CROUCH SQUAT!

New methods and techniques are always being introduced at the Chief's Original Bootcamp (COBC) to ensure our progress and performance is never plateaued. While being plateau is not a question at COBC, workout boredom too is never heard of. Infact, the longer you stay with COBC, the more cravings ala addicted you become.

The Chief's Original Bootcamp became the best and have been around for more than 2 decades because of the innovative program that guarantees result while we are having fun.

Recruits.. see the videos below for the perfect form of Crouch Squat (Adoiiiii.. sakit) introduced in April Session Day-4, demonstrated by the founder of our program Chief Brabon.

PICTURE WORTH THOUSANDS OF VOTES: THE LOCAL CHAMPION

You are all a Champion!!! Yes!!!  8 Week Challenge had made everyone a winner!! A champ in their own right because they have achieved what others can only dream of having. When others were critical at their effort, they persevered. When others were tempting them with saliva drooling desserts and food (Oh god!!), they said NO. When others were belittling their hard work (Damn..), it ignite a stronger aspiration. Now, they have achieved their dream physique and health!! Every challengers deserves to be called a winner for that commitment, dedications and passion. Hats off and please give every 8WC participants a big huge bear hug the next moment you see them. 

Voting for a winner has never been easy!! Not for the licensees, franchisees and not for the instructors. Worst for Chief Brabon and Gunny Brabon whom were having sleepless nights sorting out all administrative matters, replying to the thousands of inquiries and attending to the dozens of licensees and franchisees. It is almost impossible to vote and select a winner but a recruit must be crown at each location as a Local Champion!! To crown a winner for each of Malaysia participating platoons, the local Franchisee, their Instructors and
a Franchisee from another state (In Australia) will vote from the list of all 8WC participants in the platoon and that took longer than expected, when they too (like us) saw too many great bodies and great aspiration (susah mau vote wor!) but everyone finally cast their votes without any riot.

"Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim; In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate", on behalf of my partner Dr Malek Aziz, the founders of our program Chief Brabon & Gunny Brabon and all franchisees/licensees, we are pleased to list down Malaysia local champions as follows. Please note that Australia have not announced the prizes for the local champion for Summer 2013 but let us hope for the best. 

The local Champion for 8 Week Challenge summer 2013 are:

PEOPLE

My short stint in Industrial Relation at the Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad in the mid 90s did taught me a thing or two about people and human resource. The most prominent issue being, it is damn difficult to head-hunt for good people to work and equally difficult to maintain them in employment. For the same reason, on a bigger scale, I reckon our government launched and revised the Returning Expert Programme (REP) to entice and lure the countless experts & professionals abroad back to Malaysia. Understandably, it is almost a necessity to have all the brains in Malaysia to achieve Malaysia vision for a high income nation by 2020.

However, what is more difficult to digest is when we already have the best of brain in our administration and to lose them alas, to a competing country or to an opposition. I read with regret the recent turn of event when Hassan Merican was appointed by Singapore Temasek (Malaysia equivalent to Khazanah) at HERE. Previously, the current government lost Tengku Mahaleel whose business acumen had accumulated RM4billion in cash reserves for Proton when Proton was a Government Link Company (GLC). Then the government lost Syed Zainal Abidin whom had turned around Proton from having 40,000 ex-stocks with a rejected brand & worsening quality to a competitive brand and publicly-accepted quality.  Please note the damage was done during the transition from Tengku Mahaleel to Syed Zainal when PROTON was under a Joint-MD).

IT IS ALL A CHOICE

"The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you're in control of your life. If you don't, life controls you." ~ Anthony Robbins.
 

ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

The best give to life, is a perfect bill of health!! and the bonus of earning one, is a head turning physique... or vice-versa, a head-turning physique with a bonus of a perfect health... Whichever.. it does not matter but its a two in one kinda deal. For the past 8 weeks, slightly less than 100 recruits (from a total of more than 700 participants worldwide) had enrolled and registered in the fourth 8-Week Challenge, Summer 2013 edition that challenges recruit to get the best health and bodies in a short span of 8 Weeks!!

