Building Investment (September-October 2021)

MTC gives RM1.3 million for timber industry’s
vaccination programme
The Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) has allocated RM1.3 million
to expedite mass vaccination among workers from the timberbased
sector through the industrial vaccination programme.
The Council, which has set up its vaccination centre in Olak
Lempit, Banting, Selangor, for this purpose and has successfully
vaccinated 10,005 workers for the first dose as of 16 August 2021.
The Vaccination Programme for the Agricommodity Sector
(VACOMS) at PPVIN@Olak Lempit began vaccinating factory
workers on 28 July 2021 and will cease operations on 6 September
2021. The Council will engage with the respective timber
associations or companies in other states to provide the subsidies
they need to enable mass vaccination to curb workplace clusters
in factories.
MTC Chief Executive Officer Tuan Muhtar Suhaili said:
“COVID-19 is going to become an endemic and we need to
create workplaces that are safe for us to operate in for business
continuity. MTC will provide a subsidy of RM30 per vaccine for
each factory worker.”
The timber industry is extremely collective in its measures
towards mass vaccination, as it had suffered losses amounting to
RM60 million daily in June due to the lockdowns.
To revive operations in line with the current government
MTC CEO Tuan Muhtar Suhaili (third from right) with MTC staff at the Olak
Lempit vaccination centre.
directive, which stipulates the percentage of work force in a
factory to be dependent on the number of vaccinated employees,
business owners are proactively ensuring that their workers get
vaccinated as quickly as possible.
The Muar Furniture Association (MFA) is conducting a similar
vaccination programme where an estimated 30,000 factory
workers will be vaccinated.
IM Group’s foundation chair exhibits sculptures of
unity to give global hope and support children in need
Malaysian-born artist Alice Chang Guerra, owner of Lai Lai Art
Studio and Chair of IM GROUP Foundation, has revealed her latest
artwork and initiative: “The Three Graces of Malaysia” to coincide
with Malaysia’s 64 th year of independence and to raise funds for
children in need.
The three two-metre-high sculptures, currently on show in
an exhibition – with fellow artist Datuk Luciano Mirri at Kuala
Lumpur’s Four Points Hotel by Sheraton – are currently on sale.
All proceeds will go through IM GROUP Foundation, which is
currently fundraising for autistic children in Malaysia.
Inspired by Antonio Canova’s neoclassical 19 th century marble
sculpture, “The Three Graces”, Guerra explained she was attracted
to the story of the three daughters of Zeus, who were professed
to be able to grant humanity with gifts: Euphrosyne (mirth), Aglaia
(elegance) and Thalia (youth and beauty). “I felt a connection
that evolved strongly in me to produce a very personal work as
a woman; as a sister, daughter and mother – able to grant more
than mirth, elegance and beauty but to represent strength,
courage and determination – the mother of a nation, if not the
world, who carries the generations to come,” specified Guerra.
“The 3 Graces of Malaysia – Siti, Ah Lian and Shanti – represent
the women of our nation tied by the harmony, cultural and racial
diversity of our country.”
The art works, made from cement and recycled pieces of
broken ceramics, symbolically carry a powerful message of global
hope, as Alice explained “…the pandemic has had a tremendous
impact on everyone at a psychological and professional level. The
Three Malaysia Graces show that even from broken pieces, we can
rebuild a beautiful tomorrow.”
The recently rebranded IM GROUP (previously Inkmaker
Group) which, with its combined strength of brands: Inkmaker,
Rexson, Vale-tech, Swesa, Teko and Tecnopails offers total
process-engineering solutions – within the industries of paint,
coatings, ink, speciality-chemicals, adhesives, corrugated
packaging, food packaging, pharma, cosmetic, textiles and more
– has a host of initiatives and activities, planned by IM GROUP
Foundation for 2021, of working within the communities where it
operates globally.
September-October 2021 | www.b-i.biz 11