MASwings reaches out to rural schools in latest community programme
HELLO: Nawawi (right) greeted by primary students of SK Ba Kelalan.
EVERY now and then, we hear of some companies engaging in corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. And for MASwings Sdn Bhd (MASwings), community service is its flagship operation.
The airline – an aviation unit under parent Malaysia Airlines – provides community airline services to the East Malaysian market, focusing on facilitating the connectivity in rural areas via nine short-takeoff and landing (STOL) ports in the state and one in Sabah.
“We’re considered a lifeline by the rural community. No doubt, we aim to be exactly that – and more,” MASwings managing director, Datuk Captain Mohd Nawawi Awang told thesundaypost.
When he said ‘more’, the former Royal Malaysian Air Force pilot was referring to MASwings’ latest community programme – the Wings of Love.
Launched on July 21 here by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala, who is also former Malaysia Airlines chief and a Bario native, the outreach community project was set up primarily to help selected schools in rural areas in Sabah and Sarawak achieve academic excellence.
“The idea was actually an extension of the Project Pintar, a programme I set up during my tenure as executive vice president for external relations in Malaysia Airlines,” Nawawi explained.
Under the Wings of Love initiative, MASwings adopted three public schools – both primary and secondary – in Bario, and one primary school – SK Ba Kelalan.
Nawawi said plans had been outlined to select schools from the rural communities in Sabah for the adoption programme – most probably in Kundasang and Kudat – as starting points.
“By bringing the Pintar module to MASwings school adoption programme, we hope to contribute towards the academic progress of students in these adopted schools,” he added.
Within Wings of Love, MASwings will seek to facilitate several initiatives for students to raise their motivation to learn and excel in their studies by, among others, engaging parents, teachers, the whole local community as well as MASwings staff.
Its very first engagement was by bringing a MASwings first officer pilot, Raphael Peter. At the time of writing, Bario-born Raphael, 36, is awaiting promotion to a captain.
“If Raphael and Uncle Idris (referring to Idris Jala) can achieve it, so can all of you,” Nawawi told the students in Bario and Ba Kelalan.
“Our involvement in the Wings of Love school adoption programme is evidence that MASwings is committed to meaningful initiatives to bring about changes to the lives of the underprivileged as well as uplift the academic excellence of the future generations in the country,” he added.
“The overall academically excellent students will be rewarded with visits to MASwings and Malaysia Airlines’ operation areas and prominent centres such as the Planetarium, Petrosains and National Museum in Kuala Lumpur, as well as supply of school uniforms, bags and stationery sets.”
However, it would not be just any kind of support-and-reward programme, Nawawi stressed.
“We want to positively push not only the students but the teachers here as well. We like to see all the schools achieve 100 per cent pass in UPSRs and PMRs. We are pushing for excellence in these schools where straight-A results should double from a year ago. This is our challenge for both students and teachers.”
Apart from education, the Wings of Love programme also focuses on two other specific areas – community and environment. This has already kicked off with the installation of Very-Small-Antenna-Transmitter (VSAT) each in Bario and Ba Kelalan.
The initiative carried out in collaboration with telco giant Maxis Bhd, was the first towards adopting a combination of efficient and ‘green’ VSAT together with solar power technologies to deliver to rural areas GSM voice, messaging and data services.
It will also enable the community to enjoy free outdoor Wi-Fi hotspot services, powered by VSAT from the new Measat-5 satellite, for which Maxis has signed a strategic contract with Measat.
Such a facility will allow fast Internet connectivity of one megabit per second (Mbps) of upload and 2Mbps of download.
With the installation of the VSAT, Nawawi said MASwings would be able to provide better services to the rural communities which now could purchase domestic and international flight tickets, enjoy the automated check-in facility, seats selection as well as other Internet offerings by both MASwings and Malaysia Airlines.
Additionally, the VSAT will also provide wireless Internet access to the community within the vicinity of the STOL Port.
“We will not stop now. As we stressed earlier, we are the lifeline of the communities here. And we want to be part of their development story,” Nawawi said.