The 8 weeks had ended on 31 March 2013 and the next turn of event will be the announcement of the winners!! Many participants had fell off the bandwagon before the end of the challenge but there are many more Malaysian that was so committed to getting their goals. 

To recognize their hardwork, we ask for all Malaysian to vote for our fellow Malaysians to be in the world's most talked about health and fitness challenge semi-finals. Every vote count and unlike the forthcoming Malaysia 13th General Election, everyone from Barisan Nasional and Pakatan can vote for Malaysian to win against Australia. 

   The next turn of event is as follows:

Wednesday 3rd April:
Voting for Local Champions by Franchisees & Instructors
Public voting for Overall Semi-Finalists will open through Facebook (DONE!! Pending announcement)

THE JUDGEMENT DAY!!

The fourth 8 Week Challenge was launched on 3 February 2013 and ended on 31 March 2013. What is the next step...

Judging
LOCAL CHAMPIONS
Local Champions will be voted on by the local Franchisee, their Instructors and
a Franchisee from another state.

SEMI-FINALISTSVoting for ‘Overall Semi-Finalists’ (Australia & Malaysia) will be open to the general public as well as Recruits and Instructors . Votes from non-bootcampers will be worth one point. Votes from current Recruits will be worth four points. Votes from Instructors will be worth Six points. All ‘Local Champions’ will automatically qualify as a Semi-Finalist. A total of 60 Semi-Finalists will be chosen by the public voting process. Voting for these titles will open on Wednesday 3rd April 2013 and close at 11:59pm (AEST) Sunday 7th April 2013.

All local Champions will automatically advance to the Semi-Finals. The remaining Semi-Finalist will be selected through an online voting process open to Franchisees, Instructors, Recruits and the general public.

FINALISTS
Voting for ‘Overall Finalists’ will the responsibility of Franchisees, Licensees and Instructors of ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP™ and CHIEF’s ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP™ (Malaysia). Votes from Support Instructors will be worth one point, Votes from Lead Instructors will be worth two points, votes from Franchisees/ Licensees will be worth three points, votes from the Franchisors will be worth four points. Voting for these titles will be completed on Monday 8th April 2013.
 
GRAND CHAMPION & RUNNERS-UPThe ‘Overall Champion’ and ‘Overall Runner-up’ will be chosen by a panel of independent judges appointed by the Promoters. The best entry as determined by the judges will win AUD$5,000 cash as well as additional prizes from our sponsors. The second best entry will win AUD$1,000 cash as well as additional prizes from our sponsors. Voting for these titles will be completed on Tuesday 9th April 2013. Both the Winner and the Runner-up will be notified by telephone and email using contact details provided in their entry by 12noon (AEST) on Wednesday 10th April 2013. This competition is a game of skill and chance plays no part in determining the winners.  
The Judges' decision will be final, and not open to contention.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED.. PART 1: ISRAEL/PALESTINE

Our traveling date were moved more than a month forward to 27 February 2013 in anticipation of the 13th general election that could be called anytime soon. It has been 24 years since I last traveled only with my parent. In the past, it will always be a mesmerizing trip with the whole battalion of at least 6 siblings (now almost triple with the in-laws and the next generation) but this trip encompasses of only me, my elder sister Chempaka Emalin and my parent for a spiritual journey to Mecca but we took a longer route via Jordan and a stop in Jerusalem, Palestine (Israel).

27 February 2013. We left Malaysia via Royal Jordanian Airlines on 27 February 2013 and arrived in Queen Alia International Airport on 28th February 2013 at 6am to be greeted by De Mawardah Travel Agent officer whom brought us for breakfast. Amman was cold!

Our first stop was for breakfast.

We had the Jordanian "Roti Canai?"... with eggs and humus. Nice? you damn right but the size of one roti is enought to feed us whole family!!

After breakfast, we continued our journey to the King Hussein bridge which was the border to Paletistine. I was fascinated with the architecture of houses and buildings in Amman.  There were all 'square' without any roof? Jordan is a country with 70% dessert but the Jordanian Dinar is a stronger currency than US Dollar.

