The Star Online: Metro: South & East
The Star Online: Metro: South & East |
- Follow how the Koreans promote local made products
- Inculcate reading habit
- LTH allocates RM815,000 for CSR activities
| Follow how the Koreans promote local made products Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:18 AM PDT JOHOR BARU: The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry urges local entrepreneurs and consumers to adopt the way the Koreans promote and support their local made products. Its minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Koreans have been known to promote and buy their own products. "The Koreans are very proud of their products and we should follow their example by promoting and buying Malaysian made products," he said after officiating the Buy Malaysian Products Expo, recently. He referred to the popularity of Korean songs and how Koreans supported their local entertainment scene. "Their singers only perform in Korean and they do not try to follow the style of Western singers by singing in English but their songs have become famous throughout the world," he said referring to K-Pop songs including the hit song Gangnam Style by Korean singer Psy. Ismail said the Buy Malaysian Products Expo would help create a sense of awareness about locally made products and sense of patriotism of buying such items. He also said last year's expo recorded sale figures of RM50mil while in 2010, the amount was RM26mil, an indication that many, Malaysians were buying local products. "When the rakyat supports our own products, it will boost and strengthen Malaysian products to compete with foreign products either in the local or overseas market," he said. Ismail also said there were some local entrepreneurs who did not want to put 'the made in Malaysia product logo' on their products. "Some of their products even have foreign names and this could be their marketing strategy to attract local consumers. "The ministry encourages entrepreneurs to place the logo in their products as it will help promote the country and they will also receive incentives from the Government including being exempted from export tax," he said. He said manufacturers of local products who wanted to carry the logo on their products, must follow the rules and regulations set by the Government. |
| Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:16 AM PDT JOHOR BARU: Watching television, surfing the Internet and playing video games are among the activities favoured by Malaysians. But, reading is not one of them. Despite the high literacy rate of 92%, the reading habit in Malaysia is still low. Others who do not read at all, cite work commitments and fatigue as the main reasons deterirng them doing so. "This trend is unhealthy and if it continues, how can we become a knowledgeable based society as Malaysia is slated to become a developed nation by 2020,'' said Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman. He said Malaysia might be a developed nation eight years from now, but the society was still lacking in knowledge compared with other developed nations in the world. Abdul Ghani said at the same time, there were people especially students from tertiary institutions who read for the sake of passing their examinations. He said a survey done by Universiti Malaya found that undergraduates only read four books a year and their interest in reading dwindled upon completing their studies. Abdul Ghani said this at the launch of SP Setia Foundation Eco Library at the Johor State Library in Jalan Yahya Awal, recently. The foundation donated RM200,000 to the library for the refurbishment of its children section into a new Eco Library to promote reading among children. Also present were SP Setia Foundation chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, Johor State Library chairman Datuk Maulizan Bujang and SP Setia Bhd executive vice-president Datuk Chang Khim Wah. "Efforts are being made to attract more children to come to the library and inculcate the reading habit among them,'' he added. Abdul Ghani said although a survey conducted by the National Library in 2010 showed that 55% of Malaysians read eight books yearly from two in 2005, it did not reflect the true scenario. He said improvement in the reading habit could be attributed to the academic needs as 70% of the titles or books published were academic and text books and light reading materials. |
| LTH allocates RM815,000 for CSR activities Posted: 24 Oct 2012 04:18 AM PDT JOHOR BARU: The Pilgrimage Fund Board (LTH) Johor branch is allocating RM815,000 this year for its corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and programmes. Director Ahmad Sohaimi Abd Rahim said among those benefitting from the programmes include poor families, single mothers and senior citizens. Other allocations include financial assistance for needy students, building homes for the poverty-stricken families and contributions of dialysis machines to Government hospitals. "The allocation for our CSR initiatives in Johor comes from part of the business tithes (zakat) yearly payment,'' he said recently. Ahmad Sohaimi said last year, Johor LTH had paid RM3.5mil in business tithes to the Johor Islamic Religious Council adding that the figure changed from time to time due to change in the yearly rate nisab. He said this after presenting RM300 cash and RM200 in school stationeries to 200 students from six selected primary and secondary schools from the Johor Baru district. Also present were the LTH senior general manager (human resources) Muhamad Rani Saidali and the Johor Education Department human resources deputy head Abdul Rahman Abd Rahim. "Presently, there are about 890,000 LTH account holders in Johor and we have seen that figure is on the upward trend yearly,'' he said adding that 45% of the Muslims in Johor were depositors at LTH. Ahmad Sohaimi said with more depositor it was better for LTH as it would pay more business tithes yearly to the Islamic Religious Councils in the respective states. He said with an increase in yearly business tithes collected from businesses and companies owned by Muslims, more monies could be channeled to assist the needy and help them improve their standard of living. Ahmad Sohaimi said there were 3,500 haj pilgrims from Johor currently performing the haj this year in Mecca while another 40,000 were on the waiting-list to perform theirs in years to come. |
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