Project Kampungku started with an idea in 2016 and was first executed in August 2017, operating on three key pillars: narrowing the gap related to availability of sustainable light energy between people living in the city and the indigenous community; promoting sustainability; and ensuring that our indigenous communities are well taken care of.
The decision to have a project dedicated to the distribution and installation of solar lights to the indigenous community was fuelled by the realization of the lighting tool shortage faced by the indigenous people. With only a handful of kerosene lamps and dimly lit fires scattered around the village ground, as well as a rising number of children of schooling age, Project Kampungku was determined to help. In 2018, Haskell APAC incorporated ourselves into this project along with Veritas Design Group. Project Kampungku has since then been an annual program both Haskell and Veritas are working together on alongside the Ecotourism & Conservation Society of Malaysia (ECOMY).
The long-term goal for Project KampungKu was initially centred solely on the provision of reliable renewable energy but has since evolved to include creating an advocacy machine championing the rights of the indigenous people and promoting and ensuring education for their children. The project believes that these three components – renewable energy, social advocacy, and education, are the special sauce needed to create holistic project sites. The ultimate goal of Project KampungKu, however, is to ensure these villages are energy independent, safe from rampant deforestation, and have dependable access to education.
For three years now, Haskell has been able to provide a source of sustainable energy in Malaysia together with our collaborating partners for this effort. Over the years, we have extended our effort into including the delivery of sundry goods and educational material to also promote a better quality of health and education for the indigenous community we meet with annually. As part of Haskell’s commitment to be leaders in service to and make a measurable difference in the quality of life to the communities where we live and work, the ‘KampungKu’ (My Village) project is a special one for the team as it revolves around a cause that all deeply care about – the lives of the indigenous people in Malaysia.
Dow Chemical has three initiatives that contribute toward SDG #10 Reduced Inequalities.
Reaching out to low-income families
Dow extended its support to 200 low-income families, providing them care packs including groceries and basic hygiene products in early April 2020. This collaboration with HOPE Worldwide Malaysia was timely as the country fights the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation provided two months’ worth of supplies to low-income families including those who lost their jobs, elderly persons and single-parent units.
STEM Education
Dow has been partnering HOPE Worldwide Malaysia on STEM programs focusing on youths-at-risk since 2016. The program is based on Robotics education, providing these youths access to education beyond usual school curriculum.
Inclusion. Supporting the autism community.
Since 2017, Dow raises funds though activities such as charity golf tournaments, internal sale of merchandise and employee donations in support of the autism community through National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM). In 2019, Dow also partnered NASOM and Universiti Teknologi Mara to set up the country’s first national autism resource center, benefitting a wider autism community.
Kuala Lumpur, 19 January 2021 – Gibraltar BSN Life Berhad (“Gibraltar BSN”) and Etika Sdn Bhd (“Etika”) today distributed 100 food packs and 1,668 units of various beverages under the Etika brand for 100 B40 households at Putra Ria Apartment.
Putra Ria Apartment is located in Lembah Pantai and is home to mostly underprivileged groups of school going children, working adults, and elderly folk. Gibraltar BSN and Etika’s proactive and well timed distribution of the food items comes at a time when the community needs it most, especially with the newly announced Movement Control Order (MCO) 2.0.
Rangam Bir, President and Chief Executive Officer at Gibraltar BSN said, “As a life insurer, we have a social responsibility to our community starting with the populace surrounding our headquarters. The distribution of food packs and beverages reinforces our commitment to protect the Lembah Pantai community where we operate in. We hope that our contributions will help to reduce the burden of Putra Ria’s residents’ in putting food on their families tables.”
Putra Ria Apartment is just 5 minutes away from Gibraltar BSN’s headquarters in KL Eco City. Late last year, the life insurer also donated 1,000 face masks to Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Pantai and 3,000 face masks to Abdullah Hukum Apartment along with food packs for their residents. Gibraltar BSN’s noble initiatives in the Lembah Pantai area are part of the life insurer’s pledge in safeguarding and supporting their community.