40th DAY PRAYERS/TAHLIL FOR GREAT GRANDMOTHER AND ALLAHYARHAM(AH) RELATIVES

Me & Cousins.. and a young uncle, Zamir Daud

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un(إِنَّا لِلّهِ وَإِنَّـا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعونَ); We belong to ALLAH swt and to him we shall return.

Recent years have taken some of our senior relatives with the most recent being my great grandmother aka Moyang. Before her, was my father's only sister Hajjah Bidah Abdul Razak whom left us in August 2011 at the aged of 84. 40 days ago we lost my great grandmother at the age of 107 years old and on the 40th day, her only son and living child, Lt Gen (R) Dato Seri Daud Abu Bakar or better known as Tok Su by my generation, organised a tahlil and prayer in conjunction with the 40th Day of her passing. Tok Su whom is now 78 years old is still strong and is able to move around without a third leg (err.. Tongkat) or any assistant. His wife, also known as Tok Su is as hyper as always... but Tok Su said, he do not think he can live as long as his mother exceeding 100 years of age. 

That statement was hard for me to swallow. Losing someone close can never be easy although Islam forbids intemperate grieve for the dead and instead should and must always enjoined to say: In-naa lil-laa-hi wa in-naa I-lay-hi raa ji-`oon(We are Allah's and to Him we shall return). These words are a source of unlimited solace and comfort in bereavement. Hence it is forbidden that one should indulge in regular mourning or ostentatious grief... but I think I would just breakdown beyond words and control. I can never be prepared for the lost of any of our family members. Our family and relatives were brought up being very close and even though we are bogged down with our individual errands and career, especially with relatives whom we rarely met but we picked up where we left almost instantly the moment we meet. Such were the strong bond we all have.

HOOYAH!!

This morning, Bandar Utama Alpha had the pleasure of having COBC Co-Owner Dr Malek Aziz to train with the Delta at BUA and his presence had the Delta rocked the session abit noisier than usual. Dr Malek Aziz, my business partner had stationed himself to build Ampang (our platoon that is closest to his resident) for already almost a year and Ampang since then, had secured an average per month registration of more than 30 recruits. Two years before that, Dr Malek Aziz and Farhanah Bamadhaj had ACE all session at BUA but now, Ampang became Dr Malek's play ground. Recruits at BUA guesses Dr Malek Aziz in his 40s when asked of his age and was shocked to learn that he is already in his 60s... and a Delta!! ...and a cancer survival.

With Dr Malek Aziz at BUA, we had some sort of a small re-union with pioneer recruits. Dr Malek Aziz and Farhanah Bamadhaj were indescribably speechless to see those recruits at BUA whom they last met during COBC graduation party in December last year looking somewhat.. err.. really different. Now they all look really sexy, lean and fit. Dr Malek Aziz & Farhanah Bamadhaj made a special appearance at BUA to grace and present the prize to Rienna Choo, her long overdue 8 Week Challenge 2012 prize. After many failed attempt to gather all winners of the 2012 8WC, we have decided to visit all those winners at their respective platoons.. train with them, camwhore a little (I mean a heckuvalot) and give-out their prizes and Bandar Utama was the first Platoon that was visited. With many recruits rushed back after the session for work, the leftovers had a splendid time camwhoring!!

When it comes to camwhoring.. all seemed to have a natural talent!!

SPEED POWER TAEKWONDO COMPETITION- AARAF'S FIRST MATCH FOR 2013

Speed Power Taekwondo Malaysia (WTF) organised the 2nd Speed Power Taekwondo Championship at the Dewan Serbaguna, Seksyen 7, Kota Damansara on 17 March 2013. Aaraf together with his mate Ng Jian Chao participated under their new taekwondo academy under Master Elaine Teo Shueh Fhern.

We arrived early before 8am as requested for an event that was scheduled to start at 9am but the competition did not start until it was almost at 10am. It was a small competition with approximately 300 competitors but lack of coordination ended the event late at almost 7pm.

Aaraf, 10 years old being abit too healthy, competed under the heavy weight category for the age group 10 to 13 years old and being heavy, Aaraf had to always compete with those way older than him. As a result, he took a heavy beating the moment the competition began. However, we are proud that he fought back and did not give up and stayed on the whole match.

 Aaraf in blue vest..

