More on the Malakoff Charity Ride tomorrow

Will be back tomorrow with more updates on the Malakoff Charity Ride.

Here's are some pictures taken at the pondok next to Kedai Makan Maznah.

I like coconuts, don't know why they just interest me.

Endie - Your Organiser

Endie is in the white t-shirt, in foreground

Dining under the directly under the trees at Kedai Makan Maznah

Kedai Makan Jatidiri overrun with Malakoff Charity riders

Kedia Makan Maznah, from the outside - look closely for the signboard

Digging in at Jatidiri, healthy food with lots of ulam

This is Endie Tuffile, your Malakoff Charity Ride main organiser.

For riders who moaned on why the route was so tough, this is the man you want to take your complaints to - actually LeTua, local riders like Ishak and the marshalls also helped draw up the route.

I asked Endie how he chose our rest stops, none of which were very large or well known.

He recce-d the route and sought out eateries that had less patrons, rationale being that the Malakoff Charity Ride would help these kedai makan more than it would the well-established ones.

Aside from giving these fledgling stalls an economic boost, he also checked if there would be enough space for riders and support team to be seated, and space for them to park all their vehicle.

There are probably more technical consideration, but Endie's done a super job.

Here's some pix of Endie and of
Kedai Makan Jatidiri (the signboard was pretty small, overshadowed by the sign for Kopi Jantan)
Kedai Makan Maznah

The rest stops at the ride also offered lots of ulam. Ulam here looked a lot fresher and more organic than what's available in KL.

Long Incline after Mempaga - In pictures

Faster than a speeding MyVi

Who's this? Can anyone identify this rider?

Ishak Ibrahim aka Orang Putih aka Castello

This is Ishak Ibrahim also known as Orang Putih (check out his stunning platinum hair!) also referred to by some as Castello (movie character played by Rosyam Nor).


He is a rider with Tioxide and was the main contact for making the accommodation and catering arrangements for the Malakoff Charity Ride. The food was excellent - thanks Ishak.

Ishak is also actively involved in nurturing biking talent in Terengganu. He rode to Temerloh with a group of young riders - the oldest was 16 I was told to join the charity ride, and they continued to Kuala Terengganu as well.

Speaking with him, it is clear that he has a passion for the sport, for uncoverign new cycling talent and for his adopted state of Terengganu.

He works closely with some of the school teacher who are also training new talent in the state.

Here's Ishak at dinner and Ishak in action.

Word to live by courtesy of SMK Chukai

The Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Chukai is a sekolah bestari or school for gifted(?). Only high achieving student from primary school are admitted. Students need to get 4As or 5As, out of the possible 5As available.

The walls of the Dewan Mercu (Main Hall) are adorned with buntings of the most recent high achievers, as well as pithy sayings. I only managed to capture 2 of these but there are more on the walls.

'Kebanyakan pelajar gagal bukan kerana BODOH, tetapi mereka gagal kerana melakukan KERJA BODOH'.

I'm now quoting this at my kids - if it works in Kemamam, it can work in KL.

Here's the other:
'Semua "A" bukan senang tetapi bukan mustahil'.

Another thing that I've noticed while driving around Terengganu. This is a state where education is emphasized from the top down. There are huge billboards everywhere celebrating the high standards or Terengganu's young people and students, as well as encouraging them to work harder and smarter academically.

Go Terengganu!

Inspiring the next generation - Haidar, anak Kemamam

The dinner also saw a speech by Haidar one of Malaysia's top cyclist who is a member of Le Tua, the most successful cycling group in Malaysia.

Haidar has achieved a whole lot - the introduction included a string of awards that went by too fast for me to take down. He is a true blue anak Kemamam, and spoke on how he had succeeded, hopefully inspiring the young people there, many of them orphans, disabled or from very poor families.

He did a good job although he was very bashful.

From a communications perspective our sportsmen need to be trained to speak well. They've done the country proud and need to be equipped to get that message across well and inspire the next generation. Also speaking well will help them when it comes to securing sponsors, and making the sport more marketable. This is what I've noticed from attending sports launches - our sports people except for a notable few are not able to explain their sport, their strategy or support their sponsors well. This is an area that needs lots of work.

If I spell his name wrongly or not in full, please let me know -I've learnt that Keegoisman Membawa Padah, and can accept correction.

Here's Haidar during the speech.

Donation Update - Day 2 and Total

On the second day, May 18 we had dinner and a charity cheque presentation at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Chukai.

We walked there guided successfully by the handy dandy GPS function on Sam's phone. FYI the GPS function is quite useless in Puchong as it keeps directing to the Old Puchong Road even when there is a much shorter route.

Back to the donation.

Shakiman (the most semangat commenter on this blog) informed that donation have increased by almost 70% since the first year of the Malakoff Charity Ride in 2005.

The Malakoff Charity Ride contributed to the following:-

RM20,000 to 40 hard core poor school children from Kemamam


RM3,000 to Pusat Dalam Komuniti Kompleks Penyayang


RM5,000 to PKMD Kemamam - Anak Yatim (couldn't make out what that stands for) which will support 10 orphans in Kemamam.

And another RM4,000 - the recipient did not show, so it wasn't handed out.

That brings the second day total to RM32,000; and the whole amount to RM63,000.

From Shakiman's speech, the target for next year's Malakoff Charity is a cool RM100,000!

Here's more pix.

Group photograph

Two great behind the scene crew members...

from one of the table...

another table....

yet, another table...
marshall + first aid team

yet, another table....
Kemaman team....

food...
more food...

Why the blog has not been updated ...

I've been busy but who hasn't?

This past week we were helping an NGO - PEMALIK pro-bono or for free.

PEMALIK is an acronym for Pertubuhan Mencegah Alienasi Keibubapaan Kuala Lumpur & Selangor. Doesn't say much does it?

In a nutshell, this is an organisation that champions equal access to children in the event of divorce or separation; and raises awareness on how divorced parents can do whats best for their children in terms of maintaining a strong parent-child relationship.

No, I'm not divorced, but I know many people who are and they often dislike their former partners with a vengeance and miss their kids like crazy.

Usually one parent is given 'custody' which we learnt (attended their forum on Psychological Issues yesterday) is a term loaded with potential power.

Instead PEMALIK would like 'joint responsibility' to be awarded in cases where its a 'no-fault' divorce. Additionally they are lobbying for a change in the family court system and in the way main care of children is awarded - through a panel instead of a single judge.

Here are people (55 of PEMALIK's have been through divorce) who have experienced parental alienation meaning that the parent who received custody turned the children against the parent that did not receive custody.

Here are parents that are fighting to get access to their children, and on the reverse we have parents that dump their newborns. It's a mixed up world we live in...

You can find out more about PEMALIK at www.pemalik.org