22nd January 2010

My friends,

Never too late to say a Happy New Year to everybody! Hopefully 2010 will be a “roaring” year for all of us.

It is not surprising that when we finished our last Course for year 2009 on 24^th December, which was the Petronas Scholars 9/2009, most Instructors including me were down with a flu bug or something. So we had to take our break whether we like it or not…..after handling over 300 kids for the CAC & YAC in November and December, what do you expect? BUT the reward of seeing those kids’ faces (including their parents and guardians) at the end of the courses was enough to “heal” our tired mind and body!

The first course for 2010 started on 9^th January with 79 participants from Petronas Scholars 1/2010 on their 7-day Whaler & Kayak programme.

We also had the Alumni 1/2010 activity on 18^th January and at their request, a very tough Whaler programme where they went to Pantai Shawal & later to Pulau Rumbia (almost 20km in a straight line!) & back…all within three days! The team was led by Mohandas Mohan (our Malaysian Mr. Everest), his able assistant Kaynis and all together fifteen Ex-Bounders (including five females). As I said in my earlier write-up, Ex-Bounders are crazy (but nice) people!

On a more serious note, namely after the Gopeng-Kampar Bridge and Dragon Boat tragedy recently, we cannot but stress that SAFETY is of top priority when doing ALL of our activities. That is why sometimes our participants complained of too much emphasis by us on supervision, preparatory briefing & exercises plus countless reminders of safety procedures and drills whenever we do wall-climbing, belaying, repelling, abseiling, trekking, camping, kayak (capsized drill & escort of Safety & Speed boat), and whaler activities (a ratio of two Whalers to be escorted by one Safety boat), and even during the morning exercises. Of course there is already an inherent risk whenever we do any outdoor activity but due care & diligence must be exercised at all times. We have Risk Analysis assessment on EVERY activity and it has to be evaluated & approved by management before we can do that activity.

For your information, Outward Bound Malaysia (in fact all Outward Bound Schools) are audited biannually by a team of experts from Outward Bound International on our adherence to the Safety Management System and may have our license revoked if there are serious breach to recognized International Safety Standards. At the same time, we are in close contact with the relevant authorities and abide to their directions and advice.

Always remember that Nature is the perfect “classroom” & the best “teacher” is Mother Nature, as long as you follow its rule, and if you break it, it will be very unforgiving!

Whatever it is, just go out and do it  “A ship in harbor is safe – but that is not what ships are built for.”

Hello Everybody,
A Happy New Year to all Muslim (Ma’al Hijrah) today and as usual let’s open
a new page in our Book of Life.

The Children Adventure Course “CAC”, the Youth Adventure Course “YAC” & the Overseas Youth Programme “OYP” are ongoing now till just before Christmas. The CAC 70, OYP 12 & YAC 24 completed about a week ago and currently the CAC 71 & YAC 25 are ongoing. In fact, the CAC 71 consisting of 78 kids ages ranging from 10 to 12 years old are now camping at Teluk Sekadeh Pulau Pangkor for the two nights while they carry out their rock climbing & trekking!

Frankly, it always baffles me when I see the smiling albeit darkened faces of these kids when they completed their 10-day course and trying to convince their parents that they want to come back for the YAC so that they can kayak to & from Pangkor!

I must quote here the case of Nigel Low Tze Xi (12 years old), a participant of CAC 70 recently, fractured his wrist on the second day while doing the Wall Climbing at base and was advised to stay in the Medical Bay. When I saw him crying that night, it was not tears of pain but sadness that he may not be able to join his newly found friends to do all the other activities. Without a second thought, we allowed him to follow on condition that his friends support him all the way – of course our Instructors had sleepless nights monitoring his progress! Special compliments to his parents when they told me “He is a tough boy..Please carry on”. Please see his handwritten letter to me received after the course. THAT is the “magic” of Outward Bound!

Commercial – Please note that we have updated all the Enrolment Forms.

More than likely, we will meet up again in 2010 and would like to wish everybody……
A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of us at Outward Bound Malaysia, Lumut!

Hello there again,
We have been too busy having fun that the auspicious date of 30th October 2009 just passed us with a blink! The Outward Bound Trust of Malaysia was 55 years old on that date! But never mind, we have the whole year till next end of October to celebrate!

Our Vice President Dato Ismail Hutson celebrated his 70th Birthday in September 2009 and our staff was invited to attend a gala dinner given in his honour by the Zoo Negara on 5th October 2009 at the Palace of Golden Horses.

The following are some of the highlights of current events:
An article on the Outward Bound Malaysia was published in the October 2009 issue of “Going Places” –the MAS in-flight magazine. A good write-up by Rabani and must thank Ms Vivian Chong (ex-bounder) for promoting us in that magazine. We received a lot of calls & enquiries and a few of them visited our booth at the Adventure Show Asia Exhibition held at the Mid Valley Exhibition Centre from 9th to 11th October 2009. Please see pictures of the Exhibition by clicking on the Homepage.

