Pursuit of excellence
EASY to make the longest yow char kwai? No effort needed to make the biggest dodol? Malaysia Book of Records (MBR) founder Datuk Danny Ooi begs to differ.
“Whenever people tell me that a certain record is easy to create, I always tell them ‘You do it and show it to me,’ “ he says.
“People may think a 45m (in diameter) roti canai is easy to make, but they don’t know the tediousness and the effort needed in making such a thing,” Ooi elaborates. “Imagine, a 45m roti canai, how are you going to fry it? You need to come up with suitable utensils and a pan. Can you do it? If you are into breaking records, then you will know it’s not easy.”
According to Ooi, the team that made the 33m yow char kwai – 20 chefs and 60 staff of Resorts World Bhd in Genting Highlands – failed twice. And for them to have tried three times before succeeding is proof that it is not easy, says Ooi.
“In anything, there will always be people who are not satisfied,” he says. “We have lived through that for eight years. Today we are proud that people are happy about what we are doing. So let the others criticise.”
“The MBR’s aim is to instil the spirit of excellence among the people, and also to work towards Tun Mahathir’s Vision 2020. I believe that for any country to be a developed nation, its people must be engaged in the pursuit of excellence,” says Ooi.
“Subconsciously, the record-breakers would have been trained for excellence. The feeling of success is there. I believe Malaysians should feel that success is possible. And if every person, especially the young, feels this way, then everything we do will be positive. I look at it that way, rather than a person’s record giving satisfaction to only that person. Records are only a platform to instil the spirit of excellence in people. When people can say ‘Yes, I can do it,’ then they will also be able to achieve a lot of other things.”
Tomorrow, the Malaysia Book of Records Gold Edition will be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel in Bandar Sunway, Selangor. The event will be telecast live over RTM2 at 8.30pm. A total of 39 record-holders will be present to receive certificates in the categories of Malaysians in World Records, Overseas Achievements, Senior Achievers and Young Achievers. Included in the Gold Edition will be a six-page tribute to former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir Mohamad.
The 312-page book is priced at RM88 and will be available, from tomorrow, at the MBR office in Ue3, Menara Uncang Emas, Jalan Loke Yew, Kuala Lumpur.
The first edition of the MBR was launched on July 11, 1995, by then Information Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Rahmat. The MBR team started with a staff of eight, although today, it still maintains a small number of staff – only 12.
But the idea for Malaysia’s own record book came much earlier.
“In 1989, during a trip to Singapore to visit an exhibition by the Guinness Book of World Records, I got the idea and inspiration for the MBR after looking at the exhibits there,” says Ooi. “And at that time, there were Malaysians breaking records everywhere. So I thought, why not have our own book of records? It was a pity that at that time, when these people broke records, you’d find them in all the papers, but after a while, you don’t hear about them anymore.”
But Ooi had foreseen that the MBR would not generate much income, and that a lot of research had to be done first, so it took a few more years before the project could get off ground. Today, the MBR is still a non-profit operation, obtaining funds from advertising in each edition of the MBR.
In the first month of operation, says Ooi, the MBR received a lot of responses from the public. “With people writing in to us, we started compiling the records,” he says. “Along the way, we also found that our work complemented our then-Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Malaysia Boleh campaign. In 1998, we managed to come out with our first edition of the book which contained more than 1,200 records.”
In 2000, the Millennium Edition was launched. “It was then that we decided we would make our publication bi-annual,” says Ooi. In 2002 came the third book, the Special Edition.
For every edition, about 10,000 copies are printed. Plans are under way to get the book published in Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia so that it can be distributed to schools.
“Our purpose is to reach out to the younger generation. We hope they will find some encouragement and inspiration for new record-breaking activities,” says Ooi.
In 1996, MBR got its big break when the Government, through RTM, helped it to set up its own TV series. “But we couldn’t manage it because of our expenses and the series had to be stopped in 2000,” says Ooi.
But now the TV series is back on air, every Saturday at 2pm on RTM1.
By April this year, Ooi hopes the Museum of Achievers will become a reality. He says a location in Kuala Lumpur has been chosen as the site for the museum, but the official announcement will be made later.
“It will also be a centre for knowledge,” Ooi reveals. “There will be two floors. We will be dedicating a very big space to highlight our former Prime Minister’s vision of Malaysia Boleh. There will also be a Hall of Fame featuring achievers who hold outstanding records.”
For those who wish to break records, Ooi says they can write in and give details about their record attempt. A team of researchers will then discuss the attempt.
“Let’s say someone wants to create the longest cake, we will look through our existing records and give them the measurements, rules and regulations,” Ooi explains. “We will also give them a percentage margin that they have to achieve. If it is something that is not in great volume, then we require a margin of 20% to 30% above the existing record. For those involving big volumes, we require only a 10% margin. On the day when the record is to be attempted, we will send our officials over to make sure the rules and regulations are adhered to.”
Although the MBR has no official affiliation with Guinness, the MBR will still submit a record to Guinness if it is eligible for a world listing.
“Guinness’ rules are very simple,” says Ooi. “They don’t have officials or witnesses, so they request that the record-breakers submit their attempts with the relevant documentation, including two or three press write-ups, photographs and video footage. Since we are the country’s record-keeper, all the more reason for Guinness to recognise the achievements. In fact, they have been very supportive, and we have over 20 records which are world records listed in Guinness.”
In the first edition of the MBR, a surprising listing was that of Oldest Man, one Omar Abas from Terengganu, who was stated as 142 years old at that time. As is commonly known, many early birth records are not exactly reliable, and there are some elderly folk who do not even have proper birth certification. But Ooi says Omar, who has since passed away, did have a document.
“In the event of the oldest person, there is a document given by the National Registrar,” says Ooi. “But of course, how the Registrar verified it at that time is difficult for us to determine. But the oldest person was given a document. Even our Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng acknowledged his longevity, based on the document given to the man. But we will not accept estimations when it comes to this type of thing. If there is a document from the National Registrar, then we will accept it as authentic.”
But have the records listed ever been disputed? Naturally, says Ooi, but that is not a problem.
“The records in the book are not once in a lifetime,” he says. “So if there are people who find that they have broken records in the book, they can submit the records to us. There are no problems because records are meant to be broken. But the person whose record is stated in the book can still claim the record as on the date it was created.”
But seeing how every kind of record is accepted into the MBR, even those bordering on incongruity, such as First Upside-down Haircut, one wonders if there is any record that the MBR would not accept.
“We do not take in record attempts that may involve damage to property, surroundings and the environment,” says Ooi.
He adds: “We are very particular about food records and health-hazard records. Endurance is a test and we have to see to what extent an attempt will go. For health-hazard records, we need precautions. For all records, we always emphasise that all safety measures must be adhered to. In terms of endurance records, there must be first-aid available. For record attempts on roads, we need official approval. For human achievement record attempts, our strictest rules concern safety.
“After eight years of doing this, I think we know what to endorse and what not to. The idea is that we are here to encourage and instil the spirit of excellence among people. So if people can come up with creative ideas on how to create records, I say why not?
“As long as it is a new idea, we will accept it. For us, nothing is too small,” says Ooi. – By Allan Koay