personal - Yayasan Khazanah

1
FROM THE EDITORS-IN-CHIEF’S DESK
011
Dear Scholars,
March, 2015
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3
PERSONAL
High Integrity and Moral Compass
Source: http://www.euintheus.org/what-we-do/energy-and-environment/
QUOTES :
I notice of late that, there are quite a few stories I read either in the
newspaper or social media about certain misconduct and display of
inappropriate and unbecoming behaviours of people of all ages and
from various walks of life that have caused a stir and a debate
amongst us as evidenced by the overflowing remarks from the
comment box of each entry. Incidences such as professional athletes
taking some form of steroids for performance enhancing, a string of
financial scandals and high profile corporate frauds that have shaken
investor confidence and increased financial market instability, a
shocking revelation of a very ill pilot intentionally crashing off the plane
with 150 passengers to that of elderly being robbed and assaulted in
broad daylight with passers-by not even batting an eyelid to help and
many other shocking stories. Now, the basic question remains: why is
this happening?
In school, we learnt about religious, moral and civic studies; at work,
we learnt about professional values, code of ethics, and yet the
societal ethics, individuals’ moral compass, the integrity of working
professionals are collapsing by day. How can we help and what can
we do? The examples quoted above may seem to be on the extreme
side but what I am trying to do is that to push a point that we need to
start doing something right, at least in our little setting. Here, in YK, we
stand by what is governing the whole intent of establishing the
scholarship programme – which is to ensure the leaders we help
groom, develop and nurture are those having high integrity and moral
compass. These are essential traits and one of those competencies in
YK Leadership Model. Why is this so important? The answer is simple.
I have a growing son whose future lies in the hands of you, the leaders
of tomorrow. As a mother, I am just hopeful that the environment that
he would be in the years to come would be founded and paved with
good values, ethics and consciences by you.
Have a great day ahead and take care!
Sincerely,
Intan
2
Source: https://hozanek.wordpress.com/
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/hair_chick/quotes-sayings/
TEAM EDITORS:
Intan Zalila Mohd Yusof
Emilia Maizura Harun
Azlina Jaffar
1
SUCCESS WILL COME AND GO, BUT INTEGRITY IS FOREVER
If I could teach only one value to live by, it would be this: Success will
come and go, but integrity is forever. Integrity means doing the right
thing at all times and in all circumstances, whether or not anyone is
watching. It takes having the courage to do the right thing, no matter
what the consequences will be. Building a reputation of integrity takes
years, but it takes only a second to lose, so never allow yourself to
ever do anything that would damage your integrity.
We live in a world where integrity isn’t talked about nearly enough. We
live in a world where “the end justifies the means” has become an
acceptable school of thought for far too many. Sales people
overpromise and under deliver, all in the name of making their quota
for the month. Applicants exaggerate in job interviews because they
desperately need a job. CEOs overstate their projected earnings
because they don’t want the board of directors to replace them.
Entrepreneurs overstate their pro formas because they want the
highest valuation possible from an investor. Investors understate a
company’s value in order to negotiate a lower valuation in a deal.
Customer service representatives cover up a mistake they made
because they are afraid the client will leave them. Employees call in
“sick” because they don’t have any more paid time off when they
actually just need to get their Christmas shopping done. The list could
go on and on, and in each case the person committing the act of
dishonesty told themselves they had a perfectly valid reason why the
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
end result justified their lack of integrity.
It may seem like people can gain power quickly and easily if they are
willing to cut corners and act without the constraints of morality. Dishonesty may provide instant gratification in the moment but it will never
last. I can think of several examples of people without integrity who are
successful and who win without ever getting caught, which creates a
false perception of the path to success that one should follow. After all,
each person in the examples above could have gained the result they
wanted in the moment, but unfortunately, that momentary result comes
at an incredibly high price with far reaching consequences. That person has lost their ability to be trusted as a person of integrity, which is
the most valuable quality anyone can have in their life. Profit in dollars
or power is temporary, but profit in a network of people who trust you
as a person of integrity is forever.
