Posting on behalf of our Editor-In-Chief and General of our 360 Magazine, Li Fern.

1) For someone who often offers cautionary tales of doom and gloom, he’s actually very funny

Geldof attended AirAsia’s reception of the Lat plane and decided to say a few words. After announcing with a straight face that Tony Fernandes told him that AirAsia staff would be getting a bonus, he went on to joke about how he thought he’d be getting a Bob plane instead of having to welcome a cartoonist’s plane!

2) Geldof is a good speaker
You’re probably thinking “duh?” the chap was invited to speak at Y.E.S 2009? In my defence, I’ve never heard him before so it was a pleasant surprise to see him have the crowd laughing with a few short sentences before sobering ’em up with more serious matters: how travel can bridge divides and bring the world closer together, and its role in climate change.

3) He looks mighty fine in person
I remember watching Bob Geldof singing with the Boomtown Rats at a concert on telly when I was about eight with my family. The day was hot and the humidity was starting to make me itch. I recalled wondering who the scruffy, long-haired man was and if he felt as hot and irritated as I did. In retrospect, it was probably a benefit concert of some sort (there were quite a few of those in the 80s).

Yesterday, Geldof arrived in a snappy grey suit over an open-collared striped shirt and carefully tousled hair that made him look really good for a man his age.

At the end of the ceremony, Geldof did get a plane of his own… albeit a replica of said cartoonist’s plane.

Sir Bob Geldof gets his own plane from Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes

The Lat plane sported a timeless look in the artist’s signature spare, black and white style that’s all the more powerful for it: Malaysians of various races united by a common love for music and children dancing across the aircraft’s body - so very eye-catching.

LAT Plane ready to take to the skies!

There was a special Lat tee designed for the occasion and it was only given to VIPs (like the people in the pictures here), but I hear there will be other items from the collection that non-VIPs like us will have access to… for a fee of course.

Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, Dato’ Mohd Nor bin Khalid (or Dato’ Lat), Dato’ Kamaruddin bin Meranun, Sir Bob Geldof and En Azran Osman-Rani with AirAsia crew

Calling all youth who wants to see positive changes in themselves, their community & their country. If that's you, join us and be part of the Youth Engagement Summit 2009 (YES2009) and be a driver of change, together with the world's most engaging & inspiring global change icons such as:

Sir Bob Geldof , Founder of Live Aid & Live8
Biz Stone, Co-Founder of Twitter
Randi Zuckerberg, Director of Market Development at Facebook
Amitabh Bachchan, Bollywood megastar & TV host
Dr. Mamphela Ramphele, Former Managing Director of the World Bank
Dato' Seri Tony Fernandes, Malaysian entrepreuner & founder of AirAsia
Nando Parrado, the ultimate survivor & inspiritional speaker
Garry Kasparov, Russian living legend of chess
Lorraine Hahn, noted former presenter for CNN & CNBC
Long Yongtu, Former Vice Minister of Trade in China
Yashwant Sina, Finance Minister of India (1998 - 2002)
David Magliano, Director of Marketing for London 2012

We'd like to have you with us at YES2009 in impacting the future. We have passes to give away to all who wants to be part of this momentous summit.

All you need to do is to tell us, if you could change one thing in your lifetime, what would it be, and who will it be for? Yourself, your community, or your country? And how will you contribute to it?

You can participate by sending in comments via this blog post. All winners will be notified via email by end of Friday (13 November).

We look forward to your entries, it starts from 1700hrs (GMT+8) 11 Nov 2009 and ends on 1200hrs (GMT+8) 13 Nov 2009. All the best!!

More info about YES2009 here

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