Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of the sustainable business model that successful companies are integrating into their core business. At the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce, enhancing CSR is also one of our primary objectives.
MY AMCHAM CARES is a programme coordinated from the AMCHAM Executive Office to help AMCHAM members enrich their CSR initiatives. MY AMCHAM CARES is a platform for AMCHAM members to network and share ideas to make this world a better place. It is not a competition.
All members who meet the participation criteria will be recognized as part of MY AMCHAM CARES. Participation includes sharing your company’s CSR contact, completing the online CSR survey, and sharing information on your CSR initiatives when requested to do so, among others.
The online CSR survey has just been sent out to all AMCHAM members and will run until 27 July 2018. The survey, while in part determining who may receive special recognition for their CSR initiatives, will help us assess our strengths and areas for improvement. MY AMCHAM CARES wants to work with the members to use this information to develop a series of workshops, speakers, and clinics for on-going self-improvement and sharing of best practices for CSR.
Yes, there will be special recognition for a few members who demonstrate excellence in embedding CSR into their corporate culture. But through MY AMCHAM CARES, we want it to bring recognition to the entire body of CSR work all our members are doing. This will be a long process, but we hope it will be a meaningful and enriching journey for all who participate.
Over the next few months, we want to begin bringing in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into the MY AMCHAM CARES platform, to help provide a common language to communicate, measure and share our achievements on global, national and even local level.
Ultimately, we will use MY AMCHAM CARES to demonstrate how our combined efforts at the global and national level, are making this world a better place.
Coming up:
- In August we plan to initiate a meeting to explore the establishment the MY AMCHAM CARES committee. By establishing a CSR committee, we can coordinate and utilize the survey information, and our members’ inputs, to formulate what we need to focus on over the coming months, to create greater achievements in CSR.
- In September we will be organizing an SDG panel session, to focus on how to incorporate the SDGs into our CSR efforts for greater sustainability, strategy, measurability, and communication.
- November will be the MY AMCHAM CARES special recognition and Thanksgiving event.
MY AMCHAM CARES will be as impactful and vibrant as our members make it. Let’s use it to make this world, and our businesses, better.
Christa Hashim is a new member of the American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce. Joining as a CSR- Senior Advisor her role is to enhance the MY AMCHAM CARES programme. Prior to joining the Chamber, Christa was one of the founding directors of a non-profit environment organization Treat Every Environment Special (TrEES).
While at TrEES, Christa worked to identify environmental problems, engage sectors of society and develop local solutions to address these problems. Some key areas of her work involved:
Initiating the Community 4R Programme
- Identified gaps in existing waste management and recycling projects and developed a community recycling programme to bridge these gaps. This included collecting over 12 thousand tonnes of material and raising over RM1 million for participating schools, home, and other charity organisations.
Establishment of Taman Warisan Negeri Selangor (Selangor State Park)
- Networked with over 30 government agencies, NGOs, universities and other groups to identify key issues affecting this critical water catchment forest, map boundaries and explore legislative options that ultimately lead to the establishment of the 108,000 hectares Selangor State Park in 2007.
Developed School Environment Programmes
- Identified gaps in environmental awareness amongst Malaysian youth and developed programmes to address these gaps comprising of pre-school activity book, educational videos, primary school programmes and secondary school programmes, creating thousands of young leaders who are passionate about the environment.
Christa enjoys relaxing in the evening on her front porch, sipping coffee, reading a good book and watching the monkeys swing in the trees – hoping they don’t eat all the mangoes before they ripen!
AMCHAM hosted a working lunch with Matt Pottinger, Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Asia at the National Security Council (NSC), and Brenan Richards, Director for Southeast Asia, NSC on June 20 at AMCHAM Executive Office.
Senior leadership from AMCHAM member companies were joined by H.E. Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir, U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia, and her team at the Embassy, for an insightful discussion on U.S. foreign policy. Matt shared the U.S. Administration’s vision for a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’, and emphasized how Malaysia can leverage its strong existing supply chain networks and robust intellectual property regime to take advantage of new opportunities within the global supply chain.
AMCHAM hosted a visiting delegation of senior Congressmen from the U.S. on July 2 at the AMCHAM Executive Office. The delegation comprised of Congressman Rodney Frelinghuysen (Republican, New Jersey), Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, Congressman Henry Cuellar (Democrat, Texas) and Congressman Peter Rey Aguilar (Democrat, California).
