Shah Alam, 27 Feb 2012 – UMW, one of the nation’s biggest conglomerates announced today the renewal of its existing partnership with MERCY Malaysia. The partnership has seen UMW provide over RM1.8 million in funds and more than 3,000 hours in manpower support of MERCY’s programmed, particularly for rural and vulnerable communities in Sabah and Sarawak. To commemorate this event, a signing ceremony between UMW and MERCY Malaysia was held at UMW’s corporate headquarters in Shah Alam. Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, President, MERCY Malaysia and Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir, President & Group CEO, UMW Corporation were present at the ceremony.
More than 11,000 people have benefited from programmed implemented under the UMW-MERCY Malaysia partnership, since it was formalized in December 2008. The programmed include Mobile Clinic missions which provide free basic medical screening, pap smear tests, dental treatment, eye examination and free reading glasses for those living in remote areas. Fire safety and flood relief efforts, as well as intervention groups for alcohol misuse, are also conducted as part of the partnership agreement.
Following its commitment made in December 2008, UMW will be handing over two new Toyota vehicles (Hilux and Innova) to MERCY, bringing to a total of 5 vehicles for the purpose of carrying out their community health programmed which will now cover 4 states, namely, Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Selangor as well as the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.
UMW’s President and Group CEO, Datuk Syed Hisham Syed Wazir will also officially launch the new Employee Payroll-Deduction Scheme. “With the official roll-out of the Employee Payroll-Deduction Scheme today, UMW employees will prove themselves to be just as caring and generous with their ringgit and cents, as they are with their time”, he added.
As an extension of UMW’s CSR efforts, its employee-volunteer programmed known as the UMW Community Champions have clocked nearly 8000 hours in service to the community and is confident of achieving 10,000 hours by the end of 2012. Selected Community Champions have undergone training programmes with MERCY Malaysia and have gone on to participate in various MERCY activities around the country.
In August 2008, UMW officially launched its CSR report detailing its activities and initiatives over the period spanning 2001 to 2007 related to the marketplace, the workplace, the environment and the community. The report, independently audited by Bureau Veritas — the world’s leading certification body — has the distinction of being awarded the prestigious Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Application Level A (+) Certification for CSR reporting. UMW is officially the first Malaysian corporation to comply with the stringent GRI-G3 sustainability reporting guidelines.
