wait until 9pm for the food, there is nothing much to complain about. Just one thing, I didn't like the soup. Hehe. ya, i heard about the soup - it was okay initially but it went cold and lumpy eventually... sorry about that!
You know that food was so slow...we were really starving! Maybe provide abit more finger food on the table next time... so we can munch to alleviate our hunger...

i know it wouldn't help much, but sincerely, sorry, sorry, and sorry.
we have e-mailed the hotel and are waiting for a feedback from them. we are really regretful for what has happened about the food flow; but we have also learnt that from now on, whatever agreements that we have with our events manager or whoever's in-charge: always write in black-and-white! be as detailed as we can get! keep asking and clarifying!

anyway, overall i think the food was still quite yummy - especially the lamb curry! :p

VIPs were too late! Had to wait for food. there's a story behind it. sigh. anyway, thanks to the person who suggested that we could perhaps pick up the VIPs so that everything can start on time. will bear that suggestion in mind :)
I think Lam did a very good job by giving out vouchers and entertaining the people as they wait for their turns to get the food
I also like the idea of having many vouchers and surprises on the day. It helped easing up the hunger while waiting for the food.

once again, thanks Ka-Mun!!! :D

Heard the chocolate cake wasn't bad.
Food was quite good and filling too!!

whew. thanks for some positive feedback :p

Serve some Malaysian food.
Should have Nasi Lemak! Haha...

i miss proper malaysian food too! but anyway, let me explain a few issues here and hope you will understand why we aren't able to serve Malaysian food :)

The Food & Beverages law here do not allow outside food to be brought into the hotel;
The hotel does not allow for outside caterer;
If you want to get an outside caterer, normally we can go to a community hall to do so - but there comes a whole lot of other issues - too much to be handled and i dun think we are ready to do so;
At the moment, we do not see a caterer who might be able to provide for such a capacity. Even if they can do the numbers, what about the financial costs? what about the quality of the food?
have a chat with Ka-Mun :p

anyway, if you want some good Malaysian food, can always check out the Malaysian halal food shop on Riccarton road!! it's called Malaysian Flavours and it's a few shops away from Cash Converters! :D

anyway, thanks for the feedback. perhaps the committees to come could consider working on this side, i.e. serving malaysian food - but ya, these are our considerations and we decided to stick to something that can help save manpower and time ;)

Post-Mortem: Events

2008-09-18T18:46:00.042+12:00

Performances

Fashion Show

Fashion Show:
Fashion show was great! Should have more of those kind of performances in future rather than always singing and dancing.

i thought it was fun too ;) i remember when Bern mentioned about the fashion show, i was quite sceptical. i told him that it has to be different from the typical cat-walk thing - hehe - being quite bossy then :P but they managed to pull it off! huhu. someone told me about trusting and i'm glad that it was a risk well-taken ;)

some people asked: how about the ibans and kadazans and bidayuhs? urm. maybe next times? there might be quite some issues involved though.. talk to Bernard for more information :p

R.A.M.
for those who have been here long enough and have seen lots of R.A.M. performances which are really good in my humble opinion, i would say that this time round, it wasn't one of their best performances.

however, given that:

most of the dancers were first-year students;
most of the senior dancers have graduated and gone home; or either that they are final year students;
the president of R.A.M. met with a serious car accident and has been on wheelchair;
the main and perhaps sole choreographer had a 5-day field trip during the Malam week...

so ya, what happened to R.A.M.? that's what happened. but let's continue to hope and pray that they will be able to get over these tough times. i call it a 'gap issue'. Hopefully with more students coming in next year, R.A.M. would be able to come back again! Gambate!! :D

Boy Band
i am not sure about you but i had fun :p not that i am a boy band fan.. but ya.. these guys were cool! :D

Unplugged band

yes, we agreed that the singing was rather... long. actually, perhaps the next team can come out with something more entertaining that mere singing. hmm. wasn't special enough.

Rehearsals

more involvement of the tech crew during rehearsals;
should confirm and prepare earlier;
punctuality very important;
be more well-organized and planned during rehearsals.

Overall

I expected better performances, but I guess it would be too much to ask from fellow students...
Better performance, more variety... I don't think the theme actually came out during the event...well, maybe the advertisement videos...

yes indeed, i believe that we could have done better and there is indeed much room for improvement. thanks for bearing with us :)

a few of us attended a charity culutral night hosted by the Canterbury Medical Students' Association. it was an awesome night and we had so much fun too! will definitely learn some stuff from them ;)

with regards to the theme. well. urm. apologies that we might not have done enough to bring out the theme. some said that we did live up to the theme. but ya, it's good to know that some people think otherwise.

i think it's much more than just the performances that will bring out the theme - perhaps it's the overall and general atmosphere of the night. personally i feel that the team has worked hard to do what they can to bring out the theme - and i applaud them. but well, perhaps it just wasn't enough or perhaps not what you expected. but ya, we can always do better and will always have room for improvement. so to the next committee: good luck in choosing your theme and hope you can bring it out well! :D

Audience participation
we really wanted to get more audience participation and we had a game ready. but due to time constraints, we cancelled it.

with regards to having best-dressed or beauty queen etc, i personally wasn't keen with that idea.

firstly, time constraint. from what happened during the night, dun think we will have enough time to do one.

secondly, the organization of it. what would be a 'fair' way to decide who is the winner? who chooses the winner? if the crowd, how should we do the voting system? etc etc. might not be too much effort - but it's too much effort for me :p

thirdly, from previous experiences, i found it rather... meaningless. coz i can't see anything constructive or purposeful out of it. ok, maybe it could be fun - but we need to have good crowd participation for it to be fun. i wasn't ready to gamble on that so we didn't do it. but ya, next time round, this is for the next committee to decide.

Lucky draws
many people said that Ka-Mun really did a good job! especially the suspense for the MAS ticket grand prize! three cheers for Ka-Mun!!!

Dance floor

lack of time... so ya.. oh well..

Post-Mortem: Logistics

2008-09-18T18:46:00.040+12:00

Equipment

we were unclear about certain equipments - say we didn't know that we have to have a certain type of cable to connect to that kind of equipment. this one really require experience or even an expert.
our logistic team was not informed early enough at times to get the necessary equipments - but i think sometimes some last-minute stuff is really unavoidable - no matter how well-planned. so that's why we have a contingency fund :p but ya, definitely should avoid last-minute as much as we can :)

Transportation

yes we took your suggestions from the survey and provided transport. this is our first time doing it so we are learning. hope to come out with a better mechanism. Have a chat with Hafiz or Ing Chia :)
btw, much thanks to Hafiz for settling the transportation part. i heard that you weren't able to enjoy the night properly because you had to settle various transportation issues. am sorry to hear. but really, thanks so much for all the effort!!!

Post-Mortem: Protocol

2008-09-18T18:46:00.039+12:00

Tables Allocation

i wasn't clear and decisive about reserving tables and the table allocation and hence caused quite a confusion. i apologize for that part;
we should work out a more systematic table naming/numbering system;
should work out a better system in terms of table allocation and have a name list;
some mentioned that it was congested; some mentioned that it was cosy. it's again another long story which i will share in the post on 'venue'.

Ushering

there should be proper coordination between the ushers and the reception table;
should have at least 2 ushers stationed at each wing of the hall.

Reception table

congested;
the person(s) in charge of ticket sales should be there.

Overall
the night flowed quite well besides the food delay. i hope that we have served you well that night too! :)

Post-Mortem: Technical and Equipment

2008-09-18T18:46:00.034+12:00

Basically there weren't many problems overall.Though we only get to set-up our sound etc only around 5ish pm, i think our tech crew pulled everything real well. Great job guys!

some thoughts:

could have put subtitles on video.
the microphones a bit cacat - but that is pretty much beyond our control.
The tech crew had a hard time communicating with each other as the tech unit was all over the place - the lights, sound and laptops were all in different places. we had trouble looking for walkie-talkies - so a thought is to start looking for walkie-talkies earlier or brain storm a better of communication - actually, it would be great if we could have more time to set up the sound etc, say early in the morning :p
live video for performances perhaps? however we would need the necessary equipments.

Have a chat with Mamat or Jacky :)

Post-Mortem: Decorations

2008-09-18T18:46:00.032+12:00

from the survey:

backdrop

backdrop could be more elaborate - but then again, money and time constraints apply.
Except for the tables, there isnt much difference before and after the hall was set up. Could have had a better backdrop. It didn't really match the decorations of the tables.
include some drawings like "wau" or "layang-layang" or something that shows malaysian culture. i mean the "malam malaysia 2008" at the stage..its too simple..
More effort on the backdrop please... I wonder which part of the theme "home" was shown in the decorations...

the story...

we admit that it was rather plain. even not comparing to the past few years, it's still pretty... plain.

anyway, we actually had 2 ideas.

firstly we wanted to paint on wooden planks. but the stage was too low and so our support for the planks might be falling all over the place. so, nopez.

the stage was pretty... empty. urm. wanted to save money that's why. hehe :p

we did think about using the projector and having slideshows etc as our background. but due to some misunderstanding about the projectors etc - we didn't do it.

anyway, ya, we should have definitely put in a lil more effort on the backdrop! thanks for the feedback!

twin towers

Twin towers were awesome!
I love that u guys put so much effort in creating the Twin Towers.
The Twin Tower was a superb success.

the story...

glad you guys loved the towers! Calvin Lim! you're the man! :D thanks to all those who helped out too! Eric Ong especially! overall, it took them about 1 1/2 months to build the towers :) lots of cutting and drawing and uhu-ing :p

overall

not have the same every year...
something more elegant
was really nice. loved it a lot.

something more elegant - would be nice if you could elaborate :) thanks!

i wonder if you guys noticed the little details here and there. ok. maybe not.

firstly, if you realised, we had the hall separated in bandar (city) and kampung (village). the ones with the white table cloth was the city side; and the black table cloths were the village side. so the deco for each side of the hall was different.

we initially wanted to have more models (i.e. a rumah papan, kl tower etc) - but ya, time and energy constraints.

kudos to Jacky Tay who drew those beautiful pictures on the walls. Hope some of you noticed them! :D

oh, and we have an advice - candles!! make sure we communicate properly with the hotel about lighting the candles.

it is a long story to tell - but Merlin did a great back-up plan! i called him around 1-ish pm telling him that the hotel said that we couldn't light the candles (they did mention to us earlier that we could light the tealight ones). Anyway, thanks to the gardens at both our flats, Merlin managed to gather some supplies to beautify the tables. great job on that! :D

so ya, overall, great job deco team! :D

Post-Mortem: Publicity

2008-09-18T18:46:00.031+12:00

from the survey, perhaps due to the insufficient sample size, i couldn't make out any publicity method that was more efficient than the other. but i guess overall we managed to make our event quite well-known in uni :p

we thought that we could improve on poster and ticket designs. So yup. we will.

we had problems with collecting ticket money. got ourselves pretty confused on who paid etc etc. Do have chat with Wan Yin or Natasha. Firdaus came out with a superb idea too. So ya, do talk to him too :)

Like what Kam suggested in one of his comments on this blog, he mentioned not to get people from only within a demographic group. we did work at that but turned out that.. majority of the team was still within a particular demographic group - so ya, something to work harder on next time. one of the reasons is that when selling tickets, we are only selling to the same target group, i.e. common friends.

