Promoting diplomacy in sports
ILLUSTRATING a pair of hands gripped tightly together, the PSA from SMK Kuching High, Sarawak, aptly demonstrated the sports theme for this year’s NiE contest. This was the poster that earned Team Modulus a spot in the grand finals, and ultimately, the grand prize.
With a keen eye for detail, LBS Bina Group Berhad managing director Tan Sri Lim Hock San had handpicked the PSA to sponsor as a full-page advertisement even before the grand finals took place.
He commented that the artwork was current, relevant and addressed a crucial matter – international relations and diplomacy.
“It aptly demonstrates the students’ realisation about the positive impact of sports and cites the recent Olympics as an example. Sports has become a platform for nations to gather under a common purpose.”
He also noted that Malaysia achieved its best results this year since its debut at the Olympic Games in 1964. “The Rio Olympics 2016 proved to be another example of how sports rallied Malaysians from all walks of life to support our home team.”
He also commended The Star for providing a creative avenue that stimulates young Malaysians to express their ideas. “The Star-NiE PSA is a positive platform that has reached out to thousands of young minds across Malaysia.
“Furthermore, this contest also created a bridge for corporate organisations to engage with and affirm the future generation as well as their ideas.”
As a socially responsible property developer, LBS Bina Group Berhad was drawn to support the Star-NiE project as the company shared a common goal of building and nurturing communities, namely the future generation.
Lim said that LBS Bina was founded on strong values surrounding family, community service and nation building, while driving productivity, be it by housing Malaysians or growing the Malaysian property industry as a whole.
Lim also added: “LBS Bina looks forward to working with The Star on more creative and inspiring initiatives aimed at engaging and uniting Malaysians from all walks of life.”
SMK Kuching High contest supervising teacher Chai Yu Tak said it is a great honour to be given corporate sponsorship by LBS Bina Group Berhad. “We are very grateful for the support shown and would like to thank them for their enduring support for Malaysian education.”
He also added that the initiative shown by The Star newspaper in organising competitions like the NiE Contest every year has benefited students nationwide.
“The students have not only gained a lot of knowledge and experience whilst competing, but they also learnt the meaning of humility and sportsmanship.
“Through this contest, our students have matured a lot and learnt the importance of teamwork. We hope for these contests to continue every year as it is beneficial.”
For members of Team Modulus, they are overjoyed and proud to know that their artwork would be published on a full page in The Star.
“We are deeply honoured and we hope that will help spread our message of sports diplomacy more effectively and to a wider audience,” said Teo Hao Jing.
A true believer in their PSA message, another team member Lewis Tang Wei Hao said that sports diplomacy has the power to change our world for the better.
“Malaysians should realise that this is an immensely important platform to achieve significant and everlasting change at the global stage.”
Apart from spreading their message, Team Modulus also earned their school RM2,000 through this sponsorship. Member Adryan Ang Seng Theng said: “We are honoured and pleasantly surprised that we have helped our school to win this prize.”
Agreeing, teammate Su Yee Hui hoped that the accolades their school received for winning the Outstanding Award will help inspire students, especially from East Malaysia, to constantly take part in contests organised by The
Star newspaper. “We also hope that this breakthrough will result in higher readership of the NiE and stuff@school pullouts which in turn will benefit the students’ English in the long run,” she added.