Empowering Orang Asli Children through Habitual Reading

Port of Tanjung Pelepas Sdn Bhd (PTP), Johor Port Authority (JPA) and Pelepas terminal Inland Services Sdn Bhd (PTIS) collaborate for a collective effort in building and handling over a container library to Sekolah Kebangsaan Ladang Pendas (SK Ladang Pendas), Gelang Patah, Johor as a part of their joint CSR education based project for 2019.

Aiming to bring reading and studying in a comfortable and conducive setting possible for more than 80 students mostly comprising the Orang Asli community, the project was initiated after PTP and JPA found that the school is in need of a proper functioning library seeing they only have racks of books placed outdoor that were often damaged by heavy rains and wind.

The handover even took place at the school and was officiated by Aminolhuda Hassan, Johor State Education, Human Resource, Science and Technology Committee chairman who represented the Johor MB with the presence of Sr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Johor Housing, Communication and Multimedia Committee chairman, Rosnan Fathlal, Chairman of JPA, Marco Neelsen, Chief Executive Officer of PTP and Alberto Martinez, Managing Director of PTIS.

“Instead of giving money directly to a contractor to build the library, we built it ourselves by paying for the materials and getting our people to collaborate with more than 100 volunteers from JPA and PTIS to build the library”, said Marco Neelsen. The project began in August 2019 which then receive further boost from PTIS with their expertise in workmanship and repairs.

The library was decoded by members of Page One Academy, and is equipped with air conditioning system, complete with book racks, chairs and tables and a wide range of publications suitable for children. The 40x40 container library is able to fit a maximum of 30 children at once –by Norfy Shafeq