27 February 2015
Over RM130K raised for flood victims at Maybank Malaysian Open
February 27, 2015 – Malaysia’s premier annual golf tournament may have ended with the crowning of a new champion, but Maybank’s mission to help continues with the Maybank Malaysian Open (MMO) raising over RM130,000 to be donated to the flood victims in the East Coast.
The financial aid was collected through efforts of Maybank Foundation during the golf tournament which was topped by donations from professional golfer Graeme McDowell who contributed RM50,000 with the European Tour, Asian Tour and Global One each donating RM25,000.
Throughout the four-day MMO, the public were given the chance to contribute when they participated in a contest organised by Maybank Foundation known as the “Putt Around The World” challenge. It was a 3-shot putting contest which tests the putting skills of the spectators, and offered a grand prize of a trip for two to Dubai.
Surprisingly, the winner of the challenge was a young 13-year old Izzat Syazmin, who went against the odds to walk away with the grand prize. Missing the first attempt didn’t deter the boy’s spirit as he showed vision and skill to sink the remaining balls and become the winner of the contest.
When asked about winning the contest, the boy responded that he was delighted to win the prize. He said, “I feel happy and am very excited to win this trip to Dubai, as I have not been there before.”
At the prize giving ceremony, the CEO of Maybank Foundation, Shahril Azuar Jimin spoke about the importance of supporting the flood victims and also those who are in financial need. He said, “The East Coast region has suffered severely from the recent floods which affected thousands and we want to make sure that the appropriate support is given to make them financially sustainable again.”
Shahril said that where possible Maybank endeavoured to make every major activity or sponsorship event create an impact on the community. “Given the wide public attendance at the MMO, we felt it would be a good opportunity to allow them to contribute for charity while testing their “golfing” skills to try and win the prize,” he said. “We had fantastic response with over 1000 people supporting this effort.”
At the MMO, Maybank Foundation has also provided the platform for various disabled communities to sell their products through its Raise Independence and Sustainable Entrepreneurship (R.I.S.E) programme. R.I.S.E is a community development programme which aims to improve living conditions of the physically disabled and empower them to be financially sustainable.
The funds raised for the flood victims at the MMO is a continuation of the efforts taken by Maybank Group since December 2014. At the onset of the floods, Maybank announced of a six-month moratorium on a case-by-case basis for victims and organised a special charter flight to transport over 20 tonnes of relief items to Kota Bharu. This was followed by the allocation of RM300 million in emergency financing facilities to help affected loan customers. The Bank has also contributed RM600,000 through a collaboration with Mercy Malaysia for rehabilitation efforts.
