Saturday, December 08, 2012

An Inspiring Time at IMD

n
A Kadir Jasin

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PARDON me for once again sharing with you a personal story. I am sure all of us have stories to tell, but are reluctant or are unable to. But if you have a story to tell, please do.

We are reluctant to tell personal stories for fear that we may be accused of doing the MBAS – masuk bakul angkat sendiri – self-indulging, self-aggrandizement. But if our stories are good and inspiring, we should not be too concerned about what our detractors might say.

As a father, I would like to be proud of my children. More often than not, what they say and do, make me proud, more so because I believe in giving them widest possible berth to think and act.

This year is a good year for me academically. My daughter, Amirah, completed her second year of accounting and finance undergraduate studies in Australia with flying colours (which she said "biasa je" - it's ordinary) and my son, Mohamad Azlan, received his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland on Dec 7. His first degree was BSc in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University in the US, which he obtained eight years ago.

But it is not his personal achievement that I want to talk about, but rather the pleasant experience I had in the brief two-day period that I was at the IMD, participating in programmes arranged for parents of the graduating students, despite the freezing winter.

First of all, I was struck by the global nature of the programme and its participants. According to IMD MBA director of marketing, admissions and career services, Claire Lecoq, the 90 international professionals of the IMD MBA Class of 2012 represent 46 nationalities with diverse backgrounds and skills and an average of seven years of work experience.

What impressed me most is the spirit of camaraderie and the sense of oneness among the participants, their eloquence and self-confidence. The camaraderie is so strong and obvious that they treated each others parents as their own no matter whether they come from – Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, China, Russia, Poland, Croatia and more.

I am particularly impressed with the eloquence of Tony Lim, a 32-year old Singaporean, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues at the graduation ceremony and who “humbly” introduced himself as a civil servant.

I told Lim later that I had the honour of interviewing Lee Kuan Yew when he was the Prime Minister and had met a number of other past and present leaders of Singapore, and (jokingly) told him that I proclaimed him the future PM of Singapore.

Whether they are Europeans, Asians, Africans or South Americans, I find these young professionals intelligent and inspiring. Even the 26-year old Manu Jindal of India, the baby of the class, was impressive in his impromptu speech at the pre-graduation dinner.

Then there is Nigerian Edikan Ekpu, who told me that, in her exuberance, took a plunge into Lac Leman (Lake Leman), a stone throw away from IMD campus, last winter, and Nicolai Reimann who loves Malaysia. His father was for six and a half years was the Danish Ambassador to Malaysia.

Then there is the 33-year old Shweta Munshi of Kashmir, India, a mother of one, who is said to be a perfectionist. She said she is setting her sight on the world while Andrew Wee, a Filipino, who was voted the most pleasant and helpful class member, stayed true to his humbleness.

Their stories, either told in the souvenir programme, by their friends and professors or by they themselves, are stories of trials and tribulations, hopes and ambitions, camaraderie and friendship.

I am lucky to be able to enjoy that brief inspiring moment with so many of them and I wish them all the best of luck and huge success.

7 comments:

abdullah ngah said...

Masuk bakul angkat sendiri(MBAS) tidak buruk berbanding ucap kata kata "bangga".

Kerana perkataan "bangga" itu bermakna "takbur", "angkuh" dan "sombong".

Sangat bahaya kepada kita sebagai orang Islam, kerana orang takbur, angkuh dan sombong tak masuk syurga.

Ada hadis menegaskan bahawa mereka itu kekal dalam neraka.

Ini bukan perkara kecil bagi orang islam.

Sebab itu pada saya masuk bakul angkat sendiri belum boleh di kategori boleh rasok akidah.

Tetapi bagi mereka yang tidak kisah dengan perintah Allah, termasuk tidak kisah dengan anak perempuan yang tidak tutup aurat hanya perkara biasa saja.

Sebab itu hari ini kita sering dengan orang Melayu berkata saya "bangga" termasuk apabila dengan kejayaan anak anak.

Yang wajar kita ucapkan ialah "Alhamdulillah" tanda bersyukurnya kita dengan anuerah Allah kepada anak anak kita.

Islam ajar kita termasuk melakukan "sujud syukur" apabila mendapat satu satu kejayaan.

Maaf ya. Saya cuma ingatkan sesama kita.Lebih lebih lagi kepada yang mengaku beragama Islam.

Unknown said...

