Tuesday, August 12, 2008

The 51th independence day of Malaysia

On the 31 August of every year, Malaysia will commemorate the independence of the Federation of Malaya since 1957 from British colonial rule. This day is the Independence Day a.k.a. Merdeka Day of Malaysia.

The Merdeka Theme for year 2008 will be "Perpaduan Teras Kejayaan" (Unity Is The Pillar of Success), and the logo will be as below:

This logo was chosen from a contest which saw some 800 entries, with the winner Anuar Dan walking away with RM10,000 for his entry.

To recall, the Federation of Malaysia, comprising the States of Malaya, North Borneo (now Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore was also planned to be officially declared on the date of 31 August 1963, which is the 6th anniversary of Malayan independence. However, it was postponed to 16 September 1963 then, which was coincidently also the birthday of Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister of Singapore. Singapore left the federation two years later. 16 September is Malaysia Day, which is not declared as public holiday.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Hacker Halted Malaysia 2008

The Hacker Halted event, being one of the most prestigious worldwide IT Security event organized by EC-Council is going to be held for the 11th time in Malaysia. This is the third time it will be held in Malaysia, after the pioneer event in 2004 which was officiated by the Deputy Prime Minister.

There will be 2 days pre-conference workshops session by USA master trainers and another 2 days conference session by renowned speakers. This event also has a special bundling with IT security program.

Among some of the top speakers in Hacker Halted Malaysia 2008 are James Aquilina (Executive Managing Director, Stroz Friedberg LLC), Tom Bowers (Independent Security Evangelist), Mike Murray (Director, Neohapsis), Professor Lech Janczewski (Associate Professor, University of Auckland), Paul Wright (Head of Cyber Crime, City of London Police), Jay Bavisi (President, EC-Council), Larry Detar (Vice President, EC-Council), Haja Mohideen (Co-Founder, EC-Council).

Date: 3-6 November 2008
Venue: Sunway Convention Centre, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Click here for more information about Hacker Halted Malaysia 2008 and download of registration form.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Touch n Go Auto-reload Zing Card

If you carry a credit card issued by certain bank in Malaysia, you might aware from the bank's promotion about this Touch 'n Go card named as Zing Card that will auto-reload by itself.

With the auto-reload feature, you no longer have to worry about not enough balance in your Touch 'n Go card when you use it, and you no longer need to take the hassle to reload its balance. Furthermore, you have earn some reward points or get some cash rebate from your credit card every time it is auto-reloaded.

In fact, the innovation of the card has won the “Most Innovative Prepaid Card Award” from The European Financial Management & Marketing Association (EFMA). Its concept is simple: every time the card balance falls below RM50, it will trigger the auto-reload mechanism to reload RM100 into the card. The reload is done automatically in the system and you don't need to do anything. A service fee of RM2 will be charged every time it auto-reloads, which is more expensive than reloading your normal Touch 'n Go card at ATM machine and charged for RM0.50, but you can save on your time and petrol required to reach the ATM machine. For security reason, the auto-reload is limited to one time per day only.

You need to be a member of VISA or Master credit card issued by a participating institution offering the Touch 'n Go Zing Card as companion card to their credit cards. Those credit card issuers include:

  • Maybank
  • Hong Leong Bank
  • EON Bank
  • Affin Bank
  • MBf Card
  • AEON Credit Service
This Zing Card has no annual fee, but normally a RM10 is charged when the card is issued to you. Currently some of the issuers offer the Zing Card for free and waive the RM10 charge during promotion period.

This Zing Card is also covered under the CPP Card Protection Plan, so if you are also a CPP member, you may include your Zing Card into your protected card listings with CPP.

I have been using my Zing Card for years and find it really convenient. It also works with Smart Tag too. If you are a Touch 'n Go user, you'd probably want to switch over to Zing Card too.

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