Prime Minister Datuk Najib Razak travelled 70,000 kilometres in May alone

In the month of May, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak visited 5 countries, clocking 44,000 miles or 70,400 kilometres to strenghten Malaysia as the premier investment destination in the world, be it foreign direct investment or bilateral trade.

This is his memoir as stated in his blog http://www.1malaysia.com.my


The month of May was a period for renewing international relations with investor countries. I must have clocked over 44,000 miles travelling across three continents – Europe, North America, and of course, Asia. As my visits are never leisurely, you must excuse me for this lengthy blog as I try to summarise the numerous highlights of my trips.



I first headed to Saudi Arabia to attend a private royal luncheon with His Majesty King Abdullah, which is a rare and great honour. During the private audience with His Majesty, we discussed issues in the Middle East, among others. His Majesty was very gracious with his time, despite having only recently recovered from a medical operation.



My next working visit took me to Qatar, where I met with my counterpart, Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Jassim Jabar al-Thani in a four-eyed meeting. As it was my first official visit there since helming the Government, it was crucial that my visit reinforces Malaysia’s relationship with the Gulf nation.

While there, I also took several individual meetings with Malaysian business owners and Qatari investors. In my meeting with the Qatari Businessmen Association, we highlighted the investment opportunities in both countries, namely in infrastructure, oil and gas, and tourism development.



As Qatar prepares to host the FIFA World Cup in 2022, a massive number of infrastructure projects have been launched in the range of US$140 billion.This paves the way for Malaysian companies to increase our economic presence there, and I urge our firms to make the most of these opportunities.



From the Middle East, I flew to England, arriving in London on Sunday evening. My visit was arranged on the invitation by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OXCIS) to visit the centre’s new building site, and to deliver a lecture at the historic Sheldonian Theatre. In my lecture to a diverse audience of about 600, I reiterated my stand on moderation in religion and Islam, urging the audience to recognise that the real divide is neither between the East and West nor between people of different faith, but between the extremists and moderates. I encourage you to read the text of my lecture here, entitIed ‘Coalition of Moderates and Inter-Civilisational Understanding’.

I spent about 45 minutes touring the OXCIS building construction, co-funded by Malaysia and several other Islamic countries. Hopefully, this remarkable building and the institution it houses will be a beacon of tolerance and understanding between Islam and the West. As always, I also try to make myself available to meet with the Malaysian community overseas when I visit, so the opportunity to meet with the our students there was not missed.







After a two-day visit, it was off to the United States. Following my bilateral meeting with President Obama in April last year, our countries had expressed commitment to broaden cooperation. My visit this time focused on attracting business investors and My first stop was New York, where I launched Invest Malaysia 2011 at the NYSE to an audience of over 360 potential investors. As the largest foreign investment partner for Malaysia, the confidence of American firms in our economic climate must be bolstered. From my interactions with the business community there, I am optimistic that foreign direct investment will continue to pour in, as a several multinational companies have already stated their intention to invest up to US$6 billion. This means more jobs for Malaysians.






Another highlight of the trip was the inaugural Global Science and Innovation Advisory Council (GSIAC) meeting, which I chaired, at the New York Academy of Sciences. Here, I spoke about a Digital Malaysia Masterplan in development, which is a centralised approach to capitalise on key opportunities from the increasing digitalisation of the world. Hopefully, this council, whose members comprise prominent scientists and experts from various fields, will help Malaysia seek innovative technological solutions to carry ourselves forward and out of the middle-income trap.

I also partook in a roundtable meeting with the US Chamber of Commerce, as well as individual meetings with some US corporate leaders, and witnessed the signing of three MoUs.

From New York I travelled on to Washington, and then Maryland, the home of the renowned Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. While there I was thrilled to announce that the university will be establishing a medical programme in Malaysia beginning September this year, through a collaboration with Perdana University in Serdang. This way, world-class education is now available, as they say, in our own backyard.




On a personal level, it was a joy to take some time during my trip to witness my daughter receiving her Bachelor of Science degree at the Georgetown University graduation ceremony. If you are a parent, I’m sure you can relate when occasions like this reaffirm our belief that we have done our best as parents to guide and nurture our children towards adulthood. It was, in a word, bittersweet.





My visit to the US ended; I flew back to Malaysia a bit sooner than scheduled. After being briefed of the tragic landslide incident in Hulu Langat while overseas, I resolved to visit the site and the survivors. Immediately upon arriving in Malaysia, my family and I headed to the site to survey the damage caused by the landslide, then to Ampang Hospital to lend moral support to the victims.




Two days later, I headed for Japan for a brief working visit to address the delegates at the 17th International Nikkei Conference in Tokyo. I received confirmation that some RM3.8 billion worth of investments will be coming in from Japanese firms, a positive sign for both countries, as Japan had been more inclined to direct their funds to rebuild the nation following the earthquake and tsunami incident last March. Before returning, I also met with Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and industry leaders from the Japan-Malaysia Economic Association.

It was a whirlwind trip, to say the least, but I am optimistic with Malaysia’s future, thanks to the encouraging responses and outcomes from my visits, and the promise of more and better jobs for Malaysians.

child prodigies, do not push them hard!!

He could read and write at the age of 2.

And now at the age of 8, Marko Casalan, of Skopje, Macedonia is the world’s youngest certified computer system administrator.

He passed Microsoft certification exams and awarded the Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) certification, (most of us will not pass that exam – it’s tough man..!!).

The certification qualifies him to do things such as maintaining complex corporate computer networks even though he’s still at elementary school.

