Amar Razali

As-salaamu'alaikum,

All praise is due to Allah, so we praise Him, and seek His pardon and we turn to Him. We seek refuge with Allah from the evils of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our deeds. Whom Allah guides aright there is none to lead him astray.

Alhamdulillah - Composites Testing Laboratory Asia Sdn. Bhd. (CTLA) is officially incorporated on 11 January 2010. All staff of CTRM AC Composites Testing was delighted with this wonderful news - and actually the ground works are already started since last year such as looking for the new location, potential customers, and buying new testing equipments. Since we support CTRM aero composites manufacturing panels for our primer customers such as Airbus, Boeing (via Spirit US), Goodrich, CASA, SONACA, PaG and etc., now we need to get their qualifications & approvals - which can be a long & stringent process. But at positive note, these will give an excellent opportunity for our company to be approved by those big companies and this will attract the potential customers with confidence inshaAllah.

I have to lead the team in terms of transformation plan, qualifications & accreditations. We have several site visits from the existing customers and the earliest one will be from Airbus' Procurement Aerostructures Supply Chain & Quality and Operation Supplier to supervise our transfer of work process. Several presentations will be made and then there will be a telephone conference meeting as well with Airbus Operations during the site visit. That is just for Airbus - we have to deal with probably 8 other customers with their specific requirements for transfer. We have to prepare several Qualification Proposals for each customer to suit their needs. InshaAllah, although there will be a lot of works that need to be done, we will go through this together as a team.

Sometimes there will be moments when we feel like we are too busy with these worldly matters and forget to remind ourselves about our preparation for the life in the hereafter - and that's what I feared the most. Although my house is just a few steps away from the local masjid, there are a few times I missed the congregation prayers because of working overtime. Nonetheless IKIM.fm, several Eman Rush CDs, Youtube, and downloaded audio & video Islamic lectures are my remedies, alhamdulillah.

"Verily, in the remembrance of God do hearts find rest." [Surah Ar-ra'd (13:28)]

This May, there will be another alKauthar Malaysia course - Mercy to the Worlds by Shaykh Tariq Appleby. It will be held from 1st - 2nd May 2010 inshaAllah. InshaAllah I am planning to join this course, and already registered for it alhamdulillah during the World of the Unseen class (and I got RM50 off for early registration). Of course I am inviting you to join this class as well. Please register quickly since there are a lot of people interested to join this class, and previously the class was packed out mashaAllah.

From my previous class experience, I can tell you that if you want to feel the atmosphere of learning Islam when you are in US - this will give you the glimpse. There were many Muslims from various backgrounds and nationalities, and we were all in thirst to learn about this deen.

Mercy to the Worlds is the first in the series of in-depth courses on the life of the greatest man that ever lived - ar Rasul sallalahu'alayhi wasallam.

Remember my friend - knowledge is power. It increases when you give it. It is needed by Kings and beggars alike. It eases the path to paradise. We are constantly reminded in the Qur'an and Sunnah of the importance of gaining Islamic knowledge so as to apply it in our lives.

I pray to Allah to guide us all to be on the straight path, and not to make us too busy with worldly matters to the extent that we forget about our preparations for the hereafter, which are far more important than anything else. Ameen.

As-salaamu'alaikum,

Saya tidak ingat bilakah kali terakhir saya mengunjungi maktab perguruan, atau kininya dikenali sebagai Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG). Sememangnya saya mempunyai kenangan tersendiri kerana saya pernah dibesarkan di beberapa kuarters guru di maktab - antaranya seingat saya ketika di Maktab Perguruan Kota Baru, Kelantan (ketika itu saya masih kecil - Abg Yu bersekolah di SMS Sultan Muhammad Faris Petra), kemudian ke Maktab Perguruan Pasir Panjang dan kemudian ke Maktab Perguruan Batu Rakit.

Malam semalam saya menemani mama ke Malam Kilauan Kencana sempena sambutan 50 tahun Jubli Emas di IPG Kampus Ilmu Khas, Kuala Lumpur. Mama dijemput untuk merasmikan Dewan Dato' Razali Ismail di IPG tersebut. Sambutan diserikan lagi dengan kehadiran YBhg. Tan Sri Dr Haji Zulkurnain bin Haji Awang, Ketua Setiausaha, Kementerian Pelajaran Malaysia dan YBhg. Dato' Asariah binti Mior Shaharuddin, Timbalan Ketuan Pengarah Pelajaran Malaysia, Sektor Pembangunan Profesionalisme Keguruan - kedua-dua mereka merupakan dahulu rakan sekerja almarhum papa.

