ROCK-A-DUCK 2017
SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG
ROCK-A-DUCK 2017
27 May 2017
Hard Rock Hotel
Thank you Hard Rock Hotel Penang for inviting me as the guest of honor and for the opportunity to be part of this fundraising campaign. Since I officiated the grand opening nearly 8 years ago, I am truly pleased to see how Hard Rock Hotel Penang has been consistently involved in Corporate Social Responsible initiatives.
Only last weekend the Hotel donated RM70K to Sekolah Kebangsaan Batu Ferringhi as a result of the iconic Rock To Rock fun run. Now Hard Rock Hotel Penang has achieved another great outcome with a new charitable program named Rock-A-Duck.
As mentioned by John earlier, funds that are raised will be contributed to SK Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan, a school for the hearing impaired in Tanjung Bungah. Funds will be used to construct a zinc roof to provide shelter for the students to assemble and perform their activities. The hotel aims to raise RM50K for the school with 10,000 rubber ducks sold at RM10 each.
After 6 months of driving this program, I am very pleased to announce that Hard Rock Hotel Penang has successfully raised the RM50K for SK Pendidikan Khas Persekutuan! Three lucky winners will walk away with three grand prizes and I am absolutely thrilled to be selecting the three rubber ducks from the swimming pool here today.
The Penang state government will continue efforts to establish Penang as the first ‘welfare state’ where we can enjoy both economic advancement and prosperity, without the poor getting poorer and be left behind. We also implement a form of universal basic income. We top up the household income of any families who receive less than RM790 per month. More than RM412 million has been given out as cash aid to 1.7 million Penangites since 2008. This is Penang’s road map towards unity and prosperity – an welfare state.
We are also building human talent by investing in education as well as sharing out the fruits of economic prosperity. We can only be an international and intelligent city if Penang is a liveable city that is clean, green, safe and healthy. Penang has amongst the highest GDP per capita in the country.
Thank you to all donors for your kind generosity. It is you who made today’s event possible and a huge success.
Thank you.