RHB Islamic and Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) have entered into the next phase of their partnership to enhance awareness on marine preservation, through a joint 3-day summit held in Terengganu.
The Bidong Summit took place from July 14 to July 16 in Pulau Bidong, a key location on the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia that is dedicated to marine preservation. The event focused on both RHB Islamic’s and UMT’s continued emphasis to nurture Malaysians on the importance of marine conservation through research and development, knowledge transfer, environmental awareness programs and ocean literacy preservation activities. In particular, the Summit addressed the importance of marine protection and preservation through various ocean-themed activities, such as scuba diving sessions to locate potential underwater sites for upcoming sustainability initiatives, as well as a seabed-cleaning dive. A beach clean-up was also carried out involving local communities and RHB employees as a practical way to educate on the importance of preserving the environment and marine ecosystem.
In addition to the key focus area of marine conservation, as part of RHB’s sustainability aspiration to empower 2 million people across ASEAN, RHB Islamic also took the opportunity to reinforce financial literacy amongst the younger generation in Kuala Terengganu through a comprehensive Children Financial Literacy Workshop. Attended by over 100 primary school students and their parents, the workshop aims to shape a financially literate society and promoting responsible financial behaviour, which will contribute to the nation’s economic health.
“These marine-themed activities carried out through this partnership is an integral part of RHB Islamic’s flagship initiative, ‘Ocean Harmoni’ that encapsulates the principles of Value-Based Intermediation (VBI). This is the first of such events undertaken together with our partner, UMT, as well as Kapas Conservation Society to enlarge the extent of participation in support of marine preservation and in helping the local communities, particularly those that rely on the ocean for their livelihood. These on-going activities and partnerships reflect RHB Islamic’s strong commitment in supporting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 “Life Below Water” and SDG17 “Partnerships for the Goals”, by raising public awareness in the conservation and environmental sustainability of the marine ecosystem.
Our efforts in the conservation of the marine ecosystem will contribute towards regulating climate and reducing climate change impact. This is in line with the Group’s Sustainability aspirations under our Group’s 5-Year (2022-2026) Sustainability Strategy and Roadmap. We will continue to promote and inculcate the importance of protecting the ocean ecosystem among local communities as well as our employees. Our efforts aim to create a ripple effect towards ensuring a clean, healthy and thriving ocean and planet over the long-term,” said Dato’ Adissadikin Ali, Managing Director and CEO of RHB Islamic Bank Berhad.
“Ocean literacy is commonly defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. With our slogan “Ocean of Discoveries, for Global Sustainability’, UMT have always committed to support the government’s efforts to achieve the SDG goals particularly on the SDG 14 (Life Below Water) and SDG 13 (Climate Change) in all aspects of our works including research, academic, knowledge transfer and University Social Responsibility (USR) activities. This partnership will provide a synergy for UMT to convey messages related to the sustainability of aquatic resources broadly, especially to RHB Bank’s large group of clients and business associates. We hope that this collaboration between UMT and RHB Islamic Bank will ramp up our efforts to improve the ocean literacy of our nationals and help UMT to achieve our mission on becoming the country’s leading and globally respected marine-focused university”, said Professor Dato’ Dr. Mazlan bin Abd Ghaffar, Vice Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.
