Update 2

Good morning to all -its been 14 days Muslims all over the world observe the fast refraining from eating, drinking, smoking, and indulging in anything that is in excess or ill-natured from dawn until sunset. A little bit of information for my non-Muslim friends -the fasting month of Ramadhan is believed by Muslims to be the holiest month of the entire year. Its reverence signifies the revelation of the Holy Quran to Prophet Muhammad (saw). Ramadhan is an opportunity for Muslims to cultivate a raised awareness of God (swt), a month of spiritual cleansing and trying to purify oursleves through self-restraint and good deeds. As such, although life goes on as usual but there are less worldly activities for the Muslims in Ramadhan.

In ISM there is also not as many activities apart from the normal routine activities of the monthly divisional, branches and council meetings. I now have the time to reminisce on the past two months since taking over the presidency in late June 2009.

I wished to informed members on activities carried out in the month of June 2009. Surveyors' Congress that marked the end of the last session held on 18 & 19 June 2009 was a blast with Tun Mahathir as our guest of honor and key note speaker. Tun was such a gentleman and a real statesman. He was not feeling well that morning having to undergo medical check-up but he had his man informed us of the possibility of a 10-minutes delay which at the end he was at the hotel right on time (I remember feeling my heart dropped on the floor and picking it back when he arrived!!). The response from members was overwhelmed surpassing the target set. The AGM held on 20 June 2009 with active participation from members and the dinner was meaningful because many senior members attended. As such I wish to thank all the members for the support. It makes all the hard work, every drop of sweat and heart burn worth it.

23 June was another hectic day. We had the Congress post-mortem meeting in the morning. Then in the afternoon together with Sr Elvin and his team a press conference for the NREC congress was held. In the evening I attended the Building Industry Presidents' Council (BIPC)comprising presidents of 7 main institutions in the construction industry (i.e. ISM, PAM, IEM, MIP, REHDA, MBAM and ACEM) to discuss on issues to forward to the government.

On 25 June, ISM played host to a group of French students who will be assimilated in several GLS companies and universities for a few months. Then on 26 June, I attended the MIEA dinner and was pleasantly surprise that their newly elected president is also a lady - we bonded. On 30 June I attended the discussion held in CIDB with regards to the issue of stamp duty which BIPC had forward a memorandum to the government.

So that sums up the activities of the President in June 2009. I hope to find time to sum up the activities in July and August 2009 for the members' information. Till we meet again salam hormat.