Majlis tersebut juga mengumpulkan ramai bekas pelajar IPG Ilmu Khas sejak penubuhannya pada tahun 1959. IPG Ilmu Khas dahulunya dikenali sebagai Specialist Teacher's Training Institute (STTI). Sudah menjadi kebiasan, apabila ramai bekas pelajar berkumpul, tentunya pelbagai nostalgia akan dikenang.

Saya mendoakan agar IPG Ilmu Khas terus melahirkan bakal pendidik yang berwibawa sebagai pemimpin dan pendorong kecemerlangan dunia pendidikan negara, inshaAllah, ameen.

Mat Yuh ialah sepupu saya yang paling akrab dan rapat dengan saya. Kami membesar bersama-sama di Kuala Terengganu. Banyak kenangan bersama-sama dengannya yang sungguh tidak dapat saya lupakan; suka, duka, pahit, manis - segala-galanya sudah dirasai bersama.

Kini Mat Yuh sudah berada di Adelaide, Australia untuk menyambung pengajiannya dalam Master in Architecture di University of South Adelaide. Kepada tetamu blog saya yang mungkin belajar di UniSA, atau tinggal berhampiran dengan kawasan tersebut, saya berharap saudara/saudari sudi membantu Mat Yuh sekiranya perlu, inshaAllah.

Kepada Mat Yuh, didoakan semoga mu berjaya di sana, jangan tinggal sembahyang, selalulah berhubungan dengan kami di sini.

All the best Mat Yuh!

The first child of my brother (Abg. Yu) and his wife (Kak Diha).
Zara Airis Sofia was born Tuesday, December 8 2009 at AnNur Bangi.

p/s: Maya, you have a little sister now =p

As-salamu'alaikum,

Below is the summary of LIMA 09; from Aero Composites (the sub-division that I represented) point of view.

LIMA 09: A Journey of AC Success
By: Khairul Amar Razali

The mission of CTRM AC at this biennial event was to showcase the capability of the company to be a market leader in aero composites industry through positive growth, new technology, and ongoing competitiveness.

During LIMA 09, we highlighted the positive growth at CTRM AC through new projects that we received from our partners such as Goodrich US and Spirit Aerosystem (SAE) for A350 XWB (Xtra Wide Body) and B787 Dreamlinear.

This event was also used as a platform to showcase the CTRM AC’s latest and upcoming technologies. Among technologies that were explained and highlighted were Out of Autoclave (OOA) Technology (Quickstep), Same Qualified Resin Transfer Molding Process (SQRTM), Auto Tape Laying Machine (ATL) and Nano Composites.

We took the opportunity to highlight on our ongoing competitiveness in Lean Programs. Key elements of Lean tools such as quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change, and effective communication were also emphasized to show that the company is rapidly moving towards becoming a competitive industry player in the challenging world.

Three areas within CTRM AC had been emphasized during the event. They were Aerostructure, Composites Testing Laboratory and Engineering & Development. Brochures and slides presentations about those areas were created to provide further explanation. For example the Composites Testing Laboratory, the Joint-Venture (JV) that will be made with Composites Testing Laboratory (CTL) of Eire Composites Teo from Ireland was highlighted.  The capability of test lab in mechanical and physico-chemical tests was also highlighted, and test samples from the lab were brought and displayed at the booth. A microscope was also brought to showcase the cross section at our test panels.

Trade Visitors

We received a lot of trade visitors at our booth, either locally or internationally. Among the visitors were Trade Representatives from Russian Federation, AirTaxi-Service of Russia, France Directorate for International Development, Curtis Wright Flow Control Company of US, SAAB of Sweden, Department of Defense for Australian Government, PT. Dirgantara Indonesia, and Royal Brunei Technical Services to be named but a few. As for local trade visitors we received numerous delegations from government agencies such as Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA), Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT), Ministry of Science & Technology (MOSTI), aerospace and marine manufactures such as Boustead Heavy Industry, SMEA Malaysia, Sapura, ATSB, and from higher education institutions such as UniKL, UTM, and UPM.

As for overall achievement everyone was so passionate and work hard in representing the subsidiary throughout the event. We believe this event was a big success for CTRM AC. We got a lot of new and valuable experience, built a wide range of potential customer’s network and learned to understand each other better.

CTRM AC was represented by:
1.    En. Nor Azham Baharin, General Manager
2.    En. Jamari A Ghafar, Assistant General Manager
3.    En. Azmi Omar, Assistant General Manager
4.    Mohd Taufik Nordin, Head of Department, Development & Technology
5.    Zaitun Natha Aien Abdul Ilahi Tan, Head of Department, Commercial
6.    Ainur Sharida Mansor, Head of Section, Material & Process
7.    Khairul Amar Razali, Engineer, Composites Testing Laboratory

Outside of CTRM Radar Dome: (From left) Kak Ainur, me, Abg Jamil, Abg Ammar, En. Shafie

With CTRM Aero Composites exhibitors: (From left) En. Azham, En. Azmi, me, Kak Ainur, Muhammad

Me in actions.