Firdaus suggested that we can have a few target groups and have a leader/rep. for each group - in that way, we can reacher a wider population, and also it will help in collecting ticket money. good one Firdaus! :D

ok. think that's about it :)

Post-Mortem: Money Matters

2008-09-18T18:46:00.028+12:00

For grants and sponsorships, the people whom you might wanna have a chat with would be Ka-Mun, Ing Chia, Firdaus or me. We will be able to give you some tips on letter-writing, how to approach the shops etc. Not that we are very hebat - but we have learnt from experiences ;)

Some thoughts:

Start Early!

Seng Cheong told me this when i met him:

"Start applying for grants early!"

actually he told me that a lot a lot of times.

Ing Chia reitarated that too.

So ya, start EARLY!!! this is wisdom!

if i have something to tell you about grants and money matters too, it would also be "START EARLY!"

coz i totally felt the pain during 2-3 weeks prior to Malam when we received more rejections than offers.

Vouchers
Aim for lots and lots of vouchers and lucky draw prizes :p i think one of the reasons why we managed to ease the crowd a bit was that we had heaps of vouchers to spare. WHEW! we actually wanted to use those vouchers in case of technical glitches and stuff. Turned out we could use it for the food delay. Whew. Hope you guys made use of the vouchers and lucky draw prizes.

Sponsorship Team
our team was actually doing double-time. i played the cards wrongly. each committee had their own job to do, yet they also have to look for sponsors. in a way, yes, it's good to learn some new stuff. But overworking them amidst the busy study schedule etc? eee. i felt real bad.

anyway, chat with us and we can share our ideas on how we can improve on this. i think there's no perfect method, but there are definitely efficient methods.

Survey results: General

2008-09-18T18:46:00.022+12:00

sorry ya. this is the best i can do. coz i'm not subscribed to esurveypro.com so i am not allowed to use the 'export to pdf' function they have there. and it's too much effort to retype everything. copy-and-paste didn't work. so.. i decided to print screen :p

this is an overview of the results. will delve into the details in the next few posts. just click on the image for a clearer and larger view.

Thank you for doing the survey!

2008-09-18T16:32:00.003+12:00

so far we have 24 respondents. if you haven't done the survey, it'd be great if you could take few minutes out to do it! would be very very helpful for us! we dun really have enough numbers to have a proper sample size. so ya, wud really appreciate if you could help us so that we can have more accurate results to represent the population, or the total number of guests who turned up. hehe. sorry abt the stats jargon but i'm majoring in Stats :p

Thanks for the constructive suggestions. We truly appreciate them. After all, no feedback, no growth. At least we can know what went wrong and how we can improve. Thanks also for the encouragements and affirmations :)

We had some really honest feedback. Whew. Raw honesty. i think it's good. In fact, a very good humbling process for myself personally. At times, it was very tempting to want to defend the team and myself. But then it won't help us grow. So instead of jumping into defensive mode, sit down, breathe, and reflect on each suggestion and input. Otherwise, why even bother to set up a survey if we can't take any criticism? :p

The guests each paid NZD 45.00 - it's not a cheap price - and mind you, there could be some high expectations from the guests. being quite a perfectionist, i put a lot of pressure on myself during the whole Malam prep. had to also keep reminding myself that i can't please everyone. i am encouraged that most of you had a good night.. and to those who found it 'so-so', my apologies for perhaps not meeting up to your expectations or standards. i hope the next Malam committee will be able to put on an even greater one! :)

i'm still very proud of the team. they have put in their best effort despite the financial and time constraints, especially the week leading up to Malam. the teamwork shown by the team was super encouraging.

Malam 2008 will officially come to an end after tonight's post-mortem meeting and settling the accounts and sending out the thank-you's to the respective sponsors. Will post up the survey results later on with our response to each of your suggestions. Still hoping for more people to do the survey :D Your feedback really does mean a lot to us! :D thank you once again for doing the survey!

Malaysia

2008-09-16T13:49:00.003+12:00

September 16 1963
Sabah and Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaya to form - Malaysia.

let us remember the good things of the day

=)

Remembering Malaysia Day?
BY SHAD SALEEM FARUDI

The spirit of moderation and accommodation that animated the birth of our country in 1963 must be continued as we gear for the challenges ahead.

YESTERDAY was the 45th anniversary of Malaysia Day. On Sept 16, 1963 the British colonies of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaya to form the new nation of Malaysia.

However, there was opposition externally as well as internally. Indonesia launched an undeclared war. The Philippines laid an international law claim over Sabah.

Within Malaya, the State of Kelantan vehemently opposed the transformation.

It went to court to challenge the impending Malaysia Day Agreement on the ground that under constitutional conventions its consent was needed for any significant amendment to the Merdeka Constitution.

In a historic judgment, Government of Kelantan v Government of the Federation of Malaya (1963), the High Court ruled that Article 159 (the amendment clause of the Constitution) nowhere requires the consent of the states prior to the admission of a new province into the federation.

As to the alleged convention, the court observed correctly that conventions are informal political practices not enforceable in a court of law.

And so, from 11 regions, Malaya expanded to 14. A new name was emblazoned on the political firmament. Significant new rules were established to regulate the special relationship of the new entrants with the federal government.

In many respects the new federation embodied a pact among five unequal entities – the powerful federal government, the 11 peninsular states with limited autonomy and the specially privileged regions of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore with considerable freedom from federal control in designated areas.

The reasons for this special treatment need to be examined.

First of all, there were a number of historical and legal events, among them the Resolution of the Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee (1961), Resolution of the Legislative Council of North Borneo (1962), the Report of the Cobbold Commission (1962) and the Twenty Point Manifesto of the Sabah Alliance (1962).

In addition there was the Report of the Inter-Governmental Committee/Landsdowne Committee (1963), the Malaysia Agreement (1963) and the Malaysia Act 1963. All of them recognised the special needs of and acceded to the demands of the Borneo states.

Second, the cultural, religious and linguistic distinctiveness of the people of Borneo is an undeniable fact that justifies some special safeguards for indigenous traditions.

Third, the Borneo states contribute huge territories and massive resources to the federation. Their combined area is 198,069 sq km exceeding peninsular Malaysia’s 131,681 sq km. The coastline of the two states is 2,607 km compared to the peninsula’s 2,068km.

Fourth, despite their huge resources, there were, and still are, continuing problems of poverty and underdevelopment in Sabah and Sarawak.

Fifth, the 1963 pact between the Federation of Malaya, the United Kingdom, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore was not merely a domestic agreement. It was an international treaty.

For the above reasons, the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya was rewritten significantly to incorporate the special position of the new states.

> The three states were given some special and additional sources of revenue which the West Malaysian states do not possess.

> Schedule 9 which demarcates the legislative powers of the federation and the states contains three legislative lists – a Federal list with 27 topics; a State List with 13 topics; and a Concurrent List with 14 topics. For enlarging the legislative powers of the Borneo states a Supplementary State List with 6 topics and a Supplementary Concurrent List with 9 topics was added to the Federal Constitution.

> The Borneo States were given powers over immigration into the States.

> Sabah and Sarawak have their own High Court, their own Chief Judge and their own native courts. Appointment of judges to the Borneo High Court requires consultation with the Chief Ministers of the states.

> Due to the prevalence of non-Muslim religions in Sabah and Sarawak, the Constitution of the two States in 1963 did not contain provisions for Islam. Many federal rules relating to Islam as the religion of the federation did not apply in Sabah and Sarawak.

> Sabah and Sarawak have exclusive rights over land and local government.

> Despite Bahasa Melayu as the national language, the use of English and native languages is permitted in the Borneo States.

> Similar to the special position of the Malays under Article 153, the natives are also given special protection under Article 153.

> Any amendment to the Federal Constitution that affects the rights of Sabah and Sarawak requires the consent of the Governor of these states.

> The 1963 pact gave to Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore special representation in the Dewan Rakyat totalling more than one-third of the elected seats. Perhaps this was to enable these states to veto constitutional amendments.

> Article 150(6A) of the emergency chapter protects native law and custom in the Borneo states even against emergency legislation.

> West Malaysian lawyers have no right to practise before the courts in Borneo without a work permit.

Despite these special provisions, Kuala Lumpur’s relationship with the three special regions has not always worked well.

The union with Singapore lasted only two years. Tensions with the Borneo states have been plenty. In 1966 an emergency had to be declared in Sarawak to rein in the Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan.

In Sabah the reign of Tun Mustapha witnessed a period of great state assertiveness. The PBS rode to power a few times by invoking the spirit of Sabah nationalism.

Most Sabahans have the perception – and perceptions are important – that their special rights as embodied in the 20-point agreement are not being fully respected.

What rankles them most is the federal government’s failure to control the massive influx of illegal immigrants into Sabah.

There is even an allegation that thousands of “illegals” have been granted permanent residence or citizenship thereby rendering useless Sabah’s control over immigration. Certainly Sabah’s population has shown exponential growth.

The federal government rebuts all these charges by pointing to international pressures to treat illegal immigrants humanely.

Another sore point is the amendment of the Constitution to appropriate Labuan as a federal territory.

A third explosive issue is that through constitutional amendments to Articles 3(3) and 38(7), Islamisation policies have been gradually extended to Sabah and Sarawak despite the 1963 exemption to these states from religious acts.

The Borneo states also lament that their representation in the Dewan Rakyat has fallen below the proportion in 1963 despite Article 161E(2)(e).

The federal leadership defends these changes by pointing out that most of these amendments were accomplished with the consent of the leaders of the Borneo states and in accordance with constitutional procedures in Article 161E.

In every federal system some tension between the central and regional authorities is unavoidable and even healthy.

In every functioning democracy, disagreements are bound to exist. If federal-state relationships exhibit no discord, that itself is a symptom of other ills. Sometimes the absence of the problem is the problem!

Malaysia has done well to keep federal-state tensions from exploding into open conflict.

The spirit of moderation and accommodation that animated the birth of Malaysia in 1963 must be continued as we gear for the challenges ahead. Our fellow citizens from Sabah and Sarawak have many grievances that need to be heard.

Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi is Professor of Law at UiTM, Shah Alam.

Flatmates!

2008-09-09T11:44:00.002+12:00

i've been receiving texts from people asking if i know anyone who needs to a temporal place to stay over summer. These students are going back to Malaysia for summer. But if their flat contract includes the summer, they will still have to pay rent and that also will mean that they will be 'burning' money. So that's why they are looking for people who are looking for a place over summer and then can help with the rent and expenses etc.

So i thought that CMSA can help a bit in this part. What we did is set-up a forum whereby you will have to register to post in the forum. So for example, i am needing to look for someone to stay over the summer. i go to the forum and check out if there are people looking for flatmates. or i can put up my contact details.

same goes with selling and buying of furniture etc.

