Profile
Empowering Lives, Transforming Communities
About Vijayaratnam Foundation The Inspiration Chairperson and Executive Board Member Board of Trustees Projects Media Coverage
“Vijayaratnam Foundation is, something I established in honour of my father. My parents have been my first Gurus. And this was my way of paying tribute to my father and thanking him for laying the foundation of my quest for knowledge. Vijayaratnam Foundation supports the education of young promising Malaysians, as well as activities that enhance tolerance, understanding, health and well being in the community in which we live.” Dato’ Vijay Eswaran, Founder.
About The Foundation
Vijayaratnam Foundation was established in April 2006 by Dato’ Vijay Eswaran, Exectuive Chairman of the QI Group, as the Malaysian Chapter of RYTHM Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the QI Group of Companies. While maintaining close ties with the RYTHM Foundation, we work on an independent mission: Empowering Lives, Transforming Communities. The Foundation focuses on three main areas education, community development, arts and culture and environment. The Vijayaratnam Foundation facilitates the inception and implementation of various initiatives and projects through our work with the public and private sectors, civil society, and the philanthropic community. While reaching out to the community at grassroots level,
such as impoverished families and disadvantaged members of society who are the main beneficiaries of our activities, we have also built ties and channeled our support to various charities and spiritual organisations in the country through our humanitarian projects.
Mission At Vijayaratnam Foundation, we focus on building the human capital and are committed to the social empowerment of individuals, so that they can raise themselves to be better persons and contribute to the well-being of their families, communities and society at large. The Foundation believes in bringing about positive social change in the lives of the most vulnerable people and acts as a change agent for society by
improving systems, inventing and disseminating new approaches, and advancing sustainable solutions that create social values.
Guiding Philosophy As a member of the QI family, we share the same core philosophy that is the foundation of the QI group of Companies–RHYTHM, which stands for Raise Yourself To Help Mankind. RYTHM, the corporate heartbeat of The QI Group of Companies, is ultimately about recreating the message of Mahatma Gandhi, who believed that in order to help others, one must first help himself. Hence, Raise yourself first, before you can help Mankind. For updates about the Foundation’s activities and its various projects, please visit our website www.vf.org.my
“CSR is not just about handing over a fat cheque. Even small companies can be socially responsible. What you can’t do with money, you can do with the support of people. You can rally a group of employees and volunteers to the nearest charity, old folk’s shelter, or blood donation drive, or tie up with non-governmental organisations that are passionate about serving the community. As long as you are supporting a cause you truly believe in, you’re already doing your part to serve society,” Datin Umayal Eswaran, Chairperson and Executive Board Member.
Chairperson and Executive Board Member
Datin Umayal Eswaran along with her husband, Dato’ Vijay Eswaran has been heavily involved in the promotion of arts and culture and working with underprivileged children on a personal basis for many years now. She has also worked behind the scenes on setting up the global Corporate Social Responsibility arm of the QI Group, RYTHM Foundation, since its inception in an unofficial capacity. Only recently, when the Malaysian Chapter of RYTHM Foundation was set up as a tribute to her Father-inlaw, she consolidated her role into an official position as the Chairperson and Executive Board Member of the Vijayaratnam Foundation. In this role, she oversees the day-to-day activities of the Foundation and is part of the Executive Committee that evaluates proposals and oversees new projects and is the spokesperson for the various initiatives undertaken by the Foundation. Her key area of
focus for the Foundation remains a cause close to her heart, which is to help children, especially those with physical and mental challenges and building a school to help those with special needs. A connoisseur of the performing arts, Datin Umayal is herself a trained Indian Classical Dancer who has studied under the great Bharatanatyam exponent Guru Vasuki Shanmugam Pillai and performed professionally in Malaysia, Singapore, as well as Sri Lanka. She has also taught the Bharatanatyam dance form to aspiring young dancers in Hong Kong, Philippines and not to forget Malaysia. Among the many hats she wears, she is also the Director of RYTHM House Publishing, a dynamic, young publishing firm that specialises in life management and motivational titles. Datin Umayal is a qualified systems analyst who has studied in India and Sri Lanka, the country of her origin, where she grew up in an orthodox
Tamil business family headed by the patriarch who coincidentally shares the name of her Father-in-Law Mr.Vijayaratnam
Board of Trustees
YBhg. Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal M. Hashim
Puan Sri Rathi Khoo
Datuk R. Karunakaran
Mr Magandran Rajadurai
Mr Nicholas Goh Kaw Chin
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Kamal M. Hashim is the Director of Wawasan QI Holdings Sdn Bhd, which is the property development arm of the QI Group of Companies. He is also the Director for many other companies such as Henry Butcher, ABS Lands and Properties, and Underwater World. Currently, he holds the post of Deputy Chairman at Unimech Group Berhad, and Executive Director, at Star Publications (M) Berhad. Tan Sri Kamal was also bestowed with the title of Honorary Consul of the Royal Netherlands in the states of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Perlis. He also sits on the board of trustees for other charitable foundations such as Coral White Sdn Bhd Yayasan Budi Penyayang Malaysia Star Foundation and Yayasan Rumah Mesra Kanak-kanak.
