Archive for the 'Thought' Category

Actually most of us (lesser mortals and all) can claim that at one time or another (or now) do feel justifiably proud that our beloved country has indeed progressed ahead of many others.

We want this good feelings to continue and maybe even claim to have contributed towards this progress.

So it is important that this Nation of ours continue to progress and as citizens we should speak and act as a united people; in other words, we need to feel and act as 1 Malaysia.

By doing so we can succeed in all that we want to do for ourselves, our children and our Nation.

So are we committed to do all these things?

I am particularly happy to note that at yesterday’s (17th November) Solar PV Conference held at the Marriot Putrajaya, the Organisers and the hotel put up a useful power-point briefing on safety of the hall and the evacuation procedures at the hotel in case of fire. This was done even before the event actually started. This is a good example of how to instill the culture on safety on everyone who was present in the hall (and I was told that there were roughly 1,200 participants at the conference). Yes, it is always a good start to any function or event that those present in the hall be made aware of what to expect and how to react in the event of an unexpected incident such as a fire outbreak. Of course, the power-point presentation can be improved further by making it more informative and interesting so as to get attention of the audience.

I must point out that I am not on a crusade or anything of that sort. In many countries, it is standard operating procedure (SOP) to conduct such briefings in any meeting or function gathering even when everyone present is familiar with the layout of the room/hall. Once it is being adopted as a standard operating procedure, it will no longer be unusual, strange or awkward to do so. And if you think about it, what is so wrong or unusual when organisers make it a point to take care of the safety aspect of the participants or audiences? Surely, we should praise those who are conscious of safety whatever and wherever the occasion and place maybe. I take this opportunity to congratulate Suruhanjaya Tenaga and Marriot Putrajaya for their thoughtfulness and making it happened during the Solar PV Conference yesterday. Please carry on with this type of briefing in ALL your future tunctions and I am pretty sure you WILL make a difference and thereby helping to make such safety briefings a SOP in future.

Over my career which spans some 26 years as an MP and a member of the Government, I had climbed onto all sorts of stages to deliver speeches as well as performing other functions which needed to be done based on the organisers’ schedules. Last thursday night (29th Oct.) I was invited by a prominent multi-national company to a posh dinner at a 5-star international standard hotel in downtown KL city as Guest of Honour. Being asked to make a speech was nothing unsual; however, what did happen on stage over the next minute or so was completely incomprehensible and totally unexpected! As I was walking towards the microphone to deliver my speech, I just fell into a sort of void that separated one part of the stage where I was walking from the other where the microphone was placed. Of course, I was completely unaware that there was any danger of my falling off  the stage. Obvious question is: why I did not avoid the danger and walked around it instead of into it? In fact, this is the very question I asked myself when I landed at the bottom of the estimated four feet high stage. Why would I want to hurt myself by doing the rather foolish act of falling off the stage in front of so many dinner guests?  Five days after I am still struggling to find the comprehensible answers as to what happened that night.

Thank God I was not badly injured as a result of the fall. My left shoulder blade was fractured at two places along with some torn/bruised muscles resulting in my left hand being in a sling to restrict movements so as not to aggravate the injuries. My left leg (shin area) was badly bruised by the fall and it had to be bandaged up till today. Of course my ego was badly bruised as well having to exist from the function in a wheelchair.

I am thankful to my hosts who arranged for me to be sent by an ambulance to the Prince Medical Center for medical attention.

What is the lesson to be learnt? I submit there is a big lesson that we all can learn from this rather unfortunate episode i.e. on the issue of safety. First of all, the way the stage was setup for the function is important. I have no comment as to the reason for having a T shape stage; it was the organisers’ right to choose the type of stage they had wanted but with having me as the guest of honor, the organisers should have briefed me on the layout and coached me on the movements on stage once I was on it. My attention would then be drawn to any ‘danger’ spots and then it would be incumbent on me to avoid such spots.  Secondly, I am of the view that the stage should be designed in such a way so as to be safe for people going on stage. On the night in question, the stage was covered  with black or dark materials and as the lighting in the hall was darken, it was difficult for me to see the way towards the microphone and this was compounded by the strong spotlight which was trained on me. Thirdly, the position of the microphone on stage that night was at one side of the T shaped stage. For the safety of the speakers the microphone should have been placed in the center of the T shaped stage thus providing easy and danger free access. And fourthly, by having a person on stage to guide the speaker to the microphone before he/she speaks and then to guide him/her down the stage is good practice. On the night in question, I remember there was a girl on stage but unfortunately she did not warn me nor guide me to the microphone otherwise the incident would not happened.