Saturday, December 13, 2008

Malaysia International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008 officially closed

















Hi, we meet again. Just arrived  from Malaysia Tourism Centre (MTC) [formerly known as MATIC], at Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. I went there to attend the closing ceremony of Malaysia International Year of Coral Reef (IYOR) 2008 by the Deputy Minister, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, YB Senator Dato' Maznah Binti Mazlan. This Malaysia IYOR 2008 closing event was organized by Coral Malaysia, Department of Marine Park Malaysia and Malaysia Tourism Centre. YB Dato' Maznah also launched the upcoming campaign for 2009, with the theme is 'Say No to Plastics', in order to save the sea turtles from chocking with plastic bags.

After the closing ceremony, all the guests, together with YB Dato' Maznah than being brought to the 1st floor of MTC building to see the underwater photographs took during the CoRal Malaysia’s underwater photography competition, Terengganu Go Green – Seashutterbug 2008. 

After that, there was a media/press conference and tea break. Then came the important agenda, a dialogue session between the guests and YB Dato' Maznah regarding the issues related to environment especially the coral reefs. Among the guests were the representative from MNS, Perbadanan Taman Negara Johor, WWF Malaysia, Virtual Malaysia, Zoo Negara, MIMA, Dorken Reef Resources and a well-known Malaysia artist, the rock group of WINGS. During the dialogue, I took the chance to highlight about the training programme, especially for the MNS state education coordinators ( as I am) whom have responsibility to educate young generations at school level through School Nature Clubs regarding the marine park/coral reef information. As I am also an officer at Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education Malaysia, I took the opportunity to inform the dialogue members that the environment issues is one of the important topics that CDD, MOE takes into consideration to be put in the curriculum.

Thanks to En. Nizam of Department of Marine Park Malaysia for inviting me to join this valuable event. To all my new friends from various agencies that attend the closing ceremony, nice to meet you all and please keep in touch.

To all readers, please remember this slogan: OUR Reef, OUR Heritage, OUR Responsibility 

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Notes:

Malaysia International Year of the Reef (IYOR) 2008 was organized in concurrent with IYOR 2008, a worldwide campaign by the  International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). The ICRI International Year of the Reef 2008 is a campaign to raise awareness about the value and importance of coral reefs and threats to their sustainability, and to motivate people to take action to protect them.

Officially launched by Ministry Natural Resources and Environment Secretary General, Datuk Suboh Mohd Yassin on 23 February 2008, the IYOR 2008 Malaysia Chapter’s aims include strengthening awareness about the ecological, economic, social and cultural value of coral reef and its associated ecosystem. It also hopes to improve understanding of the critical threats faced by reefs and generating solutions to reduce them.

Friday, December 5, 2008

CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT DIVISION TEAM BUILDING - GOOOOOOOOOOO CATCHY!





Team building is a process that develops cooperation and teamwork within a work unit. To constitute an effective team, its members must share a common goal, have respect for each other, and be motivated to use the strengths of each member to achieve their objectives. Nowadays,  any agency (either government or corporate)  philosophy stresses that each member of a team plays an integral part in the success of the agency. Realising the important of team building and good relationship among the officers, a team building session has been organized by the Curriculum Development Division, Ministry of Education to its professional officers held at Selesa Beach Resort, Port Dickson for 3 days two night, starting on 1 December to 3 December 2008. This event had been conducted by a team from Intelligence Synergy Sdn Bhd, based at Putrajaya.

The officers being divided to 18 small groups and for myself, I was selected to be with group 14 and the name for this group was CATCHY, acronym for Cemerlang, Agresif, Tegap, Cekal, Hebat, Yakin in Malay. Thanks for all my team members for giving me the opportunity to be as CATCHY group leader and I really appreciated your supports  and commitments  to make our group managed to do all the tasks given. Gooooooooooooooooooooo CATCHY.  Remember  CATCHY, Remember Sea Turtles, ok. I'll remember your support during the 'Penyu Menangis' performance. Thanks .......to all CATCHY members, En. Abd Rasid, En. Zamzatul Akmal Hisham, En. Kunaseelan, Pn. Amal Farid, Pn. Hanafiah, Cik Sandra, and Pn. Rohani, for your warm cooperation and relationship.