We had a DOT to be our General Evaluator and this DOT was imported. He seemed to give good commendations about everything and one that really struck me was on Punctuality (we even have a clock directly opposite him) and how he felt about our members enthusiasm and commitment. I am proud of you Dr DTM William Lau for recognising us and you members of MII for the way you have projected the club to our Guest.
Our meeting starts sharp at 7pm with Levine our ASAA calling the meeting to order and quickly pass the control to our President Mr Leong Kok Wah (no relation to Teresa Kok). This time our President amaze us with his understanding of the Ramadan and Shawal festivities and he also named the 12 Muslim calender month. Good research and this is what I believe Malaysian should practice. We should not be afraid to learn about other people's culture and we should not also be afraid to let others learn our culture. With better understanding we will achieve better harmony.
From my count we had a good attendant with 16 members present, one guest brought my Monsiuer and one visiting TM Dr William.
The TME was Mr Monsiuer Tilaka, a 3 in 1 guy. In the morning he is a Tourist Guide, in the evening he is an Insurance Agent and in the night he is Disc Jockey and whenever he is free he is also a Transporter, taking Test Speaker from one club to another. He got everyone with a Role to briefly explain their job and due to his excitement he forgot to call upon our General Evaluator to do his.
Next Session was the Invocation and this was presented by Chin. Someone need to mentor him before he attempt to handle this role as in our club the person just have to read a motivating verse or poem to start the meeting.
After Chin it went to Adam who conducted the Table Topics and he limit it to only four as time was limited. Only Khung, Mano, Chin and Mohamad were called and the winner went to Chin with his Horizontally Challenged poser.
Oh yes, I forgot this time we went for dinner just after the President's address and we had the usual food but Khung as usual brought his bananas, Mohamad brought Raya kuih called "Akok" named after our President and Teresa and the Birthday cake for Willy I believe was bought by Levine. We got kurma too and I failed to find out who brought it. Too much to eat and we shared it with two from MII office.
The prepared speeches started off with Manian (Evaluated by Masdiana), Philip (Evaluated by Anna), Dr Gan Eng Meng (Evaluated by Mike), Willy (Evaluated by Levine). It was an interesting variety of topics. Manian spoke about himself - how in 5 years he changed 6 schools, Philip on how to play the Stock Market, Dr Gan appealing for support for her Tai Chi Association and Willy talking about Health. The best speaker award goest to Dr Gan and the best Evaluator Award went to Mike.
GE Dr Willian, DTM take over the last session and praise and praise the club for everything. His recommendations were to restore the Humour Session, (actually we will if time permit) and his observation as to how lost Khung were during the Table Topics Session. His recommendations were for the Table Topics Master to explain before starting the session.
The President then took over and presented the Awards. The Best Role Player went to Dr William Lau. Apparently, someone forget about the Most Friendly Person for the night, much to the disappointment of the regular winners like Mike & Adam.
The Closing Ode was conducted by Masdiana and she gave an inspiring speech whilst at the same time thanking all the members of the MII TMC for the support during her recent accident. She felt that MII is like a family to her and besides going for our journey in Communication and Leadership she felt that the rapport amongst members is equally important.
I am waiting for the pictures taken last nigh to come and I hope to post to you soonest possible.
I am not lost of words now as Khung said during the Table Topics I am short of time. Hope you guys enjoy the reading and do give me your feedback. Cherio......
1 comment:
Wasalam Mualaikum, peace be upon you, my fellow MII-TMC members,
It is a tradition in our club to have a buka puasa dinner with all our Muslim friends and guests.
And for those of you who missed our Buka Puasa meeting, i would like to once again highlight the importance of taking the first step to learn more about the various culture's of our fellow Malaysians.
Now, some of you may be wondering why the Hari Raya holidays seem to "move forward" every successive year ??? How come ???
Well, let me share with you the science behind the reason. Muslims & Chinese societies adopt the lunar calendar as their standard as opposed to the Gregorian solar calendar that is now used by the West worldwide. A lunar calendar is based on the moon's orbit around the earth as opposed to the solar calendar which is based on the earth's orbit around the sun.
The moon orbits around the earth in 29.5 days a month which adds up to approx.354 days +/- days a year.
Thus the lunar calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendar. Therefore, for e.g. Hari Raya was celebrated on the 13th Oct last year and this year it is celebrated on the 1st Oct, i.e. 11 days +/-.
However, the Hari Raya Aidil Fitri
is actually a celebration after the month long puasa month of Ramadhan. Hari Raya is not the celebration of the Muslim New Year. The Muslim New Year is in the first month of Muharam and the Awal Muharam holiday that we observe is actually the first day of the Muslim New Year. And after Muharam which is the 1st month, we have the following months in succession - Safar, Rabiulawal, Rabiulakhir, Jamadiawal, Jamadiakhir, Rejab, Ramadhan, Syawal, Zulkaedah and finally Zulhijjah.
The Muslim calendar came into existence in the year 622AD when His Holy Prophet Muhammad S.A.W., Peace be upon Him received a sermon from Allah S.W.T. the Almighty Creator to emigrate from Mecca to the city of Medina. And this year is the Muslim Hijrah year of 1429 which means that the Muslim calendar has been in use for the last 1429 years.
So, my fellow members, i hope all of you now have a better understanding of an important part of Islamic history. The point here is this - we do not live in a monoculture society like Japan or Korea whereby 95% of the population belongs to a single culture. We live in a unique multi-cultural society and therefore in order for us to live in harmony with our neighbours, we must first of all take the first step to understand their culture. We are going thru difficult political times right now, as the malays would say, " gajah sama gajah berkelahi, kancil mati ditengah tengah ". 2 political heavyweights are fighting for their survival right now and we the rakyat are squeezed right in the middle.
The Christians also have this verse - "love thy neighbour" which is not to be construed as sneaking into your neighbours house after her husband has left for work !!!
P.U.T. which is the theme of the evening for this meeting is therefore a reflection of the Holy month of Ramadhan whereby our Muslim friends practice the virtues of Patience, Understanding and Tolerance and our non-Muslim friends should also share this virtue with all our Muslim friends alike.
Lets continue to understand one another and with our club motto - " For Better Fellowship ", we should all be proud to call ourselves - MALAYSIANS.
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