One in A Million Experience...

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia undergraduate Nor Sahirah Abdul Aziz chose to do her internship with Bernama. Attached with the Foreign News Service, she was assigned as one of the rapporteurs for the recent National GST Conference.

She relates her experience:

  

  "The National GST Conference organized by Bernama and Tax Advisory and Management Services Sdn. Bhd (TAMS) was successfully held in Double Tree by Hilton Hotel on 10 and 11 of July 2014. With only two weeks of preparation, the conference was a huge success with the keynote address by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah. It was not an easy task to invite a minister for an event but Bernama managed to do it in  with two weeks of preparation.

  The organizers also managed to get professional and experienced speakers in industries such as manufacturing, tourism and property to share their knowledge about Goods and Services Tax (GST). The participants gave their  cooperation by listening and asking questions to the speakers to clarify matters y involving their businesses.

  An exhibition by software development companies was also held to enable  the businessmen find a suitable software for their companies after the establishment of GST on 1^st April 2015. 

  On my part, I thought GST was a simple matter that only involves 6 percent of tax on goods and services but it is not as simple as that. Before going to the conference, I did my research on GST but it was too hard for me to understand every detail involved.  Attending the conference did open my eyes and mind. After listening to all the speakers, I gained a lot of information that changed my perception and improved my knowledge on this new fiscal policy.

  Playing the role as rapporteur during the conference had given me such a wonderful experience. I have to admit that it was not easy to listen to the  speeches and at the same time having to type the important points.

 I was amazed on how the seniors managed to do that task.    Being a rapporteur was not easy for me since my typing was not as fast as the seniors’ so I chose to write everything down on paper and type it later. I also recorded the speeches in order to help me to do the transcription. The recording was horrible since I used my phone to do it so it did not help me a lot. Although I faced many difficulties in writing the important points from the speeches, I managed to complete it at the end. All in all, the organizers did a great job and for me it was a one in a million experience."