Apologies and farewells....

I apologise for the lack of posts in the past few days. I had been really busy; I had audits and various meetings at work and in the evening, I would be manning/playing in the badminton tournament which finally ended on Thursday.

BLNG subscribes to ISO-9001, the Quality Management System, and ISO-14000, the Environmental Management System. I, or rather the department that I am heading, was audited for both ISOs. For the ISO-14000, the audit was tough. The biggest issue that was raised was the chemical storage. I must admit that the way we keep our chemicals can be described as 'dangerous, embarrassing and way out of standard'. I was actually planning to look at the chemical storage in the final quarter of the year, but I had not realised that chemical storage fell into the ISO-14000. One of the other findings that I was happy to be raised was the current conditions of the lab. At the moment, there is already a project to look at building a new lab and to support that further, we welcome/need any help that auditors or visitors can give while visiting the lab. From some of the findings that were raised, I was wondering if the auditor stepped out of the scope of the audits, as I felt the findings were irrelevant to ISO-14000. The ISO-9001 audit went a bit better, though I was missing a few documents that I need on Monday as evidences to works that we have done.

It is also a time of transitions at work. We now have a new MD, the second Bruneian to hold such post. So far so good. The outgoing MD is currently here to bid his farewell. In fact, last night I was at a ceremony to bid farewell to the out-going MD and welcome the new MD. It was my first time to attend a function with many high-level people, some of them can be considered as the movers andshakers of Brunei. The Minister of Energy and the Minister of Finance II were there, and so were permanent secretaries from various ministries and members of the diplomatic corps. The only problem when you are single and attending such function is that you tend to be sitting alone with strangers and you perhaps talk for a while to your neighbours and then you wish the evening ends soon. I sat with a lady who looked a bit familiar, when I suddenly realised that she was actually the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Standard Chartered Bank Brunei. There was entertainment; Maria, one of the rising stars in the local music scene, was there to perform but she was apparently quite ill and it really showed. Another singer, called Fakhrul, was there, but I questioned his choice of Re-hab (by Amy Winehouse) in the presence of such distinguished audience. There will also be a farewell event to be held in BLNG on Monday to give chance to the rest of BLNG to bid farewell to the out-going MD and for him to say his final good bye to the company that he steered through some rough times in the past 3 years.

Another person that would leave the company is the Technical Manager, a favourite among the many of his staff and other departments too. He was seen as a people manager; he had the interest of his staff, locals or not, in his hearts. He helped many people, including myself, to reach for that extra mile at work. He was really approachable and he would not feel awkward speaking to anyone of whatever level from any department. He was also one of the people who brought the idea of holding the inter-function badminton tournament. The first time that I came to know him was a bit surreal. It was when we celebrated Prez's birthday and as with many birthday celebrations, it always turned out to be quite noisy and carzy. At that time, we were all laughing away as we gave Prez a very 'special' sash which he wore, when an unfamiliar face was seen lurking through the glass on the door, accompanied by the departing manager. It was then we realised that that was our new boss and we all thought that we could not have made a 'better' first impression, which was proven to be wrong as he turned one of the best technical managers that we had the chance to work under. One of the fond memories that I have of him was the sight of him dancing on the badminton courts whenever the players in his team won a point. I have spoken to many people and we all agreed that his departure would leave a big hole in the organisation and we would probably miss his ever presence and support. Emile's last day at work would be on the morning of Friday, 18 July.