UMNO Conference Mania

UMNO and me has been connected for many years. I was born in Kepala Batas, Penang. Most of my immediate family still lives there. My grandfather's house was only about 200 yards away from Datuk Abdullah Badawi, the Prime Minister's house. Our family knew each other since I can remember. My grandfather, uncles and mother are all ardent supporters of UMNO. They really put their time and effort into it. They really believe in what UNO stands for. They believe that UMNO is the reason for Malaya (as Malaysia was known at the time) to gain independence from the British.

The spirit rubbed off to me. When I was a student i the UK, I was active in the UMNO Club there. By 1997, I was the UMNO Youth Head for the UK an Eire. Unfortunately then that I encountered first time on how politics can be dishonest and deceitful. I don't see it as my cup of tea. I like everything straight and I am more of a 'do'er than a talker. People close to me knew that. I didn't pursue UMNO anymore.

AT the turn of the Millennium, A fair few of my peers from UMNO left the organisation and joined the Opposition, Parti Keadilan. I still hear from them from time to time, so as from my friends that remained in UMNO. It is very clear there two kinds of people in both camps. The 'do'ers, the real core that get the things done, and another group that are in it for the power. Different political parties, but they are essential the same. Not all of them are corrupted. They are still a few that are genuinely to make a difference. But oftentimes they are the ones that shied away from the limelight. The unsung hero of the group.

This evening, we will learn who will be elected as the Vice and Deputy President, cum the Deputy Prime Minister. I hope it is the 'do'er in him that gets him elected. Hopefully there will also be less of this.

UMNO Election and Traffic Jam

I was glued to the TV most of tonight waiting for the UMNO election results. The Wanita wing has been announced where Dato' Seri Shahrizat absolutely trounced the incumbent Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz by a majority of 327. I wonder what have been going through Rafidah's mind because common wisdom dictates that she should have stepped down. The suspicion is Rafidah was planning to plant her people in Wanita UMNO hierarchy before stepping proper, forcing Shahrizat, 10 years Rafidah's junior, should she be competing and won the Deputy post will have to be an acting Head for the next 3 years with Rafidah's pals are in the higher echelon. Well, that is just my 2 sen. Credit to Shahrizat, she tried her hardest to defuse the situation during her acceptance speech.

The Puteri wing leaders has been decided, but I did not have the chance to peruse through the candidates. As for the UMNO Youth, the results has not been announced yet at the time I am writing this blog. I will update later.

I don't really have much of preference at this point in time in terms of who I wanted to win for the wing leaderships. I am however keen to know who the Deputy President will be as he will be the next Deputy Prime Minister. I got a strong feeling that it will go to Tan Sri Muhyidin. To be honest, there aren't that many alternatives in the current crop of leaders.

The way UMNO election works is by representative democracy. The basic unit in the UMNO structure is called a branch. The next unit up is the division. Each division, depending on it member size will have a quota of 'representatives' to the UMNO election held every three years. These 'representatives' are the ones who will be casting the votes. Although the system is thought to be more efficient, in terms of time and cost, it is certainly open for manipulation with money and power. In the week leading up to the election, the were a few revelations made by the UMNO Disciplinary Committee concerning abuse of power. A candidate for the Deputy President was consequently barred only last week, definitely raising a few eye-brows.

The thing that bothered me the most about the UMNO meeting is the fact that I have to endure a traffic jam en route home. The venue where the event was held is right next to the main ring road in KL. I have to remember to avoid the area tomorrow, when I think the meeting will start to heat up. I'll probably retire early tonight as I am still recovering from the weekend trip to Ipoh.

I have also updated Idlan's photo page earlier.

Update on Thursday, March 26, 2009 at 12:28AM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Khairy won the Youth Head post. Listening to excerpts of his acceptance speech now.

Back in KL

They don't appear keen to go home. Do they?

The 'Problem Solving' paper this morning seems rather more reasonable compared to the CPC yesterday. After the exams, there were some confusion about what to bring back with me to KL. I was rather anxious to get going because I don't want to be stuck with exam papers in my hands overnight. Anything can happen!

Idlan playing Wii in the hotel suite while Irfan and Mum surfing the Net

The counting of the scripts after the exam also took longer than expected. There were a few scripts without the seat number filled, making life complicated for us. We tallied everything in the end. The list for short and long cases next week has been announced. The students now have a clear idea of what is ahead. The RCMP boys and girls will be traveling in a couple of buses to UM this afternoon, hoping to reach there before the traffic build up. They will be spending the next 10 days or so in UniKL campuses, being shipped into UM daily for the exams. The OSCE will start tomorrow running for a couple of days. They will then have the rest of the week off before the long cases Monday to Wednesday, the short cases Thursday onwards. They will be praying for good news come Monday to hopefully attend the mini convocation on the 7th. I might take my leave that day and see off my Final year students. Have to start calling them doctors by then!