Hello dear DATO, dato very interesting story and also as a guide to all how to achieve fame in achieving success with excellence ..... from that country dato could collect stories and dato stored in memory to be shared so that our lives do not miss to taste perfect world with well-mannered and courteous good and noble has a strong identity in the face of his painstaking, dato When they certainly tell a story with malaysia map will appear stamped gold though unofficial her at least they know there are people malaysia around them and success dato and children hence should not be marinated only shared her so to become role model and guide how dato using the formula in educating children. words flattering himself (MBAS) is not applicable in any religion that encourages kindness shared ugliness is concealed or hidden so the words as flattering himself is out and no longer suitable dato ..... we are always on time ........ this is a much better move our society dedicated his life the Malays but it still failed to rule of law even if we privatize these alleged immoral this fall flowers dynasty governance superintendent. DATO YEARS THANKS FOR STILL PROVIDE SPACE TO ME TO DELIVER EVEN MY ONLY THOUGHT MY FACTORY WORKERS

Rawa Lanun-Bahasa said...

A Winters Tale
(a morsel of morsi)

Freezin' winter if not for the heater, The Scribe, is what they are saying about the weather in the EU; but the Swiss are almost people of the Mediterranean inclination.

And the job market is tight - very.
It is the broken Dollar and the the Euro down with a terrible stroke. Soon a fall into the almost unknown. I say Economics and politics are intimate bedfellows - until the gas bills are overdue.

A winters tale of waiting for the PRU13 is for me, o Scribe: a defining moment for this confused nation: secular muslim nation waiting for a order to march down the fiscal cliff with her secular christian brothers and sisters nations; while tha PTPTN and the 'sub-prime mortgage' in the making thereof are festering as all is well and fine in Wall Street over securitized collaterals.

Perhaps those are the small trivia's why UMNO needs a 2
two third majority - mahathir wants to do a morsi by his proxy.

ps
India said thorium is their choice of nuclear energy and Russia is sticking it out with Bashar.

Yuletude and a new year - cheers and Salaams to the new graduates while we wait.

Hang Kasturi said...

Salam Dato',

Apa yang diluahkan oleh Pak Abdullah adalah berlandaskan ajaran Islam. Apa yang berlaku pada kita mestinya dikaitkan dengan ajaran Islam @ A Deen cara hidup yang yang sempurna, dari dunia hingga akhirat.

Tulisan Dato' KJ tidak menampakkan sifat sombong, bongkak, takabur dll sifat Mazmummah. Dia seorang ' berani' dalam menyatakan apa yang dia anggap betul dan perlu diberitahu kepada rakyat.Mungkin Dato'KJ berjihad !!

Adam

ab said...

Salam dato,


Tahniah kepada anak anak dato kerana berjaya didalam pelajaran.

Tahniah kepada dato kerana menjadi ayah kepada anak anak yang berjaya.


Saya berharap sangat contoh anak anak dan ayah sebegini,termasuk la emak mereka untuk 16-17 jta melayu kat luar sana diMalaysia.


Semuga terus berjaya.


Abu Bakar Ab Rahman

Unknown said...

Saya lupa dalam membahaskan tulisan dato nak mengucapkan tahniah atas kejayaan anak2 dato saya bangga sebab dengan blog ini dato sudah jadi kawan baik saya....cuma saya ini semut merah kecil tak layak nak minum kopi dengan dato.....kalau sikap dato macam samad said ok kot boleh minum kopi diwarung bawah KL SENTRAL saya minum pagi bersama nya sambil berbual-bual dengan nya sungguh seronok....dato samad said dalam melihat KOMUTER berputar-putar pun dia boleh siapkan satu puisi dia kata orang yang naik komuter selalu pening yang tak pening cuma gambar PM kita yang melekat didinding tren komuter...tu dengan ayat kami mendengar denyut nadi rakyat selangor...ok tahniah dato nanti dato ada isu lagi saya ulas.....menjelang PRU ni banyak isu yang akan keluar....

TOOLBOX said...

Datuk

Dikurniakan zuriat sudah besar rahmat dariNya, tambah pula kalau semuanya berjaya.

Tiada ibu bapa yang waras tidak berbangga dengan anaknya. Malah Rasulullah SAW sendiri pun berbangga dengan Fatimah dengan menceritakan kebaikannya kepada sahabat. Tahniah untuk Datuk & Datin.

Toolbox

About Me

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I was born in 1947 in Kedah. I came from a rice farming family. I have been a journalist since 1969. I am the Editor-in-Chief of magazine publishing company, Berita Publishing Sdn Bhd. I was Group Editor NST Sdn Bhd and Group Editor-in-Chief of NSTP Bhd between 1988 and 2000. I write fortnightly column “Other Thots” in the Malaysian Business magazine, Kunta Kinte Original in Berita Harian and A Kadir Jasin Bercerita in Dewan Masyarakat. Books: Biar Putih Tulang (1998), Other Thots – Opinions & Observations 1992-2001 (2001), The Wings of an Eagle (2003), Mencari Dugalia Huso (2006), Damned That Thots (2006), Blogger (2006), PRU 2008-Rakyat Sahut Cabaran (2008), Komedi & Tragedi-Latest in Contemporary Malaysian Politics (2009) and Membangun Bangsa dengan Pena (2009).