Puan Sri Rathi Khoo, wife of national Historian Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Khoo Kay Kim, began her career as a teacher in Bukit Bintang Girls School, in 1968, where she taught English and History. In 1975, she received training at the Specialist Teachers Training College in Cheras, and began teaching Accountancy at the La Salle Boys School in Petaling Jaya. Puan Sri Rathi Khoo opted for an early retirement, but continued to offer private accountancy lessons. Also, what began as a passion for arts and craft, led her to take up quilting as a hobby. Through the years, she has produced many beautiful pieces, both traditional and contemporary, which have been exhibited and sold to enthusiasts across the country and internationally
Datuk R. Karunakaran was formerly the Director General of the Malaysia Industrial Development Authority (MIDA). He established the MIDA office in Singapore, and was appointed as the Director General of MIDA in 2004. In 1993, he received the ‘Ahli Mangku Terpuji’ award from the D.Y.M.M. Yang DiPertuan Agong Bintang Khidmat Terpuji (BKT) of Malacca. He was also bestowed the honorary award Dato’ Setia DiRaja Kedah (D.S.D.K.) by the Sultan of Kedah in 2006. Currently, Datuk Karunakaran holds the position of Independent NonExecutive Director of Kumpulan Modal Perdana Sdn Bhd.
Mr Magandran Rajadurai is the Director of Finance and Administration of the QI Group of Companies. Based in Malaysia, Mr Magandran is a qualified chartered accountant and a registered member of the Malaysian Institute of Accountancy since 1983. Having overseen six companies in Malaysia, in the capacity as a Senior General Manager in Finance and Administration, he brings to the board 18 years of commercial experience.
Mr.Nicholas Goh Kaw Chin is a graduate in the field of Computer Science, and holds an MBA. He is the former Managing Director of GKT Enterprise Sdn Bhd, and he currently holds the position of Managing Director for Megacorp Media Marketing Sdn Bhd. Mr. Nicholas is also the Deputy Youth Chairman of the Selangor and Kuala Lumpur Teochew Association and is actively involved in social outreach projects and community work.
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The Inspiration Vijayaratnam Saravanamuthu
The Four Pillars of the Foundation Vijayaratnam Foundation is held together by four important pillars that guide its mission to empower lives and transform communities.
Education • Community Development • Arts and Culture • Environment 1
Education
Vijayaratnam Foundation was founded by Dato’ Vijay Eswaran to continue the philanthropic legacy that was started by his father, Vijayaratnam Saravanamuthu, over 60 years ago. Born in 1934, Mr. Vijayaratnam has always been a true philanthropist at heart. A champion of youth empowerment, he founded the Malaysian Hindu Youth Organisation (HYO) in 1949, that has helped shape the lives of hundreds of youth in the community through its many conventions and events. He was also elected the First Secretary General of the Malaysian Youth Council in 1962 and has represented the country in many international youth events between 1954 to 1965.
He has also held the position of Hon. Secretary in the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, and has received the honorary title ‘Sanga Ratnam’ in recognition of his contributions. Being an eloquent speaker from his younger days, Mr Vijayaratnam has also travelled across the country extensively to deliver speeches on various occasions, festivals and celebrations. After his retirement, he has been an active member of the Divine Life Society of Rishikesh, and has received the sacred title ‘Guru Bakhti Ratna’ from his spiritual guru, His Holiness Swami Chidananda Saraswathi Maharaj, in 1985. Mr Vijayaratnam possesses a strong background in Indian Classical (Carnatic) music, and has won much
appreciation for his singing talents in his youth. In recognition of his religious contributions to the Indian community and his outstanding work among the youth, The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), during its 50th Anniversary Celebration, honoured Mr. Vijayaratnam with a Gold Medal, which was presented to him by former Malaysian Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. Currently retired, but actively involved in spiritual and philanthropic activities with his wife, he lives in Sydney, Australia.