Every one person who trusts you will spread the word of that trust to at
least a few of their associates, and word of your character will spread
like wildfire. The value of the trust others have in you is far beyond
anything that can be measured. For entrepreneurs it means investors
that are willing to trust them with their money. For employees it means
a manager or a boss that is willing to trust them with additional responsibility and growth opportunities. For companies it means customers
that trust giving them more and more business. For you it means having an army of people that are willing to go the extra mile to help you
because they know that recommending you to others will never bring
damage to their own reputation of integrity. Yes, the value of the trust
others have in you goes beyond anything that can be measured because it brings along with it limitless opportunities and endless possibilities.
Contrast that with the person who cannot be trusted as a person of
integrity. Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway
said it best:, “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. And if they don’t have the first one, the
other two will kill you.” A person’s dishonesty will eventually catch up
to them. It may not be today, and it may not be for many years, but you
can rest assured that at some point there will always be a reckoning.
A word of advice to those who are striving for a reputation of integrity:
Avoid those who are not trustworthy. Do not do business with them. Do
not associate with them. Do not make excuses for them. Do not allow
yourself to get enticed into believing that “while they may be dishonest
with others, they would never be dishonest with me.” If someone is
dishonest in any aspect of his life you can be guaranteed that he will be
dishonest in many aspects of his life. You cannot dismiss even those
little acts of dishonesty, such as the person who takes two newspapers
from the stand when they paid for only one. After all, if a person cannot
be trusted in the simplest matters of honesty then how can they possibly be trusted to uphold lengthy and complex business contracts?
It is important to realize that others pay attention to those you have
chosen to associate with, and they will inevitably judge your character
by the character of your friends. Why is that? It is best explained by a
quote my father often says when he is reminding me to be careful of
the company I am keeping: “When you lie down with dogs you get
fleas.” Inevitably we become more and more like the people we surround ourselves with day to day. If we surround ourselves with people
who are dishonest and willing to cut corners to get
ahead, then we’ll surely find
ourselves following a pattern
of first enduring their behavior, then accepting their
behavior, and finally adopting their behavior. If you
want to build a reputation as
a person of integrity then
surround yourself with people of integrity.
3
GOD-CONSCIOUSNESS AS
FOR FRAUD
A
SOLUTION
The world has witnessed many cases of corporate
frauds, some resulting in enormous effects on the
economy. Enron once heralded as “America’s Most
Innovative Company” is now a popular symbol of
wilful corporate fraud and unethical accounting
practices. Similarly, Worldcom was another darling
of Wall Street until it filed for bankruptcy in 2002. It
was found the directors were using fraudulent accounting methods to push up the stock price. In the
03
case of Baring Bank, the 233 year old bank was
Kulsanofer Syed
brought to its knees by a single rogue trader named Thajudeen
Nick Leeson. Parmalat, an Italian global producer of PhD in Islamic
UH milk and food products, was engulfed in scandal Finance,
when its founder Calisto Tanzi diverted the compa- INCEIF
ny funds’ elsewhere. Investments in subprime mortgages, lead to the failure of investment banks like Bear Stearns and
Lehman Brothers which triggered the global financial crisis.
These stories of greed, bribery and fraud lead to the popularity of the
field of corporate governance. It became the new buzzword that all
corporate leaders and business schools harped on. The onslaught of
scandals also introduced new regulations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Bill
(also known as the Corporate Oversight Bill) into law. This law imposes a number of corporate governance rules on all public companies
with stock traded in the United States. The UK Corporate Governance
Code is a set principles of good corporate governance aimed at companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Audit committees were
established and independent directors and non-executive directors
were appointed to ensure oversight and proper governance. Unfortunately it did not stop the unethical behaviour. The current demands on
banks and corporations to show enormous profits push some of the
corporate leaders towards fraud despite the many laws and regulations in place.