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH CHEE YEE LAW

Bandar Utama Alpha Chee Yee Law became an inspiration and the centre of attention by her comrades when she improved her benchmark to be in the elite Delta. Chee Yee first heard of the Chief's Original Bootcamp in May 2011 but it was not until December 2012 (more than a year later) that she took the first step to become a bootcamper!!

In December 2012, 28 years old Chee Yee enrolled and attended the session to end the year with a more intense workout and a fitter body. She attended COBC alone without knowing any other recruit at the bootcamp but was quickly accepted as a second family member to and by all her comrade. At the bootcamp, recruits usually bypass the normal hierarchy of friendship.. they became buddies almost immediately. She was at first intimidated to see other recruit fitter than her but with the group's support, Chee Yee quickly unleashed her inner potential and was promoted to a Delta as a 2013 new year gift (for herself), on her second month at the COBC.

Waking up at an ungodly hour was another story, the delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and aching is also another story but Chee Yee survived the toughness of the first month and saw herself craving for more pleasurable pain. From a bad muscle soreness, not even able to lift her hand and had difficulty to walk, Chee Yee was able to workout with such an aches. Chee Yee quickly adapt to the COBC lifestyle and less than a month during her first month, she was able to wake up early to prepare her breakfast and came back in time to prepare for her lunch before going off to work. Chee Yee became more discipline at COBC having to retire early every night to recuperate and recharge for the next bootcamp session. Her food menu and ingredients has also changed and Chee Yee practices healthy eating too in line with her newly found lifestyle.

WHY PAY MORE OR LESS?

WHY THE CHIEF'S ORIGINAL BOOTCAMP, MALAYSIA

1. The most experience program - 22 years in the market.
2.  The most inspiring and positive community!!
3. Uses only original equipments.
4. Program designed by former and currently serving Royal Australian
     Arm forces with sports science and various credentials, customised for civilian.
5. Result guarantee from as early as 2 weeks, or money back.
6. Catered for Couch Potato (never exercise) to serious athlete.
7. The preferred choice for health program by Murphy Oil,
     Puspakom, Shell, Proton Edar, Alice Smith School, New Balance etc
8. Program used for Biggest Loser's Asia 2011,
     the Gladiator and various television series.

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH POH OW EE.

Young professional Poh Ow Ee had no complain living in the fast lane with endless food, dining and entertainment. This is part and parcel of having a career in marketing where dining out and food is an instrument to foster closer relationship with his clients and customers. A default consequence from such a lifestyle was the tremendous weight gain. 30 years old Poh, constantly battles with weight gain and he knew he had to take a drastic action to exercise when he was stuck being over weight with a waist size 36" from 32" even when he cut his food intake. No matter how little he ate, Poh's pants and cloth became tight after he had replaced his wardrobe twice.

Poh took the first step by quickly signed and enrol at the Chief's Original Bootcamp, Malaysia at Damansara Heights after a quick browse through its website at www.cobc.biz. Poh first heard of COBC from a colleague whom was so into the program that she changed her lifestyle from a night owl to a discipline early nighter to attend the program. Since then, the COBC was stuck in Poh's mind.

Poh did not know what to expect when he first join the COBC but he knew the late night work, dining and entertainment is taking a toll on his health. Poh also knew the only way he could force himself to take charge of his health is via an outdoor, group military workout. During school, Poh was an active member of St John's ambulance and a member of the Fire Fighting Squad. This two uniform bodies require a compulsory fit physical fitness and training were conducted on a football field. The thought of a military training at COBC brought him back into teenage hood. The Gym was never in Poh's list of workout wannabes having being confined in air-condition cold environment at work for 8-10 hours in a day. Poh wanted an outdoor to workout and sweat out from his hectic air-condition environment. Nonetheless, according to Poh, there were too many stories of people attending Gym to socialize instead of workout. "Motivation at the Gym too is short lived and I knew for certain, working out at the gym will be a failure to me", said Poh.

10 TIPS FOR NEWBIES

Nor Sabrina Mohd Noor

Dedicated for  the benefits of the newbies and a refresher to existing recruits.

