THE SETIAKAWAN NATIONAL TOURS, THE SENAT – A CORETAN

General
The person who loves to create acronym is Raden Hamzah Massod. All titles will be given acronym. Macam Indon pulak. Mula mula SIM, Setiakawan International Masters, and then this SENAT. I am sure there’ll be more after this. Yang penting kita faham.
When the plan for SENAT was bandied about, a lot of ideas were thrown into the discussion, but for sure it would be a local tour in Malaysia. For this first SENAT, how Sg Petani came into being, I’m not sure. I can only guess the following:
a. It is a slow moving and laid back district in Kedah.
b. The targeted accommodation would be within RM 100.
c. There are quite a number of golf courses within 50 km of SP.
d. Its about 4 hours drive from KL.
e. The costs should be lower and
f. We have our local rep. We like to call him that, though he may not know it.

After a few discussions with the President, the Vice President, the Convenors and feedbacks from members, the plan was fixed to go to SP from 18th till 21 Oct 2009. The Convenor, RHM, worked out many packages which includes 3 nights 4 days lah, 2 nights 3 days lah, 1 night 2 days lah, twin sharing packages and no accommodation at all with only green fees for golf. Really, members have many choices which should be attractive for those keen to join.



Piala SENAT
SetiakawanGolf have a lot of trophies. The Presidents Trophy, Piala Tan Sri Hashim Meon for SIM,


Piala Zainal and Yahaya for Golfer of the year and Piala Dato Nawi Alias for Champion of Champions. For SENAT, we need another trophy. Sponsors were seek and one philanthropist offered to donate a tropy. He is our Mr P Ramli, Mej Dato Ismail Haniffa ( B ).
When I first saw it, I got attracted to its design. It reminds me of the British Open Claret Jug. It is unique. A comparison is shown below:


I feel that Dato Ismail has honoured us in coming out with this gesture. He sits smiling next to his trophy.


The Competition.
The results of the first and second day has already been posted. What is left is to compute it together. Some zealous golf buff may want to do their own calculations. And as DNA commented kalau lah dia perform baik sikit pada first day, the trophy might be his. Without prolonging the agony I now expose the overall results as follows.


Our inaugural champion of SENAT is Col Razaki bin Darus. He had a nett 69 and 70, totaling nett 139. 5 under. Congratulations from all of us. This considering that he had a strained left leg on the first day. Tengok gambar tee off dia on Day1. And my observations. DNA kata ‘kalau’ Razaki tak dipujuk oleh RHM untuk menyertai SENAT ni, ‘kalau’ dia main bagus sikit, ‘kalau’ dia tak bagitu banyak double bogey lah. he could very well be the champ. Banyak sangat ‘LAU’. Makna nya there are so many possibilities and so many probabilities. The final verdict is Razaki is the Champ and we have to wait for the next time round to be one.


The runner up was Dato Nawi Alias


and 2nd Runner Up was Dato Malek Sahar, the Man from Tepeng.

The pictures below show the prize giving ceremony for both the Day2 0erformance as well as the overall achievers. Congratulations to them.







Barbeque at Col Rani’s Residence
Our supposedly local rep stays within the gated community of Cinta Sayang Golf Resort. Among other assistance sought from him was a venue for our dinner. He gladly consented to play host to Setiakawan. Not only that he also consented to assist in procuring a caterer for a barbeque. It was held on the night of 20 Oct 09. I was told that members and their wives were ferried to Rani’s residence in buggies. Nice setting for a golf-related event. All were there at about 8.15 pm. There was a good spread of barbequed lamb, chicken and fish. There were salads and dressings. Local fares like kueh teow goring, mee goring and kueh kueh were also there.
Everybody tucked in. Then came the speeches. The President extended our thanks to Rani not only in hosting the BBQ, but also his involvement with organizing the ‘Do’ in SP.


He really represented us by meeting whatever request put up by RHM. Thus when members arrived later, all requirements were met and in order. Thus the logistics and administrative requirements were satisfactorily met. The only requirement required on members were to play – and to play well. This would be a tall order indeed.
There was also a speech by the President’s wife, Datin Fatimah Huri.



She recollected the happy trips to Bukit Kayu Hitam, the lunch at the Pompon Restaurant in Changloon as well as the purchases at Tanjung Dawai. Lots of ikan bilis, ikan kering and sotong kering, I was told. As a token of appreciation the wives presented a gift to Rani’s other Half, Norizan Sarin. It was presented by Puan Sri Nur Aini.


It’s our way of saying ‘Terima Kasih’ – Daun Keladi.

Observations
After the ceremony of 21 Oct 09, I was lingering around and noticed RHM and Mutalib huddled over a piece of paper. When queried, they were reluctant to divulge their concern. After much persuasion the subject of payment was brought out. Apparently and surprisingly to me, there were still members who had not fulfill their obligation of making a full payment. I was surprised as I’m sure everybody was aware that the Convenor had to settle all outstanding liability before we embark for home. He certainly need to put up some deposits for facilities requested for. He would have to advance his ‘funds’ in order to fulfill this requirement. He is just like one of us. Not very affluent and on a planned budget to operate. Thus any shortfall will have to be offset by him personally. He does all these extra functions voluntarily with no returns. He does not have an operating budget. Thus failure on any one of us to settle our ‘dues’ would be termed most inappropriate and unfair. Do take note of this oversight so that our ‘trips’ would be better organized and would run smoothly without any unnecessary headaches in future.
I am also aware that on the way to SP, Dato K was confronted with a technical hitch on his car. Something about ‘pump’. Fuel pump, I think. Being a Mercs, he need a slightly higher competent mechanics to handle. And in Rawang. It’s a bit outskirt for comfort. So Batu Cave it is. Not sure whether the Mers was brought to Batu Caves or a mechanics from Batu Caves came. In all the damage was RM1000. Being the good member of Setiakawan he and his wife proceeded with their journey. They arrived at about 9.00 pm. Even though late, very likely tired and for sure very upset, he was still keen to face the golf course the next day. I am aware he made RM 100 on the first day. That was only 10% of the damage. Another Rm 900 to go to recover. Not sure how he fared on Day2. Hopefully a bit more. For sure the shortfall was still way off. A comforting word for my permanent opponent Dato K. At least you have resolved one major problem of the car. Travelling time wasn’t critical that time. At least your car is now geared for travelling again. As for the remaining shortfall, pray that he can overcome me in the games to come. Or be like RHM, pasang pancing dengan semua golfers.

Conclusions
It was a good outing for us. We wished that more would be able to make the trip. Insyallah, more national tours would be organized. Everybody should deny Razaki from getting his name engraved again on the Piala. This is our challenge. This by winning the next SENAT.


Our thanks to the Chairman, MJHim, our convenors, RK and RHM, our local Rep, Col Rani and friends in SP,


Our thanks also to Dato Ismail Haniffa for the Jug and to Cinta Sayang Golf Resort for the hospitality.
Hip Hip Setiakawan.

Salam