This brings to mind the story of Caliph Umar Al Khattab (R.A) who
was travelling from Madinah to Makkah, and on the way he saw an
African boy tending to his lambs. The Caliph asked the boy if he
could sell one of the lambs to him. The boy replied he can’t do so
because the lambs didn’t belong to him. The Caliph further prodded
him by asking him to lie to his master that a wolf ate the lamb. The
boy said he could cheat his master but could he cheat the Great Master who was listening to both of them? Sayyidina Umar (R.A) was so
impressed that he bought the slave boy and set him free. The African
slave boy was illiterate, he was not taught by scholars nor did he read
books of knowledge but he had Allah- consciousness that made him
do the right thing.
Being in the state of God- consciousness, believing that God is overseeing our actions, is a very simple act but the consequences of this
belief is enormous. Human resource management can be very efficient because everyone would fulfil the duties of his or her job without
supervision. There would be less need for scrutiny, oversight, laws
and regulations. Although the concept of God- consciousness has
eroded in our societies and the advent of crime has increased rampantly including white collar crimes; each one of us can still make a
difference. Each one of us can become the God- conscious individual
and through our communication and dealing with other members of
society, bring back this character which was an inborn trait (fitrah) of
human beings. We can strive for a future of communities that would
be renowned for their character and truthfulness.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/amyanderson/2012/11/28/success-will-come-and-go-but-integrity-is-forever/
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
2
4
HIGH INTEGRITY AND MORAL COMPASS
“To every sane man in all climes and ages, the
great Creator has given a moral compass to enable
him to avoid the wrong and follow the right”. - A
verse from The Ladies’ Repository by Isaac William
Wiley in 1865.
From the extract above by I. W. Wiley, what I can
deduce about moral compasses is that it acts like a
real compass, with a needle showing the right direction i.e. north. In this case, a moral compass in
life is like an inner sense distinguishing the right
Aiman bin Azman,
from the wrong; like a guide for appropriate moral
behavior of a person. When I were small, I used to A-Level,
KYUEM
watch Disney cartoons. There were two mini
Goofys on both Goofy’s shoulders, telling him what
is right and wrong. Similarly, a moral compass acts more or less like
that.
A moral compass allows you to distinguish the good and bad. However, it depends on your integrity to uphold what is right. Every beliefs,
religions and cultures educate on moral qualities; the good and the
bad. This proves that everyone has the inner sense in distinguishing
which is right and which is not. However, no matter how much
knowledge you have through your belief, religion, cultures and daily
encounters, without integrity you can never lead yourself to follow the
right direction which your inner sense or our moral compass is pointing.
Integrity stands as an opposite to hypocrisy as hypocrites diverge their
path away from the right direction, in a conscious state.
Integrity can be developed through strengthening the moral compass.
To strengthen the moral compass, there are several ways. The religious way would be to fathom one’s religion thoroughly. For example,
in Islam, those who hold on to the holy Al-Quran and As-Sunnah will
never stray away from the right path forever. The Bible has a number
of very important statements about integrity. Integrity has always been
a great concern for countless decades and centuries for all religions
and beliefs. These beliefs can strengthen the inner sense, thus increasing the integrity of one. The scientific way would be through research, learning and investigation, where an educated person with
broad knowledge allows him or her to firm which direction they need to
follow. For example, an alcohol specialist would know everything about
alcohol; the good and the bad. This would encourage him or her to
avoid consuming alcoholic drinks; due to the negative externalities it
will produce, developing his or her integrity with a stronger moral compass.
5
LEADERS MUST HAVE HIGH INTEGRITY
‘Integrity’ if looked upon a typical dictionary
states the quality of being honest and having a
strong moral principle. But from a modest perspective, I feel that a high integrity emanating
from one’s characteristics is someone that has
faith, honesty and knows what is right or wrong.
This knowing of right or wrong does not always
come from a person who is a worshipper of a
religion. It does not matter whether you are a
follower of a papal or even an Islamic prophet.
What matters is the image one projects onto
03
people. A moral compass, on the other hand, is
Thaqif Aris bin
how you morally condition your way of thought
and your decisions in life. Thus, a strong moral Johan Aris,
Form 3,
compass and integrity are the cornerstones that KYS
will pave the way to one’s future. In the upcoming paragraphs, I will roughly explain to you how
high integrity and a strong moral compass will make a great leader.
