13 April 2021

Maybank Islamic Provides Food Packs for Malaysian Workers in Singapore this Ramadhan

In conjunction with the Ramadhan period, Maybank Singapore’s Islamic Banking has partnered with Free Food for All (FFFA) to contribute Ramadhan food packs consisting of food items and vouchers to 150 low-income Malaysian workers working and living in Singapore.

This is part of Maybank’s group-wide Regional Ramadhan Relief (RRR) programme. RRR is Maybank Group Islamic Banking’s flagship corporate responsibility programme using Zakat funds (Alms tax) which aims at distributing food supplies to the underprivileged families to meet their basic dietary requirements during the fasting month.

Maybank Singapore has been rolling out RRR programme since 2017 where the bank has distributed food vouchers to more than 1,000 families in Singapore which require financial assistance.

On April 10, 2021, a presentation event was held at Free Food for All at Blk 21 Chai Chee Road, where Dr John Lee, Country CEO and CEO of Maybank Singapore, presented the Ramadhan packs to selected Zakat beneficiaries. The rest of the beneficiaries will receive the packs by end April.

Witnessing the event were Mr Muhammad Radzi Jamaludin, Acting High Commissioner of the High Commission of Malaysia, Ms Carol Lee, Director of Operations of FFFA, Ms Aarathi Arumugam, President of the Malaysian Association in Singapore (MASIS) and Mr Mohd Razib Ibrahim, a volunteer group leader.

Dr John Lee, Country CEO and CEO of Maybank Singapore commented, “We are pleased to continue this partnership with FFFA, which began last year during Circuit Breaker where Maybank and FFFA helped stranded Malaysian workers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic through distributing meals and financial support to them. In the spirit of our corporate mission of ‘Humanising Financial Services’, we hope that this Zakat fund contribution will help FFFA in their outreach efforts to assist the beneficiaries, especially during this festive period where borders are closed. Besides serving customers with a wide range of Shariah-compliant banking facilities, Maybank strives to empower communities-in-need so as to reduce social inequality, that is why we actively integrate social responsibility into our core business principles to meet our long-term strategic aspirations.”

FFFA has been instrumental in its efforts to aid the less fortunate in Singapore and globally by serving over 500,000 meals and pioneering in initiatives such as Halal ready-to-eat meals for the underprivileged.

Each Ramadhan food pack contains grocery vouchers worth S$60 as well as Halal food items, such as dates, 3-in-1 beverages and ready-to-eat meals. The beneficiary does not need to store the food in the refrigerator and only needs to heat up the food in a pot, microwave or with hot water. The prepared food can be stored for up to 18 months and does not contain preservatives.

Mr Nizar Mohd Shariff, Founder of FFFA, said, "Usually, people will donate food like cooking oil, rice, noodles - everything needs to be cooked. What we are trying to do is fill a gap in the services provided during Ramadan according to the community's needs and at the same time address the global issue of food insecurity and food wastage. We want beneficiaries to enjoy healthy and nutritious food. We also want to give them food we ourselves want to eat and let them have ample choices.” Mr Nizar also hopes that in conjunction with this Ramadan, the community will care about their neighbours and take care of each other.

Since 2013, Maybank Group’s Regional Ramadhan Relief (RRR) programme has allocated a total of close to S$4.5 million to benefit about 120,000 families, including single mothers, people with disabilities, orphans, fishermen, farmers and disadvantaged groups in more than 10 countries. The group-wide giving programme has entered its ninth year and benefitted underprivileged groups in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei, Dubai and the marginalised community in Myanmar of the Rohingya ethnic.