The Racecourse from our suite window

Since there were no rush, we had lunch at Casuarina before leaving. We left just before three. On the way to Tambun yesterday, Anita was struck by a sign board just off Casuarina pointing the way to 'Impiana Bougainvillea'. She thought it is a hotel or a rest house. It turned to be a new housing development. Disappointed, we made our way to KL, reaching the Jalan Duta toll house just before 5. There was no traffic jam back to Gombak. Had the time to clean the car right after before settling in. Back to work tomorrow. I have already have a couple of text messages this morning from patients asking if I will be in tomorrow.

The Lost World of Tambun

Irfan on the pirate ship a Explorabay

After the formal stuff was done, the boys got fretful and wanted to go out. A quick web search and we thought we give the 'Lost World of Tambun' a look. We actually were looking for a place to have lunch initially. The theme park is located about 20 minutes away from Casuarina in the lunchtime traffic - which is no where near as hectic as KL. Typical of Malaysia, if not for my GPS, we would have gotten lost. The signage was next to pathetic. The have enough in terms of quantity, but they were well hidden from important turns. Quality tak dak!

You drive out of town towards the PLUS highway but through it. It is in a new township, built around the old Tambun town. There were plenty of new housing project around, plus of course a Sunway College as the whole area were developed by the Sunway Group.

A quick snack at the cafe

We reached there just after 1.30. A quick lunch at a burger bar. The boys were getting restless for a swim. There were 3 main pool areas, the Waterfall Beach Garden, complete with sand and man-made waves. The second being the Kid's Explorabay, with pirate ships and slides suitable for kids like Irfan and Idlan. The water here was only 50 cm deep max. The last pool area was unfortunately closed for cleaning. It is called Tambun Hot Spring. Apparently it is fed from a natural spring nearby and a big hit around here, with good lighting at night.

We spend a couple of hours at the Explorabay and a further 30 minutes at the beach. Luckily it is the week after the school break. There were not many people around. A few of the attractions and stalls were only opened at night. There were a couple of restaurants open and getting food is really easy. Changing room was a surprise for Anita as both the changing area and toilet were open air. The roof is open with only partitions for the cubicles.

After a long day, Irfan deserved a rest. Here trying to sleep with his Doraemon

Should you guys want to cuti-cuti Malaysia, you should give this place a go. There are plenty to explore with kayaking, animal feedings, camping and team-building facilities. There were also plenty of accommodation nearby. But most importantly, Giant is next door for a quick shopping. Well worth the RM25 entrance fee! Check out the website. Careful, the gate is closed on Tuesdays except during school breaks.

*pics of my boys were intentionally desaturated, sorry!

Greetings from Ipoh

The main entrance to the CollegeThe pickup this morning after breakfast was prompt at 8. The Royal College of Medicine Perak is only 10 minutes away, and there was hardly a morning rush. I was greeted by an officer from the Dean's Office, Cik Sarinah and was then ushered to meet the Deputy Dean, where I spend around 20 minutes chatting. He was interested in my take on the syllabus after learning that I am a Sheffield graduate. RCMP is currently using a syllabus similar to Sheffield while fine-tuning it to the local needs. He retired a couple of year ago as Deputy Director of Health, and his main specialty was Occupational Health.

The actual academic building was actually awesome. Purpose built for the college with a Moorish design, it certainly is different from UM. Personally however, I think they will struggle in the future when their program expands. The are currently gearing up to producing more than 100 doctors per batch and with only 3 lecture theatres they will need to expand. The facility currently cater for both clinical and pre-clinicals. In some of the attachments, the students will need to travel to district hospitals around Ipoh. The building is just next to Ipoh General Hospital where the students were also attached. Accommodations are rented, not purpose-built. The majority of the students were Malays, mostly MARA scholarship holders.

The examinations I must say were very well run. In the one I was involved in this morning, there were 4 invigilators with 4 other clerks helping out with administration. There were only 89 candidates and everything went without a hitch. Two of my fellow invigilators were UM graduates, a Surgeon and a Psychiatrist. I had a great time chatting with Dr Mohammad the Psychiatrist over coffee. He graduated in the early 80s and had been an academic for nearly 20 years. He was previously seconded to USM before joining UNIMAS in Sarawak. There, he had been doing plenty of freelance work, concentrating in organisational dynamics and psychology. I discussed his view on the lack of personal support for my cancer patients especially amongst Malays. I plan to invite him as a speaker during the upcoming MaxFamily meetings if everyone is keen. I later found out that his wife is an English teacher in MRSM Terendak, my high school. She joined after I left however.

The Ipoh General Hospital located just next door to the College

The transport back was again prompt to take me back to Casuarina.