Society is prone to setting standards and holds its taboos as absolute.
As such, a moral compass is necessary in navigating the nooks of life
and being disciplined in our daily routine. Take two people with contrasting brands of personality: one with a strong distinction of right and
wrong and the other with so-so morality. The former will act according
to reason and discipline, while the latter would act in response to his
impulses. The reason: a strong moral compass. A moral compass
would ensure the leader’s actions are constantly aligned with society’s
acceptance. A leader without one, on the other hand, will be prone to
corruption and influence. This in turn results in gullibility, a trait unwanted in any leader. All in all, a leader that relies on a moral compass is looked upon with confidence, as everyone has faith such a
leader will not lead his followers astray.
Asides from a moral compass, a leader also needs to have integrity in
any affair. From integrity comes honesty, and from honesty comes
faith. A leader with honesty is a leader whose followers will trust. They
know a leader who is honest will not fall back on his promises and
commitment. Not only that, the truest of integrity means being honest
to oneself. In other words, the better leader knows his limits and
bounds, making sure he doesn’t fill his followers with false hopes and
fabrications. Empty promises and lies never make a good leader.
Words made manifest in action does. To sum of might humble opinions, I feel that a high integrity
and a moral compass do in
fact fill in the forms of a great
leader.
How exactly can a high level of integrity affect our lives? Why does it
matter so much?
Just as much as you want to trust your friends, family and others in
your life, you must prove to them that you are as trustworthy as you
can be. Having high integrity in oneself is the foundation for building
circle of friends, a circle of trust. Those who have high integrity will be
easily drawn to you. Similarly, those who do not have it either will either seek to learn from you, or will avoid you. As the saying goes, “A
cord of three strands is not easily broken.” You will need a group of
people with integrity, to make a circle of trust to fend off the sharks in
the water. Integrity has this benefit.
.
In summary, each and every one of us must develop our integrity by
primarily strengthening our moral compass. Find your moral compass.
Find what strengthens it. Find what weakens it. Find the solution.
With God’s will, much hard work and determination, we will always be
on the right path, with our moral compass pointing the right direction for
our lives.
Source: http://danbo1138.deviantart.com/art/Integrity-cartoon-poster-213853639
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
3
6
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
INTERVIEW WITH YK DIRECTOR
Tell us a bit about your
background before becoming the Director of YK.
I am a Mechanical Engineer
by training, graduated from
University College London
(UCL). Joined Shell and
opted for early retirement in
2011 after over 30 years’ service and joined Yayasan Khazanah.
What made you take on the
job here in YK?
In 2011, when I did my Hajj, I was reflecting on my life in
front of the Kaabah, and felt a strong urge to do something
with my life to serve my country and the ummah. Alhamduillah, the Khazanah offer came along shortly after I left
Shell and here I am.
What is the biggest hurdle you have faced throughout
your working life or are still facing?
People who feel the world owes them a living are the ones
that frustrates me most. Instead of working hard and succeeding on their own merits, they feel they have a right to
everything.
What are you most excited about at the moment?
From a YK perspective, it’s the YKPSP. I think it’s the single
biggest project we have embarked on which I hope and
pray will make a difference to our scholars, making them
preferred scholars and talent in Malaysia and around the
world.
Q:
What do you aspire YK scholars to be upon graduation? 10 years down the road?
The worlds preferred talent. Scholars with a high sense of
purpose and with high integrity. Service to the country and
its people above all.
Q:
A:
Q:
A:
What are some of your personal quotes you live by?
Always be grateful for what we have, but never be satisfied
Q:
A:
Where do you see YK in 10 years’ time?
Leading talent development in the country
Thank you , En Kamarul Bahrein!
