54th Merdeka-Raya twins

By Laura Lee, Photo by Anthony Tan

1 September saw me at Tropicana Medical Centre (TMC) in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya to have a glimpse of the Merdeka babies born to two mothers at TMC Life Sciences Bhd’s flagship hospital.

At the car park on the way to the hospital’s lobby, I saw a Malay girl bringing some fanciful balloons as if she was going to a party or some celebration.

I found out later she is the sister of the happy couple, Faizal Harris Mohamad Kamal and Norzainab Paee, who had given birth to a pair of twin girls, conceived via the In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) technique on Merdeka Day.

The proud father informed me that Dato’ Dr Colin Lee had facilitated in the early stages of his wife’s pregnancy.

I had interviewed Dr Lee in the mid-90s, who was gaining fame as gynaecologist and obstretrician in helping childless couples to conceive using IVF when I was a journalist with the New Straits Times (NST).

He founded the Damansara Fertility Centre Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Damansara Women’s Specialist Centre Sdn Bhd, which in turn is 100% owned by TMC Life Sciences.

Despite the disposal of his shares in TMC Life Sciences August last year and subsequent resignation as managing director in this public-listed company on 31 August 2010, I was told Dr Lee only left the outfit two months ago.

He is now with Alpha International Fertility Centre and Women Specialist, which is also in Kota Damansara.

Back to the twins, Kayla Fara and Kaysha Zara, weighing 2.35 kg and 1.59 kg respectively, I was told it is not uncommon for their weights to be different.

They were delivered via Caesaran by Dr Leong Wai Yew.

Faizal said they were two weeks overdue and showed no signs of contraction.

The couple, both 38, had decided on 31 August to bring them into the world taking into cognizance the significance of it being the 54th Merdeka Day and the second day of the Hari Raya celebration.

This is their third attempt to have babies after 11 years of marriage. As I chatted with Faizal, I discovered that he was an ex-NST staff in the information technology department.

The other mother who delivered a Merdeka baby, Nicholas Yeow Tze E weighing 3.87 kg, was Agnes Yap Voon Kean from Perlis (pic). It is the first born son for the couple.

Both mothers and their babies received hampers from TMC.
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80% take-up for Mah Sing’s i-Sovo units

By Laura Lee


After making two wrong turns and no thanks to one misleading signboard, which asked me to turn Ieft just the project site (I was using the Lebuhraya Damansara-Puchong or LDP and coming from Kepong), I finally made it to Mah Sing Group Bhd’s spanking new Icon City’s show gallery, which was officially launched last Sunday (17 July 2011).

It showcases Mah Sing’s flagship commercial project in Petaling Jaya, Icon City, which will be developed over three to four phases.

Sited at the intersection of the LDP highway and the federal highway, the project enjoys high visibility.

It is located on the former Panasonic land which Mah Sing bought in 2009 for RM89 million or RM102 per sq ft.

Unlike CIMB analyst Terence Wong, I’m not surprised by the turnout and good take-up rate its i-Sovo or small office versatile office units considering Mah Sing’s track record and previous successful launches and previews.

Where I live in Kepong Baru, we had flyers were distributed to our homes regarding its Icon City’s launch of these units on Sunday.

Explaining this new concept at the press conference, Mah Sing managing director and group chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said i-SoVo are commercial suites with modern and yet practical layouts.

Comprising two towers, the units come in built-up of 745 sf ft and 1,094 sq ft with prices ranging from RM599,000 to RM745,676.

Ambitious to change the landscape of Petaling Jaya with its RM3.2 billion Icon City project, Leong announced that the group would have 14 new ramps in place to ease the congestion of this area and improve the connectivity or accessibility.

Owing to the good response towards its first tower's i-SoVo units, in particular the larger size units which were sold out on Saturday (where some 60% of sales were clinched), Mah Sing, which was supposed to offer a total of 283 units from the two 31-storey towers, changed the total number of units to 410.

The two towers will now have 198 (Tower 3) and 212 units (Tower 3A) respectively.

This was made possible by making available more units with smaller built-up which small and medium sized enterprises can afford to own.

Also, they will be able to obtain loans of up to 90% for these units. The residential loan to value restrictions does not apply here.

Andy Chua, chief operating officer of Mah Sing Properties Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mah Sing, said these duplex i-SoVo units are not your typical office.

They are flexible and can be used as a music studio, art gallery and design house.

If you plan to use it as your private hangout, take note that no piping and gas are installed for these units, which sit on a three-storey podium car park with level 4 as the main lift lobby.