We aim to provide educational opportunities to disadvantaged members of the society to give them a chance to change their lives. We support individuals, families and organisations who endeavour to improve the quality of their lives through education.
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Arts and Culture
We support a variety of programmes that aim to increase the appreciation of arts and culture among Malaysians. Our projects are steered towards creating mutual respect among the multiracial, multicultural members of the Malaysian society and to revitalise the cultural energies in the community. We want to bring Malaysian arts and culture to the forefront and to make it a vital part of our daily lives.
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Community Development
We strive to support independence, entrepreneurship and leadership development by providing programmes that empower individuals to take on the challenges in their lives. We believe that the best way to help the disadvantaged in the community is by providing them with knowledge and solutions that they can use to help themselves.
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Environment
We recognise the need to preserve and protect the earth’s vital natural resources. The Foundation has always tried to use environmentally friendly products and supports environment conservation activities. Our concern for the environment is not only an intrinsic value of the Foundation’s principles but also as a mark of our legacy to future generation.
Projects
Initiated in September 2009, Footprints is a mentoring programme that helps less fortunate children between the ages of 9 and 12, to realise their potential. The mission of the programme is simple: to match children with caring individuals who can guide them to develop self confidence and learn about the world around them. Having a mentor gives a child a positive role model, provides some new experiences, and helps the child to develop a sense of the future. The first season of the programme has successfully matched 28 children from two orphanages which are the Agathians Shelter and Ti-Ratana Welfare Society – with 27 caring mentors comprising mostly of employees of the QI Group and Independent Representatives of QuestNet, a QI subsidiary, who are carefully selected to guide the children.
Maharani, is a project aimed at helping adolescent girls aged 13-17 from underprivileged backgrounds. This project themed –‘The Princess in You’ aims to nurture strong personal foundations in young women, that will help them embrace their future in more positive ways. Maharani involves a series of camps that will be conducted in a different state each month, with the aim of covering the whole of Peninsular Malaysia. Maharani focuses on five components: • Gender, ethnicity and culture • Reproductive health and sexuality • Physical, mental and spiritual health • Dream building • Recreational activities and teambuilding These five components are embedded into modules that are carefully created by experts in
each field to ensure the quality and the successful delivery of the message to the participants. These young girls go through a camping experience like no other, where they get the opportunity to learn, discuss and understand the importance of being a woman and to learn to appreciate themselves as if they were princesses. At the same time, the camp will help boost their self confidence, increase their sense of civicconsciousness, cultural pride, and widen their mindset, to prepare them for the responsibilities of adulthood.
The 6-month programme has helped to create a bond between the children and their mentors, as they partake in various exciting activities together. Among the many activities that have been carried out include visits to the zoo, art and craft activities and participation in ASTRO’s Cricket Clinics. Mentors are also encouraged to meet up with the kids at their own time. From left: Footprints kids enjoying themselves during the ASTRO Cricket Clinic; Footprints Facebook Fan Page
From left: Participants posing with the Vijayaratnam Foundation’s Chairperson, Datin Umayal Eswaran; An activity from one of the modules – Healing.
Reviving the Main Puteri in partnership with PUSAKA ARUNA is a youth empowerment seminar aimed at giving young people on the threshold of adult life an opportunity to benefit from the wisdom of successful professionals and entrepreneurs who have made a difference in the communities they live in. Aruna, derived from the ancient language of Sanskrit, refers to the glow of the rising sun, a metaphor for new beginnings – an apt symbolism to describe youth. Vijayaratnam Foundation invites prominent members of society and the corporate world to be guest speakers at the seminar with the hope that this will provide the young participants an opportunity to learn from and be inspired by people who have overcome all odds to achieve success. The seminar aims to be a platform for personal growth, self-actualisation and character building for young students. The theme for the year 2010 is ARISE and AWAKE. ARISE empowers people to get into action, to aim for their goals, while AWAKE refers to the awakening of the mind to achieve great things.
From top: Students lining up to get Dato’ Vijay Eswaran’s signature; Dato’ Vijay Eswaran connecting with the students.
