My first posting

Alhamdulillah, God is Great. God is Merciful, God is one.

I never thought of writing my own web log. Time and time again I have always been fascinated with other peoples blog, and for this I thank you all for that inspiration. There are some good ones and there are just plain and annoying ones. But its a free world out there.I have come cross political blogs, entertainment blogs, blogs that just jot what they did or did not.

What I am trying to say is my blog may be just the same as anybody's, just plain or maybe gets on someone's nerve. I wanted to record something for my son(s) and their son's sons to have something that they can relate to when they are my age in lets say the year 2033. That is the age my son will turn 28 years old, and I'll be 54 years old. I know this sounds a bit corny and maybe depressing for others but this is who I am.

Alright now, what does my title "From Bukit Mertajam to Washington DC" got to do with all of this? Let me tell you a little bit about who I am or was. In July 2003 I was appointed as Pegawai Tadbir dan Diplomatik (PTD) or as in English; Diplomatic and Administrative Officer. I was successful in the exams I sat, the 3 days 2 nights grueling teambuilding exercises, and lastly the interview itself in Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administration center. After reporting for duty, Malaysia's Public Service Department (Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam) gave us the luxury of selecting our prefered choice of postings. I wanted to join Malaysia's premiere service - Wisma Putra as its Foreign Service Officer had its romantiscm and adventurous stories I heard when I met these officers in our missions overseas but unfortunately was turned down because I was a little perplexed with the forms I had to fill in. It just stated your preferred line of trade:

Latihan - Training
Kewangan - Finance
Pengurusan - Administration

NO "Hubungan Antarabangsa" - Foreign Relations or any indicator for me to choose my preferences. So I selected accordingly:-

1. Admin
2. Training
3. Finance

As I was unsuccessful to become a Wisma Putra officer, JPA gave me three other options for me to choose. So out of numerous Agencies, Ministries, State Governments, I decided on three of these:

1. Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang - State Secretary Office Penang
2. Jabatan Perdana Menteri - Prime Minister's Deparment
3. Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri - Ministry of Internal Security

My first choice of Pejabat SUK Pulau Pinang was because of my parents, they were away to Islamabad, Pakistan as my father was appointed as the first High Commissioner who was a former Malaysian Army four-star General. As I just got engaged on 7 September 2002 with a beautiful lady who is now my wife. She is a Kedahan and I thought what better way to be close to my fiance than to apply to work at Penang. Furthermore being a military brat, postings after postings, my father never commanded in the north of Malaysia.

The second choice was JPM, it was already mid July 2003, Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad will step down as the Malaysia's fourth Prime Minister in October 2003, I had bitter sweet memories of him being Malaysia's leader and most importantly My Leader. When I was in the UK in 1989-1991, there was a documentary from British Broadcasting Company (BBC) that was questioning our mandatory death sentences for illegal possession of dadah - abusive drugs. They interviewed three panels of the Malaysian people:

1. The Junkie
2. The Drug Pusher
3. The Policy Maker - who was of course Dato' Seri (now Tun) Mahathir

The hour long documentary was clearly undermining our strict laws of possessing drugs, drug dealings and the death sentence that carries with it. When the British lady interviewer asked Mahathir,

"Why do you hang people for just carrying a few grams of dadah, when lives are precious and the death sentence is cruel and unjust?"

Mahathir with his usual composure and confidence, simply answered back there in prime time BBC London in the year of 1990,

"We have to be strict in Malaysia, when people do not observe the law and do what they please, like taking drugs, selling drugs and we catch them and find them guilty, we have to punish them. Mandatory death sentence by hanging of one man who is guilty can save hundreds of other young man from dying a slow death being a drug junkie."

I was only 13 then, but when I hear My Leader on television, on BBC documentary, in the UK, I was so proud to be a Malaysian. Then came Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the former Foreign Minister of Malaysia, an alumnus of Perkhidmatan Tadbir Diplomatik. In 2003 he showed the nation a lot of promise, if I wanted to go far in this career, then I should work with his department. Well that my friends was in 2003.

My third choice of Kementerian Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (KKDN) was simply because of my fascination with Malaysia's security and its sovereignity. Some people ask me why not join MINDEF (Ministry of Defense)? I figured my father was in the army for 38 years under MINDEF. I guessed its time one of our family work somewhere else. Talking about the army, I have a whole chapter on that. I will cross that bridge in due time.

At last, the Posting Order (PO) came, it was a simple ceremony in INTAN Kawasan Timur or INTIM, as my name was fifth in my batch, I was called up after four others receive their letter. I was nervous, sweaty even in the airconditioned hall. Our course director Encik Abdul Halim Abdul Hamid (now Malaysia's Director General for its National Service Department) handed me my letter.

AFDAL IZAL BIN MD. HASHIM
Penolong Setiausaha
Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan
Negeri Pulau Pinang.

Pulau Pinang here I come.