The judging of the submissions has been one of the toughest challenges in this year’s Prime Minister’s CSR Awards. The Judges Panel scrutinized every short-listed entry, including the supporting materials before deciding on their final scores.

The 10 Judges were selected for their understanding of and commitment to CSR as well as their expertise in the various fields covered by the eight categories. The names of the Judges have been kept under wraps till now.
Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development headed the Panel.

The others are: Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairperson of the Securities Commission; Mr Kamal Malhotra, Resident Coordinator of UNDP; Mr Lim Beng Choon, Country Managing Director of Accenture Malaysia; Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim, Professor Emeritus at University of Malaya’s History department; Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor, President of the Malaysian Nature Society; Dato’ Meme Zainal Rashid, Director General of the Social Welfare Department; Dato’ Hafsah Hashim, CEO of SMIDEC; Janet Pillai, senior lecturer at the School of Arts, University Science Penang; and well-known former journalist Hardev Kaur, who is now an officer at the Ministry of Finance.

Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim

Tan Sri Dr Salleh Mohd Nor

Kamal Malhotra

We asked some of them for their comments on this year’s submissions as well as advice and tips that would benefit future participants.

TAN SRI ZARINAH ANWAR

“I’m glad that this year we have an award for small companies. At its heart, CSR represents fundamental values that hold the fabric of humanity together. Thus all companies big or small must embrace these values and weave them into their business strategies.

Only when companies are successful in doing this, will they be assured of profitable sustainability.

The submissions received this year, like last year, show that while there are companies especially the large GLCs and MNCs which have embraced Corporate Responsibilty in its totality, there are many others that focus mainly on charitable giving.

Of course such giving is to be encouraged, but being socially responsible goes beyond this. It is about discharging responsibility to all stakeholders by integrating ethical business practices into their core business strategies.

I hope awards such as this will raise greater awareness and encourage more companies to emulate those which have successfully done so.”

LIM BENG CHOON
What impressed me with the top few submissions (and it was highly competitive) was their depth, focus, leverage and continuous innovation.

The submissions that showed depth are usually backed up by an organization specifically set up with to drive the CSR activities and to continuosly improve on them.

For example in Maxis Cyberkids, the programme has evolved from rural schools outreach into an integrated programme with camps, portal, and a nationwide competition.

The PETRONAS PetroSains programme has evolved from just the science discovery centre in KLCC to Petrosains Playsmart, to Sahabat Petrosains camps which are used to spark interest in science and mathematics amongst children across the country.

While many of the other submissions say they are focused, they are not. They react to the requests for funds and seem to spread their funds and activities in too many places resulting in lack of clear impact and outcome.

For a good example of focus, L’Oreal is very focussed for their Women’s program where they just provide support to promising female researchers, and the research programmes funded for example on Alzheimers disease and Stem Cells have relevant impact on the society.

Leverage is when the organization uses its own strength or capability and also its own assets to bring benefits to the community. On top of that they pair up their strengths with that of other organisations to deliver maximum impact.

For example CIMB’s Community Link program leverages its nationwide branch network to understand the communities and their needs and then partners with others who have their own core skills to deliver significant outcomes.

PETRONAS leverages its KLCC facility for Culture and Heritage and further leverages the MPO and Galeri PETRONAS to stimulate interest in arts with students and young professionals.

The Intel Teach program leverages use of intel technology and partners with the Ministry of Education to train teachers on use of computers in teaching.

DATO MEME ZAINAL RASHID
As the Director General of the Department of Social Welfare, I was delighted to see that so many corporations and small companies had continued to invest in CSR activities despite the very challenging economic situation of 2008 and 2009. We know from experience that welfare and training budgets are the first to be cut when there is an economic meltdown.
I would also like to highlight the fact that there were many companies who did not submit entries for the PM’s CSR Awards despite the fact they have been ‘corporate givers’. Through collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare, many companies have undertaken social development project that have been very meaningful, not only to residents of welfare homes but also to other socially vulnerable groups. I would like to encourage these ‘unsung heroes’ to submit entries next year for consideration.

Among those who submitted, I would have liked to see much more elaboration about ‘the benefactor and the beneficiary’ relationship. I do understand that social welfare is not core business of companies and corporations. But when corporations engage with welfare service providers as well as clients small transformations begin to take place. These can really make a big impact on society.

Institutional investors must know that until and unless companies are deeply engaged with local communities, they may not sustain their businesses in the long term.

This year’s PM’s CSR submissions showed that many corporations were still in the traditional ‘giving of money’ rather than in ‘engaging with the community’ mode. I look forward to a much more dynamic partnership with the corporations in the next PM’s CSR Awards. I am sure this will then be reflected in the submissions we receive.

DATO HAFSAH HASHIM
‘The submissions this year indeed are impressive and displayed strong commitment in driving CSR initiatives at the organisational level. Efforts have been well orchestrated to ensure higher and better impacts are achieved for their targeted beneficiaries.

The winners have showcased innovative and creative CSR programmes. Indeed, these extraordinary approaches have touched a human heart, thus achieving ‘out of the ordinary’ impact on the initiatives implemented.

Congratulations to the winners!’

JANET PILLAI
‘Social Responsibility’ is simply acting with responsibility towards the communities we depend on and interact with, regardless of whether we are individuals, institutions, government or private sector. Most challenging for the corporate sector today is keeping a competitive edge in the market while striving equally to reduce some damage on humans and environment.

Having reviewed the applications for the Prime Minister’s CSR Awards it was heartening to note a few companies that have in an organized manner drawn up indicators and strived towards ‘socially’ good practice, for their employees, their client community and for the environment. What set these companies apart from the rest is that they have striven to act with responsibility not merely as a branding/recruitment tool but to achieve professional work ethics, thus moving CSR a notch higher in Malaysia.

Less heartening however was the review of several other corporate entries from around Malaysia which displayed a lack of understanding of CSR let alone the practice of it. With the exception of one or two companies, research and documentation and impact assessment of product/services on the immediate and communal environment is sorely lacking. CSR in Environment is taken at face value when it could go much deeper and drive genuine green thinking and green solutions.

Few companies seemed to have a dedicated long term mission, vision and dedicated staff working to actualize CSR in terms of content and programming. Most lacking is the education of employees to experience/believe in social responsibility. Monies tend to be doled out to non-profit mediating or charitable agencies who specialize in activities related to special needs, education, environment, arts etc. Winning entries with sustainable CSR programs displayed longer-term projects, scaffolded to sustain engagement with specific issues and communities.