Ministry of Health Hotline (8am – 9pm): 03-88810200 / 0300, 03-88834414 / 4415. Email: cprc@moh.gov.my. Website.

11th September 2009: Malaysia on 74 deaths: a disabled 19-year-old boy from Gerik, Perak, who was admitted to Gerik Hospital on 19th August for fever, cough, sore throat and vomiting over 4 days. The next day, he was referred to Ipoh Hospital for specialist treatment and anti-viral treatment was started. However, on 23rd August he died of complications arising from acute pulmonary oedema with underlying Influenza A(H1N1) infection. Lab tests confirmed this to be caused A(H1N1) on 28th August.

On the same day, US trials of Sanofi-Pasteur SA’s and CSL Ltd’s H1N1 swine flu vaccines confirm that only one dose is needed for it to work.

4th September 2009: Malaysia on 73 deaths, and the first death of a person not in a high-risk group: a 25-year-old woman from Betong, Sarawak. She was admitted to the district hospital on 30th August for fever, cough and sore throat. The next day, she was referred to Sibu Hospital for further treatment where anti-viral treatment was given. She died the next day due to severe pneumonia with H1N1 infection.

2nd September 2009: a top WHO expert, Marie-Paule Kieny, director of the WHO’s vaccine research programme said the vaccine will definitely work, even if the virus mutates, and that:
(i) it will be available as early as this month;
(ii) health workers should get immunised first;
(iii) cost: rich countries USD10-USD20 per dose, middle-income countries half that, & low-income countries quarter that;
(iv) a complete clinical evaluation of the vaccine is not necessary;
(v) a third of the world’s population will eventually be infected with the virus.

30th August 2009: Malaysia on 72 deaths: a 49-year-old man who died at Malacca Hospital. He was admitted 13th August, immediately given anti-viral drugs and antibiotics after having fever, cough and vomiting for two days. His condition worsened due to lung disorders, although he tested negative for tuberculosis, typhoid, dengue, leptospira infection and even H1N1 on 18th Aug 18. He was moved to the ICU the next day, and died the same day due to “severe pneumonia with septicaemic shock”. It was only on 24th August that he was confirmed to have the virus, after the post-mortem biopsy report based on lung samples tested positive.

29th August 2009: the World Health Organisation (WHO) says Malaysians have low understanding and poor knowledge on the spread of the A(H1N1). The public did not take H1N1 seriously. 4 awareness campaigns have been held since May, but only the wearing of masks had given the public the most awareness. The others: personal hygiene, use of sanitisers and hand cleaning had not sunk in.

26th August 2009: Malaysia on 71 deaths: 24-year-old woman who died of “H1N1 with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)”.

25th August 2009: Malaysia on 70 deaths: 3-year-old boy who died 18th August of H1N1 Encephalitis with Celebral Odema and Multiorgan Failure. He suffered high fever and fits for 2 days before receiving treatment on 12th August; condition deteriorated, admitted to ICU, given Tamiflu, tested positive for the virus 5 days later.

24th August 2009: Malaysia on 69 deaths: latest is the 38-year-old female teacher at SMK USJ 12 who died on 19th August.

21th August 2009: The World Health Organisation stated that: for every confirmed case, there are 20 other undetected cases. That means, there are actually almost 110,000 cases in Malaysia now.

20th August 2009: Malaysia on 68 deaths: a 33-year old woman who’s 34 weeks pregnant. The unborn child also died. She was treated and admitted into a private hospital in Johor Baru on 8th August after developing fever and cough for one day. 5 days later, she was admitted to the ICU of Sultanah Aminah Hospital in Johor Baru for breathing difficulties. Tamiflu was administered, but she died the next day due to “severe pneumonia and respiratory failure.” A(H1N1) infection was confirmed 14th August.

The country recorded its highest number of cases in one day: 569. Total number of confirmed cases: 5,496.

Difference between normal flu and H1N1

A(H1N1): fever exceeding 38 degrees Celsius for 3-4 days, headache, severe body ache, sore throat and dry cough (in the early stages), excessive tiredness.

Normal flu: rarely have fever or have only mild fever (of less than 38 degrees Celsius), runny nose and sneeze often.

Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman of Universiti Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) was quoted to have said:

The rapid test kit, as advocated by the Health Ministry, is not a good idea as it gives a “false sense of security”: it’s only at best 25% accurate. Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had earlier approved the use of these kits as he claimed it could diagnose patients in 15 minutes and was 70 – 90% accurate.

A report by the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta says mask-use by either infected patients or health-care personnel does not prevent the transmission of viruses. While the mask is effective in preventing those already infected with the virus from spreading it, it actually does nothing to prevent healthy people from getting the disease. If this true, the recent exercise by the authorities to make face masks a controlled item, seems useless and redundant.

18th August 2009: Malaysia on 67 deaths: additional 3 deaths from the day before, all in high risk group:
(i) a 33-year-old woman of severe bronchopneumonia; admitted to ICU on 7th August, tested positive for the virus on 12th August.
(ii) a 10-year-old girl of “Systematic Lupus Erythematous (SLE) with severe pneumonia with renal impairment”, admitted 17th July, died 13th August.
(iii) a 71-year-old man of “Ischaemic Dilated Cardiomyopathy precipitated by pneumonia”, admitted to hospital after having fever, cough and breathing difficulties for two days, died 14th August.

Number of patients in wards: 276
Number of patients in ICU: 36 [21 with risk factors]

Malaysia now ranked 8th in the world, behind the USA (477), Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Chile and Thailand; we have even more deaths than vastly more populous or more densely populated countries like Japan, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, China (zero deaths!) and Hong Kong.

Note: antiviral treatment WITHOUT first testing for the virus will ONLY be given to 3 high risk groups and those with influenza (any flu).

Dr Ismail Merican (Ministry of Health Director-General) vs Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman (Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Universiti Malaya Medical Centre):

Dr Ismail: fatalities could be avoided if health practitioners take appropriate actions immediately. Of the 56 recorded deaths, 40 percent involved delays in receiving early treatment and 13 percent was because of late detection by medical practitioners.

The Health Ministry should send a clear and consistent message on the outbreak so that Malaysians know exactly what to do. We want people to be aware but we do not want them to panic. Do not tell people to do a throat swab one minute and then say ‘don’t’ the next minute. That was really confusing for the public.

If ever a medical emergency is declared, people could be rushing out of the country, I sure hope the exit signs are well placed…

Part 1 of the chronology.

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A colleague and I were in Penang for a few days for the IPv6 Certified Network Engineer (level 1) course and certification at the NAv6 [National Advanced IPv6] Centre of Excellence, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

With us were 6 other participants, 4 from Bank Negara Malaysia and 2 from SUK Selangor.

Special thanks to the guys from Bank Negara who were kind enough to bring us on a quick tour of Penang.

We might be back here next year for Level 2 and of course the delicious yet much-cheaper-than-Kota Kinabalu Penang food.

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Requirements to make the list:
- hotel room charges must be RM200 or less nett per night, inclusive of breakfast.
- legally accessible i.e. offered as part of the hotel’s services
- wired or wireless

From the internet, it seems that only the following hotels currently make the grade:
(i) @Ease Boutique Hotel, Sandakan
(ii) B-Suite, Penang. This one I’m having a first-hand experience right now.
(iii) Imperial International Hotel, Kota Kinabalu [subject to confirmation]

If you have any others to add to the list, please inform me. Thanks!

BTW, I’m writing this in Penang, a place where cheap and tasty food are aplenty: the diet pill beckons?

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I haven’t presented a paper at a seminar in 3 years until yesterday afternoon, during the “Strategising, Managing & Securing your Information Assets” seminar at Magellan Sutera, Kota Kinabalu.

Talking about a dry topic for 45 minutes right after lunch will always be a challenge, and this being a government (i.e. official) event, I couldn’t possibly do a Steve Riley i.e. walking around in shorts and standing on a chair ;-)

Having said that, I think the most difficult part is always the Q&A session, because:

(i) there are too many possible questions, you can’t possible anticipate them all and prepare for each one thoroughly. I preprepared answers to 2 questions which I thought was the hardest and most likely to be asked – they were not.