7
SCHOLARS’ ACTIVITIES
THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH GOLD AWARD
The Form 5's of Kolej Yayasan Saad 2015 went
to Endau-Rompin National Park for our Exploration Component in The Duke of Edinburgh Gold
Award. We went there for 4 days 3 nights from
14th March till 17th March 2015. There were various challenges that we faced, such as jungle
trekking, river crossing and night walk. We were
also exposed to the elements for Gold Award by
Mr. Ravi. All in all, it was a memorable trip among
our batch mates, Erövra. We gained a lot of expe- Ahmad Shazwan
bin Abdul Hamid,
rience too!
Form 5,
KYS
What do you find most interesting and rewarding
since becoming the Director of YK?
The quality of our scholars and the YK team. We have a
heavy burden to devote our life to the betterment of this
country and its people.
Q:
A:
A:
Q:
A:
What are you truly passionate about?
People. I find a lot of satisfaction to be a part of people's
development, be they employees, friends, relatives or
scholars.
What advice would you offer to young (er) people out
there?
Education is not just academic. Take the opportunity to
learn from things that are happening around you. Be a
participant, not just a bystander.
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
4
THE MCUK EXCHANGE PROGRAMME
I got the amazing opportunity to be involved in
the Marlborough College UK Exchange that took
place in the Lent term (February and March
2015). The whole exchange is for the students in
Year 10 (Remove) in Marlborough Malaysia and
will take up 2 weeks for each cohort and pupils
will be joining lessons and school activities in
Marlborough College UK, the sister school of
MCM. Students will also participate in expeditions
to areas of interest and of course, doing activities
and visiting many interesting places in the UK.
Dania Irdina Azidi,
Accommodation will be in the Boarding Houses in Year 11,
MCM
Marlborough College, Wiltshire.
The whole objective of the programme is that students will get to
experience a different learning environment and being in a different
community altogether.
As for myself, I had never been to Europe before and being able to
experience the Exchange was phenomenal and opened up my mind
to the possibility of me furthering my studies there.
We took off from Changi at around 10pm local time and arrived at
Heathrow at 7am. All of us made sure that we got enough rest as on
the whole first day, we went around London and Trafalgar Square.
We also visited other landmarks such as Parliament Square, Big Ben,
HMS Belmont (from there we saw London Bridge and Tower Bridge)
and Saint Paul’s Cathedral. After lunch we had some time to shop
around and enjoy street performances before getting into our van
once again, disembarking for MCUK in Wiltshire and the journey taking approximately two hours. We arrived and were given our timetables (I had Russian and Latin, among other subjects) and shown to
our rooms in houses (mine was Morris!).
Some of the activities we did there were attending countless talks,
watching two outstanding orchestra and symphony concerts, playing
netball in the freezing cold, getting involved in the Combined Cadet Force
training, clay pigeon shooting, gokarting in Swindon (so fun!), and visiting
even more places (Salisbury, Christchurch College, Oxford, Roman Baths)
and landmarks.
INTERNATIONAL HISTORY BOWL AND BEE COMPETITIONS
On the 8th of March, Kolej Yayasan Saad
Melaka sent 5 teams of about 5 students each
to enter the “International History Bowl and Bee
competitions” Malaysia round held at Sunway
International School. The competitions, which is
in the form of quizzes, tests the knowledge of
students on things that happened (or currently
happening) in the world - which, to put simply,
we call history. The History Bowl is a grouped
competition where students compete in teams
Muhammad Amar
Yasser bin Sulaiman
while the History Bee is an individual competiForm 4,
tion similar to the more common spelling bee.
We had to endure six rounds of the History
Bowl where we faced other teams, namely from Dalat International
School and even some from our own school. In the end, my team
managed to secure second place out of the six teams that entered in
our category - surpassed only by Dalat International School - thus
qualifying us for the Asian Championship which will be held at Marriott
Resort in Phuket, Thailand this June. For the History Bee, only me
and another student, Nabil Thoo from Kolej Yayasan Saad participated out of 22 participants. We had to play three rounds of the quiz
before moving on to the finals if you managed to get the top six placings. Remarkably, I was tied with three others for the fourth place,
therefore moved on to the finals. Nabil, unfortunately did not make
the cut. A set of 15 questions was asked in the finals with the top
three of the round receiving medals. Although I had intense nervousness, I managed to answer three of the questions, but I was tied with
another player for the third place. I had to settle with the fourth place
after two tie-breaker questions. All in all, it was an overwhelming experience with results that exceeded expectations. Hopefully, I would
be able to join the Asian Championships for both the bee and bowl
and improve my achievements.
