Altantuya's Killer Files Appeal

There has yet to be a proper closure on Altantuya Shaariibuu's cold-blooded murder.

Who ordered her to be dispatched is still a mystery.

And one of her killers is in Australia.

The policeman had said he faced the “very real prospect” of execution if he were to be deported to Malaysia from Australia.

According to The Australian, Sirul Azhar Umar had applied for a visa to allow him to be released into the Australian community.

It reported that his lawyers made the appeal in response to a formal notice from the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection that it was poised to refuse their client’s application for a Complementary Protection Visa.

 

The reason for the possible rejection of the protection visa was that he had committed a “serious non-political crime” before entering Australia.  

Sirul (left) must not return to Malaysia – Australia should give him the space and safety to spill the beans on Altantuya. The whole country wants to know.

 

Liverpool will take a one-goal advantage back to Anfield for the second leg of their Champions League play-off tie with Hoffenheim after they won a hard-fought 2-1 victory in Germany on Tuesday. In spite of the latter having had 63% possession.

 

Rookie full-back Alexander-Arnold demonstrated a cutting edge lacking in some of his more experienced team-mates with an expertly taken set-piece that found the bottom corner of the home net in the thirty-fifth minute to give him his first goal for the club.

 

James Milner took advantage of acres of space on the left to find the top corner via a significant deflection from the chest of Hoffenheim midfielder Havard Nordtveit just 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute.

 

But the German side pulled one back when lax marking gave Mark Uth all the time he needed to score in the eighty-seventh minute.

 

The second leg is on next week Wednesday – and I am counting on the Reds to reach the group stage. For the first time since 2014.

 

I was at the Speecom Toastmasters meeting yesterday in Bandar Sri Damansara in Selangor. I delivered my CC #5 titled Blessings. And I was evaluated by the Vice President Education of the club.

Additionally, I evaluated an Advanced speech.

And I received two ribbons for my efforts:

 

#OpenYourWorld

An intelligent commercial – Heineken presents ‘Worlds Apart’ An Experiment.

 

A beer advertisement that shows two strangers with opposing views provide proof that there’s more that unites than divides us. #OpenYourWorld

 

I must urge you to watch this commercial!

 

 

I came up with these two promotional posters for District 51’s Semi-Annual Conference – the last one apparently – in Penang this November.

 

Doing my bit to help the Organizers:

 

 

Tasteless Ad that Features Nude Air Hostesses

Image credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-4760904/Kazakhstan-s-Chocotravel-site-uses-naked-models-ad.html

A travel company's tasteless advertisement featuring nude air hostesses went down like a lead balloon with their customers.

 

Kazakhstan's Chocotravel had released a video promoting their budget flight services, which adds nothing to the price of a plane ticket.

 

But the offensive footage hasn't had the desired effect, with customers lambasting the company as sexist.

 

The advert starts with just a head shot of one hostess as she gasps in apparent ecstasy at the offer. Then a second stewardess blows a kiss to the camera.

 

But it is only when the camera pulls back that it is revealed that the seven stewardesses in the lineup are naked apart from their caps and neckerchiefs.

 

Only a strip running across the screen like a booking form hides their breasts from view.

 

Then as the camera pulls back even more, they whip off their caps to protect their modesty and hide their private parts from view.

The ad looks like a spoof that would not be out of place on a show with Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy Kazhak creation Borat.

 

Really, what were they thinking of?!?!?!

 

I was at the Speakers Dream Toastmasters meeting today. And I delivered an Ice-breaker – titled “Born to Speak”. This is my CC Round #44!

1MDB Criminal Investigation

I am rejoicing to read that the US of A is conducting a criminal investigation into money stolen from 1MDB that allegedly was used to buy more than $1 billion in real estate and other assets – court filings by the Department of Justice on Thursday showed.

 

DoJ officials asked a Los Angeles, California judge to put on hold civil forfeiture lawsuits against assets acquired by Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho (also known as Jho Low), because pursuing these may have “an adverse effect” on its ability to conduct the criminal investigation.

