Funds were raised from rental of Caterpillar excavators painted in pink
KLANG, 3 January 2020: Sime Darby Industrial Sdn Bhd (SDISB) ended the 90th anniversary celebrations for Tractors Malaysia with RM127,000 raised from its customers for cancer causes in Malaysia.
The fundraising campaign was launched in October last year with two 320GC Caterpillar excavator models, being painted in pink and rented out it to key customers in East and Peninsular Malaysia.
Today, RM60,000 was handed over to Cancer Research Malaysia (CRM) by Iswarabena Sdn Bhd, Advancecon Holdings Berhad and Crestbuilder Holdings Berhad in addition to the RM17,000 already raised for the organisation in October.
Another RM50,000 was similarly raised in East Malaysia in October and donated to the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society.
Cancer Research Malaysia is an independent and non-profit cancer research organisation based in Malaysia that conducts research in cancers often found in the Asian population. The organisation has already won acclaim and numerous awards for their work, which has benefitted thousands of people across the region.
From left to right: Dato' Wan Hashimi Albakri Bin Wan Ahmad Amin Jaffri - Acting Group Chief Executive Officer, Sime Darby Property, Mr. Eric Yong – Group Managing Director, Crest Builder Holdings Bhd, Datin Paduka Dr Professor Teo Soo Hwang OBE - Cancer Research Malaysia Chief Executive Officer, Tan Sri Selvarajoo Sinnaiyah - Executive Director, Iswarabena Sdn Bhd, Dato’ Phum Ang Kia – Group Chief Executive Officer, Advancecon Holdings Bhd, Mr CK Teoh - Managing Director, Sime Darby Industrial Sdn Bhd
Present during an award ceremony at the Sime Darby Property Bandar Bukit Raja sales gallery were SDISB Managing Director CK Teoh, Cancer Research Malaysia Chief Executive Officer Professor Datin Paduka Dr Teo Soo Hwang and Sime Darby Property Berhad Acting Group Chief Executive Officer Dato’ Wan Hashimi Albakri Wan Ahmad Amin Jaffri.
Iswarabena Sdn Bhd, Advancecon Holdings Berhad and Crestbuilder Holding Berhad donated RM20,000 each through the rental of the pink excavator for a duration of two weeks.
Teoh said that besides raising funds, the companies had also created awareness by positioning the machines at prominent locations within their respective projects.
“We are proud to collaborate with like-minded business partners who are ever willing to contribute towards a worthy cause. We hope to maintain the momentum this year to create the much needed awareness on cancer.
“According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, cancer is now the second highest cause of death among Malaysians after heart disease. Of most of the cancer cases in the country, about 60% are detected during the late stages, mostly due to lack of awareness on the importance of screening and early detection among Malaysians.
“Sadly, the numbers are expected to increase in the coming years. It is our hope that through campaigns like the Pink Excavator, we can help to raise the level of awareness among Malaysians,” Teoh said.
Prof Datin Paduka Dr Teo said that funds raised will be used to improve outcome for low income breast cancer patients through the Patient Navigation Programme (PNP). The PNP initiative ensures timely movement of patients through a complex healthcare continuum by bringing together a public hospital system and charity partner to tackle financial, logistics and other barriers faced by breast cancer patients in Malaysia.
“Today, the five-year survival rate for breast cancer patients can be close to 90%, but in many hospitals, the survival is only 49% to 65% because of late diagnosis and poor adherence to treatment. Cancer Research Malaysia has partnered with the Ministry of Health to ensure that we can improve the survival of Malaysian cancer patients.
At our Pink Ribbon centre in Klang, we reduced the barriers for patients and this has reduced treatment default rates from 15% to 4%. 2019 marks a significant year for the programme with the expansion to new centres in Kota Kinabalu, Seremban and Kuching. All of this work was funded by charitable donations, so we are really delighted to be partnering once again with Sime Darby Industrial to ensure that we can improve survival for breast cancer in Malaysians.”