Malaysia’s premier cybercity celebrates vibrant living through camera lenses

Clockwise from top left: Life category clinched by Foong Zaai Yuen, Nature category by Muhammad Syafiq bin Adnan and Architecture category by Ngeow Yen Churn.

Cyberview Sdn Bhd, landowner and development spearhead of Cyberjaya recently announced the winners of Cyberjaya – Images of Glory digital photography contest.

The contest, which was held from July to August this year, featured the three categories of Live, Architecture and Nature and attracted more than 1,000 entries. The entries, which were published online at www.cyberview.com.my/dpc-vote, were narrowed-down to the winners based on a combination of popular online public votes and scoring by a panel of professional judges.

“We were thoroughly impressed with the calibre of the photography skills and personal interpretations of Cyberjaya life expressed through the contest entries. It was our goal to give Cyberjaya a platform to present the cyber city’s four pillars of Live, Study, Work, Play and the results are a tremendous success,” said En. Ir. Hafidz, Managing Director of Cyberview Sdn Bhd.

“Each one of these images reflects a different facet of life in the city, be it through the way our community lives, the architecture, or the natural beauty within it. We’re delighted so many people wanted to share their experiences through this competition, and we even had participants from all over Malaysia,” he added.

The first prize winner received RM1,500 in cash, while the second and third place received RM1,000 and RM750 in cash respectively. All winners and consolation prize recipients also received a certificate of participation.

The prizes were presented by En. Ir. Hafidz and Rashid Mat, General Manager for Business, Corporate Communications and Planning for Cyberview. As an added recognition of their achievements, all photos from first to third places in each category will be permanently displayed at the foyer of the Kelab Komuniti Taman Tasik Cyberjaya.

Life in Cyberjaya
Foong Zaai Yuen clinched first prize in the Live category with an interpretation of the burgeoning development scene at Cyberjaya – a black-and-white portrait of a tractor in the midst of earthworks.

Foong is a software engineer who is intimately familiar with life in Cyberjaya, having started her campus life in Multimedia University and working in Cyberjaya since. According to the judges, Foong aptly captured the daily life she witnesses and enjoys in the cybercity in this simple yet powerful picture. “I do not own a camera, and yet I always borrow cameras from my friends who are avid photography fans. And yes, I am a contest lover”, said Foong.

Majestic sights
The Architecture category was dominated by entries showcasing new and existing buildings in Cyberview against serene Cyberjaya landscapes.

Ngeow Yen Churn took home first prize for a picture of development in Cyberjaya bathed in the evening sunset.

Ngeow is an engineer and researcher who has been living in Cyberjaya for the past six years and he has seen this city grow to fulfil its full potential. “Capturing Cyberjaya on camera is always interesting as the landscape is so beautiful. I especially love wide-angle views of Cyberjaya with fluffy clouds on the sky, and my entry was no exception. The sunsets here are awesome! Every day is a new experience at Cyberjaya”, said Ngeow.

For more of Ngeow’s work, visit www.photogmao.com.

Serenity
Life in Cyberjaya is not always full of the hustle and bustle of new developments and people who live, study, work and play in the cybercity. Muhammad Syafiq bin Adnan captured the serene side of the Cyberjaya with his still-life portrait of a lone rowboat at dusk at Cyberjaya’s lake gardens, which garnered the top place in the Nature category.

Syafiq works as a MainBoard designer in Sony EMCS but photography is a major passion in his life. No stranger to success, his win represents his second accolade as champion in a photography contest for the Nature category. “I love everything about photography, and it doesn’t matter whether I do it for contests or for leisure. I just love capturing something that I can share,” said Syafiq.

To view Syafiq’s photos, please visit www.capixadnan.com.

As the youngest contestant at only 15, Crystal Ng Pei Qi clinched third prize in the Nature category, while also taking home consolation prizes for both the Live and Nature categories. “After being elected as a member of the Cyber Brigade in my school, I gradually developed an interest in digital photography and I bought my first DSLR in 2009,” she said.

Ahmad Rafidi Rofie, another notable contestant, came all the way from Penang to Cyberjaya over a couple of weekends just to capture dawn photos of the cybercity for the contest. His hard work was rewarded when he won a consolation prize in the Architecture category.

“We were pleasantly surprised with the quantity and quality of the entries. The judges had a tough time determining the winners,” said En. Ir. Hafidz.

“Over the years Cyberview has actively carried out its role in masterminding the development of Malaysia’s pioneer and premier cyber city. The amount of interest which poured in for this competition alone is a clear testimony of our success in developing Cyberjaya into a vibrant place to live, study, work, and play,” he added.

By The Star

Cyberview organises talks to raise green awareness

CYBERJAYA: Cyberview Sdn Bhd wants to lift the Green City status of Cyberjaya by pulling together key stakeholders to share ideas and knowledge through a series of talks.

The iGREET series (Information on Green Technology), which started in May, is held once a month and is among the initiatives that Cyberview has taken to raise green awareness among the Cyberjaya community.

Managing director Hafidz Hashim said the company conceived the iGREET series an initiative to champion ecological responsibilities for Malaysia's leading cybercity and MSC Malaysia hub.

Cyberview is in a unique position to bring together key stakeholders including Cyberjaya's local authorities, building developers, tenants and community members in one place to hear how green technology can translate into long-term benefits, he said in a statement which was given out at the sixth iGREET seminar yesterday.

