ReliefWeb

Kuala Lumpur, 19 October 2018… Wah Seong Corporation Berhad raised RM50,000 in a charity car wash held recently at its Bukit Kemuning facilities in support of MERCY Malaysia’s post-disaster recovery aid for the people in Palu.

Over 100 staff, suppliers, friends and customers across their four subsidiary companies – PMT Industries Sdn Bhd, Mackenzie Industries Sdn Bhd, Jutasama Sdn Bhd, WDG Resources Sdn Bhd – participated in the event, with around 80 cars and one excavator being washed by staff volunteers.

“When we heard about the earthquakes and tsunami from the news, we immediately wanted to lend a hand,” said Chan Cheu Leong, Group CEO of Wah Seong Group. The Group deals with Oil and Gas industries and is a leading distributor for steam turbines in oil palm industries. Wah Seong has businesses in South Sulawesi, as well as other parts of Indonesia such as Batam, Medan, Kalimantan, Java and Papua.

Although the emergency phase of the disaster is now over, Chan expressed concern for the psychological health of the survivors, stating that they would be traumatized forever.

The ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on Disaster Management (AHA Centre) report 78,994 people who are displaced (as of 15 October 2018), with almost 70,000 houses damaged.

“We are heartbroken hearing about mothers whose babies were snatched out of their arms in the tsunami, people whose entire families are still missing after the earthquake, children who are falling sick because of sleeping outdoors in cold and damp conditions in the last three weeks. Hopefully our little contribution can make a difference in the lives of these survivors,” adds Chan.

Although the charity car wash was organised in less than two weeks, he was surprised at the response. “It was good to see such a good turnout! Initially only around 20 cars had registered for the car wash. It later ballooned to almost 80 cars during the event. I told everyone it didn’t matter how much they donated, what was important was that they cared about our Sulawesi neighbours during this time of crisis,” he stresses.

The group also runs Yayasan Wah Seong (YWS), which has provided scholarships to academically strong students who need financial support since 2008. In the last decade, the YWS has spent over RM2.3 million for 95 scholarships to students in private and public universities in Malaysia.

“After being in business for so long, we know that we cannot just focus on profits. People and the environment are important, and profits are only sustainable if we invest in human and environmental development. We hope that today’s event will instill the spirit and culture of caring for the unfortunate,” says Chan.

To date, MERCY Malaysia has collected RM725,085.88, which is being utilized for medical services, food and non-food items, as well as the construction of transit homes and communal toilets. So far, two sets of communal toilets and 30 transit homes have been established, with another 170 more transit homes in the works. More latrines and transit homes are being planned, as they have been identified as the major need on the ground.

MERCY Malaysia has also deployed a team of mental health practitioners, who will conduct psychosocial programmes for children and families. The team will help the people affected to cope with the trauma they experienced and manage psychosomatic symptoms such as problem sleeping, depression, unexplained aches and pains.

Contributions can be made to MERCY Humanitarian Fund (MBB 5621 7950 4126) or MERCY Malaysia (CIMB 8000-7929-08) or through www.mercy.org.my. All contributions are tax-exempted.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Chan Li Jin E: lijin.chan@mercy.org.my / M:+6012-325 2067