Would I work with Doctor Mahathir?

As anyone who reads this blog knows. I have been championing an educational based initiative since my time at Lotus Engineering Malaysia.
I believe it has merit (obviously). I however need a large well funded institution to fund and support the proposal.
Lotus are presently owned by the Malaysian consortium DRB Hicom.
They own Proton, who in turn own Lotus.
Dr. Mahathir, the ex Malaysian Prime Minister is the Chairman of Proton and Lotus.

Dr M now chairman of Proton and Group Lotus (Malaymailonline)

Dr. Mahathir is controversial. He appears to embrace controversy, and is not afraid to express his opinion.

Let’s have a ‘white’ PM next, says Dr Mahathir over new MAS boss (themalaysianinsider.com)
Dr Mahathir’s latest gaffe on Bible burning — Koon Yew Yin(themalaymailonline.com)
Dr M lauds Umno for keeping Sedition Act, bemoans silence on controversies (themalaymailonline.com)

Now speaking as an individual, I can’t say I would necessarily agree with burning bibles, or any other religious book come to that.
However, unlike Dr. Mahathir I was brought up in the “West”. I associate book burning as a prelude to authoritarian rule, quite possibly followed by World domination for the book burners particular brand of religion and political philosophy.
So would I work with Dr. Mahathir?
Well yes. I have a vision. It is based on a combination of industrial expertise, hardware and academic learning delivered online and in the classroom.
Dr. Mahathir is the chairman of my preferred partner. I would not throw the baby out with the bathwater because of fundamental differences of opinion.
Here is a picture of Dr. Mahathir meeting with Hilary Clinton.

Dr. Mahathir appears to be enjoying her company immensely, I am sure the same would apply to me.

Only time will tell.

Barriers to my vision. Christmas is upon us.

Barriers to My Vision

Contract design is a closed shop. Generally when looking for any employment contacts are the best way.

These contacts can either be enablers or Barriers.

None of us like barriers. It's how you deal with them that counts!

Whether it be in the school yard or the office people tend to follow the leader.

I'm a leader. I have a vision. I am more than happy to execute the plan.

Once this ball starts rolling there will be people following it.

I must say that before DRB-Hicom/Petronas sign up for the proposal, they should sit the Senior people in Group Lotus down and ask them if they will work with me. If not why not?

 

Christmas is upon us! My friend Jimmy and his wife Mila are visiting over Christmas.
In March 2002 Jimmy, Mila and my Dad all went to Redang for a short break.
Redang is a small resort Island off the coast of Malaysia.
They sent me a few pictures.TOP Picture.
Me + unknown blonde + Mila + my dad.
It will be a lot colder in the UK!

I have gone a lot more grey and put on a few pounds since.

Never mind. Life is good, and I'm back in the gym, so slowly I'll lose a few pounds. Not that I'll ever be a slim Jim!

I hope Jimmy and Mila enjoy the UK as much as I enjoyed Malaysia.

As this is a work blog, I suppose I should mention that Jimmy works for Proton. At the time these were taken I was working for Lotus on the Gen 2. On the Gen2 I was a release engineer, later I wrote the draft for the MUM proposal.

Later still the proposal and its author were booted out!

One of the most stupid things Lotus have ever done!

Just so you know. Amazon are doubling the money they put into KDP select. My charity book is available for free download on Christmas day. I would guess that over $2 will go to charity for each download. Spread the word!

 

 

To view the story behind the book and access links to Amazon click here

 

Book sales, Germany and Malaysia, Linkedin, 2013 NAP

I have a charity book which is printed by Createspace and is available on Kindle.
All money goes to charity Rokpa.
It is free to download on the 1st of the month.
To read the story behind the story go to:
www.samasama.de/innocence-lost-in-the-ice-cream-forest/

I have a friend, Jimmy and his wife Mila, coming over from Malaysia over Christmas, and after Christmas I will pop over to Germany for wedding celebration in Leipzig, for Tilo and Curtney.

So, should I get this project off the ground, I'll need to fly back to Europe end of December.

I'm getting a few people I haven't heard from for a while trying to connect via Linkedin. They have hundreds of connections, so I don't think they partcularly want to connect with me!

Its a useful tool for seeing where people are working.

I contacted the Malaysian Institute Automotive regard their upcoming National Auto Policy.
They were polite and encouraged me to give them as much info about my thoughts and project as possible.

As always I am optimistic and patient!

