MY Career with PBLT

Let me begin with my current employment with Pembinaan BLT Sdn Bhd at www.pblt.com.my

I started working here in March 2006 as a Project Manager. People always like to ask me what BLT stands for. It actually means Build Lease Transfer. The company was set up in September 2005 in line with the government's policy to improve the life of police force in this country. PBLT is a private company wholly owned by Minister of Finance Incorporated. Earlier set up was to receive a budget from Ministry of Finance, build the project, lease to the government for a certain period and transfer back to the government. The end-user shall be Polis Di Raja Malaysia or PDRM or Royal Police of Malaysia.

Since the company had just been set up, there were no proper system of project implementation. We started from scratch. I was the only experienced Project Manager in my department, Project Coordination Department 1 under Project Coordination Division. I am reporting to a Senior Manager. At that time was En Mas Abdul Rahman Mas Mohamed. Since the company is a Government Linked Company or GLC, there were a few personnel from government technical body called Jabatan Kerja Raya or JKR were seconded to this company. En Mas was from JKR. He was reporting to a General Manager, Tuan Hj Ir Landong Wakimin. The Managing Director is hand-picked from a private sector given to En Mohd Hatar Ismail, an accountant by a qualification.

My company staff no. is 045. I was one of the pioneer technical professional in the company. My first assignment was to handle, manage and coordinate the following eleven projects which cost almost RM650 million and consist of Administration Building and its components and quarters :-

1. IPD Manjung, Sitiawan, Perak.
2. IPD Taiping, Perak.
   
3. IPD Lahad Datu, Sabah.
4. IPD Padang Terap, Kedah.
5. IPD Kota Setar, Kedah.
6. BP Pantai Remis, Perak.
7. BP Beruas, Perak.
8. BP Batu Kurau, Perak.
9. PGA Bidor, Perak.
10. Pengkalan Marin, Semporna, Sabah.
11. Mes Pegawai Kanan, Perlis.

IPD MANJUNG

IPD Manjung was one of the first PBLT's pioneer projects. I managed to complete the project within acceptable contract period and cost. The project was commenced on 20th April 2006 and completed on 26th November 2007 with an extension of time of 54 days and project cost overrun of 7.7%. Final project cost is RM 54.8 million.

The project consist of the following building components :-

		a)	1 Blok Ibu Pejabat Polis Daerah, IPD (3 Tingkat) bersambung dengan
		b)	Bangunan Lapang Sasar (1 Tingkat) dan Bangunan Lokap (1 Tingkat)
		c)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas D (Teres 2 Tingkat - 7 unit)
		d)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas E (Apartment 5 Tingkat - 18 unit)
		e)	7 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas F (Apartment 5 Tingkat - 112 unit)
		f)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas F (Apartment 3&4 Tingkat - 11 unit)
		g)	1 Blok Rumah Kediaman Kelas F (Apartemnt 3&4 Tingkat - 10 unit)

Administration Block


Residential Quarters




Multipurpose Hall and Workshop


Fuel Pump Station and Surau


Lock-ups


Shooting Range










Meeting in Session









During construction, two separate meetings were conducted and chaired by me i.e. Client Consultants Meeting (CCM) and Site Progress Meeting (SM). CCM was held to update the progress of consultant's works including authority's submission and approval, construction drawing status and issuance, amended/variation works, technical and contractual issues, site problems, inspection test plan, end-user's comments, and cost control.

While SM was conducted to monitor construction progress works including updating progress report, submission of materials, works method statements, shop drawings and testing procedures, construction problems, interfacing issues, M&E and NSC coordination works, health and safety issues, T&C schedules etc.

During the course of the construction, we received several official visitors to present the works progress to ensure the project was on track. Among the visitors coming to the site were Former Director General of Logistics Department of PDRM, the former Deputy of Inspector General of Police, the Chief of Perak Police and the Inspector General of Police himself. There was also an official visit from the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) of Prime Minister's Office to evaluate and audit the compliance of EPU Guidelines to government offices and quarters.

Former DG of Logistics Dept. Visit on 26th January 2007









Former DIGP Visit on 13th August 2007









IGP Visit on 24th January 2008









EPU Audit on 26th June 2008









The Certificate of Fitness for the above project was finally obtained on 8th July 2008. The official handing over of the buildings to the end-user was scheduled on 30th July 2008. However, the building keys were given a week earlier. Therefore, a meeting was arranged with the representatives from IPD Manjung on 22nd July 2008.










