About TM Corporate Social Responsibility   Corporate Social Responsibility

Community & Nation-Building

The major focus here is towards providing assistance to the needy and underprivileged through donations to welfare homes, NGOs and charitable organisations as well as promoting community development and nationbuilding activities while bridging the digital divide between urban and rural communities.

The year 2007 saw TM contributing RM24.03 million towards various community and nation-building initiatives and social activities. This comprised 33.0% of the total allocation for CR in the community for the year.

a. Graduate Employment Programme
TM initiated a graduate re-training programme to retrain unemployed graduates and equip them with skills relevant to current employment needs. Called the Certificate in Business English & Communication Skills Programme or CiBEC, the program was carried out in collaboration with the Business Advanced Technology Centre of UTM. Kicking off in 2006 and continuing on in 2007 with a budget of RM2 million, TM targeted a total of 1,000 graduates and provided them with intensive English language, communication and other soft-skills training relevant to the needs of the business environment. In 2007, TM spent in excess of RM500,000 to provide this training and as of end 2007, a total of 1,053 graduates were re-trained out of which, 72.1% gained employment upon completing the programme.

b. School Adoption Programme
This initiative saw TM contributing cash and in-kind resources in the adoption of 2 rural
schools, namely, Sekolah Kebangsaan Bukit Indera Muda and Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Penanti, both in Bukit Mertajam, Penang under the national PINTAR programme. The PINTAR programme, an initiative of the Ministry of Finance and implemented by Khazanah Nasional, is an effort to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban schools and to enhance their academic performance.

With an allocation of RM1 million in cash and in-kind to be utilised over a 3-year period beginning 2007, TM’s involvement in these schools has been through the provision of ICT infrastructure such as broadband connectivity and PC equipment, ICT training and instruction, study visits, motivational talks, IT camps, financial assistance and scholarships to students with academic potential as well as school maintenance and repair. All these activities were carried out with the involvement of students, teachers, parents and the local communities. Several TM subsidiaries also played a significant role to ensure the programme’s success.

c. Broadband in Schools
TM kicked off its 3-year broadband initiative for schools in 2007 through its TM eSchool project with an allocation of RM2 million. Having as its goal a target of adopting 50 schools nation-wide over this period, TM commenced a pilot project in the Klang Valley by adopting 3 schools, namely, SMK USJ 12 Subang Jaya, Selangor, SMK Seksyen 11, Shah Alam, Selangor and SM(Laki-laki) Methodist Kuala Lumpur. A further 4 schools have been identified for the project in and around Kuala Lumpur.

Providing these schools with broadband access, applications, services and specialised training for students and teachers at a cost of over RM781,000, the project aims to raise awareness of the benefits and usage of broadband to enhance learning and research and improve lifestyles. A TM eSchool web portal incorporating the Web School Management System (WSMS) and the Learning Content Management System (LMCS) was introduced in the schools involved to help facilitate the broadband assimilation process.

d. Blue Ribbon Campaign
TM lent its hand to this nationwide mobilisation awareness and fund-raising campaign to improve the lives of children suffering from cancer in 2007. The campaign is focused on brightening the lives of terminally-ill children in order to allow them to forget their pain, fear and isolation of their illnesses. The Blue Ribbon Campaign is part of the Rainbow of Life Forces (ROLF) which is a seven-year community CSR campaign initiated to give hope to all children regardless of race, religion, background and nationality. ROLF consists of seven campaigns, with each campaign tagged a different colour for each year denoting support for children in different situations. The year 2007 was the year of the blue ribbon. TM weighed in with RM5.35 million in financial assistance for the campaign.

e. Other Community Initiatives
In keeping with its yearly practice, TM continued its sponsorship of school students to the Formula 1 race in Sepang. Year 2007 saw TM sponsoring the full cost of tickets, F&B and transport for 152 underprivileged students from 5 welfare homes in and around Kuala Lumpur and Selangor to witness the world class sporting event. The TM Group has always been sensitive towards the plight of the less fortunate and the needy. In view of this, TM continued to provide financial contributions to NGOs, charitable and welfare organisations. Groups receiving aid included senior citizens, the disabled, the orphaned and the abused.

Other notable contributions from the Group included cash and in-kind contributions (prepaid cards) to the Armed Forces for the Hari Raya celebrations, assistance to Tabung Haji pilgrims in the form of prepaid cards and prayer amenities, cash contributions for Workers Day and Warriors Day celebrations as well as sponsorship support for Federation of Malaysian Consumer Association’s (FOMCA) consumer education activities.