In an interview with CSR Malaysia, Bernard Paul, Sunway Group General Manager, CSR, Internal Branding and Events, shares his views about Sunway’s CSR initiatives. The initiatives comprise part of a holistic contribution to nation-building and “giving back to society,” through three avenues: Sunway Group, the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation and the not-for-profit Sunway Education Group. They are driven by the personal commitment and conviction of Sunway Group founder and chairman, Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO.
Sunway Group’s initiatives in this mission are mustered under the #SunwayforGood banner and are mainly focused on the B40 community. They are guided by the principle that no corporation can stand apart from the community it serves, and are implemented in line with Sunway’s core values of integrity, humility and excellence.
Underlying these efforts, as well, is Sunway’s embrace of the “Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” adopted by the United Nations in 2015 and encapsulated in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Sunway Group was founded by its Chairman Tan Sri Dr Jeffrey Cheah AO in 1974 and is currently one of Malaysia’s largest conglomerates with 13 business divisions operating across 50 locations worldwide. Sunway’s core businesses focus on real estate, construction, retail, hospitality, leisure, healthcare, education, trading and manufacturing, and building materials. The Group’s three public listed entities include Sunway Berhad, Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust (Sunway REIT) and Sunway Construction. Their combined market capitalisation exceeds RM 17 billion.
“The Group’s growth and success can be attributed to its commitment to strong economic, environmental and social practices as well as its core values. Sunway’s unique build-own-operate business model establishes us as a partner to the communities where we operate. Our presence means we share their joys and their travails,” says Bernard. “Internally, when we talk about the ‘Sunway Family’, we understand that term to mean not just Sunway staff but also the extended community. It explains why we view our efforts not as ‘CSR’ but in its wider definition as a ‘Corporate Responsibility’.”
“This mind-set ensures we focus on community needs in areas where we operate — our integrated townships of Sunway City Kuala Lumpur, Sunway City Ipoh and the upcoming Sunway City Iskandar Puteri in Johor, as well as in states such as Penang where we have several ongoing projects,” continues Bernard. “The commitment to building and enhancing sustainable cities and communities is underlined by the Group’s Vision Statement – To be Asia’s model corporation in sustainable development, innovating to enrich lives for a better tomorrow.”
He added that Sunway Group collaborates closely with the Jeffrey Cheah Foundation and the Sunway Education Group to ensure that the efforts of all three entities deliver maximum impact and that there is no duplication of initiatives.
“This arrangement allows us to focus our efforts under #SunwayforGood on local communities, while the Foundation and the education arm operate at national and international levels. #SunwayforGood is our pledge that Sunway will continue to work to improve lives and livelihoods at the grassroots level. We champion Corporate Responsibility through three areas, namely education, healthcare, and community enrichment, aligned with our commitment to the 17 SDGs,” says Bernard.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Sunway Group announced an aid package totaling RM34 million to its community stakeholders, targeted to support at least 40,000 beneficiaries. The Group also contributed RM1 million to the Government’s COVID-19 Fund for Malaysians.
“Sunway’s healthcare division covered the cost of subsidising treatments for public patients from the Ministry of Health of Malaysia and University Malaya Medical Centre. We also allowed rent-free days for non-essential retailers at all Sunway malls. On the other hand, Sunway Resorts & Hotels also donated 1,500 repurposed soap bars to a correctional facility, Pusat Koreksional Puncak Alam in Kajang for hundreds of juvenile inmates for personal hygiene purpose during the Movement Control Order (MCO),” says Bernard.
“Over 25,000 hygiene and personal protective equipment such as blankets, shower gel, shampoo, dental kits, small pillows and kitchen gloves were also donated to Hospital Sungai Buloh in Selangor and Hospital Seberang Jaya in Penang. Meanwhile, in the southern region, the property team contributed items such as infrared electronic thermometers, face masks and hand sanitisers to hundreds of frontline healthcare staff as well as essential and critical service workers at hospitals such as Hospital Sultanah Aminah and Iskandar Puteri Police Station.
“Other than that, we also contributed organic vegetables produced in Sunway City Ipoh’s organic farm to the community and hundreds of kg more of fresh organic produce to benefit around 6,000 frontline healthcare workers and patients of Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun in Ipoh throughout the MCO period,” says the General Manager. “Sunway has also activated the #SunwayforGood Aid Now programme and RM300,000 has been allocated for this purpose. The programme is a community relief effort designed to provide support for B40 communities nationwide during this crisis with priority given to those around Sunway townships in Selangor, Perak, Penang and Johor. RM10,000 was also donated to Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya under the #SunwayforGood Aid Now programme for distribution of disinfectant to the community residing at the low cost flats within MPSJ’s jurisdiction.”
As part of its Hari Raya Aidilfitri initiative during the MCO, Sunway delivered thousands of packets of “bubur lambuk” to frontline workers, essential service staff and B40 families nationwide,” says Bernard. “Sunway also partnered with Selangor Youth Community in delivering new clothes, groceries, “duit raya”, vitamin C packs, sanitisers and baked cookies to caretakers and children at four orphanages.”
These demonstrate #SunwayforGood’s commitment to our local communities
He stressed that these were only some, and not all, of the activities Sunway undertook during the MCO. “There’s more I can mention, but I think you get the picture. These demonstrate #SunwayforGood’s commitment to our local communities,” he says.
Prior to the pandemic, many of the projects led by #SunwayforGood focused on education, such as a back-to-school initiative with SMK Yaacob Latif in Cheras and the setting up of a library with the international non-profit organisation, Friends to Mankind aimed at fostering a conducive learning environment for Desa Mentari’s B40 community. A sum of RM10,000 was donated to construct the library and 2,000 books were collected from Sunway employees for this project,” shares Bernard.
“There were several other initiatives nationwide that improved lives and enriched communities. Sunway’s goal is to lend a helping hand to B40 families and communities in urban areas as they are more vulnerable to economic, environmental and social crises. “The B40 community comprises 2.7 million households in Malaysia. They are highly dependent on assistance from the government. Our efforts seek to supplement the government’s aid,” he adds.
Bernard says that Sunway’s upcoming #SunwayforGood initiatives will continue with this mission. “The Sunway Food Bank programme, the largest food bank drive, aims to unite Malaysians to assist families from the B40 income group and also the ones threatened by hunger due to the pandemic. We aim to hope to collect 46,000 kilogrammes of food for distribution,” says the General Manager.
“Another programme is the ICT Literacy Aid which will focus on digital learning where students will be taught the basics of information technology and programming skills. Sunway also has an ongoing competition, the Sunway-Oxbridge Essay competition, the longest running essay competition nationwide, that promotes English writing proficiency. Meanwhile the Sunway SILK program helps students who are academically low inculcating agricultural skills and teaching them to create a sustainable business model,” shares Bernard.
Sunway believes in giving a hand up instead of a hand out by educating the needy with skills needed to raise their standard of living. “Our ultimate goal is to look into the long-term impact in uplifting the community and help them break free from poverty. At Sunway, we acknowledge that realising the 17 SDGs is not the responsibility of our government alone. It requires the commitment and shared effort of all sectors of society – the private sector, academia, civil society and every single individual. We are all in this together,” says Bernard.
