Non-Muslim Maulidur Rasul award recipient to soldier on
Social activist Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, the only non-Muslim recipient of this year’s Maulidur Rasul awards, has vowed to continue with his humanitarian work.
Lee, 73, was among four recipients to receive the award from Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah at the national-level Maulidur Rasul 1441H/2019 celebration on Saturday.
He pledged to continue to serve all regardless of race and religion, which he said has been his guiding principle for over four decades.
“I am honoured to be picked for the award in conjunction with birthday of Prophet Muhammad. I have always considered myself as a Malaysian when serving and providing assistance to the people without looking at race or religion.
“I care heavily about safety and was very happy to be able to help improve the safety levels at tahfiz when I was chairman of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh),” said Lee.
He said Malaysians should not forget the horrible fire at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 14, 2017 that claimed the lives of 21 students and two teachers.
“After the incident at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, Niosh developed a safety and health programme for religious educational institutions and published a guidebook on this,” said Lee, who retired as Niosh chairman in September.
The other recipients were academician Prof Datuk Dr Asma Ismail, pioneer of Mesra Ibadah Hospital Datuk Dr Khalid Ibrahim and humanitarian activist Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid.
They received RM20,000, a trophy and a certificate each.
Syariah law expert Datuk Daud Muhammad was named recipient of the 2019 Maulidur Rasul Perdana Award. He received RM50,000, a trophy and certificate.