launching of ampangpoint alliance bank branch...

YBhg Datuk Bridget Lai (Group CEO) rendering her welcome address, while the CEO of Alliance Islamic Berhad, Yahaya Ibrahim listens on attentively..hehe

Eh eh Cik Siti...jangan sampai jatuh plax reben tuh...heheh

The key man in any lion dance performance...as the lions rely on his drumming. One wrong hit...and that's it...the lion could fall off the pole...18 feet above ground...hahaha.

I was invited for the launch of Alliance Bank/Islamic Bank Branch at Ampangpoint yesterday, May 15th at 2 pm. I caught up with Datuk Bridget Lai the Group CEO/Director of the Allliance Financial Group. She is afterall a Hull graduate (fellow imperial alumnus..hahaha). The good news is when I told her that I am the new president for Hull Alumni Malaysia, she pledged her support for all our activities..hehe. Thank you YBhg Datuk...we will be knocking at your door pretty soon! hehe. Yahya was my CIM classmate at UiTM way back aeons ago...hahaha. During the opening, the lion dance performance caught my attention. We do live in interesting times! Looking at it from a more liberal and global perspective, afterall, there are more muslims in China you know? and there has been cultural and religious tolerance in Zinjiang Autonomous Region Northwest China, since the great ancient days of the Silk Route. I had the privilege of spending 10 days at Urumqi (capital of Zinjiang), Turfan (the 2nd lowest spot below sea level after the Dead Sea) where probably one of the oldest mosques in the world still stands; ChengDu capital of Sichuan Province (currently experiencing earthquakes) about 10 years ago (1999). We flew back on 9.9.99...on a day of the global Y2K alert and worry. The only comforting thing was that we flew back in a brand new Boeing 757 from Urumqi to ChengDu...hehe. Not so long ago, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia presented an exhibition of Six Centuries of Islamic Art in China. Lion dances are cultural and it is part of our tourism showcase anyway! hehe...