Levels 5 and 6 is where the proposed business or secretarial centre will be sited with video conference facilities as well as an executive club with gymnasium, Jacuzzi pool and sauna amenities.

From level 8, the i-SoVo units will enjoy double volume high ceilings while levels 11, 18 and 23A will feature sky gardens.

The i-SoVo units will also be equipped with WiFi/high speed broadband.

Mah Sing had an 80% take-up rate with sales totalling RM426.5 million for its i-SoVo units over the weekend.

Conceived with sustainability in mind, Icon City, will be certified with Malaysia’s Green Building Index, Singapore's Green Mark and the United States’ Leadership in Energy and Environment Design.

The Icon show gallery, which had violinist Joanne Yeoh performing on Sunday, is open from 10am to 6pm daily.

Face off between Ariff and Zakariah over MIER’s 5.2% growth forecast for 2011

By Laura Lee

With Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI) down since April to May, doubts have been raised about Malaysian Institute of Economic Research’s (MIER) 5.2% gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection for 2011.

This disturbing negative trend about the IPI was pointed out by its former executive director (ED) Professor Datuk Dr Mohamed Ariff during the question and answer session after the Malaysian economic outlook for the second quarter 2011 (2Q11) presentation by the institute at its 26th National Economic Briefing in Kuala Lumpur on 14 July.

Ariff did not think it was possible for MIER to maintain its 5.2% growth projection unless Malaysia posts improved second half (2H) year performance.

The IPI fell 5.1% year-on-year (y-o-y) in May on lower output in mining and electricity.

It fell 1.7% y-o-y in April while on a monthly basis, the IPI dropped by 1.3% (-7.2%: April ’11)

Malaysia’s 1Q11 GDP growth slowed to 4.6% y-o-y with all sectors down except for agriculture.

MIER ED Dr Zakariah Abdul Rashid said 2Q11 growth would be lower than 4.6% but at most would be above 4%.

He cited low consumer expenditure and slower export growth versus imports as the contributing factors for the poorer growth performance for the past few quarters.

Given the European sovereign debt problem, poor prospects in the United States and problems in China such as rising inflationary pressures, Zakariah does not expect Malaysia will not able to get much help externally.

Our only hope lies with the domestic elements. As such, he said MIER will maintain its 5.2% growth projection as the country has “powerful domestic driver of growth that will push our economy in the 2H”.

Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister Donald Lim Siang Chai announced his ministry would be asking government ministries and departments to step up their public expenditure in the 2H.

Whether this will happen is yet to seen. This includes the government’s initiatives to drive the economy via domestic demand and the implementation of its economic transformation programme (ETP).

At the National Conference on the 10th Malaysia Plan: Transformation Towards A High Income Advanced Economy on 18 July at Seri Pacific Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Zakariah will present a paper on The Economic Impact of ETP on the Malaysian Economy by 2020: An Input-Output Analysis.

This paper, done in collaboration with MIER deputy director Ahmad Fauzi Puasa and research officer Raja Zarina, will show among other things the marked structural gap between Malaysia and other countries in terms of input-output.

Currently, we are 38% behind South Korea, 28% behind Poland and 10% behind Japan.

If we are equipped with these countries’ structural outfits, possibilities of us generating bigger output, household income and employment as well as a high income economy appear bright.

Don’t miss this conference which is co-organised by MIER and Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Other speakers include former Bank Negara Malaysia deputy governor Professor Tan Sri Dr Lin See Yan on Hope, Enterprise and Change.

GBI presentation at CIMA Green Sustainability Conference 2011

By Laura Lee

Green Building Index (GBI) will be one of the many topics that will be discussed at Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Green Sustainability Conference Asia 2011 which begins tomorrow (12 July 2011).

Malaysia Green Building Confederation vice president Looi Hip Peu will deliver the GBI presentation at 11am under Session two entitled Certifiably Green – What and How? at the conference which will be held at Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, which is also a venue partner of this event.

First phases of GBI Tools Launched Todate
Following the launch of the GBI Township Tool and Residential New Construction Tool on 29 March, the GBI Industrial New Construction Tool and Industrial Existing Building Tool were subsequently launched on 7 June.

These initiatives are in line with the government’s strong advocacy in promoting green buildings and sustainably built environment and Malaysia’s green agenda.

The Low Energy Office (LEO), which houses the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water, was the government’s first energy-efficient building which won the ASEAN Energy Award in 2006.

