Monday April 6, 2009
By TAN KARR WEI
YES, sometimes," 12-year-old Aiman Naim Zahani answered with a sheepish smile when asked if he had ever thrown litter around Pulau Tioman, where he lives.
Aiman was one of the 50-odd pupils of Sekolah Kebangsaan Tekek who participated in a beach clean-up around the Tekek area on the island recently.
Working together: Alstom Malaysia employees and the youngsters spending the morning picking up rubbish around the village and beach area. The clean-up was organised in conjunction with the official launch of Alstom Malaysia's corporate social responsibility programme, Rainforest to Reef (R2R).
The R2R programme is an outreach programme aimed at educating schoolchildren on the conservation of coral reefs.
"This initiative demonstrates our company's philosophy of providing environment-friendly products and services in the fields of power generation and rail transportation," said Alstom Asia Pacific Sdn Bhd Malaysia country president Saji Raghavan.
He said the programme, proposed by Alstom Malaysia business improvement manager Aravind Karthigesu, was one of the 11 CSR projects worldwide chosen by the Alstom Foundation that was set up by the company's headquarters in France.
Alstom will be funding the R2R programme over three years, putting RM150,000 into the project.
"Apart from providing financial support for the development of the syllabus, our staff will also give up part of their work and leisure time to contribute to the teaching programme," Saji said.
Well done: Saji presenting the prize to a beaming Mohd Izzuddin Muhammad, who won the poster competition with his piece 'Save Our Reefs'. Pahang Economic Planning Unit director Datuk Mahadiah Mohamad officially launched the programme at the Pulau Tioman Marine Park Exhibition Centre.
According to Reef Check Malaysia general manager Julian Hyde, the R2R programme was put together for the Marine Park as an awareness programme for children on the island and Alstom is the first corporate firm to sponsor the programme.
"We have to make kids aware of the connection between the various ecosystems. If you want to protect coral reefs, you would also have to protect the rainforests," Hyde said.
The programme includes a three-day Coral Reef Camp to be held at Pulau Redang, Pulau Perhentian and Pulau Tioman.
Children from the respective islands and the mainland would attend the camps, which would be held twice on each of the islands this year. The first one starts this month.
The children would be participating in a mixture of activities like discussions, games and lessons.
Pahang Marine Park officer Anuar Safia, who has been working with children for the past five years, said that creating awareness among children was the best way to get the message across.
"Adults are very set in their habits so it is easier to teach children. By teaching them when they are young, it would create a bigger impact in the long run," Anuar said.
After walking around, collecting rubbish in the village and beach area, Aiman said he now knew the importance of keeping the island clean.
"There is rubbish everywhere because we throw it there. I will tell my parents what I learnt today," said Aiman, whose father is a police officer and mother runs a sundry shop on the island.
His schoolmate Mohd Azirul Asyraf Mohd Zaidi said he had fun going around picking up everything from plastic bottles to cigarette butts.
"I have a younger sister and I will also remind her that it is important to take care of the cleanliness in our area," said Azirul.
Related story:
From passion to action
This article was taken from: The Star Online:Metro: Central: 6 April 2009
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