Mastercard Malaysia Mega Sale Promotion 2008

If you have a Mastercard, be it credit card, debit card, prepaid card or Electronic card, and none of your immediate family members is employee of Mastercard, paticipating banks, auditors and/or advertising agents of Mastercard, every swipe of your Mastercard done within Malaysia between 5 July 2008 to 1 September 2008 could bring you a fortune.

The MasterCard Malaysia Mega Sale Promotion 2008 is organized by Tourism Malaysia with support from MasterCard as the official card for the promotion for all MasterCard cardholders who charge their purchases within Malaysia during the promotion period (from 5 July 2008 to 1 September 2008). It is not necessary for the Mastercard itself to be issued in Malaysia in order to get the participation.

There are altogether 6 prizes for 6 winners only:

• A Grand Prize of RM50,000
• 5 Secondary Prizes of RM10,000 each

The winners will be selected from transactions made during the promotion period. Only the millionth transactions will be short-listed as qualifying entries for the contest, i.e. the 1,000,000th, 2,000,000th, 3,000,000th transaction for the entire promotion period, to which 6 cardholders with the highest value transactions made during the promotion period will be contacted by the promoter.

The cardholders must then correctly answer the questions posed to them before they may win the prizes. The cardholder who answers the questions correctly and who had the qualifying entry made from the highest value transaction will be the Grand Prize winner. The remaining 5 cardholders who answer the questions correctly will be the Secondary Prizes winners.

Seems like it is not easy to win the prize although it is pretty easy to participate. The draw will be conducted in the office of MasterCard Asia/Pacific Pte. Ltd. on 22 September 2008.

Lesson learnt - what happen if bank account gone -ve balance

Recently, I've learnt a good lesson which cost me RM5, due to my bank account gone negative balance caused by miscalculation and wrong timing judgement. Luckily it was immediately discovered via Internet banking, and quickly rectified. If not it will cost more, and possibly will result in bounce cheque and penalty.

The story began when I discovered the troubled bank account balance has become RM-34.00 on 30 June. That was because it has a shortfall of RM29.00 and an immediate penalty "interest charged" of RM5.00 [indicator (2)].

The root cause:

I issued some cheques, calculated that the account will still have a balance of hundred over ringgit after all the cheques were cleared. However, I forgotten about a scheduled credit card payment with amount of hundred over ringgit [indicator (3)] which was slightly more than the remaining balance after all the cheques were cleared then.

I thought that would not be a problem, because I have another cheque banked in to the account, which suppose to be cleared on the same day [indicator (5)]. But due to "some technical problem" as explained by the bank's cheque clearing officer, that cheque clearance was delayed by one day, and hence causing my bank account to be in trouble with a negative balance.



To rectify the problem once discovered, I immediately transferred RM50.00 from my other account with the same bank to make the balance changed from the RM-34.00 back to RM16.00. Then, I quickly called up the bank, and was informed that one of my issued cheques [indicator (1)] did not have sufficient fund to clear out, and was advised to put in an additional RM100 to avoid that cheque from bouncing back. So I tranfered another RM100.00 to the account [indicator (4)].

The next day, I noticed 2 lines appeared in the statement [indicator (6)]. There was a "cheque repair credit" immediately followed by another "cheque repair debit". Luckily, that cheque [indicator (1)] still gone through and cleared.

Lesson learnt:

• Always check for the "future payment" and "future transfer" sections for scheduled payment made earlier, to ensure the account balance is sufficient to draw out money from it.
• Don't take for granted that the bank-in cheque will be cleared on time. The banked in amount can only be used after the cheque is cleared and the amount is made available to use in the account. Good news is, all the banks will use a new clearing system beginning 1 July 2008, which will shorten the time required to clear all the cheque transactions.

Global Leadership and Mentoring Congress 2008

For your information, the Global Leadership Mentoring Congress 2008 will be held in Singapore on 4-5 August 2008 at the Ritz Carlton Hotel Ballroom. This year’s Congress organized by Research University on Leadership (RUL) in Singapore is themed “Leadership and Service Science: Research-Practice Synergy”. The Guest of Honour will be Singapore's minister Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan from Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports.

Leadership and Service Science are two fast-emerging fields seen as the new frontiers of the global economy and absolutely critical to business and professional success. Presently, 70% of world economies are service-driven, a major shift in the global economy. Leadership and service emphasize broad-based and multilevel leadership structures involving people, technology and co-creation of value systems. In essence, leadership and service are two sides of the new millennium coin.

This two day programme will feature academic lectures, corporate presentations, panel discussions and open dialogue with speakers. The aims of the Congress are:

• To provide an inspiring and practical update through the stories and insights of global leaders and CEOs.
• Furthering the vistas of leadership and service as a science.
• Challenge participants’ understanding of leadership, and how leadership can promote service in a nation where human capital is its main asset.
• Stretch the limits of service through multi-disciplinary considerations
• View service as an essential part of capital building in every corporation, institution and organization.
  

Panel of speakers includes:

• Mr Philip Ng - CEO, Far East Organization
• Dr Loo Choon Yong - Executive Chairman, Raffles Medical Group Ltd
• Mr Ho Kwon Ping - Chairman, Mediacorp/ Chairman, SMU/ Executive Chairman, Banyan Tree Holdings Limited
• Ms Claire Chiang - President of Singapore Compact, Senior Vice President- Banyan Tree Holdings Ltd
• Ms Chua Sock Koong - CEO, SingTel Group
• Prof. Wong Yip Yan - Founder/ Group Chairman, WyWy Group of Companies
• Mr Peter Kok - Managing Director, UBS
• Ms Teresa Lim - Managing Director, IBM
• Prof. Steve Smith - Vice Chancellor, Exeter University
• Prof. Roger Maull - Professor of Management, Exeter University
• Prof. Irene Ng - Director, Centre for Service Research, Exeter University
• Dr Shirley Lim - President, Research University on Leadership/Research Communication International PL
• Dato' Dr Jannie Tay - Vice Chairman (Executive), The Hour Glass
  

The admission fee is S$1,250, and there is discount for early birds.

Click here for more information and online registration to GLMC 2008.