(17/02/2006)
SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope Grant Funds IT Centre To
Empower Henry Gurney Youths
SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope 2005 grant recipient Pertubuhan Prihatin
Sosial Malaysia, showcases IT skills-enrichment winning project
– SAMSUNG YOUTH preneur
MALACCA, 16 February 2006 – SAMSUNG Malaysia Electronics
(SME) today marked another milestone in its quest to bridge the
digital divide by funding yet another technology-driven project
– the SAMSUNG YOUTHpreneur Centre (SYC) in Henry Gurney
School.
Present at the official opening of the centre were Yang Berhormat
Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusop, Parlimentary Secretary, Ministry of
Internal Security, Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Mustafa bin Osman,
Director General of Prison Department, Prison Malaysia, and Mahalingam
Chelliah, President of Pertubuhan Prihatin Sosial Malaysia.
Into its third year running, SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope 2005, the
company’s single largest regional social programme that
leverages technology leadership to provide a brighter future for
the less fortunate in South East Asia and Australia, has awarded
funds worth USD 1.65 million to 39 deserving organisations around
the region in its efforts to minimise the digital gap.
Last year, Pertubuhan Prihatin Sosial Malaysia (Prihatin), a
non-profitable organisation that implements projects to raise
living standards of disadvantaged communities, was picked among
many applicants for its convincing project entitled SAMSUNG YOUTHpreneur
– Empowering Henry Gurney Inmates in Digital Micro-Enterprises.
Prihatin received a grant of RM 370,000.
“The opening of SAMSUNG YOUTHprenuer Centre, a project
undertaken by Prihatin and funded by SAMSUNG Malaysia Electronics,
is a living testament to our commitment to work with the government,
non-governmental organisations and other deserving organisations
in the region towards a brighter tomorrow for our future generations,”
enthused Min Yong Ho, Managing Director of SAMSUNG Malaysia Electronics.
SAMSUNG YOUTHpreneur Centre - Empowering Henry Gurney Inmates
in Digital Micro-Enterprises Project
The SYC, aimed at empowering 387 inmates of Henry Gurney schools
in Batu Gajah, Perak and Malacca with multimedia and desktop publishing
skills to enable them to become micro-entrepreneurs, will serve
to build bridges to connect the unconnected society.
“With the establishment of the SYC, we are at the beginning
of a noble transformation in the face of technology that will
hopefully change the lives of other inmates who are usually regarded
as outcasts of the society to be included into the k-economy nation,”
said Min.
The entire SAMSUNG YOUTHpreneur – Empowering Henry Gurney
Inmates in Digital Micro-Enterprises project will provide hope,
guidance, skills and develop the confidence of the inmates to
start afresh, a new lease of life. It is hoped that upon completion
of the detention period, the inmates will be able to offer services
such as desktop publishing, digital photography, digital videography
and telecentre services to earn a decent living.
“We understand that the lives beyond these walls of Henry
Gurney will be extremely challenging and we want to help them
to go through this pressure. With the spur of IT development in
this country, we believe that being technology-savvy will help
them earn a decent or much better living. With the grant from
SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope, we hope to give our inmates a new lease
of live when they step out of these walls armed with their knowledge
of technology,” said Mahalingam Chelliah, President of Prihatin
Sosial Malaysia.
“Moving forward, as this project is proven successful,
we plan replicated and extend this programme to more inmates by
establishing more YOUTHpreneur Centres in other prison institutions
throughout Malaysia,” he added.
SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope 2005
In 2005, the SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope grant also funded various interesting
and technology breaking projects such as the “Cyber Coach”
– a mobile multimedia unit for Tsunami disaster victims;
an education technology centre for the blind; an e-skills development
training programme for disadvantaged youth; a “streetnet”
mobile technology van; and a digital audio book library and screen
display reading programme. The overall winner for the region was
Glovology by Ngee Ann Polytechnic, a project that benefits the
speech- and hearing-impaired.
The awarded organisations were evaluated by an independent judging
committee comprising recognised authorities involved in community,
youth, and information and communications technology (ICT) development.
Last year’s regional judges for SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope included
Datuk Hon Choon Kim, Deputy Education Minister of Malaysia; Dr
Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth
and Sports and Second Minister for Trade and Industry, Singapore;
Dr Pairash Thajchayapong, Permanent Secretary of Thailand’s
Ministry of Science and Technology; Dr Kusmayanto Kadiman, State
Minister of Research and Technology for the Republic of Indonesia;
Professor Dao Van Luong, Director of the Department of Science
and Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City;
and Dr John Irvine, Child and Family Psychologist, Australia.
“We at SAMSUNG will continue to shape and advocate our
technology initiatives while building a more sustainable and just
world at the same time. Meanwhile, our SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope vision
of minimising the digital gap will remain,” Min emphasised.
About SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope
SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope is SAMSUNG Asia’s single largest regional
social programme in South East Asia and Australia. The focus is
on improving lives with technology, helping to bridge the digital
divide.
Members of the regional judging panel have included high profile
UNESCO officials, government ministers and heads of organisations.
SAMSUNG DigitAll Hope in 2005 benefited more than 80,000youth
and disabled in Asia Pacific, granting a total of USD500,000 to
11 projects in the region.
For more information, please visit http://www.samsung.com/my/hope
About SAMSUNG Electronics
SAMSUNG Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor,
telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies
with 2004 parent company sales of USD55.2 billion and net income
of USD10.3 billion. Employing approximately 113,600 people in
90 offices in 48 countries, the company consists of five main
business units: Digital Appliance Business, Digital Media Business,
LCD Business, Semiconductor Business and Telecommunication Network
Business. Recognised as one of the fastest growing brands, SAMSUNG
Electronics is the world's largest producer of colour monitors,
colour TVs, memory chips and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please
visit http://www.samsung.com/