Check out the forum at:
http://cmsa-flat.coolboards.org

hope we will make good use of the forum and that it will be able to serve those who are needing to look for flats/flatmates/furniture etc. Thanks! :)

2008-09-07T22:38:00.003+12:00

I had a great time working with you guys/girls. If I have been a lil sarcastic or out of my mind at times (especially to Zaipong, Q, Nat, Gloria and Wan Yin), hehehe.. sorry =) Hope to work with you people again in the future =)

Post-Malam

2008-09-07T20:34:00.003+12:00

if you would like to give us some feedback on Malam 08, please do fill in our post-malam survey.

official photos are out and available for sale. check out the website at http://www.flickr.com/photos/29971990@N05/

apparently there's something weird with the e-mails. we haven't been able to send out any info on CMSA to the members. hopefully we will be able to disseminate the information soon.

just a lil update about CMSA:
AGM will be end of this month - so look out for the e-mails if you are interested to run for any positions next year!

ok. back to the post-Malam to-do list:

post-mortem
clear accounts
sell off some of the deco stuff
post-malam survey
update sponsor list on the blog and send out thank-you letters etc to sponsors. also to some organisations whom we would like to stay connected with
give subsidies back to team member and performers
sort out photos - wud love to put some interesting ones up here. am especially happy to see stronger bonds and new friendships being developed. bringing home closer ;)
thank-you notes
affirmation
find a place to put the twin towers :p
study!

have a great week ahead! uni's starting tomorrow! gambate!

Students' Say

2008-09-04T00:56:00.001+12:00

one of the videos shown during Malam. thanks to Mamat for the hard work! :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP9JXYoxKV0

Malam Merdeka? Malam Malaysia? Malam Kebangsaan?

2008-09-01T16:41:00.002+12:00

i was reading The Star and came across this.

It's Hari Kebangsaan, not Hari Merdeka.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/30/focus/22197525&sec=focus

"Our first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, in his wisdom and sincerity, decided on the term Hari Kebangsaan (National Day), which, inter alia, is meant to be a common multi-racial/religious/ regional celebration to re-emphasise the importance of developing and promoting a common national sentiment and patriotism, via the organisation of the main events as we now are familiar with at the national level and other celebrations which should be organised at sub-national levels by the people themselves."

if this can help make some people happy and minimize controversies, perhaps CMSA could consider naming our annual dinner Malam Kebangsaan instead of Malam Malaysia next time. That's just a thought from my side anyway. What do you guys think? Anyway, maybe some expert in Malay or linguistics could help me with this - is 'Kebangsaan' equivalent to 'Malaysia' in any sense? Urm, actually, does it really matter?

Anyway, moving away from that issue - let's have a look at the following articles that moved my heart more.

A true case of Merdeka spirit
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/28/focus/22184127&sec=focus

Unsung heroes of Merdeka
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/27/focus/22174725&sec=focus
(Ka-Mun, you showed me a video done by Petronas that is related to this topic. do you mind sharing it on the blog? thanks!)

Guys, let me tell you this - i had a great time working with my Malay and Indian friends on the team. i believe that we have managed to look past the colour, the race, the religion.. we are after all, part of a melody, that transcends differences. And this melody, is the melody of unity.

Selamat menyambut Hari Kebangsaan ke-51, Malaysia!

Thank You!

2008-09-01T12:45:00.006+12:00

Thank you for attending Malam 08! Without you, there will not be Malam!

Some apologies to be made here:

food flow - some tables only managed to have their food around 9pm. Our sincerest apologies. We wanted to have 2 tables to go out, i.e. there will be 2 different queues at the buffet table. However, due to some unexpected twists of events, we only managed to get one table out every time - that caused a tremendous delay. And the soup ran out! Grr! Once again, many apologies! We will learn from this!
Dance floor - due to the delay in the food flow, we had to cancel the dance floor. Apologies to those who had look forward to the dance floor and even went for the modern jive dance class!
Table sitting - we only had less than half an hour to change the table layout so that each of you could see the screen at a comfortable position. We apologise for the inconvenience and hoped that you were able to make yourself comfortable.

All in all, once again, thanks for bearing with us and hope that you had a great night! We would love to hear your feedback. You can either e-mail us, leave a comment on the blog, or fill in the survey that we will be sending out in a week's time (i'm currently at Hamilton attending an academic conference.. :p).

In the next week or so, the team will be meeting up for a post-mortem and also to clear the accounts. Hmm.. Fingers crossed that we will break even :) Oh ya, remember to send out thank-you letters etc to the sponsors. (man, i think i'm quite a workaholic.. :p)

Till then, team members, if you have any photos or videos to put up on the blog, please do so! :D and thank you lovely people for everything! Very grateful and honoured to be able to work with you! :D and thank God for being in control regardless! :)

2008-08-31T03:15:00.001+12:00

Let us remember the day
And the feeling

Happy National Day =)

Petronas 2008 Merdeka Ad

2008-08-28T09:55:00.002+12:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpWYkEFnl8I

this made me menangis teresak-esak.

once again, thank you, dad and mum!

Malaysia's 51st Independence Day

2008-08-28T09:54:00.001+12:00

This year's theme: Perpaduan Teras Kejayaan (Unity is the Pillar of Success)

The theme song is here.

Free parking!

2008-08-27T12:30:00.002+12:00

I know, I know.. this post is gonna excite you. Because there's FREE parking!! What else is better than that?! ;p

Simply click on the image to enlarge.

The one highlighted with darker grey is free all day long (for goodness sake, not Avon River!). Whereas the other on-site parking is free after 5pm or so. However, all are on first come first serve basis. So, make sure you arrive early to get a nice decent free parking. It does save you a fortune. Otherwise, you can start singing "here we go round, and round again, round and round, round again..."...

But, if you're feeling rich, or simply run out of time (otherwise you might miss our grand opening..), just park at the building besides Rydges, or at Farmers!

Enough said. Please be punctual. Looking forward to see all of you at Malam Malaysia!! :)

p/s: Do remember to lock your car! :D

Modern Jive 23/8/2008

2008-08-23T23:46:00.002+12:00

a big thanks to Sam and Ingrid for taking the time out today to teach us the modern jive.

We had a great time! Thank you! :)

Stefanie, if you are reading this, could you please send me some photos that we took today so that we can put some up here? thanks!

by the way, i would really like to encourage each and everyone of us to be as participative as we can during Malam.

we have various programmes drawn out and we would love to have as much interaction as we can with the guests.

and even amongst the guests, let's all be friendly to each other - a simple smile, a simple hello.. we will have people coming from CHCH School of Medicine and possibly Lincoln. we might even have some non-malaysians joining us. so ya, let's go out and make friends and be an active part in Malam 2008!

let's all do this together!

:D

Feeling tired?

2008-08-23T23:17:00.006+12:00

the team has been working super hard.

with talent night coming along and 6 days away to Malam... and just righ after a crazy term 3!

once again, thanks guys!

take a break when you can k! :D

eh... wait wait... siapa ni?

.
.
.
.
.
.

....the protocol and events boss!
aduh. macam sangat letih!
xin ku ni le!
.
.
.
.
.

...and what's the sponsorship director doing there?

btw, we call them kombinasi yang membinasakan
(the destroyers)

can't wait for the rehearsals to start!

we will be putting up more photos and updates on our preparation progress during this crazy week! hope to see you in Malam 2008! let's all have a fun fun time! :D

Blessed!

2008-08-20T21:09:00.002+12:00

on monday i was in a super negative downward spiral mood. we have been yet again been denied another grant application.

we scratched our heads. we think and thought. and we began to be more bugging to the various people that we have approached.

one of the things we might have to do was cut down on the food variety (quantity still same but less variety), and that really was our last resort. i really don't want to get there.

so when Ka-Mun, our sponsorship man texted me a good news today, i was surprised and relieved at the same time! i really didn't expect such an amount to be given to us - but basically now we dun have to cut down the food variety. yay! i'm so so soo thankful!

thanks Ka-Mun for your persistence! thanks MSD for being so generous! and thank God! wow! yay!

we still have a couple hundreds to raise to give subsidies to the committee and performers - will continue to work harder!

mind you, asking for money is one of the hardest thing ever! a lot a lot of courage and a lot a lot of thick-faced-ness! sometimes i have to practice my 'speech' over and over again before entering a shop and speak to the owner.

ah! come on!!!! few more hundreds to go and all will be sweet as!!!!

gambate!

Peek...

2008-08-19T19:47:00.004+12:00

the whole team is super swamped for the last week of term, so we put a temporary halt to the preparation. things are more or less much settled and all those details will be finalised next week. time FLIES! man! only 11 more days to Malam.. no.. actually.. 10 and a quarter day...

anyway, just some updates...

Logistics
today our conference manager gave us a call and asked if we would like to have a peek at the hall since there was a dinner function that night. Would be good for us to have a look at how they set up.

Ing Chia (thanks for the ride :D), Merlin and me went and had a peek ^_^ man i loved it! :D it's really cosy and classy! and with our deco team going all out to spice things up - man! i'm so excited to see how the hall is gonna be transformed during the night! :D

Sponsorship
the sponsorship team is still on the go. i remember vividly what Seng Cheong (year 2006 Malam organiser) told me repeatedly when i met him few months ago: "start your sponsorship hunt early!!!"

i totally understand where he is coming from right now :)

we have been receiving pretty disappointing news these few weeks. Was pretty disheartening but that will not stop us from working harder and brainstorming to get the funds in!!! we have 11 more days.

quoting my flatmate: "Pressure is Privilege." :)

Protocol and Events
Prior to organizing Malam, i wrote down for myself a few goals that i wanna achieve for each team. And i'm really pleased that the events of that night will be meaningful and purposeful and not just some act/event for the sake of having one. Each performance you see, each event happening during will have a message behind to link with our theme, 'Home'. Good job, P&E team! :D

What's left now are full rehearsals and stage managing to ensure a smooth and well-coordinated flow during the night. Ah. and those minute details! Man. it's gonna be a crazy week! We call it 'the Malam week' btw :p

Affirmation
We are very encouraged by each of you who went to the booth and wrote on the affirmation cards. We will have another booth this Thursday, 12pm - 1.30pm at the UCSA. Do drop by and write on a card. Else you can contact Ka-Mun at kml64 and arrange a time with him. Preferably during the holidays though if you wanna arrange a time :p

Okie dokie. That's about all that i am able to update on. Back to uni work. Oh and if you haven't gotten your tickets yet, do drop by our booth or contact us! We really hope to see you there!

All the best for the last week of term!!! And keep warm too - it's been a crazy wet windy hail-y snow-y winter!

Home

2008-08-18T21:55:00.004+12:00

i know this might not be one of the most exciting theme for a ball. maybe something like Starry Nights ke, Moonlight Sonate ke, Northern Star ke might be more exciting and mystical and classy and.... lalala.. you get my drift :)

so why 'Home'?

few months ago...
the team met up for a brainstorming sessions. we were separated into a few groups - and within each group, ideas and suggestions were brought up. the guideline was to have a theme that will bring about a night where everyone will feel one with the crowd, and not merely existing in the crowd.

our vision for this year's Malam is to see people getting together, interacting amongst one another, enjoying the night - with a warm sense of belonging and togetherness. That was also the guideline for us when we did the brainstorming.

there were many great ideas. we had well thought-out themes such as 'Clef', 'Glow', 'Pass it On', 'Guess', 'Malaysiana' etc. And so after much discussion, we finally settled on 'Home'.