Nor Sabrina Mohd Noor or more fondly known as Sabon was a healthy lady weighing almost 100kg when she first joined the Chief's Original Bootcamp (COBC) in September 2011. She is a recruit at the Bravo platoon, under Bandar Utama battalion at the Selangor COBC regiment. When Sabon first accepted the invitation from Afiza Abdul Halin for a life changing experience, Sabon was so nervous and had butterflies for weeks but now, Sabon would countdown to the next session the soonest she completed one.

Sabon had brought with her many of her friends whom grew to became an important part of COBC. COBC is all about a community of people from all walk of life that gathered together having shared the same passion for fitness and health. Everytime she brought along a new batch of friends to COBC, they would asked the same imprinted sets of questions and Sabon having gone through the same suspense, understood and would say as follows: 

From Sabon:

"When fiza invited me to sign up for COBC, I was so nervous and had butterflies in my stomach for weeks. That was in 2011. Now I’m enjoying every minute of it and it has become a big part of my life"

Quite a few of my friends have joined me since and usually this is what I would advise them before bringing them over for a session:

1) Be clear on what you want to achieve – Be it losing weight, getting a defined body, getting fitter, lose the gut, tighten bum, etc and the list goes on.. have a goal in mind. It’ll help you to pull through and stick to the program. You’ll get there. Promise.

2) Believe in yourself – Nobody is born with a six pack washboard abs  and bulging biceps the size of a tree trunk, they work for it. You may feel intimidated at the thought of an intense, grueling group workout but what I love about COBC is that the programs are designed to accommodate exercisers of all levels. I was struggling initially but the instructors were there to help to show you the ropes and guide you through.  Plus point: They’re super cute too!

STRIP EXEMPTIONS GIVEN TO 70 CAR MODELS, VARIANTS

A GROUP of influential car dealers has recommended stripping exemptions given to vehicles if they do not meet the new safety standards.

Proton Edar Dealers Association (Peda) urged the Transport Ministry to revoke all exemptions given to 10 car models with more than 70 variants that do not meet the New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) safety requirements.

The call follows efforts by the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros), an agency under the ministry, to lift motor vehicle safety standards and encourage a market for safer vehicles under NCAP.

NCAP is a collaboration signed between Miros and the Global New Car Assessment Programne on December 7 2011.

In 2011, the ministry issued a list of United Nation Economic Council for Europe (Unece) regulations for automotive assemblers and manufacturers in Malaysia to implement by January 2012.

The deadline was first extended to June last year.

Peda president, Armin Baniaz Pahamin, said to date, 70 car models and variants are still given exemption despite not complying with two items on the Unece list, namely UN ECE R94 (frontal collision system) and UN ECE R95.

TIPS ON HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR WORKOUT

What can we do to the get the most out of our only 1 hour workout, 3 times a week? Below are 10 simple but amazing tips from our Penang lead instructor Sarge (COBC) Boon cscs that can surely fire up your progress!!

1) BURST OF POWER!! Every set of workout is only 20 to 40 seconds maximum with a break of 10-20 seconds in between sets. This short burst of power targets to repeatedly push your heart rate to its maximum HR to stretch your stamina and strength a step further.

2) MAX-UP REPETITION!! Do all, as in each and every repetitions when asked to. Every repetition counts. Do it perfectly and do not discount or cheat on the number of repetitions and its form. There is no shame of being the last in the group. Your competition is against your own fitness and strength and not of others (unless you are a Delta)

Afiza Abdul Halin

2013 8WC LIST OF CHALLENGERS!! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!!

LC Azmir sacrificed his chance to win 2012 8WC to be a COBC instructor

Simon Koay Penang 2012 8WC Co-Champ

The licensor to the Chief's Original Bootcamp in Australia launched the 4th Eight Week Challenge (8WC) slightly more than 2 weeks ago on 3rd February 2013. Although the last challenge was only three months after the 3rd 8WC ended (as opposed to previous years when the 8WC was held only once a year), there are approximately 700 participants in Australia and Malaysia that had registered this year. 

These challengers have been on a mission to transform their physiques with the Chief Original Bootcamp for 8 consecutive weeks!! and if you think they look hawt and great now, see their BEFORE picture and their measurement. You will be amazed!! Click on the challenger's name BELOW to see how they look like before the transformation. 