To end this report I would like to share a quote made by author Robert A. Heinlein;
A generation which ignores history has no past — and no future.
Major differences of MCUK and MCM
are that in MCM, the learning environment is more calm, students are more
focused, relationships between students
of different year groups are better and
using bags are normal (in MCUK, using
a bag is called ‘social suicide’. Yikes!). However, MCUK has an
amazing high-street, which they call ‘town’, filled with shops
(drugstores, bookstores, supermarkets, cafés, restaurants). Some
similarities between both schools are the sign-in times in houses, the
teachers are all so friendly (I
loved the Music, Latin and Physics teachers) and students were
so caring and helpful, too.
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
5
Friendly Cricket Match between UNITEN and IIUM on 7th March 2015
8
HAPPENINGS
3rd March — Engagement with INCEIF scholars
7th March — UNITEN Open Day
Congratulations to Azrudi Mustapha, for his achievement as Imperial
College Malaysian Top Scholar.
8th March — UMW Final Stage assessment on 8th March 2015
Azrudi Mustapha: Far left
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
6
12th March — Quarterly birthday celebration and engagement with
Marlborough College Malaysia scholars
12th March — YK Outreach Programme: Briefing at Royal Military College
(“RMC”) (on the left) and Tengku Kursiah College (“TKC”) (on the right)
03
12th March — Engagement with NuMed and UTM Watan Scholars.
16th March — Meeting with Pengarah SBP, Ministry of Education at
Cyberjaya
.
12th March — Engagement with University of Readings
17th March — Engagement with scholars at Universiti Malaya
12th March — Engagement with YK Alumni in Medini Iskandar Malaysia
Sdn Bhd
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
7
23rd March — Lunch with UPM and UKM postgraduate scholars
28th March — Quarterly birthday celebration with KYS scholars
03
25th March — Briefing by AXIOM to KYUEM scholars on possibilities of
studying in the US
GLOBAL
25th March — Lunch with our scholars at IIUM (Gombak)
-Muhammad Azim Mia Paska Mia
-Noor Syaqira Binti Mohamad Farouk Karunanithi
-Muhamad Addeen Aiyman Bin Roslan
-Nur Atiqah Binti Shahruddin
-Ahmad Luqman Bin Md Yusuf
-Muhammad Hasif Bin Muhammad Uzir
-Muhammad Asyraf Bin Zainon
-Suthen Thomas Paradatheth
WATAN
-Muhammad Ariff Bin Rizal
-Nur Nabila Binti Nasharuddin
-Chan Wai Sei
-Corrinne Lee Mei Jyin
-Firdaus bin Salman
ASIA
-Anisza Hasmawati
-Anak Agung Gracia Clara Krishna
27th March — Engagement with IIUM (Kuantan) scholars
BESTARI
-Zulaikha bt Zainal Effendi
-Muhammad Harith bin Mohamad Nahar
-Muhammad Amar Yasser bin Sulaiman
-Adam Azim bin Fadill
-Syarifah Zahra bt Syed Addi Usmi
YK STAFF
-Raja Nor Dianna Raja Harun
-Roz Haniza Zainal Abidin
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
8
YK STAFF CHILDHOOD PHOTO: GUESS WHO???
LIFE HACKS: WHY DIDN’T I THINK OF THAT!
01
.
Guess whose childhood
photo is this! The first to
email us with the correct
answer is the winner! 
03
A nice gift awaits the
lucky winner…
02
Previous Issue answer: Roz Haniza Zainal Abidin
03
Source: http://pulptastic.com/100-greatest-life-hacks-time/
© Copyright 2015 Yayasan Khazanah. Contact Privacy Terms
9