amazing memory

on 16 - 17 September 2006
Tun Dr. Mahathir was (again) here in UAE
but this time.. in Abu Dhabi ..
as usual.. as guest of honour..
giving Keynote Address / Speech

orang di UAE ni..
memang (masih) sanjung and suka dengar
tentang dan dari Dr. Mahathir kita ni..
especially bila bab US , UN, Israel, Palestin

the speeches itself..
usually only around 45 minutes
but.. the Q&A yang kadang-kadang
longer than that..

cumanya..
yang aku paling lawak..
pasal yang event kali ni
was.. to read.. one article
printed in one of UAE's mainstream newspaper
on 2 October 2006..

well.. i guess..
these people.. never heard of Teleprompter

hehehe..

********************************

LEADER WHO MEMORISES A 3,000 WORD SPEECH
By: Muawia E. Ibrahim

ABU DHABI -
Delivering a speech at a conference
here in Abu Dhabi last week,
Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former Malaysian prime minister,
held his audience spell-bound
not just by his excellent speech content-wise
but also by his exceptional talent
to completely learn it by heart.

"This is amazing. I can't believe this,"
said one of the participants.

"I mean, at least in my case,
sometimes I can't even remember
my residence phone number and I am just 35.
But for a man of his age,
it's really remarkable to have such a sharp memory".

Dr Mahathir's 3,000-word speech had been distributed
to the audience at the conference.
It started with a note which read
"Please check against delivery".

Almost all the people in the jam-packed hall
of the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi,
including this reporter,
were carefully matching the original
with what he was delivering.

Amazingly, Dr Mahathir did not miss
even a punctuation mark
leave alone a sentence or a word.

Dr Mahathir was speaking
at the Breakthrough Leadership Excellence
in Dynamic World Conference in Abu Dhabi
at Emirates Palace
on Mindset Change: A Leadership in A Changing World.

The address included 42 points
starting from Jahilliah Arabs,
passing through the Christian era in the 15th Century
and ending with today's Islamic world.

As prime minister, Mahathir had vigorously
upheld Asian and Malaysian values,
decried what he sees as hypocrisy or decadence in the West,
and entered chin-first into some famous international rows,
particularly with Britain, Australia and the US .

His calculated snubs have been encapsulated
in such slogans as "Look East" and "Buy British Last".