THE "NEW" BOOTCAMP AT PADANG MERBUK & PADANG ASTAKA

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While in Singapore over the weekend, I received endless email and updates on 'Bootcamp' latest controversy. Since I blogged and posted the Official Statement from Chief Brabon, the Founder and Managing Director of the Original Bootcamp Australia, I feel it will be unjust if I do not publish and comment on the Official Statement from Selva Kumar, the "BULLDOG LOGO ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP, Since 1991" former licensee for Padang Merbuk and Padang Astaka. We should always base our judgement on explicit facts and details rather than on hearsay, assumptions and rumours.

The summary of Selva Kumar's Official Statement is as follows:



1) Selva deemed the Official Statement by Chief Brabon as a personal attack towards him to confuse his loyal clients and staff as well as destroy his credibility within the community here in Malaysia. (read Chief's statement 'Here').

Personally, I felt it was an informative official statement to inform that Selva is no longer part of the ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP network that Chief Brabon had founded 20 years ago stating specific reasons why he had been expuled from the network. The objective of the statement (if I read and understand correctly), was to inform the public that Selva is no longer a franchisee/licensee and should not continue to represent himself as part of the 20 years old program to avoid misleading the recruits and collecting monies under the same program which Selva was previously representing.

2) Selva's Official Statement was issued in response to Chief Brabon's Official Statement.

3) Selva deemed Chief's statement as a manipulation and distortion from actual fact. What is the actual fact? Let us read and understand further what was transpired between the two parties based on Facts via both their Official Statements.

4) Selva questioned his termination and expulsion from the ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP network on the following pre-text:

A) extracted from the Selva's Official Statement (SOS). "Obviously James Brabon will not inform anyone that it was Rob Coad and myself, who developed independently without the help from James Brabon to set it up in Malaysia. We had put up the ‘Original Bootcamp’ trademark in Malaysia for the first time in 2009 with an intention of expanding it in Malaysia. Hence this concept under the ‘’Original Bootcamp” in Malaysia is very much localized."

Who is ROB COAD? Rob Coad is the REGIONAL MASTER TRAINER for the ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP INTERNATIONAL the Franchise Owner and Head Trainer of 5 separate ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP licenses in Adelaide and Malaysia, (see: Rob's profile).

Rob Coad being the Regional master trainer with the ranking SENIOR SARGE (see: OBC Ranking) for the ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP is already a representation of Chief Brabon in Malaysia. 

B) Extracted from SOS: "It is only when James Brabon saw the potential in Malaysia for the ‘Money’ sense, he invited me to sign an agreement. I had agreed to an informal agreement subject to certain terms with a ‘cooling period’ for me to decide whether to go along with the said agreement. James Brabon enticed me in joining the said agreement by agreeing to let me have the Subang Jaya location which had been requested by Rob and I since back in September 2009 and the structure of fees as agreed between the parties."

It still puzzles me as to how does Selva signing an agreement will make James Brabon any wealthier? or richer? Even if Selva sign the agreement, the profit are still Selva's revenue. Logically, James Brabon will still be getting the same amount of franchise fee EITHER from Selva OR the newly appointed Subang Jaya Licensee.but the profits are all for Selva or the new lincensee to keep.

C) Extracted from SOS: James Brabon decides at the eleventh hour to resile from the terms, in particular the Subang Jaya location and this is borne out by his own unequivocal admission in his email. I decided not to go along with James Brabon because to me it was a person’s promise that is important. Here is a person who despite numerous appeals by myself, decided to blow hot and cold, because to him it is ‘profit’ and the more ‘franchisees’ it is, the more ‘profit’.

Again, I still dont understand, how giving a license to the new Licensee for Subang Jaya will give more profit and more money to James Brabon. James will still be getting the franchise/licensee fee whether from Selva or from the new licensee? The PROFIT does not go back to JAMES AS THE FRANCHISOR..  And as for having more franchisee, who does not want to see their business grow....? What is wrong with that?

Verbal promise and claim are Words against Words without any party being able to prove. 

In a Nutshell, those are main points based on facts from both parties with the following conclusion:

The message from Chief's statement is that Selva is no longer part of the OBC Australia Network and should not mislead the public and collecting fees based on what he represented before.... that is the "BULLDOG LOGO ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP-Since 1991" logo trade name, trademark and program (hence the termination).

Selva conveyed similar statement that he no longer represent the "BULLDOG LOGO ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP-Since 1991" logo trade name, trademark and program (hence, he terminated the agreement) Selva had also rebranded his team from a BULLDOG to a BOOT SOLE. After a year of learning curve from the Australian, it is good to see Selva taking the first step to established the First Malaysia chain of Group Outdoor Personal training programme. I had suggested this to Selva during one of the coffee chat session. I am always encouraging friends to embark into own branding and businesses. Similarly, I embarked in my chain of automotive workshop Fasfik and provide similar licensee opportunity to those that qualified.