These senior lawmakers all sit on the United States House Committee on Appropriations, which is responsible for regulating expenditures by the U.S. Government and is thereforeone of the most influential committees.
AMCHAM would like to thank our members for their participation and contribution to the discussion this morning.
AMCHAM was deeply honored to welcome Y.A.B. Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, as our most distinguished Guest of Honour at our Annual General Meeting (AGM) luncheon on 28 June.
Tun Dr. Mahathir’s opening remarks focused on the challenges of transitioning from an opposition party to a governing party, and in ‘cleaning up’ the civil service. Tun acknowledges the challenges faced by the new government during this transition but emphasized the new government’s welcoming approach to Foreign Direct Investment, desire to hear feedback the private sector, and willingness to address business issues. He recognized that American companies in Malaysia have created more than 250,000 jobs, and wondered whether a shifting global trade landscape might create new opportunities for investment in Malaysia.
AMCHAM would like to thank Tun Dr. Mahathir for gracing our event and we hope to strengthen our relationship with the government and as we look forward to a new Malaysia. AMCHAM would also like to thank all our sponsors for their generous contribution in making this event a success. A special thank you to PMI, Intel, J.P.Morgan, Western Digital and Citibank.
To download Tun Dr. Mahathir’s speech and Q&A Session, click on the links below.
June was a busy month for the Chamber as we all sought to understand the composition and policy direction of the new government. AMCHAM was able to secure substantive and early engagements with senior leadership and we look forward to working closely to ensure Malaysia remains a strong commercial partner for U.S businesses which in turn translates to a meaningful impact on Malaysia’s socio-economic landscape. Please watch for the MY AMCHAM CARES 2018.
Without doubt, the highlight of the month was the presence of Y.A.B. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia at AMCHAM’s Annual General Meeting Luncheon on 28 June. We were all deeply honored that he accepted our invitation to address the U.S. business community and share his thoughts about the role of U.S. business in the new government’s vision for the country. His messages could not have been more timely with many member companies’ HQs asking critical questions about the future business environment.
With a some substantial last-minute adjustments, including a change of venue to cope with the surge in demand for this event, we were delighted to welcome 250 members and guests including senior officials from the Ministry of International Trade & Industry, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism, Ministry of Health, Royal Malaysian Customs Department and MIDA. Representatives from other international Chambers were also invited and approximately 20 media outlets were represented.
Amidst all the excitement over Tun’s appearance, we did conduct our Annual General Meeting in accordance with AMCHAM’s Constitution. The 13 Board of Governors remains largely the same, except that we say thank you and farewell to one of our two Vice-Presidents Mr. Tony Del Rosario (Coca-Cola). Tony served the Chamber with great commitment, regularly traveling from his base in Singapore in order to join our Board meetings. Tony is being replaced by Mr. Ahmed Yehia, also of Coca-Cola, who serves as Country Manager for Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.
Noting the Prime Minister’s interest in Coca-Cola memorabilia, Ahmed Yahia was able to add to The Prime Minister’s collection by presenting Tun Dr. Mahathir with one of Coca-Cola’s limited-edition ‘peace’ cans, launched specifically to commemorate the historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore. The design not only featured a ‘handshake’ using its signature “swirl,” but also featured a special Coca-Cola logo—half in English, half in Korean that reads “Here’s to peace, hope and understanding”.
With Hari Raya celebrations almost over, the next few months will focus on getting to know our new Ministers and learning about their priorities. We expect meetings to vary in size but we hope that we can include some of our members.
We are working hard to meet with some of the newly-appointed Ministers and their deputies; we will be emailing many of you looking for ideas and inputs in advance of these meetings so that we can go into them with a strong understanding of your priorities and any outstanding issues!
The rest of the AMCHAM year is looking busy! Please do mark your calendars and consider some much needed support of these two larger events amongst others that will be posted to the website when ready.
- 4 September 2018 Annual Penang Dialogue 2018 with Chow Kon Yeow, new Chief Minister of Penang and H.E. Kamala Shirin, U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia
- 24 November 2018 Thanksgiving Gala Dinner and MY AMCHAM Cares Recognition Ceremony
Look forward to your support and participation.
