The recently concluded Chinese New Year festivities marked the beginning of the year of the dragon, an auspicious period on the Chinese Lunar calendar, and Stamford Tyres Malaysia, the official distributor of the Falken brand here, pulled out all the stops to ring it in together with their dealers at a grand dinner on 5 February 2012.

The event also marked the launch of three new tyres that will spearhead their product line-up for the new year. All the top names from Stamford Tyres Malaysia as well as the heads of Sumitomo Rubber Asia were present at the dinner to celebrate the grand occasion together.

Before the dinner got underway, guests and their families had the opportunity to participate in some simple games to lighten up the mood. Things were kicked off by a dragon dance performance followed by welcoming speeches from Wee Kok Wah, the President of Stamford Tyres Corporation and Nemoto Yasuhiro, the Managing Director of Sumitomo Rubber Asia.

Among the other VIPs in attendance were Cham Soon Kian, Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Stamford Tyres Malaysia, Dawn Wee, Executive Vice president of Stamford Tyres Corporation, Dr. Wee Li Ann, Non-Executive Director and Conson Tiu Sia, Senior Vice President and Group Chief Financial Officer.

Sumitomo Rubber Asia were represented by Shigetaka Hayashi, General Manager of Sumitomo Rubber (Thailand) Corporation and Wu Xiao Ning, Manager Sales Marketing of Sumitomo Rubber Asia.

The evening progressed with a toasting ceremony after which the food was served and the lucky draw contest was held with some lavish prizes up for grabs, with a grand prize of a Rolex watch that went to the lucky guys from Yali Enterprise. Next up was nine units of gold coins that was won by Emkay. Soh Brothers took the second prize of flight tickets to Japan with Wira going home with the third prize of four units of gold coins.

Stamford Tyres Malaysia also took the opportunity to pay tribute to their top 20 dealers of 2011. Hoe Guan Pin Kee Sdn. Bhd, Soh Brothers Battery & Tyres, Jai Wei Tyres, HLH Wheels, Perkhidmatan Tayar KM, Wan Hing Loong Trading, Yali Enterprise, Sinwufu Enterprise, Sun Wiz Tyre Services, Weng Cheong Tyre Service, CS Kuantan Tyre Service Center, Aso Tyre Service Center, Yoong Sing Loong Tayar Supplies, Soon Jaya Tayar, Emkay Tyre Auto Services, Speed Line Tyres Services, Jooi Seng Car Care Service, G.Y. Tyres, Ban Hooi Tayar and Hua Hin Tyres Services.

The fun lasted well into the night with more stage games that gave some lucky participants prizes for participating.