With the two options for the general PUBLIC TO CHOOSE, the public will benefit from the competition  between the BOOTCAMP MALAYSIA and BOOTCAMP AUSTRALIA program. It is indeed healthy and positive for the  Group Outdoor Personal Training industry in Malaysia.

HOOOOOYAAAAH!!!

P/s There are always opportunities in every downturn.

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OFFICAL STATEMENT FROM SELVA KUMAR

Dear Clients,

Firstly I would like to formally apologize, as some of you would have received a message from James Brabon stating my ‘expulsion’ from their network. This message was a personal attack to confuse our loyal clients and staff as well as destroy my credibility within the community here in Malaysia.

I never would have taken the approach to send something out to the entire database which obviously is an internal clash. You are not part of the OBC to be involved in this, it’s an internal clash and you’re purpose is to train. So I apologize again. Nevertheless, now that something has been written from James’s side, it requires a response from me.

It is with great disappointment that I had to be burdened with a facebook message which on the ‘face’ of it bears out a very clear distortion and manipulation of the actual facts by James Brabon. This is clear from my following response and I will leave it to the facebook group members and my clients to judge whether what has been ‘falsely’ represented by James Brabon has any substance at all.

‘Was there termination or Expulsion?’

Obviously James Brabon will not inform anyone that it was Rob Coad and myself, who developed independently without the help from James Brabon to set it up in Malaysia. We had put up the ‘Original Bootcamp’ trademark in Malaysia for the first time in 2009 with an intention of expanding it in Malaysia. Hence this concept under the ‘’Original Bootcamp” in Malaysia is very much localized.

It is only when James Brabon saw the potential in Malaysia for the ‘Money’ sense, he invited me to sign an agreement. I had agreed to an informal agreement subject to certain terms with a ‘cooling period’ for me to decide whether to go along with the said agreement. James Brabon enticed me in joining the said agreement by agreeing to let me have the Subang Jaya location which had been requested by Rob and I since back in September 2009 and the structure of fees as agreed between the parties.

James Brabon decides at the eleventh hour to resile from the terms, in particular the Subang Jaya location and this is borne out by his own unequivocal admission in his email.

I decided not to go along with James Brabon because to me it was a person’s promise that is important. Here is a person who despite numerous appeals by myself, decided to blow hot and cold, because to him it is ‘profit’ and the more ‘franchisees’ it is, the more ‘profit’

Thus it is clear and I don’t think James Brabon will dispute that it was myself that terminated the ‘informal agreement’ before the expiry of the ‘cooling period’ for the reason as stated above. So, James Brabon’s assertion of the agreement was terminated by them and ‘expulsion’ are wholly erroneous and false.

It is to be reminded that there has been ‘no expulsion’ because I terminated before any ‘thought’ of expulsion occurred.


The second paragraph which follows, is obviously a desperate attempt by James Brabon, to create a false picture of myself and to disrupt the feelings amongst members in Malaysia who pay allegiance and respect to what I, Rob, and Trainers had developed independently in Malaysia.

Rob and I worked so hard together to create Original Bootcamp Malaysia to what it is today. Rob worked towards training the trainers to give them the essential foundations to developing themselves and becoming what they have today. And he will ALWAYS be known in our hearts as our Senior Sergeant here in Malaysia.

On another note to confirm the rumors about Myself and Rob commencing ‘Original Bootcamp’ in Malaysia and never paying for a location… These are just that… malicious rumors! I can comfortably confirm that we paid all fees that were required for the locations that we are based at, as well as having paid for Kepong in advance to this trial week also. We have receipts to prove all of this.

Our Lawyers will defend any attempt by James Brabon to say that the ‘Original Bootcamp’ trademark in Malaysia belongs to his company. A court of law will decide this issue and I believe the law would lean in favour of my company in Malaysia. My lawyers had also sent cease and desist letters to the agents of James Brabon who were opening in Subang Jaya, and there was no response to these letters. No threats were ever made.

James Brabon’s culture and characteristic of ‘attacking’ me on facebook by calling me ‘unscrupulous’ hence an attack on my credibility, demonstrates how low and demeaning, one can be. I will not stoop so low in attacking James Brabon and time will tell and reveal the truth.

My intention from the beginning was always to work with James Brabon while introducing Original Bootcamp to Malaysia. I never represented myself as the Master Franchisee for both Malaysia and in some cases Asia. We were led to believe by James Brabon that there was a degree of exclusivity to protect our investment to building the Original Bootcamp name in Malaysia. Hence why we marketed the product here aggressively. Although before we got to this point, we were forced into a wall and it never materialized. What people may have assumed and stories created within the network are out of my control.

I loathe making this statement but I am forced to react in the manner here in to safeguard the interest of my company as well as myself and the interests of all the members who have faithfully entrusted us to conduct the activities lawfully in Malaysia.

Thank you,

Yours faithfully,

Selva Kumar.
Selva's Original Statement is available here.

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