Lunch with PM…almost

Last Thursday (7 December 2006) I attended the MSC-Asia Pacific ICT Awards Presentation ceremony and lunch at the Palace of the Golden Horses Hotel. The MSC-APICTA provides a platform to simulate creativity, innovation and excellence in ICT in Malaysia, benchmark Malaysian ICT product and solution, and recognizes outstanding achievement in ICT.

The ceremony was officiated by YAB Dato’ Seri Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi, our Prime Minister. Because he had another lunch appointment elsewhere, he arrived later to present the Prime Minister’s “Best of the Best” Award. It’s a privilege to see him for the first time – in person. Obviously, he looks exactly like he’s on the television or newspaper but the feeling is different. I was pretty excited actually and almost couldn’t stop taking pictures of him. :p. The pictures are not very clear though – better than nothing. Some of the shots are below. I had an up-close view of him after the event. I was coming out from the ladies as he passed by with his entourage. He was just a few feet away from me!

Ok, why was I at the event? An Engineering final year project from my College has won the Merit Award in the Best of Tertiary Student Project – Software / Hardware category. The title of their project is Mobile Parking and Verification System. The project enhances the traditional parking system by allowing motorists to use their mobile phones/PDA for parking payment. Enforcement officers can use its real-time online payment verification system to validate the parking payment. Sounds cool? The system was developed by a group of 4 students from the BEng (Hons) Electrical and Electronics Final Year. Well done! They did the College proud with the achievement.

Two years ago, my brother’s group project has also won the same award. They developed a smart home system which can be controlled through the Internet and mobile phone. To demonstrate the functions, they built a small wooden house with some rooms – with lights, fan, temperature sensor, shock sensor and alarm. I like the house – not sure where it is now. It reminds me of a doll house that I have always wanted. That year, only my Head of School attended the event. This year, five of us went including our CEO. I didn’t enjoy the lunch much. Just glad that I got invited to witness the award presentation.

From Left: Dato’ Sri Dr. Jamaludin Dato’ Mohd Jarjis (Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation.), Prime Minister and YB Dato’ Sri Dr Lim Keng Yaik (Minister of Energy, Water and Communications).