Speech given by Dato’ Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister of Women, Family & Community Development to honor at the Awards Ceremony for the 2009 PM’s CSR Awards
YABerhormat Dato’ Sri Najib Tun Abdul Razak
Perdana Menteri Malaysia dan
YABhg. Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor
Ahli-Ahli Yang Berhormat
Dato’ Nor Hayati Sulaiman
Ketua Setiausaha Kementerian
Tan Sri Faizah Mohd. Tahir
Dan Ahli Jawatankuasa Jemaah Hakim
Anugerah CSR Perdana Menteri
Pengerusi dan Ketua Pegawai Eksekutif dan wakil
Badan-badan Korporat
Pada hadirin, tuan-tuan dan puan-puan yang dihormati sekalian
Bagi pihak Kementerian saya mengalu-alukan kehadiran YAB Perdana Menteri, Datin Sri dan para hadirin ke Majlis Anugerah CSR Perdana Menteri bagi tahun 2009
Majlis anugerah ini adalah kali kedua dianjurkan oleh Kerajaan untuk memberi pengiktirafan kepada pemenang-pemenang pelbagai kategori Tanggungjawab Sosial Korporat (CSR)
Ladies and gentlemen,
Most speeches end with the “thank you s” but I would like to begin mine with giving thanks. For the fact that today, welfare work and social responsibilities, corporate or otherwise, to a large extent has become a shared responsibility of everybody.
I would like to thank the Prime Minister YAB who has put the welfare of people at the heart of all our development initiatives in the 2010 Budget. The “1Malaysia, Together We Prosper” budget totaling RM191.5 billion will be the foundation of a new economic model; one that puts people first, one that prioritizes social well -being alongside economic growth. One that is irrefutably Malaysian in concept, in approach and in its expected outcomes. I thank you sir for allocating RM100 million specifically for CSR initiatives.
The Prime Minister has time and time again asserted that real CSR is more than an ideology; it is the business driver of the future. Welfare and CSR are intricably linked. In the context of 1 Malaysia, CSR offers the building blocks for the architectural landscape of a new Malaysia. It is indeed the basis for national cohesion and cooperation across ethnicity, across sectors and across social and economic divides.
This year, it was gratifying to note that we had nearly as many submissions as we did in 2007, despite the global economic meltdown. I believe that this is because dynamic Malaysian companies, represented by so many here today, have regarded doing well, in terms of profits and doing good, in terms of caring for the community, as not mutually exclusive objectives but mutually reinforcing ones. For this, we at the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, would like to say terima kasih. When doing well in terms of profitability and doing good in terms of community investments start complementing each other, it becomes a strategy for sustained development. Here within our Ministry we call it community development. This is because when a community is energized and rehabilitated, the impacts are lasting and very far reaching.
THE COMPASSIONATE COMPANY
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As CEOs, you will no doubt have put shareholders interests at the top of your priority list. Today, this prestigious PM’s CSR Awards asks you to think about putting stakeholders at the top of your corporate agenda. Why? Because long term corporate success and sustainability lies in aligning society’s interest with a competitive business edge.
The Prime Minister’s CSR Award is seen as recognizing companies who have gone beyond cheque book philanthropy and made their CSR programmes an inviolate strategy for socio-economic intervention.
I would like to thank each and everyone of our participating companies for the time, attention and creativity put into designing your CSR projects. You covered all the major areas that enrich a community and gives this country its competitive advantage.
Taking the cue from you, we prioritized Education, Environment, Culture and Heritage, Community and Social Welfare, Best Workplace Practices, Empowerment of Women, Small company CSR and the Media. These awards that are being given are very, very special. Not only because it comes from our nation’s own CEO – our Hon. Prime Minister, but because in evaluating the submissions we have looked at companies who have managed to align stakeholder-driven initiatives with business impact.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the idea of CSR is not new. Here in Malaysia charitable giving by businesses and individuals have always been part and parcel of our lives. But what is important is that CSR projects must engage the community. Today I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate each and everyone of you here. You have stayed the course despite the huge challenges presented by the global economic meltdown. I would also like to honour the ‘unsung’ heroes. Many companies here today have not submitted entries to be considered for the PM’s CSR Award as they felt they were not ready to be audited . But they are nevertheless doing important CSR work. We warmly welcome you. Some of these companies have used their own resources and their own expertise to give segments of society a strong foothold to enable them to climb out of poverty and taste the sweet fruits of success. Sometimes these things are small. But very important. To put a smile on a child’s face by undertaking to address harelips. To look at educating children about green consciousness. To partner the Department of social welfare in their efforts to create a cadre of storytellers that engage children in storytelling for trauma management, for self expression and that helps us all celebrate life is both important and effective. It does not take a lot of money, but involvement takes a lot of commitment and a lot of courage.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Early intervention to put right a social or health discrepancy has been proven to be the most effective way to right a problem. Therefore working with children is always gratifying and far reaching. The Permata programmes under the patronage of Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor is an outstanding example of a strategic response to early intervention for excellence.
Ladies and Gentlemen, My Ministry has always looked to push boundaries. Having been tasked with community and social development, we have asked ourselves a fundamental question. “What do we have to do to harness the power of the free market to solve the problems of poverty and inequalities ?”. The answer is: To offer companies a business model that engages community and companies leading to positive impacts on people and their livelihoods. Corporate Social Responsibility programmes is this new business model. One that can ensure a bright future for Malaysia. The Prime Minister’s CSR Awards, is a recognition of companies that understand this. I have been greatly supported in these efforts by an outstanding panel of judges.
Ladies and gentlemen, to our judges Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir (Chairperson), Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim, Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor, Mr Kamal Malhotra, Mr Lim Beng Choon, Ms Janet Pillai, Dato Hafsah Hashim, Dato Meme Rashid and Ms Hardev Kaur, please accept our grateful thanks. You have made it possible for us to fully embrace collaboration between Malaysia’s private sector and Malaysia’s public sector. A special thank you to Tan Sri Faizah who for some eight years was my Secretary General and a great one too, for leading the pack.
I understand that its been really tough for the judges to pick the category winners as well as the overall winners because all submissions were interesting and made a difference to the lives of the people they touched. There were companies with great CSR ideas. Every CSR project is important and every project will collectively become a part of Malaysia’s development solution. The quality of our people will be what finally changes the economic and social landscape of this country and will lead us towards becoming a truly developed nation – economically, socially and spiritually.
Today’s winners for the CSR Awards will walk away with the coveted award knowing that they are first among equals. Congratulations!. We are already looking forward to an even better year this year.