(ii) you have very little time to prepare an answer, in fact you are pressured to give an answer. After the question is asked, hundreds of expectant eyeballs are on you, and you are seated right in front, onstage.

Thank you organisers for the book and the delicious handmade chocolates!

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4 months after passing the Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) in February, I went for the EC-Council Certified Security Analyst / Licensed Penetration Tester (ECSA/LPT) course 23-27th June 2008 (you need to pass CEH first before going for ECSA/LPT).

This is the most expensive training I have ever attended, at well over RM7,000 for 5 days.

My instructor was Semi Yulianto, senior technical trainer/ consultant, EC-Council’s Instructor of the Year 2008 for Asia Pacific and a regular feature at hacker conventions in the region. He’s got one of the longest certification lists I have ever seen (23), including MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, CCNP and CHFI.

Semi was born in Pontianak, Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The exam’s held Friday afternoon, takes 2 hours, 50 multiple-choice questions (A to D), online via Internet. Hence if Internet down, can’t take the exam. I passed the exam at 98%.

It seems that EC-Council Phileo Damansara Time.com internet connectivity is rather unstable, some innocuous sites appear to be blocked.

There’s no exam for the LPT, I was informed that I need to pay USD500 (not included in the ECSA training cost, renewable yearly) and submit my CV and letter of confirmation from the police stating I do not have any criminal record to EC-Council USA.

Apparently Malaysia has less than 10 ECSA/LPT practitioners now.

The market rate for LPT work in Malaysia is RM2,000 per day.

For those budding hackers out there, turn your passion into a career. Being a trainer can be a lucrative profession. Semi mentioned that he works 2 weeks a month and gets minimum RM14K per month. If he does other work, that’s extra. Plus he gets to travel frequently to countries in the region.

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After taking the CEH exam in February, I finally received the certificate on the 26th of March, more than a month later.

Having said that, I’d like to reiterate that at a certain stage of one’s life, one can never reach as high level a hacker as one would like anymore, due to other commitments, especially time.

The other, followup course is coming up in June.

Still, doing well in any exam, especially a relatively expensive one like this is an achievement to be savoured. The last time I took an exam which cost a few hundred ringgit was on 24th June 2006 when I sat for the IELTS exam. I scored an average of 8.6 out of a possible 9 then, but surprisingly did worst on a topic I thought I’d get a 9: writing.

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Time sure flies so fast. It seemed only a short while ago that we went through our compliance audit. In fact it had been about 13 months.

So my time-management skills were stretched to the limit. Having been made the head of the new data centre effective February, there are many things that need urgent attention, but at the same time I also had to play my role as head of the internal audit team which is one of the critical elements of a successful quality program. I would never have been able to do both without the support of great teams in each camp. Thanks, teammates!

SIRIM QAS’ 2-day (yearly) surveillance audit of our department ended today. I think after the closing meeting, everybody could heave a collective sigh of relief: we did enough to maintain our MS ISO 9001:2000 certification.

Congratulations to all involved.

I expected a few minor nonconformances (NCs) and a bundle of opportunities for improvement (OFI) suggestions, and that’s what exactly happened. As is usually the case with surveillance audits, the scope was not as comprehensive as last years’ audit. The experience we had last year definitely helped, we were somewhat more prepared, at least mentally, this year.

I am also grateful to the auditors for allowing myself and another colleague to be in the interview room to observe how they conduct the audit. You can be sure I was furiously taking notes on my laptop.

Looking towards the future, the 2nd surveillance audit will take place a year from now, and the recertification audit the year after that. That last audit I expect to be a very tough one. But who knows, the audit team might be different that time…

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After having been at my existing office for slightly less than 2 years, the boss decided that it’s time for staff reshuffle again.

My transfer was effective 1st February, so I have been in the new office for about 2 weeks.

Not that I’m not used to it: it must be my 5th transfer since I started, but I really miss my grand room and its view. At my old office I can see Sutera Harbour, the sea and the islands like so…

…while I had a huge table and floor-to-ceiling wood paneling:

At my new office, everything is brand new, but on a smaller scale, and as for the view, well, there’s no view at all :-(

At my old office I had 7 subordinates, about 2,000 users and 600+ computers.

