Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Malaysia Australia Colombo Plan Commemoration (MACC) Scholarships Program

Saturday, 18 Feb 2023

The Malaysian Australian Alumni Council (MAAC) embarked on its first ever Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) project in March 2022, to enable the less privileged children access to online information and education, by purchasing 100 Chromebook computers which were donated to 10 selected children’s orphanages cum shelter homes in conjunction with the 20th Anniversary of the Malaysia Australia Colombo Plan Commemoration (MACC) Scholarships Program. This ESG project, led by the MAAC Education & Welfare Vice President, Ms Mina Lim managed to secure a donor who contributed part of the expenses to complete the purchase valued at a total of RM 91,900.

Thereafter, the MAAC Education & Welfare team took the challenge to step up, by further raising funds to match the number of Chromebooks already purchased through the first ever nation-wide fitness virtual charity run known as the ‘Running is our Therapy’ (R.I.O.T. Run). The effort saw sponsorships from 12 of the MACC Scholarships partners and corporate sponsors amounting to an additional of RM 26,000 including gifts for the runners’ race kits. By August 2022, the team has already setup and organised the run which appealed to the public for donation towards each running team, where a total of RM 6,955 was raised in addition to the ticket sales donation from the run organising partner at RM 1,971. The combined total resulted to a gross of RM 68,954 raised by the MAAC Education & Welfare team.

On 15 January 2023, the last day for public donations to come in for the R.I.O.T. Run team challenge, the MAAC Education & Welfare team managed to raise a grand overall total of RM 124,556 which enabled the purchase of 171 units of the Chromebook for the 10 selected orphanages and shelter homes. Albeit slightly behind the target of 200 units, it was a significant milestone and team effort in the history of the MAAC.

A token handover ceremony was held during the MAAC Australian Alumni Gala Dinner on 2 December 2022 which was attended by all 10 representatives of the orphanages and shelter homes.

The MAAC are grateful and thankful to the following sponsors and donors who made this meaningful project become a reality:

Sponsors:

AECC Global Malaysia Sdn Bhd
Artivo Education Sdn Bhd
Global Education Alliance Malaysia
GES Global Educational Services (M) Sdn Bhd
JM Education Group Sdn Bhd
MMS Education Services Sdn Bhd
PM Resources Sdn Bhd
Sunway University
Swinburne University Alumni Malaysia
Taylor’s College
University of Tasmania
UnBound Malaysia Sdn Bhd

Gift Sponsors:

Hanbul Cosmetics Sdn Bhd
PM Resources Sdn Bhd
One-Two-Boost (an initiative by Selangor Dredging Berhad)

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Partners & Donors:

Fix Master IT Distributors Sdn Bhd
VSure.Life

and the general public who supported our initiative.

On 18 & 19 February 2023 by the MAAC President, Ms Pat PW Yeoh; the MAAC Education & Welfare Vice President, Ms Mina Lim and Councillor Ms Chelsea Lai; the MAAC Alumni Relations Councillor, Mr Dennis Ong; the MAAC Bilateral Relations Councillor, Ms Joanne Ng and the MACC Scholarships Ambassador, Yang Bahagia Datin Ainsley Tiew distributed 171 units of Chromebooks to the following homes along with FruitPlus candies donated by Khee San Food Food Industries Sdn Bhd: