November 2008 – Page 2 – w w w . x e .s . c x

Forum on Blogging & Defamation Laws

I had only one day to prepare for this talk. With the patent examination and conference, time was not on my side. I only managed to work on the slide in the bus back to KL and few hours before the talk.

Just when I thought I had everything in order, I discovered that I forgot to bring my name cards while on my way to the Bar Council. Fortunately, a colleague took the trouble to pass me my name cards.
The speakers for the Forum were Member of Parliament YB Jeff Ooi, lawyer Nizam Bashir and myself. Richard Wee started off with an introduction on defamation law and the current situation in Malaysia.

Thereafter, Nizam gave a presentation on the laws applicable on blogs e.g. defamation law, sedition and Communications and Multimedia Act. I on the other hand spoke about the liability of a blogger for defamation, a guide to handle defamation action and also a guide on how to reduce the risk of being threatened with a defamation suit. Jeff closed the panel’s speeches by talking about his blog and the steps he had taken to minimalize the risk of commentors posting defamatory comments.

The floor was opened after that. We had a good number of people coming to the mike to ask us questions. It was an extremely good crowd. It wasn’t the typical quiet Malaysian crowd. It was a very responsive crowd. We had bloggers, students, lawyers, journalist and even random members of the public asking us questions.

Julian Hopkins was one of the persons who stood up to ask questions
Some people speculated that the Special Branch will be there to check on the things that we will say. They suspected one chap who is a member of the Special Branch sitting among the crowd. But they soon realised that he’s actually a Bar Council employee.

After the forum ended, journalist rushed to Jeff Ooi to interview him. I took the opportunity to take some pictures!

Since I was young, public speaking has never been my liking. On many occasions, I shy away from speaking in public. Giving a talk to a room of 80 to 100 people was a giant leap for me.

I must say that anyone who has the same problem with me should try to overcome this problem especially when you are a young lawyer and you wish to market yourself.

I’ve been given an opportunity to write in The Star. I guess I will be writing about this topic in detail.

Asian Patents Attorney Association Council Meeting @ Singapore – Part III

Since my toes kept poking out from rock climbing shoes, it was time for me to get a new pair of shoe.

It’s a well known fact that rock climbing shoes are cheaper in Singapore than Malaysia. The two places that I know is the Nuts, Friends and Krabs of all Sports Equipment on the 4th floor of Peninsular Plaza.

Other than rock climbing shoes, they also have runners, harnesses and chalk bags. This place is manned by a fierce no-nonsense one eyed uncle.

Although he can only see with one eye, he could gauge my shoe size by just looking at my feet. I got myself a nice 5.10 shoe at a discounted rate!

The other shop is called Campus Corner at Capitol Building Singapore. It’s just next to Peninsular Plaza.

They have more than climbing gear. They also have a lot of camping equipments. You can check it out at their website at http://www.camperscorner.com.sg. You can get their Mad Rock shoes there!

[Note: As at October 2009, the Nuts, Friends and Krabs of all Sports Equipment is closed 🙁 ]

Asian Patents Attorney Association Council Meeting @ Singapore – Part II

Everyday morning before heading to the conference area, I must have my dose of AMK Teo Chew Noodles before going to the conference centre. Since AMK Teo Chew Noodles is just outside One Florence Close, I had it for 5 days in a row. I think I won’t be eating Teo Chew Noodles until next year.

One of the reasons that I chose to stay in One Florence Close again is because of AMK Teo Chew Noodles. I would normally order the dry version of the noodles i.e Bak Chor Mian. It comes with wantanmee type of noodles (wheat flour noodles), pieces of pork and mixed with 3 types of sauces including one which is spicy. So far, I’ve not stumble upon any shops in Malaysia selling the same noodles.

On my last day, I managed to try something else i.e. Jie Traditional Bread Café. This café specializes in bread and you can order things like curry chicken + bread, French toast, steamed bread and toasted bread.

Aunty, your buns are si beh hot!!

I must say, their toasted bun is awesome! Too bad I got only 1 stomach!!

Location: Few minutes away from Kovan MRT station

Asian Patents Attorney Association Council Meeting @ Singapore

This 5-days-event was tiring but very enjoyable. It is definitely better that the International Trade Mark Association (INTA) conference that I attended in Berlin. This networking filled event gave me many new contacts and even good friends. It gave me a great insight of networking and marketing.

Unlike INTA, it was not all work. I had the opportunity to meet some of my old friends for a meal and to catch up.

Since Singapore is nearby and I’ve been there a few times, I decided to take some cost cutting measure and stayed at One Florence Close again. I paid SGD88 a day. The recommended hotels e.g. Pan Pacific near the conference area were around SGD300 a day!

I chose One Florence Close because I stayed there last year and it was quite nice. However, the place isn’t as good as it was before. Things are not as ber-quality before. But the permanent residents, Pepper and Romeo are still as adorable as before.

Pepper on the bed! mmm

The people in this conference were more friendly and open. Although called the Asian Patents Attorney Council Meeting, we had observers all over the world in the conference. We had around 1300 people in the conference. The conference grew within a short span of time. The first conference had only 250 people.

Opening ceremony

I think we had around 20 -30 people from the United States. However, Laos had only one participant.

In every APAA conference, there will be an excursion. This time round, we had one in the Singapore Zoo. I had a hard time waking up as my new found friends were feeding me wine throughout the whole night at the hospitality suite. Every night there will be a lot of participants hanging out at the hospitality suite to drink and network.

The zoo wasn’t fun as most people went on their separate ways. I was fortunate to be able to meet a German guy who was alone. The zoo excursion ended with lunch by the riverside.

Lunch..