His achievement made him a local celebrity of course and he has even met Nikola Gruevski, the Macedonian Prime Minister.

No prizes for guessing where his IT genes came from: his parents are IT experts and run a computer school.

Ok Marco, I wish you the very best….Do not push yourself too hard…

Don’t let pressure and other things get the better of you and turns you from a sweet-boy-next-door persona to a persona non grata…!!!

Sadly, successful stories of child prodigies do not always end the way it should have been.

Take the recent explosive case of Sufiah Yusof in the UK.

Her life was all maths, maths, maths and maths until she got fed up and chose the oldest profession in the world instead..!!!

Sufiah Yusof first made headlines in 1997 when she was admitted into the prestigious St. Hilda's College, Oxford University to study mathematics at the age of 13.

However in 2001, she ran away from her student flat in Oxford, after taking her final examination paper for the academic year.

She was found working as a waitress in a Bournemouth Internet cafe 2 weeks later, but refused to return home, alleging that her parents made life difficult for her at home.

She stayed with a foster family instead.

2 years later, she returned to Oxford to complete her undergraduate master, but failed to finish the year.

She later married, Jonathan Marshall, a trainee lawyer from Oxford.
Her marriage ended after 13 months.

In March 2008, a reporter working undercover for the News of the World , UK’s biggest selling newspaper, found her advertising as a high class prostitute under the name Shilpa Lee, quoting a rate of £130 an hour.

The report hit the headlines in the UK, as well as in Malaysia..

Sufiah in an interview last year said she never regret it.

Sufiah was working as an administrative assistant earning £ 16,000 a year in Manchester when an escort agency boss approached her in a bar, in December 2007.

She found the offer appealing because she was running up debts of £3,500 in rent arrears and credit cards.

Her first client she described as a “lovely man” in his late 20s, tall and handsome.

"I felt quite nervous but excited too. I slipped on some black lace underwear and stockings and suspenders and a dress, and just thought, ‘Wow, this is thrilling.'

"He was waiting for me at the bar of the Hilton. I expected him to be older but when I saw him he was lovely.

"He was only in his late 20s, tall and handsome. I thought, ‘I can't believe I'm getting paid to have sex with this man.'

"I'd have been thrilled if he chatted me up in a bar. We had a drink then went upstairs to his room and had fantastic sex. I left that night feeling totally elated having had an amazing time with £250 in my purse." said Sufiah.

After that, she has built a base of regular clients and saw between 5 and 10 men each week.
Sufiah claimed she could earn more than £1,000 a night by having dinner and staying over with a client.

"My clients treat me like a princess. One guy I see in London took me shopping on Bond Street.

He bought me a beautiful black Gucci dress for £700 and then took me to Selfridges and told me to pick any handbag I liked."

She chose a £600 Gucci clutch. "I'm a Primark and Topshop girl normally! I felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

"Later that night we went for dinner. I wore my Gucci dress and sexy lingerie and took great pleasure in peeling it off for him later on back at his hotel room.

Her vast knowledge and expertise in Mathematics came in handy too..

“I don’t believe my education had been wasted – in fact, I usually take problem sheets with me to solve before appointments,” she said.

1 + 1 = 2 nice boobs..!!

Sufiah revealed how she drives men wild... by reciting Mathematical EQUATIONS to her clients as they have sex.

“I have men who are thrilled about my passion for mathematics. In fact one made me recite equations while he pleasured me, then I gave him oral sex while he chatted about algebra. It drove him wild."

"My clients love the fact that I can stimulate their minds and their bodies," she boasts.

If Sufiah talked glowingly about her “career,” she was not so effusive when talking about her childhood and her father.

She recalled studying maths all the time. She did not have any friends or allowed to join any activities.

“As I grew older, I began to clash with my father. He was violent at times. He pushed me so far academically, I became more confident for any girl my age. I grew up too quickly.

“Oxford was an amazing place but I was too young. By the time I was 15, I wanted to be in control of my life. I fought back,” she said.

Sufiah's father Farooq pleaded guilty in April 2008 over charges of "indecently assaulting two 15-year-old girls while working as a personal tutor.

I don’t have any regrets. I've never felt more confident about my body and I've had some of the best sex of my life."!!!

HERE ARE SOME OTHER CHILD PRODIGIES IN THE UK – AND WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

Ruth Lawrence

Graduated aged 13 from St Hugh's College, Oxford, with a first-class degree in 1985. Now lives with husband and two children - whom she is determined to allow to "develop in a natural way" - in Jerusalem and teaches maths full-time at the Hebrew University.

John Nunn

Went to Oriel College, Oxford, in 1970 aged 15. Got a first in maths at 18, a doctorate at 20 and became a chess Grandmaster three years later. Lives with his wife in Surrey and makes a living writing books about chess.

Adam Dent

Started reading chemistry at St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1994 aged 14. Left the following year, having been accused and then acquitted of sexual assault on an older pupil. Did an Open University degree and got a job stacking shelves at Iceland. Later went back to Oxford (this time to St Catherine's) and graduated with a first in chemistry in 2002. Is now an IT consultant.

James Harries
Presented himself on television - most memorably on Terry Wogan's chat show in 1990 when he was 12 - as an entrepreneur and child prodigy with an encyclopaedic knowledge of antiques. Had a sex change operation in 2001. Now called Lauren, she is a counsellor and also teaches drama in Cardiff.

Terence Judd

Made his first appearance as a classical pianist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra aged 12. Won the British Liszt Piano Competition at 18. He committed suicide in 1979 at the age of 22 by throwing himself off Beachy Head.