Here's why...

From the club's point-of-view,
CMSA's mission statement is to 'Bring home closer'. As one of the committee, i must say that we still have a long way to ago to achieve that mission statement. Indeed, there are many areas that we can improve on and various things that we can do to help our members. i apologize for the things that we hae not done right and thank you for your patience and continual support to the club.

we hope that this year's Malam is not just a wrap-up for the year's events, but as we reflect and ponder on what we have done thus far - we will continue to work to adhere closer to our mission statement - bringing home closer.

From a personal point-of-view...
'Home' doesn't necessarily mean your hometown. Before i continue, i totally cherish and love my family and friends back in Malaysia :) Back to the point, over here, i also have a group of friends whom i cherish and love. The friendship and love given by this amazing people provide a place where i feel safe and belonged. This is 'home' :)

That's also how the Malam theme song was birthed - it was a combination of the themes that were brainstormed during the last meeting, and a story of an international student who have been here for almost 4 years and found a 'home' in a faraway land :)

why is this year's Malam gonna be different? because we are organizing it on a totally different perspective altogether - it's gonna be more than a ball, my dear friends :)

We really encourage you to come to this year's Malam and be a part of what we are doing and wanting to share with you! Your presence will really mean a lot to us!

thank you!

Malam 2008 Theme Song

2008-08-18T21:44:00.005+12:00

will talk about what inspired the song. we might perform it during Talent Night (25/8). hehe. help to promote Talent Night too ^_^

hope the message behind these lyrics will help you have a better idea of what we hope to bring out from this year's Malam.

Malam 2008 will be more than just a ball :)

Pass It On

i've found a home
in a faraway land
i know i'm not alone
in this journey

i'm part of a melody
that transcends differences
and now it showed me to how to sing

so won't you pass it on
you will bring home closer
let the fire within
warm the coldest nights

so won't you pass it on
the song you are singing
let the hope that you have found
glow in the darkest nights
for you and i

pass it on

A Tribute to Lee Chong Wei

2008-08-18T13:20:00.009+12:00

i'm sure by now most of you would have known about the result from yesterday's badminton finals for the men singles (you can google for more news about the match yesterday).

my flatmates and i stayed up to watch the match. we had to admit that it was totally Lin Dan's day. both of them equally had great pressure on their shoulders to perform; and there will only be one winner.

for me, though a little bit sad of the lost, it was still a proud moment for Malaysia with Lee Chong Wei being in an Olympics finals. His meekness was what that struck me the most. After the game, both Lin Dan and Chong Wei gave each other a friendly hug - to me, it was a gracious acceptance of defeat; and also a gesture of respect and 敬服 (can't think of the english word at the moment) to the winner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psRcrwwUI3o
This is an interview with Lee Chong Wei before the Olympics. It is in Mandarin though. i have yet to find an English one.

Hope there will be some videos on Chong Wei's feat in Olympics 2008 on YouTube :)

this was written before Chong Wei went to the finals
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/17/focus/22106345&sec=focus

we know he will fight harder. just like how he pulled himself again after a car accident in 2006. and he has inspired me to fight harder too. in all honesty, we are facing some financial difficulties for Malam but we will definitely fight even harder to get the money in!

Well done, Lee Chong Wei! We are all very proud of you! Congratulations!

Jive Jive Jive!

2008-08-14T17:03:00.001+12:00

this year Malam will have a dance-floor as our after-party!

Besides the usual clubbing music, we hope to introduce some elements of MODERN JIVE on the dance floor too!

As a warm-up session, we are offering a FREEEEEE dance class! Yes, freee! btw, we will never say no to a gold coin donation! ;)

date?
23 August 2008, Saturday

time?
12.30pm - 3.00pm

place?
UCSA Ballroom

who's teaching?
Sam, a teacher from the UCanDance class.

come along!
bring your friends!
let's warm up the floor and heat the house during Malam!!!

Don't Give Up!

2008-08-12T12:50:00.004+12:00

Assigmments and lab reports can drive us crazy. Tests. Exams.

Personal issues.

...even organizing Malam.

but thank God, the Olympics came at the right time. at least it is for me.

the sheer perseverance and determination shown by these athletes. i am always so inspired to see how focused they are toward the goal, and how they pressed on to achieve what they set out to at the first place.

CMSA will also keep pressing on. And the Malam team too! gambate team!

here are a few videos that i thought i'd like share with you. Hope it will inspire you in some way or another and also encourage you to keep pressing on, in spite of.

Dan Jansen - Don't Give Up

Derek Redmond - Weak leg, Strong Father
Derek Redmond - Dad helps Son complete Race
(tears just came rolling down when i first watched this)

Women's Road Race
Nicole Cooke on her Olympics Win
(this turned out to be a really exciting race!)

ooo. and some quotes from this website.

i liked this one in particular :)

"When you feel like giving up, remember why you held on for so long in the first place."
Unknown

More Photos!

2008-08-07T17:27:00.001+12:00

found more photos from previous Malams..

Year 2004:
http://www.pbase.com/evyvekt043/malam_malaysia_2004_at_grand_chancellor_album_2
http://enggangkeramat.fotopages.com/?entry=206183

Year 2006:
http://www.nzview.com/ball/

Videos!

2008-08-07T17:00:00.004+12:00

Here in my Home: Bersatu 2008 Edition (kudos to MUMSA)
-for a united Malaysia!-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCK59mCYybo&feature=related

PETSOC 08: Tribute to Bersatu Athletes
-affirmation!-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVprNHX8mhY

Bersatu 2007 Videos:
-Winter in Canter... Winter's Warmth-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1b5nzB_7nQ (Closing Video 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMsGjFCgmM0 (Closing Video 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwKN6qFcH2g (Closing Video 3)

The Power of Affirmation

2008-08-07T16:27:00.003+12:00

just a simple thank you or a simple word of encouragement may just mean a whole world to someone! :)

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."

~ Melody Beattie

that's the power of affirmation! :)

Affirmation

2008-08-07T11:04:00.004+12:00

Affirmation will start on 11th August 2008 from 11.30 am to 1.30 pm (simultaneously with the Malam ticket sales) The other Affirmation dates are on the left sidebar of this blog.

1. If your name is in my Excel List, your card would have been printed.

2. On the mentioned dates, the committee will be at the booth with your cards.

3. Feel free to write for anyone as all the cards will be displayed publicly on the table.

PS: To check if your name is in the affirmation list, have a check on the Excel file I sent on Wednesday evening (6th August 2008). Any inquiries just hit me an e-mail at kml64@student.canterbury.ac.nz.

Time flies!

2008-08-06T21:35:00.001+12:00

it's august!!!

it's gonna be Malam soon!!!

:D

exciting exciting exciting!!!

(...and a lil stressed.. will be more than happy if someone can belanja me bubble tea :D hehe. anyway, i believe that all the hard work will pay off! yay!)

what's up so far?

Ticket Sales

NZD45.00 per person :)

the team is subsidising NZD11.00 per person (actual food price is NZD56.00). After all we are all still students :)

we are still working very hard to raise funds for the subsidy and also for various equipment hire costs and decoration costs and all other costs. please do keep us in prayer and well wishes!

Don't forget to get your Malam ticket from any of our committee members or e-mail us at malam.msia08@gmail.com.

You wouldn't want to miss out on this year's Malam! :)

Publicity
We will have a booth at the UCSA on the following days from 11.30am-1.30pm:
August 11, 13, 15, 19, 21

And we will be on RDU98.5 FM too!

Listen up during the following slots (one ad per slot):
11/8 - 15/8 (except 13/8)
0700-1000
1200-1300
1600-1900

13/8
1000-1200
1200-1300
1600-1900

18/8 - 22/8
0700-1000
1600-1900

Affirmation
look out for Ka-Mun's post!

if you are a member of CMSA, you would have been e-mailed about this!

see YOU at the booth on Monday! :D

Wanted: Performers

2008-08-06T19:00:00.000+12:00

This email is from BenJ and YuenLEung...

Interested in performing for Malam Malaysia?

Great!

Cuz we are currently looking for people who would like to lend their services to perform for the upcoming Malam!

One performance we are looking for ppl is the band. It will be an acoustic or a mellow-ish performance a.k.a. an unplugged performance. Instruments will be provided such as acoustic guitars and keyboards. Preferably 2 songs will be good. And if it can be one Malay song and one English song it’ll be even better. If you can do songs that are based around the theme of this years Malam, “Home”, that will be even-even better-better!!

We are also looking for sporting people who would like to dress up for a special fashion show. If you think you got what it takes to take centre stage than contact us. More details will be given later upon request. But trust me, it’s gonna be awesome if you would like to help out! :D

Thanks again for those who choose to help out and making this Malam a blast!

p/s: IF you are KEEN, do get back to us by the end of this week. Latest by Saturday (9th August)!!!! Dont miss the chance..

Contacts:
Benjamin Abraham - 02102218503 or bjk52@student.canterbury.ac.nz
Yuen Leung - 021806488 or yll33@student.canterbury.ac.nz

To The Team

2008-08-06T14:59:00.001+12:00

i want to thank each and every of you in the team for all the hard work and sacrifice of time and energy.

especially to the team leaders, thank you for attending the weekly meetings and organizing team meetings despite having 2 reports, 3 tests, 4 assignments. thank you also for your hard work on the sponsorship hunt!

thank you for this chance to work with you and to be able to learn from each other! :)

Malam will be EXCELLENT - pre, during, post!

Woohoo!

:D

You and Me

2008-08-06T14:58:00.000+12:00

We started out organizing Malam by doing a survey and took your suggestions into account.
We called out for people who would like to be involved.
We called out for people who would like to give us a helping hand here and there.

We call out - because we want YOU to be a part of Malam.

Malam 2008 is not for the team to syok sendiri. Malam 2008 is not just another CMSA event. Hundreds of dollars, priceless time and effort have been channeled into Malam - it's gonna be more than your typical dinner function.

Malam 2008 is about involving YOU and ME to make this night worth a bookmark in your journey. We hope that each of you who attends Malam will have a great and enjoyable night - with beautiful memories of great company, good times; and a warmth that will linger in each of our hearts.

Let's all do this together, shall we? :) Thank you!

Here In My Home - Malaysian Artistes for Unity

2008-08-06T14:16:00.000+12:00

was listening to this song again :) we sent it to RDU for the radio advertisement for Malam.

abosrb the lyrics! :)

http://cmsa-malam.blogspot.com/2008/05/come-on-everyone.html

Here in my Home

Hold on brother hold on

The road is long. We’re on stony ground

But I’m strong. You ain’t heavy

Oh there’s a misspoken truth that lies

Colors don’t bind, oh no.

What do they know? They speak falsely.

