P1 Wimax : Stronger, Wider, Faster

As a 2-year old company, P1 or its real name, Packet One Networks (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has really made advances which they can be proud of. If you look at their offerings under a microscope, of course, they have warts and all, like any other company, but as someone who had been given a chance to associate myself with them since early 2009, during the launch of their mobile broadband called Wiggy, I have a tendency to view them favourably. I actually bought their stocks in the hope of making a profit like what most people would have said when they see Microsoft or Apple Inc. then and now.

So, on 20th October, a few days before the the ad campaign could be seen in all media around town, especially the newspaper, we got a bit of a preview. It is to launch a new offering by P1 where you can subscribe the home and mobile broadband together in one package. With the tag of Getting Stronger, Wider and Faster with kids wearing superhero costumes and saying words like Getting Stwonger and such, it shows kid of 2 years old doing amazing things. The all-in-one 4G 'Super Broadband' package also comes with a 'Super Quota' which can be shared between the two.

P1 Wimax also re-brand itself to be known as P1 4G now to show that it is offering 4G connectivity. As this is published, you would have seen the new ad campaign and it will be on billboards, monorails, print medias, radio and TV. They did address the voices of a few unsatisfied customers within the hall that day in which they admit some of their shortcoming and they also acknowledge the growing competition of broadband deployment. For more information, do visit www.P1.com.my.

Here are some pictures from the event which ended with us having dinner on the rooftop of P1 HQ :

Keeping to my promise

Not to harp my own trumpet or anything but if any of you remember, I did promise to give RM0.50 of the sale of each of my book to a charity organisation which I had determined the moment my book was out in print. I did try to put an announcement on the book about it but after sometimes, I find it easier to keep it to myself and make sure I did it on my own effort. 

My wife and my partner are those who keep reminding me to make sure I keep to my promise and when I received my first royalty payment last August, I straight away calculated the amount I would be giving to Pertubuhan Misi Penyelamat Bumi, an NGO, led by Dato' Tan Kar Meng, a client and a friend, who had the best intention in trying to save the environment, especially the mangrove forest, using his own invention called the pillow tube.

Dato' Tan has always been one of the businessman who keeps to himself and is one of my business idol since the day I start to know him. As a client he is one of our best and as a friend, he is one of the most caring. Read about the man and his environmental effort from an excerpt from the Tatler magazine here and from his own company, Perwira Bintang, website here. My contribution is just a drop in the sea in contrast with what this man has managed to do. That is why I accepted the job of being the trustee to this NGO when Dato' Tan asked me too. I hope to contribute in some way, one way or another.

Here are pictures of him and I at Pertubuhan Misi Penyelamat Bumi headquarters in Sunway :

Islamic Finance weekend plus Monday

It was a very important occasion for me on a personal level and my legal firm as I graduated from International Center for Education of Islamic Finance ("INCEIF")on 23rd October 2010. I now can add Chartered Islamic Finance Professional at the back of my name or CIFP (INCEIF) in short. I started the part time program of this course in 2007 and now I managed to graduated with around 80 other graduands. Our names were published in the newspaper on that day.

All this week, other than the graduation ceremony of INCEIF graduands, there was a bigger event in Malaysia relating to Islamic finance. It was the Global Islamic Finance Forum or GIFF in which INCEIF played a very big role. As Islamic finance grows, these professionals are needed to fill the needs of Islamic finance institution like syariah advisory boards, takaful operators, Islamic banks, sovereign funds of Islamic countries and universities which are supplying these professionals.

On Sunday, 24th October 2010, the Association for Chartered Islamic Finance Professional was launch and it is supposed to be a platform for all CIFP members to connect with each other exchanging ideas even after they became graduates. In short, it is an association for those still studying and those who have graduated, which is most universities is known as alumni.

On Monday, 25th October 2010, it was the first day of the Global Islamic Finance Forum  (GIFF) which had the Malaysian PM, Dato' Seri Najib Tun Razak, the Central Bank Governor, Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar, and the patron of Malaysia Islamic Finance Center, Raja Nazrin Shah gracing the opening ceremony. At the end of it, there was the announcement of the International Islamic Liquidity Management Corporation to manage Islamic countries the liquidity of the countries who agree such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Bahrain, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Indonesia and a few others. It was a coup by Islamic Financial Service Board as they will be managing the fund.

All this Islamic finance development is made more meaningful as I also achieved a new personal milestone and this picture is one of the best that I will treasure forever :

With the Chancellor of INCEIF and Governor of Central Bank Msia

Finally I graduated

This coming week will be another milestone for me. After studying part-time for nearly 3 years for my Certified Islamic Finance Professional (CIFP) degree from International Centre of Education for Islamic Finance (INCEF). The beauty of it is that this degree is equivalent to a Masters degree which means that I can straight away apply and do a PhD study course if I choose so. I am still thinking about it as I am not sure the benefit I can gain from such study.

This CIFP will help my legal firm to do work for many of the Islamic finance institutions like Islamic banks, takaful (Islamic insurance) company and many of the companies which use Islamic finance concept in their business. Islamic finance is going big in Malaysia and there is this one interesting post-graduate scholarship which is being offered in Oxford under Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies which is fully sponsored by Khazanah Malaysia (a Malaysia government-linked company). As someone who never studied outside of Malaysia, I am actually contemplating this more for the experience.

Anyway, my graduation is on the 23rd of October, shy of 4 days of my birthday. As someone who is old as me, there is no better birthday present than this...

Breast Cancer Awareness Months

As my legal firm had contributed a bit to National Cancer Society of Malaysia ("NCSM") when they were having their Relay for Life this year, we are getting updates from them in their effort in educating and fighting the good fight against cancer. Although none of my family or close friends or our employees ever had any close brush with cancer yet, may Allah protect us from it, as you know, due to the nature of cancer being your own cell being 'bad'.

When we were promoting the Relay for Life event in Bangsar

As breast cancer is a common occurrence, October is designated by NCSM as a breast awareness month and they are having a series of talks to help people understand more and take precautions, as much as one can, against it.

Do visit the talks as they are educational and are good platforms to start understanding this killer disease :

1.    9 October 2010, MPH The Curve, 2.00pm – 4.00pm

‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ – Talk by Dr Dalilah Kamarudin, Head of Women’s Detection Centre, NCSM. Free seating. Call Meem at 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

2.    23 October 2010, NCSM (*), 10.00am – 12.00pm

‘Sex After Cancer’ – Talk by Dr Shamala Dorai, Hospital KL. Free limited seating. Call 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

3.    30 October 2010, MPH Megastore One Utama, 2.00pm – 4,00pm

‘Breast Cancer Awareness’ – Talk by Dr Dalilah Kamarudin, Head of Women’s Detection Centre, NCSM. Free seating. Call Meem at 03 2698 7300 for reservation.

(*)National Cancer Society Malaysia, 66 Jalan Raja Muda Abdul Aziz, 50300 KL – 03 2698 7300.