The Green Energy Office (GEO), which houses the Malaysia Green Technology Corporation, was the first building to receive the GBI certification followed by The Energy Commission’s Diamond Building, which received the platinum certificate under GBI on 31 May.

Several fiscal incentives for green technology development in Malaysia have been introduced by the government.

In the building sector, the 2010 budget had announced incentives for buildings awarded with the GBI.

Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Sri Peter Chin Fah Kui had said at the recent launch of the GBI Industrial New Construction Tool and Industrial Existing Building Tool that building owners obtaining GBI certificates from 31 October 2009 until 31 December 2014 would be entitled to income tax exemption equivalent to the additional capital expenditure in obtaining such certificates.

“Buyers purchasing buildings with GBI certificates from developers will be given stamp duty exemption on instruments of transfer of ownership.

“The exemption amount is equivalent to the additional cost incurred in obtaining the GBI certificates.”

Apart from this, he said incentives in the form of pioneer status, investment tax allowance, import duty exemption and sales tax exemption are available for initiatives on energy efficiency and renewable energy.

Chin had also announced that his ministry was finalising the Low Carbon Cities Framework and Assessment System.

“This assessment tool will enable local councils, developers and other users to assess their carbon footprint levels, suggest strategies to be taken and then helps them to assess their carbon footrprint levels once the strategies have been applied.”

Todate, almost 180 building projects have applied for GBI certification. Of this, 25 projects have received GBI provisional certification while two projects have obtained the GBI certification.

Sarawak Tourism Board Building Brand Value Via Events

Text by Laura Lee, Pix by Suchen SK

While I try to recapture what Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) chief executive officer Dato Rashid Khan (pic) shared with us at the media briefing yesterday upon our arrival for the Miri International Jazz Festival (MIJF), I could hear jazz music in the background as the bands tune their instruments and do their sound check ahead of this evening’s performance.

Dato’ Rashid, who is also the chairman of the steering committee, shared with us his strategy of organising events to spur tourism. They include incorporating some of the best corporate practices into government agencies, especially into areas like event management.

He said in the past, the government has provided seed money in the form of grants for such events as RWMF. STB wants to go beyond organising the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) and MIJF.

“We are looking at six additional events that will bring more tourists to the state.”

This will take place by 2011 and will have nothing to do with community events. The new events, all apparently music related, are expected to deliver brand value in the long term like what RWMF and MIJF have done.

They will not be just another government organised event but will be run professionally by experts like its artistic and programme director Randy Raine-Reusch and will have key attractions to make the event big.

Dato’ Rashid said these events must be of high class and world standard as they will be benchmarked against other global events.

“It must do normal things extraordinarily well.”

Why Miri? One of them is to tap on its proximity to Brunei and the foreign nationals who are working and residing there to come to Miri.

Dato’ Rashid is looking at increasing the tourist arrivals to seven million into Sarawak by 2015 under a five-year plan. He said the state’s target for next year is four million tourist arrivals and based his optimism on the cross border traffic from its neighbours like Brunei.

Statistics from Sarawak’s Immigration Department showed a total of 3,280,416 tourist arrivals for 2009, a dip from the 3.61 million reported for 2008.

Dato’ Rashid said Sarawak’s niche would be focused on music, culture and tribal stuff. Plans are afoot to hold these new events during low seasons as this when the private sector require the support most from the government. Such measures will also help to fill up the hotel rooms and contribute to the state’s economic activities.

With tourism’s multiplier effect of almost 12 times, the idea is to organise events that have a sustainable impact where the locals will benefit, he explained.

“The event organiser must also look at the profit and loss. The event should at least break even and not lose money so that we can invest the money to bring in more artistes.”

Dato’ Rashid said STB is exposing its staff to leadership development and has appointed two project managers to run the RWMF and MIJF.

Angelina P Bateman, STB former administration and finance manager, who has been made director of corporate communications and governmental relations, will be MIJF project director while Benedict Jimbau, STB director of marketing will be in charge of the RWMF, which will be held from 9-11 July.

Dato’ Rashid added that the governance process would be looked at to ensure that risk management and environmental issues would be addressed in 2011.

“We do not want to see plastic bottles all over the place.”

MIJF should create an ambience of festivity for the city of Miri rather than be localised in one venue. This, he said are some of the directions and strategic approaches that will be adopted for the forthcoming events.

“We want to make it happen and have asked the hoteliers to reflect the rainforest ambience for the RWMF for at least one to two weeks so that the whole city of Kuching can feel that it is a big happening.”