 

In its civil cases, the US has alleged that from 2009 through 2015, more than $4.5 billion belonging to 1MDB had been unscrupulously diverted to the privileged pockets of a few. You know who you are!

 

In the Scottish Premiership game on Friday, defending champions Celtic earned a 1-0 win over Partick Thistle when Olivier Ntcham took his chance and scored from a deflection off captain Scott Brown in the twenty-fifth minute.

 

Yesterday, Watford held Liverpool to a 3-3 draw in the Reds’ opening game of the EPL season.

 

The former scored through Stefano Okaka's header in the eighth minute. Sadio Mane equalized for the Reds in the twenty-ninth minute – only for Abdoulaye Doucoure to restore the lead from close range within three minutes. Roberto Firmino's penalty in the fifty-fifth minute made it 2-2 before Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah thought he had won it with the third goal two minutes later – only for Miguel Britos to bundle in a controversial 93rd-minute equalizer for Watford.

 

Not exactly a good start for Liverpool!

 

Toastmasters stuff: I attended Division P’s COT 1 training on Saturday and also did a 6-minute presentation on D51’s Annual Conference 2018.

 

 

D51 Annual Conference 2018: Testimonials

I knew, right from the start, marketing would be critical if I am to make the D51 Annual 2018 a success.

 

I need to do it differently. Marketing textbooks refer to it as "targeted marketing".

 

And so, I went personal. I build relationships. I go to the ground.

 

I connect with Toastmasters everywhere and anywhere.

 

To enhance communication, I also added visual assets. These can be photos, videos, illustrations and infographics and they surely help me to effectively promote the District 51 Annual Conference 2018. Primarily on social media.

 

Toastmasters organize conferences annually. And in peninsular Malaysia, there are already two “competing” conferences. Simply claiming to be "the best" is not enough to convince people, more so Toastmasters to sign up.

 

One marketing method I am using is “testimonials”.

 

'Testimonials in marketing' is powerful. Always has been. For those who know, it is easy-to-use and certainly, it is a 'cheap' marketing tool. When you are in my situation – where the marketing budget is capped at zero – testimonials are a godsend. Really. 

 

Testimonials create an emotional appeal. They increase trust. They increase my social media engagement.

 

The people I have invited to give testimonials represent the Toastmasters universe in this part of the world. They are the most representative of my target audience – I have made it as diverse as I possibly can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The above are been released daily over 30 days. Since July 16.

 

The theory behind this, if you don’t already know, is “implicit egotism” – the psychological phenomenon that explains why we gravitate toward the choices made by people who resemble us.

 

Testimonials, therefore, are an integral part of my social media marketing strategy.

 

Footnote: My "testimonials" are different in that my conference registrants may have "bought" the product, i.e. the conference package” – BUT that is all there is to it! There is NO CONTENT as yet. Absolutely zilch.

 

I am "selling" the so-called conference with only a venue in place, an admission price and a conference theme. And oh yes, I am letting it known that I am the Organizing Chair. That's it!  

D51 Annual Conference 2018: I Have Had Help

Following yesterday's post, it must be pointed out that this was never meant to be a solo project. That is simply not possible. 

I would need help, lots of help. Particularly from Toastmasters who are committed, zealous and steadfast. Three important attributes.

 

I had help from many quarters and for which I am grateful – and some of them are mentioned here.

 

The preliminary phase had been wonderfully facilitated by Qeera Zabri:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Ong Mei Lin, the registration mechanism was discussed and deliberated and then implemented: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And additional marketing help came from talented ex-Toastmaster Chrristine Ngiam – a series of ads which added a touch of class to the marketing campaign:

Then there's Lina Seow for translation work; Muthukumaran Kodiappen, Daina Tan and Toh Hui Sung for taking on the task to promote the events up north; and others too like Toh Siew Pat, Cyril Jonas, Yeoh Cheng Lim and Daniel Tan.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!