We have posted the 2010 Public Course schedule on the Website so that you can refer for planning your booking for courses. There is one lady who already booked her son for the Children Adventure Course (CAC) in December 2010!

We must thank the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Perak State Government for donating a motorised Whaler. It arrived at our base on 13th October 2009 and currently undergoing refurbishment work and would be operational by mid-December 2009.

We are working together with some clients for very interesting & innovative experiential learning programmes. Watch for updates on this page!
As you know we will be very busy from now till just before Christmas especially with the Overseas Youth Programme/Adventure Challenge Course (OYP/ACC 11) & Children Adventure Course (CAC 70) starting 22nd November 2009 plus the OYP/ACC 12 & CAC 71 starting mid December 2009. We must thank the volunteers who come to support us in conducting those programmes year after year!

Watch out for updates in December 2009!

We are right here at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre!
We will be here until the 11th October (Sunday), 10am to 10pm.

Ex-bounders, come and share your moments. Free admission to all.

Hello my friends,
It is funny how time passes very fast when you are enjoying yourselves!
It is a bit more than a month since my first note on the website & everything just “moved”…

I must thank everybody who responded to our appeal to forward their blogs/website or any articles to be put into our website.
Special thanks to Ernie Lopez (now residing in Australia) who attended the First Standard (now known as Classic) 25-day Course held from 30th April 1955 till 24th May 1955 contacted me via email! Of course, I have to mention the following people who also responded through email namely Dato Mohd Muslim Ayob (SC 44 =11th July 1959 till 4th August 1959), Ariel Fernandez (SC 150 = 21st February 1970 till 17th March 1970) who is now residing in the Philippines, Abdul Aziz Masod AlHaj, Ms. Melissa Kong plus others who attended the Alumni One (Kenneth Yee) & Chan Senior who attended the Alumni Two.

We will definitely provide a link to ALL Alumni blogs/websites so that anybody who checks with our Website can have a wide range of choice.

Below are some comments since my last Note:

1. A team from Outward Bound International completed their biannual programme review (before known as Safety Review) of our Risk Management on 19th June 2009 and already presented a detailed report to our President for his comments. The exercise is very useful for us where they evaluated ALL safety procedures and have provided constructive recommendations for improvement in the risk management of our School.

2. We have taken preventive actions in managing the risk arising from the rather hot weather conditions recently, namely the impact of haze, heat wave & Infuenza A H1N1 on our participants throughout their stay at the School. We have a Safety Management System in place where the reporting procedures and action plans are strictly followed by all staff.

3. Our School Director, First Admiral (Retired) Thiruchandran, who has served at our School for almost eight years, will be leaving us by the end of August 2009. All the best for his future.

4. There has been poor response for the coming Children Adventure Course (CAC), Youth Adventure Course (YAC) & also the Overseas Youth Programme/Adventure Challenge Course (OYP/ACC) due in November/December this year.
Normally by now, the Courses would have been fully subscribed. The current uncertainty condition of the hot weather and the Influenza A H1N1 pandemic throughout the world is not helping in convincing parents to register their children for these courses.

Nevertheless, we are still keeping the registration open but have reduced the numbers reserved, so that we can fit in other corporate courses.

5. Your School will participate in the Adventure Show Asia 2009 Exposition which will be held from 9th to 11th October 2009 at Mid Valley Exhibition Centre Hall 1 & 2. Please come with your friends to visit our booth.

There are so many new & exciting things happening to the Outward Bound Malaysia and please watch out for the updates!
Thank you for coming back.

Some of us are late starters in life where we are given the opportunity to prove that we can “move” things….I think I am one of those.

I was given the opportunity to be the first Executive Director of the Outward Bound Trust of Malaysia with effect from 1st January 2009, and if I am not mistaken to be the first OP ever to be employed by the OBS in their 55 years of existence. What we know as the “Warden” is now the School Director…kita sikit atas dari School Director!

Just as many of us in the RMC, I went to the OBS in August 1969 – Standard (now known the Classic) 25-day course – Course 144 & was in the Bubu Watch and just managed to get a Membership Award! I said I was a late starter!

For your information, the OBS has “moved” to the current site near Teluk Batik in 1977 & the original site is now a transit accommodation for the Navy and very well maintained. Now the Istana Jugra (where the Royalty stays when they are at the Naval Base) fronting the sea at Teluk Muroh, is in front of the original school – if not mistaken that’s where we used to (have to?) dive into the sea after the early morning run around the field next to the School!

A little bit of History – “Outward Bound® Malaysia was born of a need to train leaders for the private and public sector and to mould good citizenship. In 1952, Tun Sir Gerald Templer, then the High Commissioner of Malaya, saw the need for leaders and captains of industry to prepare and to run the country in anticipation of impending independence. The Federation Military College and the Outward Bound® School were his twin projects to provide this need. Outward Bound® School Lumut was established in 1954 and has since successfully conducted self-development courses continuously.”