MAREC10 keynote address fails to set the tone

Soma to speak on day two of Marec10 on getting ready for a liberalised RE market in Malaysia

Text and pix by Laura Lee

Like most of the participants attending the start of the Malaysian Annual Real Estate Convention (Marec) 2010 today, I was looking forward to hear what the keynote speaker Reza Mardani has to say about the “Real Estate Way to Wealth”.

The main point that came out from his keynote address was “How you manage the process of your work is what counts”.

The other thing is your heart has to be there in what you do. Speaking from his experience of dealing with the infrastructure, oil and gas sector and civil areas, his advice to the audience was, “Do not leave your heart out of the deal. Your words have to satisfy your client’s emotions.”

Beyond these pointers, there was not much in his keynote speech. Keynote speakers are often carefully selected as they play a very crucial role in setting the tone of a meeting or convention besides helping to draw more participants to join the event.

They are usually someone who is well known in their field and recognised by many for their accomplishments.

According to Wikipedia, “the term key note comes from the practice of a cappella, often Barbershop singers, playing a note before singing. The note played determines that key in which the song will be performed”.

I understand in Reza’s case, he was very much a last minute selection as the copy of the convention programme sheet that was given out and the souvenir programme that was placed on our tables after lunch both has no mention of his name at all while the rest of the other speakers’ name for the two-day convention were all listed out.

When I tried to find out at the end of the convention on the first day from the staff manning the counter and certain key people from the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents (MIEA) what his name and designation were, none of them seemed to know.

I finally came across a girl, who had registered us media in the morning, who knew how our keynote speaker’s name was spelt as she had written his name on a card.

My request to find out the keynote speaker’s designation later came to the attention of the MIEA president who called my mobile to inform me that the keynote speaker was Asbanas Sdn Bhd’s operations director who heads the overseas business of oil and gas as well as commodities for the Middle East, America and Europe.

The next session on Live Your Dream by Datuk Jimmy Lim Thaw Chay saved the day!

After a brief introduction about him being Holiday Villa Ampang’s owner and his involvement in other projects such as Amcorp Mall and Lot 86 Ampang in Kuala Lumpur (KL), MIEA immediate past president Soma Sundram Krishnaswamy (pic) and Siva Shanker, who is in charge of the speaker’s programme, conducted an interesting dialogue between themselves and filled us in with insightful details about Lim.

Siva tells us that Lim attributed his success during his days at the corporate helm to SW, which means “simply whack”. Apparently, Lim also likes to keep his management style simple so that it is workable. As such, his talk and advice would also be simple so that we can understand him.

One such simple advice from Lim is, “Earn your money where your strength is and KL is your best bet for homes.”

Soma continued and shared with the audience Lim’s strategies for success. They include adopting an intensive land use of his development projects whereby he would work on two projects at a time in order to derive more efficiency in terms of design and cost.

To Lim, extensive development is not good as purchasers are just a number in your books. He believes in providing convenience to the purchasers, which will make them more appreciative of the developer.

On what he thinks about financing, Siva informs us that Lim uses very little leasing or borrowing. Hence, his companies can withstand the surges in the economic turbulence and are able to take advantage of the opportunities that arise.

Lim believes in working closely with EAs when he conducts a sales launch for his projects. For estate agents who have prospective land to introduce to Lim, take note that he only builds on freehold land and one that is in the right location gives an even better price.

Since buying a property often represents the single biggest expenditure or commitment for the buyer, Lim believes in giving the buyer “not a property but a home he can call it his or her own”.

The banter between the Siva and Soma on Lim’s replies got a wee bit carried away. I was starting to wonder whether is it because our next speaker won’t be showing up.

My fears were allayed when they finally gave the floor to Lim but not before telling us where Lim predicts where the future growth areas in the Klang Valley will be.

With KL located in the valley, the growth direction will be constricted. The pull will be towards Putrajaya and Klang. For residential, the areas identified are OUG, Bukit Jalil, Puchong to Kajang and the fringe of Putrajaya. For commercial, it is Shah Alam, Klang to Puchong.

The second growth area will be the Kesas Highway, Port Klang while the third growth area will be towards the Guthrie Corridor.

Although Petaling Jaya, Shah Alam and Putrajaya have lots of spare land due to sanitisation and leasehold status, Lim said these could be changed dramatically if the government starts to allow changes of land use conditions such as converting leasehold land to freehold.

Watch out also for the international zones such as Ampang, Titiwangsa and Bukit Jalil as they have the potential for immediate explosive growth.