Yee Pek Kuan, Vice President of Marketing at Etika said, “In line with our company’s mission to ensure that in everything that we do, we create new ways of enriching lives, we decided it was an opportune time to give back to our society. We have had 48 years of gratifying history in Malaysia, spreading happiness through our various brands. We have always had the support of Malaysians from all walks of life and this is just our way of giving back to our community.”
Etika Group is headquartered in Malaysia and has established a distribution network across Malaysia with over 40,000 direct customers across 19 brands. The beverage company donated Dairy Champ Sweetened Condensed Milk, Tropicana Twister Apple, Goodday UHT Kurma Flavoured Milk, Good Vibes Walnut Original and WONDA Coffee.
Welcome back and welcome into the new year and WHAT A START it has been.
Starting 2021 by entering another Movement Control Order (MCO) on January 13 has not been ideal but given this new wave and the increasing number of COVID-19 cases across the country we hope it will flatten the infection rate and give relief to the healthcare system. By doing so, we’ll be looking at a brighter 2021 and an exciting, hopefully, recovery year ahead.
Last night also we witnessed a new beginning with the installation of the new Biden Administration in the United States of America. We congratulate and welcome President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on their new roles. Unfortunately, yesterday also marked the farewell to our very own “Kamala”, our much-loved Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia.
We had almost 100 members join us with a final Town Hall yesterday which was very bittersweet for all. Just prior to the Town Hall, the Ambassador also presided over the 2020 MY AMCHAM CARES recognition ceremony, which despite best efforts since last year finally happened, but virtually for the 34 companies. The Ambassador’s passion for CSR and especially education was one of the hallmarks of her time here.
Ambassador Kamala has been one of the Chamber’s most stalwart fans, always encouraging participation where she could. I cannot thank her and the teams at the Embassy enough? that she shepherded into what has become a vibrant working partnership. All this to ensure that U.S. businesses have as strong a platform to represent perspectives to not only external stakeholders but to each other through the power of community. On behalf of AMCHAM, we wish her continued success in the next phase as she returns to Washington D.C.
Brian McFeeters is the Ambassador-designate whom we also look forward to welcoming back to Malaysia; yes, he has served here once before.
We hope that our newsletters that have been transmitting critical updates are still useful to the community-at-large. Please stay updated by visiting our website, click here.
We rely on information from our members as well as our regular sources so I invite you to please share news or information with us by sending a note to [email protected] or [email protected].
Thank you all for your support as we rolled out AMCHAM’s new membership tiers. We are encouraged that companies see the value of a strong Chamber and are willing to contribute and provide support through a larger contribution for their membership. We start the year with around 280 member companies, 38 of which have taken up higher tiers. We look forward to working closely with the whole membership to ensure you continue to see the value of participating in the Chamber.
I would like to remind every member to please update your profiles and for the Primary members to review your representative list and ensure the right people in your organization are listed as reps. We are looking not just for the right functions like C-Suite, HR, Government Relations, Finance, Operations. etc. but individually who will be proactive and engage with the community. If you have any questions please contact Kevin Roch at [email protected]; he will be happy to assist.
This representation is vitally important, especially now, when the demand for accurate and timely information is needed. Please bear with us when you see requests for quick polls and surveys and I humbly request that you please fill them out. As we are engaged at various points with the Government, helping them navigate the very turbulent times, the best thing we can do is provide the most up to date information and sentiment from our membership.
Please take the polls we send out. These really help us shape the conversation. We are also open to hearing from you directly as issues deepen. Please email us at [email protected].
We have a lot planned for the year, but wanting to be mindful of the latest SOPs, the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, and corporate restrictions on attending meetings we will be limiting ourselves to hosting virtual or smaller, hybrid programs when possible.
We will continue to address critical topics this way, but overall, with the correct safety measures, we hope to see more of you as the year and the situation progresses in a positive direction. If there are some interesting speakers you come across or topics you are interested in learning more about, please email us at [email protected]. We will need to be creative to develop new formats and look forward to exploring these with you.
As we mentioned in our call at the end of last year, 2021, bring it on! Let us all face the challenges, known and unknown, together. Stay safe, stay vigilant, and let us continue to prosper in 2021. Happy New Year and an early Gong Xi Fa Chai #togetherwecan
Siobhan Das
Chief Executive Officer
