Malaysia's CEO of the year

To Mohamed Nazir Abdul Razak, a good executive officer (CEO) is someone who can change with the demands of the organisation and the environment. Named Malaysia's CEO of the Year 2004 Award , he has proven his capabilities in steering Commerce International Merchant Bankers Berhad (CIMB) to greater heights. The changes are necessitated by the fact that the investment bank operates in an industry that is furiously evolving as a result of globalisation and liberalisation. Using the English Premier League as an analogy, Nazir said: "Like Manchester United, year in and year out, we have strong and weak competitors. Some may do better in certain years, but over the long-term, we like to think that CIMB will remain number one."
At 37, he is the youngest CEO to have won the award.

Love thy neighbour...

With the last remaining days of a typical month-long Eid celebration in the country, residents of a Kuala Lumpur housing area got together last night to re-new their neighbourhood bond. For residents of Jalan AU1C/3K of Taman Keramat Permai, the occasion helped to keep themselves stay in touch with one another especially those who are new in the area. This is common all over the country. Fresh from recharging my neighbourhood network, I decided to have breakfast this morning at an eating place frequented mostly by those from Kelantan in Pantai Dalam, which used to be on the city's fringe. Apart from sampling some of the favourite morning meal of the east coast state in the peninsular, the eatery keeps patrons to stay in touch in their Kelantanese dialect of goings-on from work to politics and the current flood hitting the state. Some of them came all the way from other areas in the city in search of their favourite Kelantanese food. While they tucked in their food, they could easily see how far the place had developed over the years from a squatter colony to a low-cost housing area. What used to be their 'kampung', is now taken up by the newly-opened New Pantai Expressway linking the city to Subang Jaya.
On the regional scale, Malaysia's 'Prosper-thy-Neighbour' policy is widely recognised including by Indonesia.

Flying high with the world's best cabin crew

A 12-hour flight from London to Kuala Lumpur is less tiring when you're in the company of the world's best cabin crew . Their ever-smiling faces despite the tough task at hand made travelling on Malaysia Airlines a joy. The 747-400 was full when it took off from Heathrow at 10pm on Wednesday December 8. It was carrying 362 passengers with a 22-member crew on board. An hour earlier flight to Kuala Lumpur via Langkawi was also full as in the normal case of the other national carrier daily flights from London. It was not the first time that the Malaysia Airlines cabin crew was voted the best in the world. It was achieved as a result of Skytrax's annual survey of some 130 worldwide airlines. Malaysia Airlines holds the the honour for the fifth time in six years from 1999 except for a momentarily lapse last year.