WCOA Day 2

Day 2

Lucky me, today I didn't have to walk far to reach LRT Station to KLCC.  The organiser provided shuttle bus from our hotel to KLCC, and back, everyday.  That's how generous they are.  I didn't face much problem this time, since I had graduated from my 'site seeing' yesterday, I pretty much able to find my way easily.

The only thing that I was not prepared for was the crowd.  I didn't realise 6000+ delegates looked this 'crowded'.  I literally drowned and dwarfed in this sea of people.  Dwarfed, because delegates from all other countries are a lot taller than I am, seriously.  Lucky for me, our shuttle arrived a good 30 minutes before the opening ceremony, which scheduled at 1600 hour.  This enable me to find a good seat in the main hall, next to a friendly Nigerian lady, from Ipas (an NGO).

This is actually my very first time to be in a giant meeting of thousands of professionals around the globe.  I really feel like I am a real professional.  Come to think of it, I really am a professional, am I not?  But, sitting next to a foreigner means I have great responsibility to represent my country, Malaysia, to the world.  The first question she asked me was "Why the flower is so important here (our national flower, hibiscus), since it is everywhere, in the banners and all around the city, the neons and also in the WCOA 2010 logo?".  Lucky me, I can easily tackle this one question, but I had great difficulty in explaining the 5 Rukunegara to her.  I remember the 5, in MALAY, but I got panicked, realising there was a need to translate it.  Tried hard to translate that I forgot all but 1 of them, the Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan.  The other like Kesetiaan Kepada Raja dan Negara, Keluhuran Perlembagaan, Kedaulatan Undang-undang and Kesopanan dan kesusilaan....just to prove that I DO remember them, was lost.  I was greatly embarrassed, but I think I was great at concealing it.

There were few more questions, a normal conversation, then my coughing fits got in the way.  One thing that surprised me was, hey, I really can talk in proper English!!  And what's more amazing, I could actually talk fluently, no stutter whatsoever.  Hehehe, well, you know, after almost 8 years leaving school, and no time and opportunity to practise my Spoken English, I thought I had completely lost it.  Even my friends said, be it indirectly, that I couldn't speak in a good and proper English.

I am really glad to be chosen, again, to participate in this great congress of world accountants.  Back to the ceremony, the opening ceremony was spectacular, really really spectacular.  The performing artists were so good, I actually felt really proud of them, they made me so proud to be Malaysian.  I don't  know how to describe the feelings, maybe the only way one can feel what I felt then was to actually be there and witness the event.

One thing that I regret the most was that, I was so mesmerized that I forgot to take any picture, or video.  It'll be very nice to share a picture or two here.  Anyway, lastly (for today), here's a few statistics for today:

134 Countries

6018 delegates (registered as at 3.30pm today)

2000+ Malaysian delegates (out of 6018 above)

18th World Congress of Accountants

3 Sempier awards (awarded to those who had contributed in the advancement of accounting profession.  This years' recipients come from USA, Chinese Taipei and France)

4 days event (the WCOA)