Daily Mail (UK) confirms Lotus entry into F1

One of Britain's fabled motor racing names Lotus to return to Formula One for 2010 season >
This is the heading in todays Daily Mail (UK)
As previously mentioned this fits in well with the MUM proposal.
Local Malaysian politicians seem to think the government will make an announcement after the Singapore GP.
Alex Yoong should be working for ESPN in Asia that weekend. As Alex has been kind enough to visibly support MUM I would love to hear his appraisal of the latest developments.
I'm in the UK right now, so I'll be listening to Eddie Jordan and the BBC team.
I sincerely hope some of the young guns, particularly, Alex and Tengku Djan lend their support to the MUM proposal if asked. They are both in ideal positions to be a positive influence.

I've put my old Bernama TV interview here for those of you who have not seen it...

Video shoot complete. Editing and web page in progress

Yesterday, I filmed the video. I wrote an introductory script for my new website.

It is my intention to send the video to some of the people at the conference, in the hope that they will be suitably impressed. Impressed enough to view

http://www.motorsportuniversitymalaysia.com/

Shortly, I will be adding content pertaining to the plan and strategy for Johor and Shanghai campuses.

I have every confidence that they will then make the right decision, and contact me with a view to making the vision a reality.

The video will be available for viewing by invite only.

Tilo (http://www.samasama.de/index.php) helping me with my new website, and video editing.

Herry (http://www.itv2.de/) shot the video.


Unlike the video the website is available for public viewing. I am hoping that this will be a first class site. I am responsible for the content. Other more capable people will look after the graphical side.

The ASLI conference went well. I asked one or two questions and networked.

Alex Yoong gave his support and sat with me for the two days... raising my profile!

Thanks Alex! (Sorry no picture of Alex and me) waiting for ASLI to send me one

Motorsport University Malaysia flyer ready

I have been asked by ASLI, the Asian Strategic Leadership Alliance Institute to promote their upcoming Conference on:

2nd Kuala Lumpur Automotive conference 2009



I have had a flyer made, which I have sent to the Asian Strategy & Leadership Institute.
It outlines my Asean + 1 proposal.
I am 100% focussed on this project.

official-flyer-for-motorsport-university-malaysia

View more presentations from johnsean.

In the past, I have contacted Universities both in Malaysia and abroad regarding this project. They have always been very positive.

If you go into slide share presentation above, and view page 2 you will see the Bernama survey results.

The results of this survey suggest that it is not only the Universities that support the setting up of a Motorsport University in Malaysia.

I would like to think that if a similar survey were to be conducted in China a similar result would be recorded.

Hence my ASEAN + 1 strategy makes sense on many levels

It is my intention to promote the MUM project at this conference. It would be nice to think that educational institutions both local and foreign would take the opportunity to attend this conference and make there support for Motorsport University Malaysia known to local Automotive companies supporting this conference.

Should you be interested here is a sample attendees/ speakers/role players:

Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia:

Tan Sri Dato’ Muhyiddin bin Haji Mohd Yassin

Industrial players/politicians:

Dato’ Mohd Nadzmi Mohd Salleh

Chairman, PROTON Holdings Berhad, Malaysia

Dato’ Kamaruddin Ismail

Deputy Secretary-General (Industry), Ministry of International Trade & Industry (MITI), Malaysia

Mr Dilip Chenoy

Director General, Society of Indian Automobiles Association (SIAM), India

Mr Carl Rajendram

Chief Executive Officer, ISM Insurance Services Malaysia Berhad

Mr Kavan Mukhtyar

Partner & Head - Automotive Transportation & Logistics Practice, Asia Pacific, Frost & Sullivan

The list goes on and includes local media representatives, as well as representatives of non Malaysian automotive players.

There are several contacts for this conference:

We trust that the above are in order and if there's any way that we can be of any assistance, kindly get your office to contact me or Ms Kenanga Simon, Vice President – Special Events at 603-2093 5760 (dir) / 603-2093 5393 ext 211 / fax: 2093 3078 / 2094 8461 / mobile: 012-212 3441 / e-mail: kenangasimon@asli.com.my / simonkenanga@gmail.com / skenanga@yahoo.com

If you are serious in supporting 'MUM' please come along use this conference to let the relevent people know!

*** I would like to make it clear I am not a speaker at this event. I am not receiving payment for promoting either the conference, or the Motorsport University Malaysia project.

I have written to several institutions and people who I feel would benefit from this conference. I am pleased to report that a well known driver and media personality has agreed to come on Wednesday. The person says that my vision for motorsports in Malaysia is the same as his.