The Main Puteri is among the most indigenous theatrical forms found in the north eastern Malaysian state of Kelantan. Incorporating elements of drama, dance and music, it encapsulates and expresses principal belief systems of the traditional Kelantanese worldview. Main Puteri is considered a form of local psychotherapy and is often performed to cure patients suffering from emotional illness. In the Kelantanese worldview, such illnesses are due either to a loss of semangat (lifeessence) or an imbalance of angin (inner wind) within a patient’s body. The principal figures in a Main Puteri performance are the tok puteri and tok minduk. Musical accompaniment includes the rebab (Malay spike fiddle), gendang (double-headed drum), tetawak (gong) and serunai (Malay oboe).
From top: The healing process; The Main Puteri team in action.
Projects
Vijayaratnam Foundation has collaborated with cultural organisation PUSAKA to revitalise the Main Puteri performance tradition of Kelantan. The year-long project will involve training a group of young people in the Main Puteri tradition, extensive audio-visual and written documentation and aims to provide urban youth with an opportunity to encounter, experience and engage with the Main Puteri tradition in order to appreciate and understand the diversity, resplendence and wealth of Malaysia’s cultural legacy.
Community Support Programmes
especially those who come from rural areas, in government-run skills training institute.
Malay delicacies and were given gifts to mark the festivals.
Spreading Christmas Cheer DeepaRaya celebration Since the time of its inception, Vijayaratnam Foundation has been involved in a wide variety of short term community support programmes. The main aim of these projects has been to help the vulnerable, underprivileged members of society who have fallen through the gaps of the social support system of modern society due to extraneous circumstances. We highlight a few of these initiatives here.
RESCUE Project Vijayaratnam Foundation collaborated with the Hindu Youth Organisation (HYO) in Port Klang for
a project called RESCUE that focuses on under-achieving secondary school students to holistically empower them to bring the best out of themselves. RESCUE is an acronym for -- Realise, Empower, Self-esteem, Commitment, Unity and Education. These are the core values embedded and disseminated through the programme. The students were selected at the formative age of 13, a time in the adolescent life when young minds can be easily influenced. This project is designed to run for a period of three years to help these students bring about a change in
their lives holistically through a series of empowerment and academic programmes.
Support for C3G-STI by EWRF The Vijayaratnam Foundation along with Astro Vanavil and The Malaysia Community and Education Foundation (MCEF) joined forces to fund a programme called C3G Skills Training Initiative( C3G-STI) started by The Educational Welfare and Research Foundation (EWRF). This training aims to create awareness of the skill training opportunities and increase the participation of Malaysian youths,
The Foundation in association with QuestNet Malaysia and National Cancer Council (MAKNA) brought cheer into the lives of 30 young children who are living with cancer. On October 14, 2009, the double festival of Hari Raya and Deepavali were celebrated at the QuestNet Malaysia corporate headquarters with these children aged between 3 and 16, who come from low-income families and are currently under the care of MAKNA. The kids were treated to a magic show, some music and dancing and a lot of fun with the employees of the Foundation and QuestNet. They feasted on a spread of Indian and
Another important festival was celebrated by the Foundation with 24 children from the Praise Emmanuel Children’s Home at a Christmas event at the QuestNet Malaysia office. Children were given a Santa hats and were surprised with magic shows and presents from Santa Claus. They were also treated to a mouthwatering spread of sumptuous food to complete the celebration.
Sharing the joy of the Lunar New Year The Lunar Year marks the beginning of a brand new year in the Lunar calendar and is one of the most important festivals in the Chinese culture. Vijayaratnam Foundation
and QuestNet welcomed the year of the Tiger with the residents of the Ci Hang-Chempaka Old Folks home. 40 residents of the home celebrated the day with aplomb as they danced with employees of QuestNet and trustees of the Foundation and showed off their singing skills at the Karaoke session. The Foundation also arranged a special Lion Dance performance to mark the occasion and oranges and Ang Paos were given to the residents as they shared the joy of the festive season together. From left: Head of VF, Sujitra Jayaseelan and Mr. Magandran presenting the cheque to HYO; The launching ceremony for C3G-STI; Excited children wait eagerly for the cake to be cut during the DeepaRaya celebration; The presence of Santa Claus adds joy to the festive celebration; Datin Umayal Eswaran and the trustees of VF tossing the yee sang during the celebration.
Media Coverage
No. 802, Menara Amcorp, Amcorp Trade Centre 18, Jalan Persiaran Barat, 46050 Petaling Jaya Selangor Darul Ehsan Tel : +603 7967 9888 DID : +603 7967 9983/9975 Fax : +603 7967 9981
www.vf.org.my