Unlike INTA, there were not many receptions held by law firms. I heard that there was one reception held by an IP practitioner’s SGD15 Million house. He had his Aston Martin/Lamborghini parked on the porch. The only reception that I went was one organised by an Indonesian firm. It was quite sad as they were not many people.

The closing ceremony was held on Wednesday and they had a performance by a local magician.

Closing ceremony

I adjourned to Clarke Quay with some new found friends to drinks at one pub which brews their own beer. On their menu, they had a list of beers which they claim taste like certain famous beer. I ordered one that tasted like Hoegaarden!

My last day was just pretty smooth sailing – no rushing and no accident. But I left a magazine and my pyjamas at Florence Close. Uh oh!

The next APAA will be in November 2009 in Hong Kong. I cant wait!

Chuka Zanmai @ Hartamas Shopping Centre

This was recommended by Sui Lin after she read a review by masak-masak. Sui Lin organised a so-called ‘singles’ dinner at Chuka Zanmai couple of months back. Unlike Chuka Zanmai’s sister restaurants e.g. Pasta Zanmai, Sushi Zanmai, to me, this place doesn’t live up its standards. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a big fan of “Chuka” (Japanese styled Chinese food).

I ordered a bowl of “hot stone rice” with unagi. I am not sure whether the rice is meant to be burnt and dry. The only thing that intrigued me was their coffee that comes in a special bag.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t very tasty. The milk in the bottle tasted better.
Price is quite reasonable. My hot bowl costs me RM22. Oh, the place is Wi-fi enabled too!
Chuka Zanmai
P-2C, Ground Floor
Hartamas Shopping Centre
Jalan Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur
Tel No: 03 – 6201 1610

Tambun & Ipoh – Climbing and Makan Trip – Part II

After taking a rest, just like last year, we went back to the Tong-Sui street (opposite Sam Tet Primary School) for dinner.

Quite Sedap!

ABC + Fruits

The gang

We ate until we almost exploded.

On the next day, we had breakfast at Kafe Ipoh Central since all the dim sum places were full. The chicken noodles, nyonya kuih and popiah were extremely good!

Edmund: Before going to eat..

Egg Tarts damn gooodd!

Ipoh White Coffee

Tambum & Ipoh – Climbing & Makan Trip – Part I

It was almost a rewind of our last Tambun Trip. On last year’s Hari Raya, we made a trip down to Tambun and Ipoh to climb and eat. This year’s Hari Raya holiday, we made another trip to Tambun and Ipoh but with more fellow posers.
Yes, we ate more than we climbed!
Everyone started their journey at 5am from Kuala Lumpur. However, Ping , A and I were still in bed at 5am and started our journey at 10am after breakfast at Yut Kee.

The journey to Ipoh was a breeze like last year. I guess most people were home by the first day of Raya. On our way, we spotted some devices to scare people from speeding. There was one cardboard with a picture of a police man holding a speed camera below a bridge. It looked like a policeman sitting underneath a bridge from afar. Another one was a mannequin in a police uniform up on a police tower. Those devices worked really well.

We stayed at the dodgy Tambun Inn again. Last year, I heard my neighbour moaning out loud in the middle of the night. This year is a little different. I had disco songs thumping all night long.
Immediately, after check-in, we went to meet the troops at the Lost World of Tambun. Anyone with a Camp 5 entry pass is entitled to a discount to entry fees. I Its around RM21 after discount. No discount is RM30. Before entering, a release form to exclude liability must be signed.

Probably the most photographed area in the park

Last year, we found out that we could access the climbing zone through a housing area. We could just park at the housing area and cross a small stream to enter the climbing zone. However, we found that the path has been barricaded.

Barricaded

Ping – like wearing underwear liddat.

Bahger Ping looking somewhere else while belaying!

Peeping Tom

Spot the climber!

Things you can do with a Milo tshirt.

Abner – what did you do last night..

Anna-Rina’s topless short.

My shoes – damn bad shape.

After a few routes, we called the climbing session off.

Quattro

My high school friends and I decided to check the latest place in town. Located at Avenue K, Jalan Ampang, this place looks like a chic and high end place.
From its website, it was stated that this place has 4 separate room namely Winter, Summer, Autumn and Spring. It was indeed separated into 4 rooms. Since it is located in Avenue K shopping centre, the rooms are spread out in different units.
We stayed at the Spring room throughout the whole night. The Spring Room is a lounge with a live band overlooking Jalan Ampang and also the Petronas Twins Towers.

Spring Room
The Summer room is just next to the Spring room. But the Summer room was closed when we were there (I heard they close at 10pm). I believe it is a restaurant.

Although all the 4 rooms are under one roof, patrons have to pay cover charge to enter the Autumn room and the Winter room. The Autumn and Winter rooms are a club and a bar respectively. I managed to peek into the Autumn room. It played r&b music and was bloody packed and hot.
On Quattro’s website, they promoted the Winter room with the following words:

It got me interested. But when I reach the door to the Winter room, I was stopped by a bouncer. I was ordered to get an entry pass before entering. It was a real turn off.
Nevertheless, the unique bit about the Winter room is that the place provides patrons with jackets/trench coats. I guess everyone should start checking out the Winter room as soon as possible before the jackets/trench coats start to stink.

The jackets/trench coats!
The crowd was predominantly young Chinese. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. Some of them looked like they wanted to pick a fight. I saw one chap walking topless into the toilet with his mates – cause someone barfed on his tshirt. Wahahahah
Other than the live band at the Spring room, we had a ‘performance’ by a couple on the streets. The couple fighting on the streets. The woman tried to punch the man while another man tried to stop the girl. The other man gave up stopping her and walked back into the Spring room. I overhead the other man saying, “That’s his wife…”.
Perhaps the highlight of the night was waterleg’s performance after we spiked his drinks with more alcohol.

Before

After

After

Waterleg ended up ‘watering’ a plant nearby .