Will be continued soon inshaAllah.

This week undoubtedly will be one of the busiest weeks in my career. May Allah make it easy on me, ameen. Earlier this week, I will have my proficiency assessments with my boss. This would enable me to have my own 'stamp' which indicates that I am proficient and qualified enough in my job scope.

At the same time, I need to warp up with LIMA preparations for my company. We are almost there, alhamdulillah. LIMA will be from December 1-5 2009 at Langkawi. InshaAllah I'm going to Langkawi on November 28th to setup our booth. By the way, if any of you are going to LIMA, please stop by at our booth – the big and huge RADOME outside the Mahsuri International Exhibition Center. InshaAllah I will be there for 5 days.

'Eid 'Adha is just around the corner. This Friday! I am quite excited actually because it was a while since I last saw cows to be slaughtered any where across the streets during 'Eid 'Adha. I will be in Kuala Terengganu on the 'Eid day, than on the next day I have to fly back to KL and my flight to Langkawi will be in the evening on the same day.

Phew – this week will be very interesting, and I believe it must be very tiring! But that's what I considered "job satisfaction."

Yeah – job satisfaction. For me, it has a very deep meaning, and that’s exactly what I am aiming for, inshaAllah.

Hari ini terjadi suatu kejadian yang tidak diingini.

Petang tadi saya ke Alamanda Putrajaya untuk menemui seorang rakan atas sebab kerja. Kami bercadang untuk berjumpa sekitar jam 3:45 petang, tetapi disebabkan hujan lebat, rakan saya itu tiba dahulu daripada saya. Saya tiba sekitar jam 4:15pm. Selesai memakir kereta, saya bergegas menuju ke tempat yang telah kami persetujui untuk berjumpa - McDonald's.

Sudah menjadi kebiasaan pada hari Sabtu, begitu ramai pengunjung di Alamanda. Rakan saya yang tiba awal daripada saya itu berjaya mendapatkan meja makan di dalam McDonald's itu, berhampiran dengan pintu masuk franchise tersebut. Sebaik sahaja saya tiba, kami terus memulakan perbincangan dan diskusi. Kami tidak mahu melengahkan masa kerana ada beberapa perkara yang menjadi perhatian utama, tambahan pula masing-masing mempunyai komitmen yang lain pula pada sebelah malamnya. Justeru perbincangan perlu dibuat seefektif yang mungkin.

Perbincangan tersebut selesai kira-kira 15 minit kemudian. Ketika mengemas, tiba-tiba rakan saya itu terkejut dan bertanya kepada saya.

"Where is my handbag?"

Kehairanan, lantas saya bertanya kembali "I don't even know where you put your handbag."

"I put it on the chair next to me - very close to me."

Rakan saya cemas. Kami melihat-lihat kawasan bawah meja makan kami dan sekitarnya. Sah! Memang sah! Handbagnya dicuri orang. Setelah puas bertanya kepada pelanggan McDonald's di sekitar meja makan kami, kami bergegas ke kaunter informasi untuk membuat aduan. Sekuriti Alamanda meminta kami ke Balai Polis Putrajaya untuk membuat laporan polis, dan dengan laporan polis itu akan membolehkan siasatan lanjut dibuat seperti melihat CCTV dan sebagainya.

Kami ke Balai Polis Putrajaya untuk membuat laporan. Pegawai Penyiasat mengambil keterangan daripada kami, dan setelah selesai soal siasat kira-kira hampir 2 jam, kami kembali semula ke Alamanda Putrajaya untuk melihat CCTV dan juga melihat kawasan kejadian sebenar. Ketika kami dalam proses membuat laporan polis, pihak bank menghubungi rakan saya bagi memaklumkan proses transaksi yang meragukan. Belum sempat rakan saya menyekat kad kreditnya, beberapa transaksi sudahpun berlaku.

Rakaman daripada CCTV sungguh mengecewakan dan tidak banyak membantu. CCTV yang berada di hadapan McDonald's itu seringkali berpusing, dan apabila merakam ke kawasan meja makan kami, rakaman dihalang oleh cahaya lampu yang berhampiran, dan juga lambang trademark M yang melindungi kami.

Saya cukup bersimpati dengan apa yang menimpa kepada rakan saya itu. Yalah, saya cukup faham apa perasaan apabila kehilangan barangan berharga, lebih-lebih lagi dokumen yang penting. Saya berharap agar dia bersabar. Untuk kaum wanita, saya menyarankan agar anda meletakkan handbag anda di peha anda sendiri, jangan sesekali meletakkan di atas kerusi di sebelah anda.

"Ya Allah, lindungilah kami."