Then the official handing over was taken placed successfully as scheduled.

MY Background

WELCOME TO MY BLOG. Today is the day I was born exactly 43 years ago. Today is also the day I started my own blog which I plan to write about my life and experience I've gone through. Forgive me if there are some mistakes or flaws I may have written unintentionally as I'm still new in this. But it's never too late to learn even at this age. (My principle number ONE. I'll be writing about my own principle when the time permits. Life without principle is useless!)

Let me begin with the background of myself and what I've been doing for the past few years.

Born in 1965 in Johore Bahru, Johore, Malaysia. The first thing which I can still recall to flashback my childhood experience is when I started my education in a kindergarten. I was 6 years old at that time. Staying with my parents in Majidee Baharu with my two sisters and a big brother, we were renting in an old wooden house with a single bedroom. My baby sister was not born yet until I was seven.

I used to walk to school which is about a kilometer from home. I was not very active at school but was so keen to learn about arts. In fact, my talent in arts was really come out when I was challenged by a student to draw a typical scenery of a sun rise in between of hills near a seashore where a common ship and flying birds were seen as a must. I drew with all my heart and produced a better and an impressive drawing which was finally displayed by the teacher in front of the class as a reference to all of the students.

That was my first ever challenge that I took and did very well. Then, the rest of my life is a history in the making. I've never stopped taking challenge ever since. My life is full of challenge where I was brought up by my own due to my stubbornness. I am a man with principle. When I want to do something, I'll do it to the best of my ability.

I started my primary education in Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Larkin (2) in Larkin, Johore Baru. The first year in the school was the worst since the class was mixed up with all kinds of children from all walks of life. I was not really exposed to making friends with a lot of people. I could only recall a few names who I considered as friends i.e. Aminuddin, Izam, Hamidi, Farid, Anuarulhadi, Razif, Mahfoodz, Saifulbahrein, Chan, Chin and some girls whom I hardly knew. I'll tell you about some of these friends who are still contactable after all these years.

I completed my primary school in 1978 and was selected to further my secondary education in Maktab Sutan Abu Bakar (widely known as English College or EC) at Jalan Sungei Segget in Johore Bahru. This was all boys school up to Form 5. It was located about 5km from the city center and only a kilometer away from my residence. I used to walk everyday to school with a few friends living nearby my place. the first three years I was very close to a friend named Lokman Harris, Madzlee Abd. Wahab, Khairi and Roslan Supian who was the only one living in the school's hostel located at the neighbourhood. In the first year, I was in Form 1B where the classes had not been streamed yet according to the results of the exam. This was the time I came to know a few friends who came to school not to learn but to create havoc. They were very naughty and disturbed the class in session as all time. I was selected as Assistant Class Monitor and had a hard time dealing with these people. Surprisingly, those are the people when I met them back recently turned out to be one of very successful person in life. When I was in Form 2A, the class was full of nerds though part of myself still wanted to enjoy the happy times we used to have in the first year. I became a school prefect and was quite active in sports though never won a medal. It was not because I was not good but because there were a lot bunch of rough and tough students out there who were very much better and quicker. Hehehe...

I first sat for a big exams in Form 3A which was called Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) or Certificate of Lower Education in English at the end of 1980. I took subjects like Modern Mathematics, English, Bahasa Malaysia, History, Geography, Islamic Studies and Science. Managed to get three As in Math, Islamic Studies and Science. Then I was moved to Form 4 Science A based on the SRP results. There were four science classes and five arts classes at that time. Anyway, we used to call year 4 as Honeymoon Year. Why? You knowlah! That was the time we were considered 'an adult' and started making friends with girls from the other schools. We were celebrating and enjoying the year as we had passed the first big exam and pretending that there's no bigger exam and more important in the following year. Although there was a girls school next to us (i.e. Sekolah Engku Tun Aminah or SETA), we sure went for Sultan Ibrahim Girl's School (or SIGS) i.e. a few kilometers away. I think it's been a tradition as if the SIGS were EC's sweethearts . And it will always be.