Chorus:

Here in my home

I’ll tell you what its all about

There’s just one hope here in my heart

One Love undivided

That’s what it’s all about

Please won’t you fall in one by one by one [with me]?

Push back sister won’t you push back?

Love won’t wait. Just keep pushing on.

Yes I’m strong. You ain’t heavy.

Oh don’t you worry about that….

What we have the shadows can’t deny

Don’t you know it’s now or never?

Rap:

[Malay: TRANSLATED]

Years of fears and years of tribulation

The heart keeps searching for that endless devotion

[Chinese: TRANSLATED]

Hand in hand we’ll march like blood brothers

I speak for my people hope we’ll find peace forever

[Tamil: TRANSLATED]

May the road ahead quench my thirst for success

May the road behind echo a song of the blessed

[English]

So I will let it be known yes I feel it in my bones

No matter where I roam this is home sweet home

Sing!

-
Words & Music by Pete Teo featuring rap by KLG Sqwad &
Altimet. copr Redbag Music 2008. All Rights Reserved

The Concept of Excellence

2008-08-06T13:02:00.000+12:00

excellence
noun
1.	the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree
2.	an outstanding feature; something in which something or someone excels; "a center of manufacturing excellence"; "the use of herbs is one of the excellencies of French cuisine"

excellence. (n.d.). WordNet® 3.0. Retrieved August 05, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/excellence

am currently reading this book by Heather Brown. The following is taken from one of my favourite chapters in the book. Hope it will inspire you in some way or another! :)

Every one of us has the ability to achieve something greater than we imagine.
Every one of us has excellence with us - EVERY ONE OF US.
We are all called to achieve something different but equally significant, which is why it's unhelpful to compare yourself with others.
Whether we choose to be excellent or not is our own decision.
A life of excellence is a journey, but a journey definitely worth taking.
Excellence is achievable for every one of us and excellence brings a great sense of accomplishment.
Having the desire to put the extra effort into everything we do is something we must cultivate. For most of us it probably doesn't come naturally, but if you desire to be excellent you can develop this into natural behaviour until it becomes an instinctive way of thinking and doing.

Make excellence a lifestyle choice and walk in continuous improvement of yourself and your life.

Excellence is not perfection, but being the very best you can be, putting your very best into everything you do and knowing you have done everything you know to achieve the best possible outcome. This is an excellent effort. Extra effort will always bring a more excellent result.
Don't settle for less; 'average' isn't good enough for any one of us. Please don't choose average. You are capable of much more. So be a "Man/Woman of Excellence" and make a difference to your own life and the lives of those around you. Enjoy the rewards you will earn along the way when you step into excellence.

Do not strive for perfection, bur rather choose excellence over average in all you do and you will experience the reward which goes with the decision to choose a life of excellence.

Excellence is not something attained by merely just wanting it, or waiting for it to come to you, it must be pursued. It must be a heartfelt thing coming from deep within you, a desire to do something that shines.
When the decision is made in our hearts and minds to choose to be excellent, we begin our journey to higher ground. In order for this to happen, we need to be completely honest with ourselves about areas of our lives which are not working as well as we would like them to be. I believe we all have areas requiring attention.
We need to be willing to get out of our comfort zone and out of our places of habit and take a good look. This takes a willing attitude and a determined decision. We need to ask ourselves how badly we want something better for our life and whether we are prepared to do whatever it takes.
If we want something better for our lives we will have to do something different. Just wishing will not make it happen; it takes action.
Excellence is something to be pursued and sought after; it doesn't just happen along the way!
Take your natural abilities and God-given talents and do your very best with them - not compromising or being complacent with opportunities and responsibilities.
Commit to doing more than required in every situation. This is how excellence is established. Excellence often comes out of the EXTRA.
We have to CHOOSE to be Excellent. It's a decision and there are sacrifices that go with that decision. Are you willing to make that sacrifice?? That in itself is the first choice.

Excellence - Crave it, Pursue it, and Go After it!

Not everyone you have contact with will support your changes. Being excellent often makes others feel uncomfortable. When making changes for yourself it may have a ripple effect on others around you. stay focused and determined. believe in yourself and know what you believe in is the right way for you.
Do not be discouraged by those who criticise, mock and the undermine excellence.

Foster the Spirit of Excellence and do not be discouraged by others who do not make the same choices.

A life of excellence is a life worth living!

Malam 2008 Poster

2008-07-30T12:53:00.001+12:00

yay! the poster is out!

thanks to Azmir and Wan Yin who have worked very hard to design the poster!!!

Feeding the Heart of the City

2008-07-29T11:28:00.003+12:00

...warmth in the darkest nights :)

Kechara Soup Kitchen

Got to know about KSK from:
Feeding the Heart of the City

2008-07-26T14:32:00.001+12:00

The Olympics Games is just two weeks away.

Let us a live the the Olympian spirit like Beijing - by making everyone feel at home . :)

Why Do I Like My House?

2008-07-24T15:24:00.001+12:00

just smth i tot i shud share abt HOME. enjoy!

Perhaps

2008-07-23T10:40:00.006+12:00

this is a very different kind of stress that i'm facing compared to academic stress.

there's the financial part to work hard on - money matters. and then, as the days are nearer, i can feel the pressure mounting. Deco team - all good? Can finish in time? Performances? Settled? Equipment hire? Cool? How's the video going? Posters alright? Can print the tickets on time? What did the pub owner say abt the after party? Oh.. XX shop said dun want to sponsor us - never mind - dun give up - keep working hard!

Malam.. Malam.. :) all the sweat and tears - and 30 plus days to go!

wow!!!

perhaps you are one of the wise and experienced, smiling as the team learn from our mistakes, and nodding your head in approval when we have done something extraordinary.

perhaps you are not sure what Malam is gonna be about - given that the team is made up of new faces - you might be a little sceptical, a little uncertain about going to Malam.

perhaps you are uncertain - but you are going to Malam just to see what we have to offer.

perhaps you don't really mind how Malam is going to be - you are going coz your friend is in the team - bagi muka - show some support.

perhaps you are thinking that NZD45.00 is super expensive and our team member is explaining to you with a smile the circumstances.

perhaps you are very expectant and looking forward to what Malam 08 has to offer.

perhaps... perhaps... perhaps...

:)

Why not give us a chance to see what we have to offer for this year's Malam?

thank you for your support! :)

Ticket Sales...

2008-07-21T11:15:00.002+12:00

sorry ppl :( due to some circumstances, we wud have to postpone it to either this Wednesday or next week...

really really sorry...

Thanks! =)

2008-07-21T00:59:00.002+12:00

Thanks to Bernard, Firdaus, Gloria, Natasha and Quratul for handling the sponsorship department while I was away for 3 weeks.

I love being in this family - and I'll work even harder for this family now ;)

Thanks!

Not-Much-To-Say

2008-07-19T17:28:00.002+12:00

...that's why i've been quiet.

taking it one step at a time :)

each team is hard at work.

just attended the deco team's meeting. wow. they are going massive! man! they'd need a lot of support and cheerleading!

go go go deco team!!!

(^^)9

we are starting to sell tickets next week!!

get ready!!!

ps: sorry about the trailer. turns out we might not be able to do one for this year due to time-constraints. much apologies!

SMILE

2008-07-14T19:49:00.003+12:00

Hey people..

I think this is my first posting for this blog... But anyway that is not the main point. As a PR officer for CMSA and committee for Malam Malaysia 2008, I just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been working for Malam thus far and I hope that we can continue to stay united and give our best to this what-we-deemed-and-expected-to-be an auspicious event. I understand that stress, worries, study obligation and other commitments will and have come our way but we can take them as challenges and lessons to learn to manage our time. I am really grateful to you guys for sacrificing your leisure time to attend meetings and so on. There will be more to come but let us just enjoy doing this Malam thingy. Let this Malam be a memorable event for all. Let us uphold, encourage and help one another as we prepare for this event. Let us also work together as a team and continue to give our utmost support to Gloria and Wan Yin. And i also hope that tighter friendship amongst us can be fostered.

Last but not least, always remember that there is time for everything and don't neglect your studies because of Malam.

I think that's all from me. Enjoy people and smile!!!!! :)

p/s: If you guys have any problems or worries, do not hesitate to talk to me...

Love,
Bernard

Acknowledgement to CMSI

2008-07-11T13:07:00.004+12:00

We would like to express our appreciation to Canterbury Malaysian Society (CMSI) for taking the initiative to work with the students. It was a good experience for us students getting to meet with them and also widened our scope a lot about many things.

Last week they suggested on us merging with them to do Malam. However after much consideration from the team, we decided that we will not do so this time - the main reason being that our objectives were not exactly in-line. Also we've come this far and since Malam is about one and a half months away (wow, time flies!) - not the right time.

They are a cool group of adults and it'd be a good experience for us to learn from them. We do hope to be able to work with them in the near future for other events or projects. CMSA will be having their committee meeting some time this week and one of our agendas will be to discuss about working together more with CMSI - they have resources and sources, experiences and expertise - and they have expressed their willingness to help the students whenever we need them. After all, that's what these clubs are set up for - to serve its community well :)

Also, by interacting and learning from them, the students can also share their thoughts and ideas with the adults. Pn Sabidah mentioned that we are the 'young blood' and they can also learn from us :)

Thanks to Mr Ling, Pn Sabidah, Aunty Donna, Aunty Caroline, Mr Lee, Mr Ambrose, Uncle Sam, Danie, Puan Rafa for your time and initiative! it was great meeting you all! :)

(still not very used to calling them by their first names :p)

Grr!

2008-07-11T12:31:00.002+12:00

help!!!

i'm so upset! was clearing my mailbox the other day coz it was bursting and i was being charged for exceeding the e-mail quota.

so i transferred all the Malam correspondence into a local folder.

little did i know the transfer wasn't complete so i've lost half of the e-mails for Malam.

:( frustrating!!! i needed to retrieve some information and they are gone.

does anyone know if there's any way to get back those e-mails???? would help me heaps!

thanks!

