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The Penang MRCS branch received an ambulance worth RM150,000 from Renesas Semiconductor (M) Sdn Bhd which was the main sponsor for the society’s Fund Raising Dinner 2008 held at Equatorial Hotel Penang.

The dinner, which were graced by Penang Governor Yang diPertua Negeri Tun Abdul Rahman Abbas and his consort Toh Puan Majimor Shariff, raised over RM100,000 in ticket sales.

MRCS Penang branch chairman Ir. Saw Ewe Yong said the society had provided a 12-hour ambulance service in Bukit Mertajam since February last year and intended to expand it to a 24-hour service and to Penang island in the near future.

SLEEPING soundly, clerk Hasrini Hasin’s one-day old firstborn was oblivious to the attention showered on her when Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) Penang Island Chapter members paid a visit to the Penang Maternity Hospital.

MRCS had welcomed her as a Red Crescent baby to honour International Red Cross Society founder Henry Dunant, who was born on May 8, 1828, in Geneva,

“We have been doing this since the early 90s and today, we’re happy to welcome eight Red Crescent babies born on May 8 at the Penang Maternity Hospital,” MRCS Penang Island chapter acting chairman Nancy Cheah said.

Hasrini, 27, said her 3.52kg baby girl was born at 2.09am, and thanked MRCS for the hampers.

“I will encourage her to join MRCS to help and care for others,” she said.
Assistant accountant Siti Nurbaya Osman, 38, who delivered her sixth child at 9.10am that day, said she too hoped that her daughter would join the MRCS when in school.

“My eldest child who is in Year Four is an MRCS member and I hope that my youngest can follow in her footsteps and learn to have compassion for people.
“I also hope that my children show interest in medicine and in serving others so that they can grow up to be doctors and perform noble deeds,” she said.

Eight babies, four girls and four boys, by four local and four foreign women were born at the maternity hospital.

PENANG needs an emergency contingency plan.

State Health, Welfare and Caring Society Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said it was crucial to establish a response team that could quickly decide what to do when emergencies happened.

“Previously, disaster management committees were only formed after the disasters had happened.

“We need people skilled in areas like first aid, rescue operations and logistics.

“Although I have not presented the proposal for the emergency contingency plan to the state executive council, I have spoken about it with the Chief Minister. He is also concerned,” he said.

Phee was speaking at a press conference recently after closing the 12th Regional Disaster Management Committee Meeting organised by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) on behalf of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

MRCS secretary-general Major General (Rtd) Datuk Megat Mohd Yusof Megat Mahmud said they provided training to workers and students as part of its ‘A First Aider in Every Home’ initiative, which was organised in collaboration with the Education Ministry and the Youth and Sports Ministry.

“We started in 1994 but re-launched the programme a few years ago. We hope to train five million first aiders in the country by 2010,” he said.

NON-governmental organisations(NGOs) in Penang can apply to pay only RM1 for their annual assessment as long they are non-profit and serve the community.

State Health and Welfare, and Caring Society committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said due consideration would be given on a case to case basis.

“It is not special treatment but non-profit organisations such as the Malaysian Red Crescent Society should be entitled to that special waiver because they contribute to the community.

“For as long as I’ve known, non-profit organisations (that serves the community) in the mainland only pay RM1 token amount to the Seberang Prai Municipal Council for their annual assessment,” he said when launching the MRCS Penang branch’s Flag Day at their headquarters at Grove Road in Penang recently.

Phee also suggested that the branch apply for a special waiver for quit rent, adding that he would check on the allowed quantum for non-profit organisations.

The MRCS has been paying RM3,600 for their annual assessment, MRSC branch vice-chairman and Flag Day organising chairman Chan Hon Kwong said.

Also present were MRCS adviser Datuk Khoo Leong Hun, branch chairman Saw Ewe Yong and branch deputy chairman Datuk B.J. Yeang.

A host of events were lined up for the participants for the three days two nights camp jointly organised by the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) Penang branch and the state Education Department.

They included setting up tents, mass cooking, camp craft and several other training sessions related to improving youth members leadership skills.

Seberang Prai municipal councillor Ong Tang Chuan, who closed the training camp on behalf of state executive councilor YB Lau Chiek Tuan, told the participants to share their knowledge with others when they returned to their respective schools.

Also present were MRC Penang branch vice chairman Chan Hon Kwong, state Education Department co-curriculum unit officer Sabidi Mustafar and organising chairman Lim Kuo Shee.

Cheng Kar Lee from SMJK Jit Sin received the Best Leadership Award. Muhamad Firdaus Abd Rahman from SMK St Georges was recognised the best male participant while Looi Mun Yee from SMK Convent Light Street was chosen as the best female participant.

SMK Tun Hussein Onn received the first prize for its choir presentation during the cultural night.

Click here to view the Youth Camp 2007 photos

VERY often sand gets into the feet of 10-year-old J. Ragunathan, not because he does not wear shoes but because there is an opening on the heels. Because his parents could not afford to buy him a new pair of shoes, the SJK(T) Mak Mandin pupil is forced to wear the same pair to school everyday even with the gaping heels.

Embarrassed at having to wear torn shoes, he would occasionally switch them with his sister’s, whenever he felt the need to be properly dressed. “My father earns about RM600 a month as a lorry driver while my mother is a housewife. I have four siblings and my parents cannot afford to buy us new school uniforms and shoes all the time,” he said.

Ragunathan was relieved when Southern Rubber Works Sdn Bhd gave him a new pair of Pallas Jazz school shoes recently. He was among 21,000 students from about 100 schools in the state who received free school shoes from the company. The shoes were distributed at the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) North Seberang Prai district office in Jalan St Mark, Butterworth.

Another recipient Siti Nursyakira Ibrahim, 10, from SK Bagan Ajam, said this was the first time she received such a gift, noting that her father, a factory worker, had six other mouths to feed. Her schoolmate Nurfaziera Amira Zainal Abidin, 10, said she would wear the new shoes next year when the school term begins.

The company’s chief operating officer Ho Kok Loon said this was the single largest number of shoes that the company had given out since it started business in Penang in 1959.

“As the brand owner of Pallas shoes, we are pleased to do our small bit for needy pupils here,” he said, adding that the sponsorship was valued at about RM250,000. Ho said the company had also donated several thousand pairs of shoes to tsunami victims as well as to those affected by the big Johor floods last year.

MRCS Penang vice-chairman Chan Hon Kwong said about 100 of its members helped to identify the needy pupils from different schools. “The volunteers took about two weeks to sort out the shoes according to the various models and sizes,” he said.