At my new office I have 13 subordinates and practically the whole state to serve. Now, if only we have a memory foam mattress in the recreation room…

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For the 2nd consecutive year we had our annual department’s workshop at this resort, from 29th November to 1st December. We’ve been holding our workshop annually since 2003.

While we were there last year they were on transition phase – change of management, rebranding etc. This year were they better prepared?

Well, the road there is better, but the last kilometre is still not fully sealed, although the potholes are now covered. The road on the last 2 kilometres are still rather narrow, but being a “kampung” road, that is acceptable. The last few days were rainy, so some patches are rather muddy.

The map as presented on their website is still cryptic – do you think you can find the way simply by looking at this?

Luckily, once you get nearer the resort, there are plenty of signboards directing you, although they could be difficult to see at night.

The website says that it’s located “just 40 minutes by car away from Kota Kinabalu.” I think that would apply if you’re thoroughly familiar with the road and driving as fast as the law allows. If not, 1 hour, or even 90 minutes should be allocated.

When we arrived, Typhoon Hagibis had just left. The swimming pool was full of seawater and they were still cleaning it up when we left on Saturday. A few days earlier the guests’ vehicles had to be moved to higher ground due to the big waves pushing seawater up to the resorts’ steps!

I usually try not to get too excited looking at website or brochure pictures, as they usually portray the place to be prettier than it really is, but I’d have to say the beach is indeed as beautiful as portrayed on the website.

Last year at least one of my colleagues could not get out of his room because of the peculiar room door locking mechanism: you’re not supposed to push in the button located on the handle, but that’s what you’d normally do right? This year I didn’t hear anybody trapped, perhaps everybody’s learned their lesson, but still the door handle to my room looked very similar to the one last year.

My room was in one of the deluxe rooms. It was spacious, the materials top notch and all the TV channels actually worked. However, the port where you’re supposed to slot in your “keychain” is not working – meaning all the lights and aircon could be left running forever.

For the whole day of the 30th November, there was plenty of hot water and very little cold water in the bathroom, so taking a shower was not a pleasant experience.

And apparently some of my colleagues could not enter their rooms directly – they had to enter their neighbour’s room, then use the interconnecting door.

There’s free and fast WiFi access, where the strongest signal is in the lobby. You can still access the Net from the nearby restaurant and the Mengalum room upstairs even though the signal is low.

For the workshop, I was in charge of emergencies and first aid, and was pleasantly surprised to be informed that they would even send you free of charge to the nearest clinic or hospital free of charge, even if it’s just a little headache.

Parking is more than adequate.

I am not fussy about food, so all I can say is that all of them taste good and there’s more than enough for everybody.

For our dinner on the second night, we used their flagship hall – the appropriately named Royal Grand Ballroom (or Royal Hall), which apparently can fit 100 round dinner tables. Our theme was “Malam Riang Ria Bersama 60an & 70an” [1960s and 1970s Night] and I must say the resort went to great lengths to ensure this theme was adhered to. First, it was the most elaborate food presentation (well, it was more like an “bon apetit” wish since it’s a buffet dinner) routine I’ve ever seen – complete with big motorcycles, bicycle riding all the way from the front up to the stage, the resort staff dancing to a P Ramlee song onstage, and finally the unveiling of the backdrop. Later, they were also involved to pick out the best dressed people – those wearing authentic-looking 60s/70s costumes. And no, no renaissance costumes.

You might never see yours truly wearing this kind of shades again

Later, everybody, having earlier been divided into groups, had to participate in a competition. You had to come up with a sketch, song presentation, dancing etc, as long as it adheres to the theme of the dinner. So here I am trying to be P Ramlee:

And ended up looking like a bad Elvis impersonator:

But still we finished 3rd among 10 groups presenting:

By Monday, the general consensus is that this is the best workshop the department’s ever organised.

Source

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MCs and Floor Managers on the left of stage: on the left is Disney

As I mentioned previously, during our state-level charity dinner on 22nd October, I have never had the experience of getting an Akademi Fantasia artiste to perform at a function I was involved in organising. Stark details of the contract are of course P & C, but I hope by sharing some of the points here will be of help to those planning a similar venture in future.