Dirgahayu Tanah Airku

2008-07-10T12:22:00.003+12:00

this is my all-time favourite patriotik song :)

Jaclyn Victor's version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-47qRBj7T3o

From a high school in Malaysia - tot the girls did a great job (i'm a big fan of choirs and musicals btw :p):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmMMZwDB1Og

i like this choir arrangement of the song. it starts around the 4th minute :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-FUYoY9sBs&feature=related

Dirgahayu Tanah Airku
Norsheila Amin

Kau...
Persada indah permai
Pepohon menghijau menghias pantai
Putera Puteri mu tersenyum riang ria
Tegas Bebas sejahtera makmur maju jaya
Dibawah naungan payung mahkota

Ohh...
Pertiwi ku perkasa
Disanjung di puja setiap masa
Berwaspada sentiasa bersemangat waja
Satu bangsa satu bahasa satu budaya
Malaysia nusaku tercinta

Tumpuan.. pelancong
Dan juga para peniaga
Batik songket tenunan menawan
Terkenal merata dunia

Kepada mu oh pertiwi
Kasih ku abadi
Sejati murni
Rela ku Berbakti mesti terkorban diri
Padamu ku curah sumpah setia dan janji
Dirgahayu oh Tanahairku ( 2X )

Decisions

2008-07-06T17:39:00.003+12:00

this is the emo-side of me ;)

the team had to make a very hard decision today.

well, at least for me, it was a very tough decision to make.

opportunities were there, right in front of us. was it a risk worth taking? what if we say 'no'?

kinda broke down yesterday night as the stress took over :p but i remember a friend once texted me this:

at every crossroad, follow your dream.
it is courageous to let your heart lead the way.
-T. Leland-

so i checked back our aims and objectives. weighed the pros and cons. define the risks involved. ...and asked my heart what it wants.

sometimes we have to say 'no' and make certain sacrifices - coz the purpose for what Malam is should not be compromised.

and finally, there was peace - and a decision made :)

and then the last-minute team meeting (once again thanks to those who managed to come, and Reuben too! :p)

i'm proud of the team - very proud of them.

they listened - with open-minds and hearts - weighed the pros and cons - weighed the risks involved.

they raised their opinions - agreements and disagreements - with maturity and respect.

and ya, we made a decision that will still serve the club well.

i am glad to have the assurance that we are doing the right thing - and i know that CMSA will have great future leaders who will carry on the mission statement of "bringing home closer".

thank you, team! :)

Team Leaders

2008-07-05T00:42:00.003+12:00

Wan Yin, Merlin, Bernard, Ka-Mun, Elyana, Nat, Zaipong, Ing Chia, Mamat, Jacky:

thank you for bearing with all my texts and e-mails and phone calls!

thank you for being able to turn up for last-minute calls!

really really appreciate all your sacrifices and time and energy!

50 more days to go!!!

stay strong friends!!

jia you! (^^)9

Touched

2008-07-04T15:32:00.004+12:00

i think my coursemate got a little bit bored of seeing that box of fundraiser chocolates sitting in our office.

so she brought it to the Math and Stat reception on the 4th floor. And so the ladies are helping us sell the chocolates now.

wow.

wow.

wow.

i was overwhelmed with gratitude.

so if you go the 4th floor of the Math building and see some chocs, ya, that's from us ;)

i still have another box at home to sell though. man. gotta take half-a-day off and go all out.

come on!!! :p

ps: we have good news - 2 of our grants were approved. we are stoked! let's keep going!

News

2008-06-28T00:32:00.002+12:00

before i start, all the best to the Bersatu warriors who are currently at Wellington! Go CMSA!

hope you guys have a good time up there! :p

back to Malam.

Money Matters
we are currently awaiting responses. and we are still applying for grants and funds; whilst also going to SMEs.

so if you would like to join us in the sponsorship hunt, you are more than welcomed to join us! we appreciate YOUR help!

Logistics
talking about this, ingchia, sorry i haven't gotten back to you yet. will do so by end of this week.

i realised one thing: the more detailed you get into things - the more the cost increase. e.g.oh, s we'd need this extra cable. oo, so this would cost. oo, ok, the piano needs to be re-tuned if we wanna move it. and the list goes on.

right. good to know and be more expectant next time!

Decoration
met up with Merlin the other day and am excited about the decoration! it's gonna be awesome!

Protocol and Events
waiting for the auditions to commence!

Publicity
our poster is coming out soon! be prepared to see our posters and promo items everywhere once uni starts! it's gonna be all-out!

mr video man is currently in wellington for the games. hope to get the trailer out before semester starts :)

i think that's all. feel free to throw me any questions.

happy holidays!

"i am just dancing"

2008-06-24T11:38:00.000+12:00

this was so fun! thanks to my flatmate, Nik who introduced this video to me!

i will copy-and-paste what Nik said :p

"Check out Matthew Harding's videos on Where The Hell Is Matt?.

I Like the song!

What's the message of the video?

"Up to you, I'm just dancing":)"

Rise!

2008-06-21T15:15:00.003+12:00

See the video here.

the power of music never fails to amaze me :)

it speaks of hope and love, despite of.

look at the smiles of the children!

there is still hope and a future!

"Rise" is the official Theme Song for the Association of South-East Asian Nati...

Military History of New Zealand in Malaysia

2008-06-18T21:33:00.004+12:00

this might be pretty random to you but i thought it was good to share! so here goes...

i was so bored with studying today and so i switched on the TV, flipping through the channels randomly.

And then i heard the familiar Malay language - and i saw the year 2007 Merdeka parade...

...and of all channels, it was on Maori TV!

MALAYSIAN MEMORIES TOUR 2007
Wednesday June 18 and June 25 at 8.30 PM

Looks at the return of NZ Soldiers 50 years later, to the places they were stationed during the Malaysian Emergency (June 18); and documents the establishment of a Marae for the Kiwi Battalion in Malaya (June 25).

Basically it was a documentary of the return of the NZ war vets to Malaya last year. They were also invited to participate in our nation's 50th Merdeka parade. It was an honour and acknowledgment to them for their deeds during the Emergency Period in the 1960s.

Check out this article from Wikipedia to learn more about the Malayan Emergency and what the NZ troupes have done for our country :)

would like to take this opportunity to honour and acknowledge these soldiers for their sacrifice and peacekeeping efforts in our nation!

i really liked what one of the NZ army vets said at the end of the documentary:

"...we are all one!"

lovely!

ps: hope you are keeping warm and still sane over the exams! :D

Every second for this clip will be worthwhile - I assure you =)

2008-06-15T00:22:00.000+12:00

Performances

2008-06-12T02:05:00.001+12:00

Anyone who is keen to perform during Malam Malaysia or has any ideas regarding performances, do reply to the people mentioned below. The Protocol and Events Team of Malam Malaysia will organize 2 so called auditions and previews of performances in the month of July. More details will be provided in emails to come.

Bernard Khoo lwk15
Benjamin Abraham bjk52
Yuen Leung yll33

We're All in this Together

2008-06-08T17:42:00.002+12:00

ka-mun put this nicely:

it's not your malam, not my malam, but OUR malam.

as cheesy as you think this song might be, as Disney as it is (sorry but i grew up a disney fan :p)...

we're all in this - TOGETHER!

from High School Musical
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9rAo7gkpqY&feature=related

Together, together, together everyone
Together, together, come on let's have some fun
Together, we're there for each other every time
Together together come on let's do this right

Here and now it's time for celebration
I finally figured it out (yeah yeah)
That all our dreams have no limitations
That's what it's all about(yeah yeah)

Everyone is special in their own way
We make each other strong (we make each other strong)
We're not the same
We're different in a good way
Together's where we belong

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true

Together, together, together everyone
Together, together, come on let's have some fun
Together, we're there for each other every time
Together together come on let's do this right

We're all here
and speaking out with one voice
we're going to rock the house (YEAH YEAH!)
the party's on now everybody make some noise
come on scream and shout

We've arrived becuase we stuck together
Champions one and all

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come

We're all in this together
When we reach
We can fly
Know inside
We can make it
We're all in this toghether
Once we see
There's a chance
That we have
And we take it

Wild cats sing along
Yeah, you really got it goin' on
Wild cats in the house
Everybody say it now
Wild cats everywhere
Wave your hands up in the air
That's the way we do it
Lets get to it
Time to show the world

We're all in this together
Once we know
That we are
We're all stars
And we see that
We're all in this together
And it shows
When we stand
Hand in hand
Make our dreams come true

We're all in this together
When we reach
We can fly
Know inside
We can make it
We're all in this together
Once we see
There's a chance
That we have
And we take it

Wild cats everywhere
Wave your hands up in the air
That's the way we do it
Let's get to it
Come on everyone!

Venue!

2008-06-08T16:49:00.006+12:00

Follow up from the previous post, I'm gonna upload a few photos of the venue to tempt you. ;)

Malam Malaysia 2008 will be held in Rydges Christchurch!

The function hall where our annual gala dinner will be carried out.
Merlin and team will certainly transform this posh hall to the posher-st!!

drool.. yummy yummy food!!

Tempted? Anticipated?

Jot down in your diary..

Malam Malaysia 2008

30th August 2008
(Saturday)

More to come!! =)

(Photos source: Rydges Christchurch)

Some Updates

2008-06-07T11:54:00.006+12:00

monologue:
we should do some template editing to the blog some day... when the posters and logo are out then we will decorate this blog a bit lar ok? :D

ok. :p)

so where should i start from?

Malam Updates

worked super hard for the grant proposal! thanks to Wan Yin, IngChia, Ka-Mun, Firdaus, Nat, Elyana for going through this with me! we learnt heaps, kan? :D
a lot of fine-tuning of the venue, menu etc etc. won't bore you here with the details. just be rest assured that the team is working very hard for Malam :) very very hard. but as the nagging goes: rmb ur priority is your STUDIES!!!
you should be seeing posters and chalking around uni once the semester starts - look out for our marketing stint! ;) oo, and our trailer too! :D exciting exciting!
please support our chocolate fundraising efforts!!! :D thank you thank you!
Wan Yin and her team are working super hard for this as you can see! Man, Alip does make a good model! :D
till then, pray and hope together with us for financial assistance! you also want cheap ticket price and good food kan? :p

The Journey from the LB (dunno why they call me lady boss.. :p)

i wan to study!!! super super want to study! i have had enough of Malam for now. luckily this month is exam month, then i can concentrate on my research dy.. :p
on the subject of e-mails:
i said: "please reply my e-mails lar friends"
Ka-Mun said: "bullet-point, bullet-point :p"
Bern: "rather have a lot of emails than LONG e-mails."

oklar, i will keep the e-mails short and simple.

but people, next time, when you are in a leadership position, you will know the MOST frustrating on earth is when you need feedback and NO ONE's replying you. ok, wait, i should give credit to those who replied, thanks peepz! :D

i'm not exactly complaining - coz can also understand that everyone's mind is super saturated with uni work. i guess i have to change on my part too: write my e-mails in such a way that ppl will be able to understand quick, read quick... and reply promptly :) (btw, i'm pretty notorious for long e-mails.. ask my friends, they'd know :p)
Open and Honest Communication
i think this is what my team is - super honest with themselves, super honest with me, super honest with everyone. and i'm super proud of them! :)
people, i cherish all truthful communication :) it helps us to deal with issues in a more efficient way, and not to harbour any unhappiness against each other. so ya, keep up the good job! be loving and truthful ya! :D
Learning from each other
i take this whole Malam thing as a new learning experience. It's stretching me a lot in many ways. Write proposal. Budget flow. Communicating. Listening. Making decisions. Muka tembok. The list goes on.

in many things i dun have the experience, and i'm learning as i go. and i'm super thankful to have wise and experienced people to help out. i guess this is what you call.. equipping and empowering :p

i promised that i will work on with the team with any changes after they've submitted their plans etc. feel bad for not consulting before i do the changes. Sorry ya. Will work on that part :) a good leader must let the team know that he/she trusts them too! :D

ok, enough of my rants. till then...

study hard and smart!

the exams are here!!!

(^^)9

on the subject of exams...
"Who invented this evil?"
Lam, 2008

ps: that's why eat chocolate :p (refer to WanYin's post.. ekeke..)

