The Pioneers

The Melaka Refinery Pioneer Team

Shaffik received the above photo from a friend in his office and emailed it to me. It immediately transported me back about twenty years when we were starting the Melaka Refinery project. We were amongst the pioneers then. Almost all those in the front row and some in the back rows have now retired, although some of them are like me, retired but not yet tired, doing something with their lives and not resigned to be a full time retiree. Some have gone on to be consultants, some have started their own firms and businesses while some others have become 'head-honchos' of companies all in the oil and gas sector. These are where our experience and expertise lies and where we can make a difference. Only a few of the younger ones are still working in the refinery but they too are approaching their retirement ages.

I am still in contact with some of those in the picture, and some others not in the picture; that is how I know what they are doing and how they make useful commitments to their retirement times. I recently managed to make contact with one who now lives partly in the UK and partly in Greece (depending on the heat of the sun!!). It has been a long time parting and since I go to the UK to be with Sita and family a couple of times in the year, the next one coming up very soon, I thought it would be very nice if I can take the opportunity to meet up with him. Hence we are following up on each other and promised to arrange a visit to his location in the UK, something that I very much look forward to.

The above picture was taken in the early project preparation stage of the Refinery. Most of those in the picture were picked from various other completed projects in the oil and gas sector. I had then just ended my seven years in the Ammonia/Urea Fertilizer project starting from earth work, through the design, engineering procurement, construction and commissioning of the plant followed by commercial operations. It had been a most enriching experience for me which culminated in my managing the commissioning and commercial operation of the Urea Plant. This wealth of experience stood the test for the next project I was assigned to, which was the Melaka Refinery.

The Melaka Refinery attracted a different kind of challenges compared to the Fertilizer project, but with experience recall, and a strong project management team whose members were complementing each other and 'gel' as a team, we managed to successfully complete the project and once again I was called upon to lead the commissioning and start up team. It was tough when we were actually and physically at it but looking back now, its nostalgic, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. So, I spent quite a long time looking through the above picture when I received it, slowly going through each member one by one and reminisce on how each and everyone of them had impacted upon me and how each of them had contributed towards the successful implementation of the project.

The above experiences are what I am now sharing with other young minds in the organisation on an 'on-call' basis. Not too frequent, just about once a fortnight, but often enough for one like me who walks around with a walking stick, whose RAM (Random Access Memory) slowly fading but ROM (Read Only Memory) as strong as ever, ha ha ha! I am thankful to the Almighty for the experience and the opportunity given to me to share them with the hope that they will somehow benefit the younger generations, in the organisation especially. May the Almighty be pleased with my efforts......

MKI Ramblings Unlimited
Bintulu