Congratulations on being appointed the new Chairman of the TAA Trust Fund. You must be really busy with your new responsibilities. What keeps you motivated to devote your time and effort to the trust fund?

 

I am honored to have received the trust of the TAA  Board of Trustees who appointed me as the Chairman of the TAA Executive Committee (Exco). I have been in the TAA Exco for 7 years as a representative of Lembaga Biasiswa Kenangan Maulud (LBKM) replacing Mr Wan Hussin Wan Zoohri who was a former member of parliament in Singapore. I served as the TAA Internal Auditor prior tothis recent appointment.

This appointment may well be the greatest challenge in my life. To spearhead such an esteemed organisation and to carry on the works of the great people who had assumed this

 

When I think back on my volunteer work, it has brought me to places I could have never imagined. From leading a delegation of students to Kuwait in 1999 when I first started volunteering, to now in my current role as Chairman of the TAA Exco. My volunteer work has been a fruitful experience and enabled me to see how our community can help to ease the burden of those less fortunate. It has been more than 15 years since I got myself involved in volunteering. I guess the experiences gained will always be the motivating factor for me to carry on to volunteer and help out. 

 

As the new Chairman, tell us more about your vision for the TAA Trust Fund in 2015.

 

The vision I share with my fellow members of the Exco is to make TAA a platform for the community to come forward to help those who are less fortunate. With the theme of "Community helping Community", the Exco will work towards bridging TAA with our community and ensuring that those who can help will always be able to contribute and those who need help will always be given help!

 

You mentioned that you were first appointed to the TAA Trust Fund Exco as a representative of LBKM. Has your role at LBKM helped to prepare you to take up the leadership mantle at the TAA Trust Fund?

 

Without realising it, it has been 14 years since I was first involved with LBKM! My work at LBKM - from leading the Youth Wing way back then, to being co-opted as a member of the LBKM Council, to assuming the roles of Assistant Honorary Treasurer and now the Honorary Treasurer - has prepared me well in better understanding the needs of our community. The experience gained has been valuable and has given me the skills needed for me to assume such a challenging leadership role at TAA. Learning from the wisdom of senior council members at LBKM has given me the confidence to assume the leadership role at TAA.

 

On top of your responsibilities at TAA Trust Fund and LBKM, do you also hold down a day job? Tell us more about it.

 

I am working at the Procurement Engineering Department of IBM as a Technical Support Coordinator. My role is to, among other things, coordinate the back-end technical support for IBM by doing failure analysis for the various parts of IBM’s High-end and Mid-range Server Manufacturing Lines and to  streamline various work process flows and system clean ups in IBM for greater efficiency.

Did you always imagine yourself to be a manufacturing coordinator?

Not at all. I always wanted to be a Pilot. The closest I got to being one was to fly an A320 Boeing plane via a flight simulator that real pilots train in. I got to land a plane on Runway 2 of the Changi Airport. The pilot who was supervising me said I did a good take-off and landing!

 

How did you deal with that?

 

I joined IBM instead. I wanted to do something related to my area of study at university and was intrigued by the Supply Chain Process.

What I learnt in life is that you may have ambition and interest but sometimes you may end up doing something you totally would not have imagined or dreamt of doing. Take for example the fact that I never considered being a fireman. Thanks to my National Service, I am now a certified firefighter, rescuer and bomb shelter specialist. Something totally unexpected!

 

Our readers would be very curious to know how you manage to find time for so many responsibilities. Do tell us.

 

I, myself, am still wondering how I manage. Alhamdullillah, with Allah’s help, I am able to juggle. My advice would be to just "niat" and make time.

 

Share with us a unique or interesting experience that you had which our readers don’t know about.

 

I tried to climb Mount Rinjani once before and I must say that it was such an arduous trek up the volcanic mountain.That climb taught me that the suffering you face while climbing up will always be rewarded with a beautiful scenery at the end of the day. I nearly gave up half-way up the mountain but when I turned around and saw the beauty of Allah's creations, I pushed on forward to reach the top. And when you are there, no words can describe the beauty that lies in front of you. Alhamdullillah.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What advice do you have for others who would like to volunteer?

 

Just come forward and expect the unexpected. You will never know where the path takes you.