Do you know that OBS Malaysia is the first OBS outside the UK? It was officially registered as a “Company limited by guarantee without a share capital and not for Profit” (company no.2546-W) on 30th October 1954. Also that any financial contribution to the Outward Trust of Malaysia is entitled to tax exemption under Subsection 44(6) Akta Cukai Pendapatan 1967 effective 1st January 1954.

Do you know that OBS Malaysia is a non-governmental organisation, non-political and a financially independent body? The Council members of the OBS are multi-racial, volunteers and do not get any monetary benefit. (I should know when I served in the Management Committee which meets monthly, for almost three years!) They really believe & passionate about the Outward Bound principles and surprisingly none of them (except me) have been on an Outward Bound course!

Do you know that the OBS still got hand-written record of the School Report since Course No.1 conducted in April 1955 till now? There were thirty (30) participants – six (6) from the Federation Military College, a few from the Education department, Tebrau Estate, Chersonese estate, Shell, Harrison Crossfields, Central Electricity Board, Chartered Bank & Dunlop Malayan Estates.

The six (6) from FMC were Tejinder Singh, Lopez E, Harjit Singh, Anthony Morel, Ismail Hashim & Richard Tan.

Incidentally, I saw my own report only 40 years later when I became the Executive Director of the OBS! Among the points “…Fadzil was not afraid of leadership responsibilities but he lacked drive and assertiveness and was not very effective as yet…..” and I presumed the key word was “as yet”! Of course, I do not read other reports especially of my batch-mates “The Kutus” because I might be hauled up to the “health resort” in nearby Kamunting!

The main reason for the above blurb on the history of the Outward Bound Malaysia is to make you aware that OPs made up the most number (estimated more than 6,000 OPs) of ExBounders who went for the Standard (Classic) 25-Day course. There are countless number of prominent leaders of our country who are OPs & also ExBounders.

The OPs should leave a “mark” this year especially when the OBS is going to celebrate its 55th Anniversary.

From my knowledge, our late OP Syed Ibrahim (1966-1969 E coy) through his company SISMA donated a substantial amount to construct a superior-type dormitory unit. OP Ahmad Jauhari “AJ” (1970-1972 F coy) through Malakoff also contributed financially towards the construction of a similar unit.

Surprisingly, not even one boat in the Outward Bound School is sponsored by an OP!

We have the Banks, Rotary Clubs & concerned individuals who donated money to construct dormitories, boathouse and to buy kayaks, Whalers, mother boats & speed rescue boats.

Following are some of my observations & suggestions on OPs /OBS relationship:

1. We (OPs) should get together or through the OPA at least contribute a mother boat costing about Rm450,000 (this vessel is something like a small trawler which acts as a “mother-boat” to two Whalers as they go out to sea) and name it “The Old Putera” or whatever.

2. Surprisingly, SIA has been sending their cadet pilots just after their first interview to undergo a 21-day OBS course over here in Lumut. They would have to leave SIA, if they could not complete the course satisfactorily. Please note that there is an OBS in Singapore. Hint, Hint, maybe I got to go and see what MAS is missing out!

3. Sadly, the RMC is sending only 40 “budak boy” a year and even that for a 10-day course. You just imagine my embarrassment whenever I briefed the Council meeting of the OBS on Marketing Plans especially on the topic of RMC students which has been the traditional “customers” & the worst part is when there are MCOBA & STAROBA members on the Council! The “traditional” answer from RMC is “no budget”, but I always believe if there is a will there is a way especially when OPs are EVERYWHERE in the Armed Forces. But short of getting myself ejected into that “paradise resort” in Kamunting, I would rather stop here!

4. OBS is organising a 3-day OBS Alumni 2009 programme this coming 1st May to 3rd May 2009 where, briefly there is BBQ nite, Whaler trip & overnight camping the next day & a visit to the old school on the last day, finishing off with a lunch at the Naval Base. Costing RM350 for an unforgettable experience of three days & two nights of adventure (nowadays, you cannot even get a decent hotel room in Lumut for two nights at that price!). The full details are attached in the Berita OPA also at www.outwardbound.my

Please come & show the OB world that OPs are the greatest.

Whatever the case, I am very proud and honoured to be an OP because I do get support from OPs who are serving in the Navy (no names because they might also end up with me at the “5-star resort” in Kamunting!) plus other OPs who gave me priceless advice & contacts to make my work at OBS a little bit easier.

Fortunately that I got more “drive” and a bit more “assertive” now and I end with the following statement “The man who follows the crowd will usually get no further than the crowd. The man who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been before”

Ahmad Fadzil Samsudin “Chief Kutu” 1967-70 E coy

Greetings and welcome to our Outward Bound Malaysia website.
Thank you for visiting us and as you can see we are injecting new life into
the website. Therefore we need assistance from everybody especially Alumni of this 55 years old Outward Bound School to provide the booster to this revival process.

Please feel free to contact me at afs@outwardbound.my and I welcome any feedback or
information regarding Outward Bound Malaysia.
Ahmad Fadzil Samsudin
Executive Director
Outward Bound Trust of Malaysia
Teluk Batik, 32200 Lumut
Perak Darul Ridzuan