To see this year, 2013's list of 8WC participants, scroll all the way down to the end of the page. Bandar Utama has the biggest number of challengers with 30 registered recruits followed by Damansara Heights platoon.

Pictures below were some of last year 2012's 8WC participants. Click on the challenger's name BELOW to see how they look like before the transformation. 

MOST COMMON MISTAKE MADE WHILE TRAINING

What are the top most common mistakes while training?

1. BENDING INSTEAD OF SQUATTING DOWN WHEN DOING GRUNTS.

2. COMPROMISING ON FORMS FOR SPEED.
Hey.. Compromising on forms can and do lead to various injuries. Speed is important once you are in Delta but before pressing for speed, we must first ensure our forms are perfect.

3. DOING A BACK TO BACK SESSION
Yes... Some of us miscalculated the level of our newly found energy. More often, most newbies (to COBC) would feel hyper-energetic after the second week and they would began to attend Bootcamp everyday and even do a back-to-back session. Unless you are a season athlete, we do not recommend for you to do a back to back but instead, to workout at COBC three times a week on alternate days as suggested. This is to allow your body to have sufficient time to rest & recover.

4. WHEN SQUATTING, WEIGHT SHOULD BE ON THE HEELS.

5. STANDING UP AND NOT JUMPING WHEN DOING GRUNTS. When jumping, recruit should land squatting and not standing up.

Yes, understood Grunts is a killer but if we must paused or be rested, it should be at the squatting-down position. Always jump and squat straight down to complete 1 repetition.

6. Not BEING ABLE TO WALK OUT OF BOOTCAMP is a figure of speech but literally it means, if you find it tough and hard to complete the 1 hour session, its only then that you have had a good workout. Anyone from any fitness level, no matter how new or how senior an athlete you are, if you can comfortably walk out after the session, it means you did not give your best effort (Maybe "stalling"!!) and did not do your best while training.

70 CAR OF MIX VARIANCES IN MALAYSIA FAILED THE NCAP CRASH TEST?

70 CAR OF MIX VARIANCES IN MALAYSIA FAILED THE NCAP CRASH TEST?

Well.. It would have if it was made to go through the crash test but instead, it was given an exemption from compliance by our Ministry of Transport.

On 7 December 2011, the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) signed a collaborative MOU to establish a pilot project for an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nation) New Car Assessment Program (NCAP). The objective of the program was to elevate motor vehicle safety standards in the ASEAN region and encourage a market for safer vehicles. (Source: FIA).

The essence behind the NCAP is to educate consumers in selecting the best crashworthy car.

Upon getting the cabinet approval, the Transport Ministry issued a list of United Nation Economic Council for Europe (UN ECE) regulations for motorcar assemblers and manufacturers in Malaysia to implement by January 2012. Failing that, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) had already extended the date by six months to June 2012. (Source: New Sunday Times, 13 April 2012)

Todate, 10 car-make with 70 model variances listed below still did not meet the regulation under the ASEAN NCAP. Those listed below did not comply and was given an exemption from complying to the UN ECE Regulation 94 and R95. (Source: Road Transport Department (JPJ), website).

The UN ECE Regulation No. 94 and No. 95 specifies a minimum crash safety performance for frontal collision speed of 64 km/h and side collision speed of 64 km/h.

Notice from the list below, most global carmaker such as TOYOTA, produced two different models of the same car with those in Malaysia not conforming to the Global crashworthiness standard but the same car passed the carshworthiness in other region.

A global car manufacturer has to engineer the car to four different types of national specifications but usually it was designed in compliance to either the US specifications or the General Market specifications. There are also the European specifications and Japan specifications. The US specification is usually the most expensive because of the high safety and environmental specifications.
 

(Source: Road Transport Department (JPJ), website)

PEDA URGED MOT TO WITHDRAW ALL EXEMPTION GIVEN TO CARMAKERS

Kuala Lumpur, February 2013. "PROTON Edar Dealers Association Malaysia (PEDA) lauded the government’s effort provided under MIROS, an arm under the Ministry of Transport to elevate our motor vehicle safety standards and encourage a market for safer vehicles in Malaysia under the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP)”, said Armin Baniaz Pahamin President, PEDA. He further added, “Given the essence of NCAP, PEDA urged our Minister of Transport to withdraw all exemption and waiver given to 10 car models with more than 70 variances that did not meet the NCAP safety requirement.

