Mohd Ridza (left) and Huang planting a fruit tree at Taman Tasik Cempaka, Bangi. — Photo courtesy of Sin Chew
IT WAS a fun and educational outing for Raisyia Khairul Azhar as she joined mother Sazarina Abdul Aziz for a tree-planting event organised by the latter’s employer Touch ‘n Go Group at Taman Tasik Cempaka, Bangi.
“She wanted to come along to help me.
“This was also a good opportunity to teach her about why we need trees and their roles in greening the environment,” said Sazarina of her nine-year-old.
Touch ‘n Go Group planted its first batch of trees after achieving a 100% “virtual” tree status on Touch ‘n Go e-wallet’s “Mission GreenPossible: 100 Million Trees by 2025” campaign.
Under the campaign, a virtual tree was grown and once it attained 100% growth, Touch ‘n Go Group pledged to plant a batch of actual trees.
At the Bangi event, some 1,000 fruit trees were planted across a 0.6ha site at the park.
Another 1,000 trees will be planted within the first quarter of the year.
The campaign launched last October aimed to contribute towards environmental conservation through efforts made by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia and Yayasan Hijau Malaysia to plant more trees nationwide.
TNG Digital Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Alan Ni said funds for the campaign were collected via e-wallet and QR donations and the group’s corporate contribution.
A portion of sales proceeds from specially designed NFC-capable Touch ‘n Go cards also went towards funding the trees.
“We reached 100% (of the target) amounting to RM600,000 (for 2,000 trees) within three months.
“We wish to thank all our e-wallet users for donating towards a noble cause and hope to continue having the same support as we start to grow our second virtual tree,” Ni said, adding that creating a green world requires teamwork, partnership and collaboration.
Deputy Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) Minister Datuk Seri Huang Tiong Sii was the event’s guest of honour.
Also present were Kajang Municipal Council (MPKj) president Najmuddin Jemain, Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia director-general Datuk Indera Mohd Ridza Awang and Yayasan Hijau Malaysia chief executive officer Amin Abdullah.
“The Greening Malaysia Programme: Planting 100 Million Trees campaign launched by the government in January 2021 aimed to invite all parties to work together to make the agenda of large-scale planting of trees throughout the country a success,” said Huang.
“The campaign already surpassed its target last year and NRECC continues to maintain its target of planting 20 million trees this year.
“A total of 51.2 million trees have been planted to date (as of Jan 13), comprising more than 1,000 plant species nationwide,” he said of the five-year initiative.
Huang also said corporations should realise that they have to act beyond their business responsibilities and make an effort to care for the environment as a joint progressive venture.
Najmuddin shared that some of the fruit trees planted in the park included guava, pomelo, ciku, kundang, cermai Belanda (Surinam cherry), belimbing buluh (bilimbi), rambutan, langsat and nona (custard apple).