At the seminar yesterday, media and guests were given a presentation of Proton Holdings Bhd's innovative hybrid car that was slated to be launched next year.

By The Star

Mah Sing buys land in Ampang, Cyberjaya

KUALA LUMPUR: Mah Sing Group Bhd has acquired two parcels of freehold land for RM166.5mil which are expected to generate a combined gross development value (GDV) of RM1.2bil.

The 1.88ha in Jalan Ampang, named M City Jalan Ampang, will be a niche project comprising serviced residence and retail outlets with an estimated GDV of RM920mil to be developed in five years.

“The land is flat and vacant and ready for immediate development. Furthermore, conversion premium to commercial development has been paid for part of the land and it comes with a sub-structure for two levels of basement car parks,” group managing director and group chief executive Tan Sri Leong Hoy Kum said in a statement yesterday.

Mah Sing has also acquired a 13.94ha freehold land next to its Garden Residence township in Cyberjaya which will add RM280mil to Garden Residence’s GDV and expand the township size to 60ha.

“Together with this latest acquisition, Garden Residence is a sizable project which will take between three and five years to complete.

“It is certainly an opportune time to replenish our land bank in order to meet the strong demand and we intend to create an exclusive enclave of semi-detached homes on the new land,” Leong said.

To date, the group had acquired new projects with a combined GDV of RM3.1bil. – Bernama

Meanwhile, it currently has projects with remaining GDV and unbilled sales of RM8.64bil.

By Bernama

Cyberview sees 10% investment growth in Cyberjaya

CYBERJAYA: Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the landowner of Cyberjaya, is optimistic of achieving a further 10% growth in investment in Cyberjaya by year-end from the current RM3.19bil.


(From left) Setia Haruman COO C.K. Lao, Hafidz Hashim, Multimedia Development Corp GM Wee Huay Neo and Sepang Municipal Council president Mohd Sayuthi Bakar at the media briefing yesterday.

“Giving the rapid growth of development in Cyberjaya, we are confident to achieve that growth through land sales for enterprise, commercial, institutional and residential space,” managing director Hafidz Hashim said yesterday after Cyberjaya’s annual media briefing.

Hafidz said the RM3.19bil represented more than a third of Cyberjaya’s total investment value of RM9.1bil since its inception over 10 years ago.

In 2009, Cyberjaya received investment worth RM1.29bil.

Hafidz said the company was also optimistic of surpassing this year’s investment figure for 2011, as it had secured projects worth RM1.48bil to start next year.

“Cyberjaya intends to support the Government’s aspiration to become a developed and high income nation as had been tabled in Budget 2011.

“We are poised to bring development-centric initiatives to fruition in line with what had being announced during the recent budget,” he said.

He added that to date, more than 500 companies, including global multinationals such as HP, Dell, Fujitsu and Motorola, had set up regional and global centres in Cyberjaya.

“Cyberview aspires to strengthen the key government initiatives by driving inward local and foreign investments, developing skilled workers and talents, and nurturing creative economies in Malaysia via its thriving content creation and multimedia industries,” he said.

On the other hand, Hafidz said Cyberview had in place initiatives from Budget 2011 that called for creative content development as a key contributor to the national economy with Cyberjaya-TV.com, which went on air earlier this year.

“As a whole, Cyberview’s vision and direction for Cyberjaya closely echoes the four major thrusts identified by the National Economic Advisory Council for the implementation of the New Economic Model, which are talent development, the creation of research and development ecosystem, provide growth infrastructure and institutional development,” he said.

On the current population living in Cyberjaya, he said there are 12,000 residents at the moment and the figure was expected to reach 35,000 in 2014.

The annual media briefing brought together Cyberjaya stakeholders such as Multimedia Development Corp, Setia Haruman Sdn Bhd and the Sepang Municipal Council.

By The Star

Cyberview will take heed of advice in report

PETALING JAYA: Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the landowner of Cyberjaya, acknowledges the recommendations in the Auditor General’s Audit Report 2009 for tighter management and coordination of efforts in developing Cyberjaya.

The company was responding to the recent report which highlighted some weaknesses in Cyberview in handling issues related to the development of Cyberjaya.

Managing director Hafidz Hashim said via e-mail that scheduled reporting and tighter monitoring measures as recommended by the report were in the process of being put into place as Cyberview’s role expanded from that of a landowner to the entity spearheading and masterminding the development of Cyberjaya.

“With the rapid changes taking place in the cybercity, the role as development mastermind brings challenges and Cyberview’s role is continuously evolving with the growth of Cyberjaya and we constantly strive to improve processes for the betterment of the cybercity,” he told StarBiz.

The audit report for the company was done between July and November 2009 and highlighted some weaknesses such as management of the land, records on land status that were not properly maintained, dissatisfaction with the transport service and some financial management.

However, it said, Cyberview’s financial performance from 2006 to 2008 was satisfactory as the company was profitable all those years despite some decline in profit in 2008.

It said the objective to form Cyberview was to ensure the development of Cyberjaya was in tandem with the Government’s aspiration to create an information technology city (cybercity).

“The complete development of a cybercity could not happen if Cyberview could not monitor the development of the city efficiently,” it said.

The report said the Finance Ministry, the main shareholder in Cyberview, needed to ensure the company was focused in monitoring Cyberjaya’s development.

It also suggested that Cyberview fully monitor the buildings’ rent collection and take action on those who failed to pay their outstanding rent.

By The Star