70 UTM, UNIMAS students reach out to the less fortunate

Students are encouraged to organise more activities that will benefit the community, said Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs & Alumni) Prof Dr Mohd Ismail Abdul Aziz during the presentation ceremony of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)’s ‘1 Ringgit, 1 Nation’ contribution.

From 10 - 24 March 2014 involving more than 70 volunteers from one of UNIMAS’ residential colleges, Cempaka, a total of RM14,014 was collected to be presented to UTM during the presentation ceremony at UNIMAS here on Monday.

The ‘1 Ringgit, 1 Nation’ programme is a collaborative effort between UTM and UNIMAS to help the less fortunate all over the country, while at the same time to instill the spirit of charity and volunteerism among the students.

The programme was held at both universities, headed by their own programme directors; Faezah Fazal from UTM and Nursyaheera Abu Bakar from UNIMAS.

“This is what we want from students as they have good ideas that are different and outside the standard, as opposed to waiting for the university to give ideas.

“This instills the spirit of giving among students and even if they didn’t donate much, they will feel good about themselves.

“This will produce good values in students and when they graduate, they can contribute back to the society,” said Ismail.

UNIMAS Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Student Affairs & Alumni) Prof Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman, who was also present during the ceremony, praised the students on their efforts to contribute to a better nation.

“What the students are doing is very noble and other universities should follow their example as well, to help our fellow Malaysians. I am confident that if universities here work together, we can identify areas that need help so that we can act on it.

“We expect people to take care of our welfare, but we don’t help to take care of others. Which is why I think that efforts like this should continue on,” said Fadzil.

Ismail said that the programme made students more considerate and triggered the spirit of volunteerism and by using money to help the homeless, they were reaching out to the less fortunate.

“This will also open up the eyes of the students as they can learn the stories of the less fortunate and learn how they ended up where they are. This will make them more grateful and learn to appreciate things more.

“These students are the leaders of tomorrow and a good leader is someone who is concerned for their people and willing to lend a hand,” said Ismail.

It was also revealed that later this month, 10 students from UTM and another 10 from UNIMAS will branch out their help to Medan, Indonesia where they hope to feed about 400 of the less fortunate there.

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