During one of the many organising committee meetings, we started by deciding on which artiste to choose. After settling on Velvet, I called up Maestro’s artiste management head, whose mobile phone number someone had given me. In this initial discussion, I found out that Velvet was free on the date of the function. If she was not, I’d have to fall back on the 2nd choice, 3rd choice and so on. The discussion also revolved around the fees and the number of songs she’s supposed to perform. The committee had decided the absolute maximum cost we could bear, so I was quite pleased when Maestro accepted our proposal.

That was the first and last time I talked to the head on the phone – later it was one of her staff and of course later, the manager in charge. Yes – the artiste will come to the function with his/her manager. Everything that concerns the artiste is supposed to be dealt through the manager. He needs to be no-nonsense, businesslike. Of course an artiste needs to show that s/he is friendly, greets everybody and smiles all the time: if s/he needs to make a quick getaway for whatever reason, it would be impossible to do so. That’s why managers would seem to be obnoxious, especially when the artiste gets up close and personal with the fans during the photo session at the end of the dinner.

Oops, I’m rambling already. Back to the subject matter: Maestro then faxed the contract which ran into several pages, which I had to sign and return. The details include:

Fees – have to pay 50% of the agreed fees a.s.a.p. and the other 50% a few days before the function.

In addition to the agreed fees, you have to cough out additional costs:

Flight ticket – you’re supposed to provide KLIA – KKIA return ticket, business class, for both artiste and manager. That means AirAsia is a no-no. I did the e-ticketing, cheaper than going through a travel agent.

Accomodation – you’re supposed to provide rooms (one for each artiste and manager of course) in reputable hotels (the manager didn’t specifically ask for 5-star resorts, he just mentioned “a hotel that’s of OK standard”). Our function was held in Magellan Sutera, I put them up at Promenade: it was a cost issue. The new hotels at Warisan Square sounded tempting, but they seemed too new and I never went there before, one didn’t provide room service, the other one didn’t sound convincing enough on the room service part. This is a pertinent point because the manager didn’t want unwanted attention on the artiste: they’d not want to go out unnecessarily. Even at Magellan Sutera they preferred to wait backstage for the entrance, rather than at a more comfortable place outside.

Food & Beverage – you’re supposed to grant full signing facilities to them at their hotel. This is of course a big risk – you wouldn’t know how much food and drinks they’d order, and we all know the cost of room service, even at a mere 4-star hotel. The committee expressed concern about the possibility of costs soaring out of control because of this. I talked personally to Velvet about this, she assured me that it won’t happen. It didn’t.

Transportation – you’re supposed to provide *all* transportation: from/to airport/accomodation; from/to accomodation/performance venue, including for soundcheck in the afternoon. Hence, you’d need to do some liaising with the band/sound system guys – they must be ready by the set times. Lembaga Kebudayaan Sabah were truly professional, the head of the team called me on Sunday night to doublecheck on things. They were already setting up at 11am Monday, so by 3pm Velvet was rehearsing her 4 minus one songs and 1 live song without any hitch. After the soundcheck Velvet went for a hairdo at Centre Point, the driver had to wait for her; he could not join us for early dinner.

Dressing room – you’re supposed to provide this, but actually she can use her hotel room for this purpose. During the function itself, she only needs a waiting room. She’d go backstage via the “secret path” all good 5-star resorts have – so that she’d end up backstage in the waiting room (in reality Magellan Sutera’s kitchen).

Security personnel – you’re supposed to provide 2 persons to escort the artiste at all times, in addition to the driver. Can appoint big-sized colleagues for this task ;-) But perhaps due to the civility of the people of Sabah (no gone-berserk fans), the manager didn’t really follow-up on this one, so I just put the 2 assigned persons on-call.

Others:
Insurance coverage for the event, of course car insurance for the vehicle ferrying the artiste around must’ve been taken care of.

So as you can see, the cost can balloon up. Coupled with the stress of selling the tickets, of course you’d try to keep costs as low as possible ;-) In the end, we managed to sell more than 50 tables, not as many as we hoped for, but it was not bad.

Velvet, kau mimang malatup!

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