2008-06-05T19:58:00.001+12:00

2008-05-31T23:29:00.004+12:00

CRAVING FOR CHOCOLATES ?? Exam Stress ??

Solution : Cadbury Dairy Milk Top Deck - $2 /bar

Cadbury chocolates always put a smile on your face =)

in conjunction with our fundraising activities, malam malaysia committees are selling Cadbury Cadbury Dairy Milk Top Deck chocolates for $2 per bar.

what is Cadbury Dairy Milk Top Deck ?
Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate with DREAM Real White Chocolate on top...YuMmiEeEe ^^

Who are our Chocolate Sellers?
Jasmine, Emma, Firdaus, Gloria, Mun yee, Merlin, Natasha, Quratul, Mamat, Jacky, Wan Yin, Bernard, Mee Siew

How to place your order ?
Please txt / or send us an e-mail at malam.msia08@gmail.com to place ur orders. Do provide name, and handphone number.

Thanks! =)

This keeps me going =)

2008-05-31T18:27:00.000+12:00

Counting Cars...

2008-05-29T12:16:00.005+12:00

so on a cold and frosty morning, as early as 7am (after a meet-up at 6.30am), in striking yellow vests, armed with a clip board, a pen, a counter - and anything else to make the job bearable - off went about 100 people, mainly students - stationed at intersections - counting the traffic.

yes, you count the vehicles going straight, turning left, turning right.

amongst this group of people were few people from the Malam team - who will contribute a certain amount of their earnings into the Malam fund.

yup, that's one of our fund-raising projects ;) it's actually a pretty easy (and monotonous) job - and you earn quite a lot too. So we thought this would be a good way to raise some funds.

thanks to Wan Yin's ingenius ideas! :)

i forgot to take pictures of Azmir and Natasha - they were there too. And there will be BenJ who will be taking up the afternoon shift later.

i had prior commitments in the morning so i couldn't work the full session - gutted. but that's why i also had time in the morning to take some photos and do some stuff :)

There will be more activities to come. Will update them here and do let us know if you wanna help out. you dun have to be in the team to help us with the fundraising btw ;) if you feel like it, why not? glo promises a treat for you :)

Once again, thank you to the team members who took their time out :)

On another note, finally the proposal is finished and awaiting editing from the experienced. We are right on dot with our deadlines - awesome!

June will be the exam month so there will be a slow-down. Nevertheless, do keep visiting us and feel free to leave us a shout whenever! We will be updating as often as we can!

till then, enjoy the lovely sun!

theme ;)

2008-05-29T00:23:00.004+12:00

will not reveal the theme until i get someone to do a really cool and awesome trailer.. ;) huhu.

for now - set the date aside!! and set some money aside!

we really really hope to see YOU there!!! :D

ladies and gentlemen....

Malam Malaysia 2008 will be at...

Venue
Rydges Hotel, Christchurch
(http://www.rydges.com/hotel/0/RZCHCH/Rydges-Hotel-Christchurch.htm)

Date
30 August 2008

Time
TBC

Price
TBC

come come come!!! :D

Dance!

2008-05-28T18:06:00.003+12:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd_aLSizoHQ&feature=related

i tot this was cool ;)

not easy to dance Malay dance.. at least for me lar :p and they did well! :) tot it was cool! :)

Hear the music, before the song is over

2008-05-28T17:25:00.002+12:00

Let's smile and enjoy ourselves on route to the Day =)

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask how are you
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
with the next hundred chores
running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship dies
Cause you never had time
To call and say, "Hi"
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,,
It is like an unopened gift...
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower.
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

-This is from an Internet hoax.. no joke! but this is good =)

Teamwork

2008-05-28T13:10:00.003+12:00

They told me there is no “I” in team.

I am an athlete.
I am an individual.
I am strong.
I am weak.
I have desires, hopes, and dreams.
I have goals.
I have fears.
As a team my opponent will never see my weaknesses.
Only my strength, never my fears, only my goals as they unfold before them.
I am not afraid that my team will see my fears, my hopes,
dreams, or desires.
I trust them to an unlimited level.
I am not afraid that my team will see my faults, because
With them I can overcome my faults, with them I am
fearless, with them I have hopes and dreams.
With my team I am not weak, I do not have the strength
of one athlete, but of many, combined, focused,
And dangerous to my un-united opponent.
I become my team and my team becomes me.
I do not judge, and I am not judged.
I have a goal, and the team has a goal.
The team goal is my goal.
All that matters is that the team reaches its goal.
They always told me there is no “I” in “Team”.
They were wrong.
I am the team.
I became the team.
The team became me.
The team becomes an entity unto itself.
The team is strong, creative, compassionate, caring,
Authoritative, disciplined.
The team absorbs “I”, and then there is “I” in “Team”.
The “I” becomes part of something much more powerful.

They were right there is no “I” in “Team”,
But there is “Team” in me.

...and because of that

Together
Everyone
Achieves
More

this made me wanna cry...

2008-05-28T13:00:00.002+12:00

University of Reading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU87MiqDpZ8&feature=related

man. i love the song and the message brought out from the song and the video - and those smiles - man!! i feel soooooooooo warm just watching that video!!

..and the guitar strumming... awwww... i heart it to the max!!!

super inspired to write a song too!!! ingchia, bernie, benj, and whoever who wants to do it together! come on, let's write a song!! :) i've got some lyrics in my mind dy. a result of a boring math tut yesterday :p

game? :D

Some Trailers

2008-05-28T12:54:00.004+12:00

YouTube is super powerful ;)

realised that the Malaysian Nights in some universities are like really hard-core musicals ;)

man. i'm so super amazed at the talents!!!

i'm super pumped up now! come on, UoC!! :D let's rock Christchurch!

Liverpool Malaysian Night 2008

Liverpool Malaysian Night Bhangra Dance (btw, those flickering lights might cost us about NZD200-300 here :p)

UCL Malaysian Night Intro Video 2008 (one of my favourite ones :p reminds me a bit of HSM)

Manchester Malaysian Night Trailer 2

Canary Manchester Malaysian Night 2007

Reading University M-Night "BUTA" 2007: Something Chun (this was pretty amusing..)

Money Matters

2008-05-28T00:34:00.005+12:00

ad a discussion with the treasury team today about the budget.

the increase of cost can really dampen the spirits. we sat there for quite a while in silence. stress began to build in. but still we know that we have to stand strong and have the faith that we are able to get those funds.

i guess most of you who have organized events before will know how this feels ;) all sort of costs just pop out from nowhere... oh well. *pfft*

we are firm on charging not more than NZD45.00 for the tickets - but it also would mean that we are gonna lose quite a big sum of money.

but it's okay - we are still working out the budget - whatever it is, food must be enough, deco must be fantastic, transport must be provided - and everyone has a good time!

so tmrw night will be a long night for me as i work on the grant application and proposal. you want the sponsorship, you better make sure you present yourself worthy of that sponsorship ;)

our sponsorship team is ready to go BLITZKREIG! on potential sponsors - just waiting for me to finish the proposal. Hehe. sorry guys for taking so long but i'll definitely get it done tmrw even if it means that i am not sleeping ;)

anyway, i was feeling a bit down about the cost and ya, can't help but frown. thankfully, out-of-nowhere, Bernard came over and in all his enthusiasm, started to brief me on what his team will be doing.

exciting exciting exciting!

i was encouraged to hear that the team was enjoying themselves and also got things planned out.

thanks Bern for dropping by just at the right time!

Bern, or as some ppl call him Bernie, is one of my good friends here in CHCH. He's really funny - man, you should see him at the meetings ;)

Bern, i just want to say thank you for your commitment and effort that you are putting into this event - and i'm really looking forward to see what your team is going to deliver. it's gonna be exciting!

once again, thank you for all that you have done as a friend and brother;
and as one of the team leaders in Malam.

you are a great guy with a great heart!

fighting!!!

bernard and me at Taylors Mistake
we were about to climb a hill... i mean, walk up a hill..

haha.. i do feel as if i'm walking up a steep hill right now
sometimes it feels so hard to breathe
but when i think of God and the people who are walking together in this journey
it's not that hard anymore :)

Let's do this together!

2008-05-27T23:18:00.001+12:00

ingchia

cari2 crew

wanyin

Punctuality

2008-05-27T18:48:00.003+12:00

i believe that if i dun respect time, time wouldn't respect me either :)

punctuality is a virtue that i'm learning to acquire. to be on time for classes, on time for meetings and appointments, on time for gatherings... even getting up early in the COLD mornings (still working hard on that ;p).

for CMSA committee meetings, we have this 'siape-lambat-kena-bayar' (if-u-late-then-pay) thing. President late - 5 bux; sec or treasurer late - 2 bux; the rest - 1 buck. if you can't attend the meeting and did not inform beforehand - fined :)

it all voices down to respecting your time and also other people's time.

the same will apply for our main Malam meetings. at first i wanted to do it for the first meeting - however some of them apparently din get the notice about the meeting etc - so well - anyway, when we have our next main meeting - this will be implemented :)

same goes for myself - i told WY that whenever i have an appointment with her - if i am late - i will pay. just so that i will stop being late :) coz there are 10001 excuses to be late - and i think i've used them all up :p

i agree with what Ing Chia shared at the meeting the other day (paraphrased):

"not Malaysian time, but NZ time. be punctual! we all come here to learn something - and i'm sure one of them is to be a better person."

she's really firm on punctuality. i remember when she made the appointments with the various venues, she kept emphasizing on us to be on time - thanks to her advice - we surely were on time, and i know that it will also make a good first impression ;)

thanks Ing Chia for those words of wisdom! :)

thanks also to those who turned up early and on time for the meeting - i truly appreciate it.

as for Malam, we do hope to be able to start on time though it can be quite tricky. but i am sure our protocol team will be able to work out something with regards to time so that each second in Malam will be worth your money :)

till then, what are YOUR views on punctuality? would like to hear from YOU. do leave a comment or shout at the chatbox ;) cheers!

The Journey

2008-05-26T22:37:00.000+12:00

Last Friday, Glo, Wan Yin, Emma, Mun Yee and Jasmine (and Merilyn) journeyed to the city to look at the prospective venues where Malam could be held. They were ~~eating and drinking at Starbucks in between venues~~ going hard out at the library.

"Don't pray pray"
WY looking for inspiration through that art and craft book

Our Lady Boss thinking
Can see the booooooks?

Then on Saturday, the whole team met to brainstorm about the theme and other stuff. However, being Malaysians we always have food first! =) Tuna and mayo sandwich + chips courtesy of Lady Boss. My guess is that was to make sure we were awake and thinking hard! Heh.

Then we had our 'family' photo:

Mamat and Hafiz were the only ones missing. (I think)

"Bernard not cool pun" - Firdaus aka Zai Pong

In action:

I agree!

p.s. As mentioned in previous post, theme and venue will be announced later this week.

Brotherhood

2008-05-26T21:09:00.002+12:00

"Brotherhood"

ps: if you have any Malam pics that you wanna post up here, send them to malam.msia08@gmail.com
cheers!

