Cheng (second left) hands over the mock cheque to Uggah (second right) as other officials look on.
KUCHING: Covid-19 prevention practices have helped to improve the overall hygienic working conditions in estates, mills and refineries belonging to members of Sarawak Oil Palm Plantation Owners Association (Soppoa).
Its chairman Tiong Chiong Ong said some of the newly adopted cultures of conducting business to prevent Covid-19 infection and spread are now part of plantation sustainability practices.
In a statement issued in conjunction with Soppoa’s RM500,000 contributions to the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) yesterday, Tiong said Soppoa’s plantation companies and associates have been operating under strict guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced.
“These Covid-19 prevention advisory and SOP guidelines will continue to serve as preferred SOPs in the new norm, post-Covid-19 era,” he added.
On the situation of plantations in Sarawak during the current MCO recovery phase, Tiong informed that the current Covid-19 prevention guidelines imposed during the MCO will continue to be practised and monitored to ensure full compliance by Soppoa members until further announcements by SDMC.
On the RM500,000 contributions to the SDMC, Tiong informed these came voluntarily from the generosity of Soppoa’s plantation companies and associates.
He explained the contributions were meant to assist SDMC in fighting the spread of Covid-19 and prevention efforts in the state.
“We are most appreciative of the huge amount of sacrifices made by the SDMC team in the relentless effort to keep the public safe and protected against Covid-19 infection since Movement Control Order (MCO) begun from March 18 until the present.
“Soppoa’s donation is part of our community effort to equip our frontliners with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) and other equipment to save Covid-19 patients and provide care for those families who are in dire need of food and medical assistance,” he stated.
He also said Soppoa salutes all the frontliners comprising government medical practitioners, security forces and volunteers who risked their lives daily to protect the public from Covid-19 infection.
“Most notably and deserving of full commendation is the exemplary able leadership of the state government’s SDMC team headed by the chairman and Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah who had shown wisdom, compassions and tolerances to all the people in the state by rendering assistances to those in need in a timely manner.”
Soppoa, represented by its chief executive officer Andrew Cheng Mui Fah, symbolically handed over the contributions to SDMC represented by Uggah at the latter’s office in Wisma Bapa Malaysia yesterday.
The statement further said Soppoa had also donated RM20,000 for the same cause to the 3D Printers Union to fabricate PPE for frontliners in government hospitals in April as another commitment of their ongoing corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.