10th Anniversary Charity Jam Session: A real gem of a session

Gerard sings solo

Steele (centre) appears in the first two bands

Rozario as Elvis stole the show

Text by Laura Lee, Pixs by Anthony Tan

As I write this, the 10th Anniversary Charity Jam Session 2009 is ongoing at Uncle Chilli's in Hilton Petaling Jaya. It is a great jam session with lots of music from the 80s and a good wholesome crowd.

Upon returning home after spending a few hours there, I was eager to twit about it so that those who did not know about this event earlier can make their way there before it ends at 1am. Alas, twitter was down.

I had arrived for the function at 2.45pm. The jam session was just about to start. I was glad I didn’t miss much of the opening ceremony which was slated at 2pm.

Like other first timers to this event, we had this idea of grabbing a bite here while we enjoy some music and songs. It was a family event for some. They had brought their children along. The kids could be seen playing some card games while they waited for the organisers to get their act together.

It’s Sunday and idea of a late lunch was not far from many of our thoughts. To learn that food would only be served at 4pm, some of us decided to make some noise and requested for the food to be served earlier at 3.15pm.

We succeeded and got more than just jumbo chicken sausages, onion rings, potatoes wedges and cheese fondue. I went for the chicken curry, satay and roast whole lamb and happily parted with my RM10 coupons for each of these items. Grabbed a glass of beer and a fruit juice as well.

Food and drinks were charged RM10 nett. The coupons were sold at the entrance. A minimum RM10 donation entrance fee was imposed but this entitled you to quite attractive lucky draw prizes such as hotel accommodation stay and high tea vouchers.

The first round of lucky draw was held around 5.30pm with the second one to be held at 7.30pm. You have to be there when your name is called. Otherwise, it’s burned.

The theme of this 10th anniversary charity jam session is No Child Shall Knock in Vain. The bulk of the proceeds raised will go to University Malaya Medical Centre's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) while the rest will be for the Malay Mail Care Fund.

Kudos should go to The Malaysian Association of Hotels, Chefs
Association of Malaysia, The Malaysian Food & Beverage Executives Association, Malaysian Association of Housekeepers and Hilton
Petaling Jaya for putting this event together.

Other event partners include Carlsberg, Harley Motorcycle Owners Club and Mini Owners Club Malaysia.

PICU, the main beneficiary, had their staff stationed to conduct blood and sugar tests slightly past 3pm instead of 6pm, which I was told when I arrived.

Borderline or serious cases were asked to have a tete-a-tete with PICU Professor Dr Lucy Lam Chai See. I was among one of them and
advised to exercise at least three times a week for about 20 minutes each time if I do not want my sugar level to go higher. I was
told to consider carrying dumb bells or weights as well.

Lam, who looked trim and fit, said she does not exercise at the gym. She uses the stairs instead of lifts and would carry her bags instead of using the rollers of her luggage when she is at the airport. She also suggested lots of walking.

Back to the jam session, although 15 bands are listed in the promotional flyer, we got more than what we bargained for. The organisers had
missed out Fats n Vernon, which has been playing for the last nine years in the charity jam session held annually in July except for this year.

Not to be deterred, Vernon Steele called the organisers and had
his band slotted in. Although they were supposed to play much
later, the trio ended up kick-starting off the jam session. One of
the songs they sang is “Reflection Of My Life”.

According to Steele, “We consider this charity jam session to be one of our official gigs. We have regrouped about two months ago after a very long time since 1980s.

“We are trying to get our original members back. We hope to have
a five or six member band and come back strong. We do not want to
play just anything new but good new numbers.

“I believe we are almost there and need to have more regular gigs. We want to recreate something that is long lost,” said Steele, a member of the next band, Ages 3, which played “The last train to London” besides other songs.

The rendition of the third band, Small Stones, included songs like
“And I Love Her” made popular by the Beatles and “You Light Up
My Life”.

The trio had Joe Rozario, one of our local impersonators of Elvis Presley, joining in. Besides belting some songs by the King of Rock n Roll,
the latter also did an old popular number from the late 60s,
Proud Mary, by CCR (Credence Clearwater Revival).

When it was the turn for the fourth band to play, Gerard Singh, apologised he would be singing alone without his friends due to the erratic timing. Despite telling us he has a bad throat, Gerard gave us a convincing Santana number. He mesmerised us with his guitar
plucking.

I had to pull myself away from the jam session due to work commitments. For those who stayed on or trickled in later, enjoy!