Maznah tries her hands at mural-painting.
KUCHING: The spirit of volunteerism should be instilled in today’s youths towards grooming them into becoming members of a caring society in the future.
Kuching North City Commission (DBKU) board member Dato Maznah Dasmi hoped that programmes such as Volunteer Malaysia 2015 could help in this respect.
“Volunteerism can help in keeping our youths away from social ills,” she said during a press conference held after the kick-off of Volunteer Malaysia 2015 at the Esplanade here yesterday.
The ceremony had Maznah and other guests including Malaysia’s celebrity hostess Yasmin Hani painting murals across the walls of several old buildings near Jalan Gambier – a section of Old Kuching.
Maznah, who represented Kuching North Datuk Bandar Datuk Abang Abdul Wahap Abang Julai at the programme, said DBKU had always been supporting events slated for youths in line with the commission’s very own ‘Clean, Beautiful and Safe (CBS) City 2017’ goal.
On Volunteer Malaysia 2015, Maznah said she supported the worthy cause, praising the organiser for its effort in encouraging volunteerism among Malaysian youths.
“A future progressive society could become a reality if today’s youths were to nurture with positive values.”
Meanwhile on CBS, Maznah said DBKU would continue ensuring that the city’s heritage areas would be restored and maintained in making them more attractive to both local and foreign visitors.
“The mural works on some buildings in these heritage sites, which depict our icons and unique history, do give soul to the city – very much the essence of DBKU’s CBS plan,” she said.
Adding on, DBKU deputy director of communications and development Jumaini Haili said the commission would encourage more participation from the public in realising its CBS plan by 2017.
He stressed that towards this end, the focus areas would be on cleanliness, recycling, landscaping and addressing vandalism of public properties.
“In this respect, education and awareness are among priority points under CBS.”
For Yasmin, she believed that in drawing more youths to be involved in volunteerism, the activities should be fun and engaging.
“All these (activities) should help in building a culture of working together among members of various communities, which is slowly disappearing these days.”
On the mural painting, Hani simply remarked: “What we have ‘touched’ on the wall is for all to see. this makes us proud.”
The launch of Volunteer Malaysia 2015 yesterday was conducted nationwide.
At the event here, DBKU Community Development and Communications section Peter Martin, UCSI University Sarawak Campus chief operating officer Mukvinder Sandhu and its senior director of students affairs and alumni Ooi Pei Boon, Sara Urusharta Sdn Bhd general manager Alan Poh and iM4U government relations officer Muhammad Khairul Amir Fadzalih were among those involved in the mural-painting.
The Volunteer Malaysia 2015 is an initiative by iM4U, the nation’s leading community of youth volunteers. The movement runs its activities under the 1Malaysia Volunteers Fund (DRe1M).
Guests and participants of Volunteer Malaysia 2015 in Kuching gather for a group photo.
Yasmin puts some finishing touches on her artwork.
Maznah (right) and Jumaini (third left) help volunteers during the clean-up along Jalan Gambier and the Esplanade.
Jumaini (right) joins the mural-painting on the walls of old buildings at the Esplanade, near Jalan Gambier.