That year was also the time I started socializing. Thanks to my sifu at that particular time i.e. Badrulhisham Panjang. (I've gotta tell you that there were three Badruls in the school. The other two were Badrul Cina and Badrul Pendek. They said there was another Badrul but I think he must be not so popular since I myself can't recall any.) Badrul Panjang was from Art Classes. I think he started smoking long before all of the gangsters in the school learned to smoke. Then he learned about the girls very much earlier than any of us. Haha! Hopefully, he'll never discover this blog to deny it. To my surprise, he did not go for SIGS nor SETA. He went for another girls school i.e. Convent Girls School (CGS). So, I came to know a few girls there but it seemed that I was left too far out from the crowd. They were considered too 'advance' for an innocent guy like me ( at that particular moment! Hehe...).

I was also a school prefect in the forth and fifth year. After SRP, most of my friends went for other schools like some to boarding schools scattered around the country and some to technical schools. So, I started looking for new friends. Some who were stayed become closer like Hanbal, Azman Aziz, Mashar, Khiruddin Amat Lot, Karim, Haslim. Suddenly, Hamzah Salim was the first person in the class who became even closer to me. He was not new in the school. I thought he was a Chinese because he looked like one. He also liked to mix around with Chinese and Indian boys who spoke English as the mother tongue. My command of English was very poor during school days. Maybe because I was too nationalist. Or maybe because we were the second year batch using Malay medium in schools as directed by the Malaysian Government. This could also be the results of some politicians trying to change the policy set up by the colonial long time ago. That was why I never knew Hamzah until he happened to be in the same class as mine and the second person selected as a prefect in the class. So, we became friends - best friend ever. We went to school together. We were release for break early because we were supposed to supervise those naughty boys during the one half hour recess at 10 a.m. We also went out together on almost every occasions or functions in the school. We even hang out together for shopping, watching movies, traveling etc. Since he also lived nearby my house, our closeness had made even our mothers knew each other.

Then we sat for Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) or Malaysian Certificate of Education in English at the end of 1982. This is an important exams to all Malaysians until today. The exams will affect the future of all Malaysians. It shall decide whether one to stay in schools for another big exams or to further studies to a higher institution. I took the subjects of Modern Math, Additional Math, Bahasa Malaysia, English, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Islamic Studies. When the results came out in March the following year, I had As for Modern Math, Physics and Islamic Studies. The rest was not so bad with credits. English was the worst, as expected. Then we moved to Form Lower 6 before getting offer to further our studies. I was among the few selected to Double Maths Class. Since that year was the year the Government planned to use up the fund for overseas studies, most of First Grader were sent to overseas for further studies.

Telling the truth, I was a little bit blur when comes to selecting the major. I was at first thinking of becoming a doctor since my results of Biology was C3 which qualified for the course. Unfortunately, the requirement for medical studies at that particular time was to take up two year matriculation locally. Since most of my friends were going abroad for whatever courses they were taking, I was driven to studying overseas. So, I took up Civil Engineering. That time, I was not familiar with semester or quarter systems. Most of my friends started leaving for overseas in July. I was among the few who were left behind at schools and were waiting for the notice letter to fly. My good old buddy, Hamzah was leaving sometime in early July. I still remember the day he came to my house in the early morning to say good bye. Without realizing it, we were crying the moment we hugged each other speechlessly. We never realized that we could become so emotional when comes to separation. Maybe we never expected to be so close that we refuse to be separated. This is the facts of life. Nothing will last forever except God. I never also expected that since that moment, I would lose a very close friend forever. Though we did contact each other during our stay in U.S.A. and met a few times during the break after two years, the relationship had become sour. Maybe time has taught us differently and finally we are heading on separate ways and life.

After waiting for months, I finally left for U.S.A. in September 1983. That was my first ever experience taking a plane and going abroad. And off course with a few other youngsters who also were experiencing it for the first time. It took us almost 17hours to reach Los Angeles. Then, we flew to Chicago before taking another flight to Toledo, Ohio. There were some senior Malaysian students were picking us up at the airport. After taking us to their apartments for some treats, we were temporarily staying with them for a couple of days. We finally were given our own place to stay at the neighborhood. The next day we all registered at The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio for a TOEFL test. As expected and as I mentioned earlier, I failed the first ever test I took in the university. Only couple of us had to sit for English Class for the whole quarter which happened to be in Fall Season. Sometimes, one tends to learn more and faster when one is forced to. I improved my English tremendously within short period. Finally, I only managed to enter the university for freshmen class in Winter Quarter. It took me exactly three and a half years to complete my studies before I return to Malaysia. I'll tell you more about my life in the U.S.A. when the time permits.

I'll continue on my working experience in the next chapter.

MY Family Trip to Sabah