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DATAPREP SPORTS CLUBDATAPREP’S CHINESE NEW YEAR DINNER 2008
PETALING JAYA, Wednesday 20th February 2008 - It was ‘A Night to Remember’ (just like the title of a hit song by Shalamar, an American music group of 1970s and 1980s) when Datapreneurs gathered to usher in the auspicious new year of the rat at the Unicorn Room Restaurant, Lisa De Inn Hotel (a.k.a the Cake hotel). The dinner organized by Dataprep Sports Club (DSC) for the Dataprep group of companies was held on the 14th day of Chinese New Year and keeping to the auspiciousness of the night, it was decided that the theme colour of the night was to be Red and/or Yellow. The Organizing Committee members were at the hotel as early as 4.00pm to organize the setting up for the night’s event and around 6.30pm, the first guests started to trickle in. Upon registering at the entrance, each Dataprep Sports club members who attended the dinner were entitled to a lucky “Ang Pow” dip at the entrance with cash ‘Ang Pows’ up to the value of RM50 was up for grabs. At approximately 7.30pm, the two fabulous emcees for the night, Miss Cindy How and Mr. Dalbir Singh started the ball rolling by calling on the Dataprep Group’s CEO, Mr Chew Liong Kim to deliver the opening speech which he delivered in his usual casual and witty manner. The CEO’s speech was then followed by a few words from DSC’s current President, En Adrin Adzuan Mohd Daud who introduced to the attendees the new line up of post bearers in DSC and also took the opportunity to touch on upcoming events planned by DSC and to promote the membership of the DSC. Both men welcomed the new year of the rat with the hope that it will bring more wealth and happiness to all members of the Dataprep Group. The Committee Members then took the floor and took everyone by surprise by rendering not one but two Chinese New Year songs and even Managing Director, En. Ahmad Rizan graciously contributed to a line or two. The eight course Chinese dinner started off with the traditional tossing of the Yee Sang whereby everyone happily and loudly contributed their wishes for a more bountiful and prosperous year this 2008 for the Group and not forgetting for themselves personally. In between the dinner courses, the organizing committee kept the attendees busy by organizing numerous games and activities for them with plenty of prizes being given away to the winners. The karaoke competition which was later dubbed by many as the “Dataprep Idol” kicked off the activities for the night and surprised many with the number of hidden talents revealed that night amongst the Datapreneurs. The judges for the contest comprising mostly of Managing Directors of Dataprep such as Mr. Chew Liong Kim, Mr. Tan Hock Chye, En Awalan Abdul Aziz, En. Ahmad Rizan and Miss Lyinda Lee sportingly took to their task as if they were actual judges of ‘American Idol’. After much contemplation by the judges, it was field engineer En. Zuhaimi who emerged as the night’s best singer and took first place in the competition with his rendition of Robbie William’s song ‘Eternity’. As the night grew on, many more people started to participate in the games and activities including the orange soda drinking competition where participants were lined up on stage and each were given a bottle of orange soda to finish off using a straw in the quickest time without using their hand. ‘Guess the number of mandarin oranges slices’ game was another popular game that night where members of each table put their heads together as a team to guess the number mandarin orange slices on a plate which was covered with a top, after being given only a short glimpse of the contents. The first round of this game ended in a draw forcing a tie breaker which saw the winning team walking away with a very large hamper. Nominations for the Best Dressed Male and the Best Dressed Female was also opened during the dinner whereby each of the nominated contestant had to catwalk on the stage to woo the audiences for votes. Cik Elyani and Mr. S.S. So was named the Best Dressed Female and Best Dressed Male of the night respectively by unanimous vote from the floor. Being Chinese New Year, the night would not have been complete without a Lion dance competition. Miss Linda Tan and Mr. Stephen Tan took the stage first. With Linda beating away at the drums, Stephen showed his talent in handling the lion with acrobatic stunts on the chair so much so that he almost fell down from it. But the ones who stole the prize away were En Abdul Ghafar and En. Zuhaimi. Zuhaimi took the drums like a seasoned professional while Abdul Ghafar wowed all present with his superb lion dance technique. Throughout the dinner, lucky draws were also conducted during intervals of the games with many prize ranging from vouchers, RM100 Touch n Go cards, printers, tents, electrical products, cookware and many more were given away to the lucky winners. The lucky draws were divided into two categories one being the ‘Chinese New Year Lucky Draw’ for all sports club members who attends the dinner and the other being a ‘Special Lucky Draw’ opened to new sport club members who registered during the recent membership drive . The grand prize of the CNY Lucky Draw which was a Samsung LCD Monitor was won by Mr. Rolland Lam. The crowd was also treated to a surprise when all were asked to look under their chairs to check whether they were the lucky ones to walk away with Jusco cash vouchers hidden under the chair. Many people that night happily went home with prizes won. After all the excitement has died down and night came to a close everyone felt that it was truly a night to remember. Written by : Lyinda Lee Lean Gaik
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