Basic Communication Tools

2008-05-26T14:35:00.005+12:00

haha. i've borrowed some project management books from the library just so that i can learn from the experts on how to handle a project.

it's not just gonna be a ball - it's gonna be more than a ball :) (Lam, 2008)

i'm currently reading a book called "Managing peope, including yourself" by Culp and Smith (1992).

Some basic communication tools for effective interpersonal coomunnications:

actively listen
do not judge or evaluate the other person
demonstrate empathy and understanding
ask open questions
check your perceptions of what others are saying (*mm, important!*)
check the perceptions that others have of what you said (*agree!*)
concentrate on the other person, even though your mind may want to race ahead at a speed higher than that of the spoken words (*glo nods head vigorously*)
give feedback effectively
be generous with praise that is deserved
be open to receive feedback without reacting emotionally
evaluate verbal and nonverbal signals
be sure that your verbal and nonverbal signals are in alignment
be enthusiastic (haha.. i think i have too much of that.. might scare ppl of at times ;p)
look beyond the appearance of the person for the message
use language that is understandable to the other person
be conscious of and control the nonverbal messages that you send

though we may have heard of all these 'principles' through different channels, but i believe that effective communication is a life-long learning process. it's always good to be reminded :) and i will put these tools into practice not only for Malam, but for life ;)

effective communication will definitely be a valuable tool for a smooth flow for the night ;) most importantly, i will get to know the team members even better as we learn from each other.

i like what Carl Rogers said:

"a sensitive ability to hear, a deep satisfaction in being heard, an ability to be more real, which in turn brings forth more realness from others... herein my experience are the elements that make interpersonal communication enriching and enhancing."

will continue to post up stuff that i'm learning as i read :p haha. 3 more books to read ;) pretty much my bed-time story book or toilet newspaper or bus trip books :p

In The News Today

2008-05-26T01:13:00.004+12:00

I'm thinking of merging the deco and publicity team, any thoughts? We could do things together since we're the 'creative' part of the team.

Malam 1992

2008-05-25T23:17:00.003+12:00

a Google search found us this:

Malam Malaysia in Christchurch (1992)

seemed more like a festival kind rather than a dinner :)

jus tot it was a pretty random and fun finding to share! :)

Photos

2008-05-25T22:20:00.000+12:00

Committee group

During meeting

This week's updates

2008-05-25T17:55:00.002+12:00

we had our brainstorming session yesterday. Emma will be posting some photos and stuff on the meetings we had thus far some time soon ;)

we will update you with the date, venue and theme of Malam some time this week. Currently waiting for some things to be finalized before we can release the dates and all.

over these few weeks, amidst the studies and cold weather and organizing, i can pretty much relate to this:

The crowd gives the leader new strength.
Evenius

once again, thanks folks! :)

anyway, what's most urgent now is $$$. We will be working on the grant proposal this week and also sending letters out to potential sponsors. Our team will be also doing some fund-raising. We will update you more on that later on :)

As for the decorations and the events etc etc for the night...

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
George S. Patton

To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
"We did it ourselves!"
Lao-tsu

The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.
Theodore Roosevelt

have been learning heaps! till then, off to shower, dinner and then uni~! :)

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
John F. Kennedy

have a great week ahead, people! :)

Hello Sunshine!

2008-05-25T17:22:00.004+12:00

Gloria says we should contribute.

This is mine.

Lalala.

Merlin is not lame.

Oh remember to share ideas!

Malam Videos...

2008-05-24T16:43:00.003+12:00

The wonders of technology, and the greatness of Youtube! :p

This link is a search result for Malam Malaysia's held around various universities around the world:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=MALAM+malaysia&search_type=

Some videos from Malam 2007:
The Secret Lives of Malaysians: Part 1

The Secret Lives of Malaysians: Part 2

Some videos from Malam 2006:
Malam MCs Saying Their Gudbyes

Gypsy Dance

Cool Dance Part 1
Cool Dance Part 2

Joget Berhibur by RAM

more to come, hopefully... trying to find more videos :)

Close your eyes, and listen... What comes into your mind? =)

2008-05-23T00:28:00.000+12:00

Strength

2008-05-22T23:15:00.001+12:00

when the team takes out the time and makes the effort, sacrificing their time and energy to put this Malam together... it really gives the leaders a lot of strength.

thank you, team, for your enthusiasm and commitment, and for all the sacrifices you've made.

thank you, team, for bearing with my long e-mails too.

i'm honoured to work with you.

[to insert team photo here soon]

love,
glo.

Come on everyone ;)

2008-05-19T17:47:00.002+12:00

Building networking and negotiation skills

2008-05-17T11:40:00.001+12:00

(on behalf of Ka-Mun: you can e-mail him at kml64, yup, our student e-mail)

Hi people!

CMSA is intending to raise some funds for the upcoming Malam Malaysia.
We have formed a team of industrious people to get the gears working. (*crank crank*)

Our target this year is a half of five digits (NZD 5,000) :-) It's not an impossible target to reach - not at all :-)

We will like to share the arts of the trade. If you are keen to build some networking or negotiation skills - just hit me with a reply. Let us learn from one another :-)

If you are uncertain - hit me with a reply too. Confidence is never spontaneous - it's a learning process. We were once like you - but everything must has a start right? :-)

"If you want more, you have to require more from yourself"
-Dr. Phil-

Special Thanks to...

2008-05-16T00:00:00.002+12:00

Lam
Ka-Mun

(Donkey-Man :p)

aka
vice-secretary

aka

sponsorship team boss

thanks for being such an awesome encourager!

and man, you have my utmost respects on how you can juggle between your studies and the many many many many many meetings and organisational work with the many many many organisations you are dealing with!

mon 50% test
tues assignment
wed assignment
thurs meeting
fri ???

endless!

thank you so much for all your time and effort!

and, as what you always say to us:

"studies comes first!"

hope you do well in your studies!

:D

First Meeting and Deadlines

2008-05-10T12:43:00.004+12:00

So we had our first meeting. Seems like these people have a lot of crazy ideas. The only main issue of concern now is funding and some twitchy-ness (as Ka-Mun puts it) here and there about various issues. But i believe that we can pull through.

Main focus now: proposal and budget allocation for grant applications; fundraising activities; sponsorship hunt.

i will leave the theme and what-not to the brainstorming session later this month. From the way things are going, i'm sure we'll be able to come out with something awesome. Right, team? :D

And now, some deadlines:

May
Finalize venue and theme

June
Teams at work; exams.

July
Teams at work; Rehearsals; Promotional activities; Ticket sales start.

August
Promotional activities; Full-dress rehearsals and anything necessary

August 30 2008 - MALAM!!!

Right. Glad that things are moving and the ball is rolling a little faster.

Back to uni work. Btw, this is gonna be super random. But you know what, TXT2000 rockssssss! :p

ps: Thanks to Azmir and Raymond who attended the meeting and gave much input and advice. Good to have you there! :)

Malam 08 Team

2008-05-10T12:31:00.004+12:00

Might be quite a big team but 25 people would be the maximum :)

Organising Chairpersons
Gloria Teng Lim Wan Yin

Secreterial Team
Firdaus Hassan Lam Ka-Mun

Treasury
Quratul Natasha

Logistics
Phang Ing Chia Hafiz Majied

Protocol and Events
Bernard Khoo Emma Chin Benjamin Jon Ng Li Ying

Technical Crew
Mamat Jacky

Decorations
Chai Merlin Jasmine Ting Wong Mun Yee Nur Adilla Azhari

Publicity
Lim Wan Yin Sharon Yoon

Outcome of discussion with LMSS

2008-05-09T11:56:00.004+12:00

Due to the high level of commitment involved in this year's LMSS activities, i regret to inform that LMSS will not be able to collaborate with CMSA in organizing Malam this year. They will be having an international forum in mid-August; and a Malaysian fest in mid-November, not to mention the upcoming Bersatu Games, which, btw, do join in the games and training session if you are interested to be a part of the games. Kelvin Ting, our sports officer will be glad to answer any questions ;)

(hehe..promo Bersatu a bit here.. :p)

It's a bit disappointing that we aren't able to work together this year. They are a bunch of great and friendly people! Had heaps of fun working with them last time :) On the bright side, this allows more room for us to raise up CMSA members for the future.

Right. Time for uni. Stay tuned for the committee list and deadlines this weekend! Thanks for your continual visit too! :)

Survey Response

2008-05-07T20:23:00.002+12:00

Thanks to the 49 who participated in the survey. Your feedback is very much appreciated!

i am very much happy with the number of responses we have gotten so far and the many suggestions that we've got. Thank you! We will be discussing on the survey responses during our meeting this weekend. As for now, i will reserve any comments about the survey until after the meeting.

Some of you indicated that you would like to help out in Malam but did not leave names. If you are still keen to help out in Malam, could you please send us an e-mail at malam.msia08@gmail so that we can plug you into the team? Thanks!

Also, if you did leave your name but we have not yet contacted you, please do not hesitate to send me an e-mail if you are still keen to be in the team. Thanks!

Okay. So here are the main results:

(the number beside each answer indicates the number of people)

Respondents:
First year - 7
Second year - 15
Third year or above - 27

Would you like to attend Malam?
Yes - 18
No - 3
Maybe - 28

Reasonable ticket price?
$5 - 1
Under $20 - 1
$20-$30 - 13
$30-$40 - 13
$40-$50 - 12
$50-$60 - 2
Under $80 - 1

Dinner style?
Buffet - 19
A La Carte - 9
Either - 16

Performances?
Dances - 19
Band - 31
Sketches - 15

Some suggested magic showw, stand up comedy stomping. Some suggested having one of each performances. One said: please, no sketches :)

Venue?
UCSA Ballroom - 14
Convention Centre - 11
Town Hall - 8
Hotel ballroom - 21

Some didn't mind anywhere. One respondent said: "Cheap (rent) is good". Another person emphasized that the atmosphere, program and the people matter more than the venue.

After-Party?
Must have! - 11
Don't need. - 7
Doesn't matter. - 24

On negative feedbacks from the previous Malam's:

Food - not enough food; not worth the price;
Performances - boring; not enough; should be more understanding when using the Malaysian language as there are non-Malaysians and people who don't understand Malay.
Sound system not too good.
Publicity too late; not successfully advertised; not enough people

Some positive feedbacks:

good desserts
good lucky draw prizes
nice sketches and dances
class, standard, elegance

Constructive suggestions:

please make sure food is enough (this was the top of the list); serve food on time
more lucky draws; good prices; air ticket
less speeches; not draggy
different cultural dance; variety in performances
have a constructive program throughout the night, can also incorporate ballroom dancing
make it a Malaysian theme
affordable and simple, people can mingle and have fun - dance if you want, eat if you want...
publicize early; special discounts
have more than one laptop to backup
MC very important to bring the atmosphere
nice photos or random shots of people during the event
People would get to know each other better; a time to share and gather for people to mingle around
well-attended event
classy theme, professional photographers
interesting theme

That's all thus far. Thanks again to everyone for your time and feedback! It's good to hear from you!