- MABC (Malaysia Australia Business Council) Networking night at the Australian High Commission on the 27th May (this is a monthly event and turns up a large and enthusiastic crowd). The night we were there coincided with the arrival of the Australian High Commissioner Designate to Malaysia, His Excellency Mr Miles Kupa. Although he did not attend the function, the Australian High Commission does play a very active support role for the MABC, and was represented by Acting Australian High Commissioner Mr Craig Chittick (pictured with AMBCQ President, Kiong Chan).
- Super Networking night with special guest speaker Senator Datuk Seri Idris Jala, who is Minister without Portfolio in the Prime Minister's Department and CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit. Datuk Seri Idris is the former CEO of Malaysian Airlines, credited with saving the organisation from bankruptcy, and was hand picked as a Senator and a Minister by Prime Minister Najib. The event was organised by AMCHAM, the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce, and was co-hosted by several other national chambers and business councils including our counterpart, the Malaysia AustraliaBusiness Council (MABC). Datuk Seri Idris Jala was a fantastic speaker, but unfortunately due to the format of the evening, the event was a little too noisy at times. Nonetheless, he has some very radical plans for Malaysia's police, the education system, and public transport, which will be interesting to see how they are implemented.
MABC Dinner in KL with Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr as the special guest speaker. Minister Carr spoke on "Innovation, Investment and the Global Financial Crisis". The Malaysian Minister for Energy, Green Technology and Water, YB Dato' Sri Peter Chin was also present at the event.
We also met with many of our special guests from last year's AMBCQ Ball, including Citizen Nades, Datuk Seri Azman Ujang, Mohd. Zulkifli (Zul), and Steven Gan. We were very privileged to enjoy a tour of Media Prima with Zul, who is now a host of Malaysia Hari Ini (Malaysia Today) which screens on TV3. We also visited Steven at Malaysiakini which was very interesting; although Steven is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the one of the world's most successful online news portals, he doesn't have his own office, but sits right in amongst all the journalists.
Over the last few years, the AMBCQ have developed a very good working relationship with our counterpart in Malaysia, the MABC and it was wonderful to catch up with their Executive Director, Christina Huang, who has become a great friend, as have Melissa and Sharon from the Secretariat. We also enjoyed a visit to their offices in Petaling Jaya. It was also great to catch up with MABC executives, including Datuk Peter Tan, Ir Adrian Yong, the newly appointed MABC Chairman Michael Halpin of Multiplex and Vice-Chairman Leigh Howard of Talent 2. Wee Keat Chan, former AMBC National President, and a key member of AMBCSA, was also in KL at the time and we enjoyed meeting up with him as well.
The MABC is a very vibrant and dynamic organisation, as can be read from the calibre of its events in this short span of time. It is a great asset for them to have the Australian High Commission to support them, and they work in very well with the High Commission and the other chambers and business councils. We always feel invigorated after visiting KL and meeting with the MABC - they achieve a lot and have a very successful organisation. There is much that we here in Queensland can do to emulate their success. http://www.mabc.org.my/
Photos from top: Kiong with Craig Chittick, the Acting Australian High Commissioner; our very good table at the Senator Kim Carr event; and Kiong and I with Malaysia Hari Ini (Malaysia Today)TV host Mohd Zulkifli on the Malaysia Hari Ini set at TV3.
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