5 September 2018
Johor queen presents her royal address titled “Giving Back to Society — Continuing the Tradition”, in which she shared personal and heartfelt experiences in philanthropy work.
Held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 5, Raja Zarith Sofiah attributed her passion for philantropy to her late parents — Sultan of Perak Sultan Idris Shah Sultan Iskandar Shah and Raja Perempuan Perak Raja Perempuan Muzwin Raja Ariff Shah.
She started working with the Malaysian Red Crescent some 15 years ago when she was first invited to attend an event as the guest of honour.
In the course of her speech, she touched on her participation in flood relief work as some areas of Johor were prone to floods, and her involvement with the Paediatric Palliative Care Unit at the Sultan Ismail Hospital and the Paediatric Ward at Sultanah Aminah Hospital.
She added when her fourth son Tunku Laksamana Johor Tunku Abdul Jalil Iskandar was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer.
“We knew how expensive cancer treatment and medication was and so we launched the Tunku Laksamana Johor Cancer Foundation. Seeing my son suffer while we could afford him treatment, we knew we had to help those who were less fortunate,” she said.
The foundation has helped more than 1000 cancer patients with medication and treatment, as well as providing transport to and from treatment centres.
She ended her speech by galvanising the attendees to help those who are less fortunate and to continue to give back to society.
The TAR Lecture series is organised by the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) since 1970 in honour of the country’s first Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.
It had since been a platform for both local and foreign leaders, practitioners, academicians and thinkers to discourse and share insights on contemporary economic and management issues.
The lectures have since been graced by 27 luminaries over the past 48 years, with the inaugural speech presented by the then American president of the Asian Institute of Management, Dr Stephen H Fuller, who spoke about the importance of purposeful management opportunity.
This was followed by renowned academician and founder of the Department of Economics at Universiti Malaya Professor Diraja Ungku Abdul Aziz Ungku Abdul Hamid, while the third lecture was by veteran British management consultant and writer Lyndall Urwick.
Other prominent speakers who had graced the event are third Malaysian PM Tun Hussein Onn, Jeffrey Robert Immelt and current Malaysian PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