1. In 2011, the Ministry of Transport issued a list of United Nation Economic Council for Europe (UN ECE) regulations for motorcar assemblers and manufacturers in Malaysia to implement by January 2012. The deadline was first extended to June 2012 (Source: NST, 13 April 2012). Todate, 70 car variances were still given exemption for non-compliance when the local car manufacturer and assembler could not meet two items on the list namely UN ECE R94 (frontal collision system) and UN ECE R95 (side collision) (Reference: http://www.jpj.gov.my/web/guest/status-senarai-kenderaan-yang-tidak-mematuhi).

2. Announced in 2007, regulation No. 94 and No. 95 of the UN ECE specifies a minimum crash safety performance for frontal collision speed of 64 km/h and side collision speed of 64 km/h.

3. The R94 and R95 are standards issued by UNECE regarding the level of protection of passengers in a car in the event of a front impact and a side impact. These standards are used for the issuing of safety ratings by the NCAP operated by regional non-profit organizations and funded by governments and/or insurance groups. 

 4. The essence behind the NCAP is to educate consumers in selecting the best crashworthy car but with 70 car variances given an exemption for non-compliance (See attached list), consumers are being blindfolded when their choices were impaired and misguided with the absentees of this safety requirement. 

5. Since the directive was issued, the exemption is still valid todate at the cost of the public’s safety and life endangerment. 

 6. The exemption by JPJ is not in tandem with the spirit under the NCAP which was a collaboration signed between the Global New Car Assessment Program (GNCAP) and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) on 7th of December 2011 but will continue to model Malaysia as a dumping ground for foreign cars with sub-standard safety compliance. 

7. A global car manufacturer has to engineer the car to four different types of national specifications but usually it was designed in compliance to either the US specifications or the General Market specifications. There are also the European specifications and Japan specifications. The US specification is usually the most expensive because of the high safety and environmental specifications. 

 8. The difference between those national specifications is so big that some carmakers like Toyota for example produces two different models of the same car for different region. This is partly the reason why the US market has a different looking Toyota Camry and in Malaysia, most global carmakers did not conform but was given exemption from adhering to the UNECE R94 and R95. 

 9. Developing markets like Malaysia usually get the general specifications body, which may or may not comply to UNECE R94 and R95. 

10. There were 7 vehicles selected for the first phase of the ASEAN NCAP crash test based on vehicle “entry-level”, most sellable cars and its market share according to their market segment. The 7 vehicles were Honda City, Ford Fiesta, Proton Saga Perodua Myvi, Hyundai i10, Nissan March and Toyota. The ASEAN NCAP first phase test result were made public on 31 January 2013. 

11. The result however was not a good representation for the consumer and it did not achieve the overall objective of NCAP as it excludes vehicle model such as the Perodua Viva which was sold with more than 60,000 units per year and more than 95% market share in Segment A in vehicle sales category. Other vehicle models in the same category (Segmen A) namely Hyundai i10 (with less than 3% market share) were made to participate in the crash test. 

12. With such a significant car sales volume, it is important for the public to be aware and beknown of Perodua Viva’s crashworthiness that was the objective of the NCAP. Giving an exemption to any manufacturer or assemblers from NCAP compliance is akin of lying to the public by hiding the non-compliance to the global motor vehicle safety standard”, said Armin Baniaz Pahamin. 

13. He added, “Car manufacturer or distributor should not be given any exemption or waiver especially when it involve the public safety. The public’s right should not be compromised especially with Malaysia being the 3rd highest road fatality per 10,000-registered vehicle in South East Asia. 

In Thailand, all eco-cars like the Nissan March and Honda Brio (usually priced around RM40,000) already conform to UNECE R94 and R95 standards, as it is one of the requirement set by the Thai government to qualify for eco-car tax incentive. (Source: NST April 13, 2012)