Tisu Bang...

Malaysians are a generous bunch.
Hmm, Malaysians are a generous bunch?
Aha, Malaysians are a generous bunch!

We may be skimpy on paying the tolls, parking ticket, that extra tips to the waitresses or some (ehem) even resort to stealing the papers and magazines from the office, but we never say no to those who offer tissues for a reasonable barter trade of your money.

The normal scenario where you see a blind old man accompanied by a young looking women, or a young boy from the Tahfiz school, or another familiar looking kid asking “Tisu bang”, or with the mini poster of “I-am-from-Rumah-so-and-so-and-we-need-your-donation-to-help-build-our-home”, or some “Please-Help-My-Sister-She-is-Suffering-From-Cancer”. This is some typical catchy phrases that would definitely attract you.

Somehow we think that giving money to the disadvantage is actually our legal ticket to any wrong doings we have done in the past. But I bet that there are somehow, perfectly two reasons why most Malaysians are a generous bunch.

Firstly.
Ladies, do you know that some boys are a show off! Boys, you are out on a date with this girl who got your heart beating fast that you can’t think straight. So you reach into your wallet in the hope that she would go ahh at the sight of your kind generosity to help the disadvantage.

Or let’s face the second reason.
Malaysian is just a generous bunch!

This is perfectly the valid reason why the very first thing I’ve done when I assume presidency of DDYPC is to organize a fund raising during the fasting period for 2 of the orphanages homes for 39 kids in Rumah Haluan Penyayang, Shah Alam and another 25 kids in Baitul Fitrah, Rawang. The effort put forward by the dedicated DDYPC committee has enabled us to collect more than RM 9’000 from the Development Division’s community. Not bad huh. These are the great Samaritan in PETRONAS.

However, this is not the typical scenario that you see overseas. Well, probably because they have completely eliminate the so called ‘Poor-Index’, or enforcing zero tolerance towards open charity such as what we see at the side of the street. And surprising, it has worked well as the people are not at all a thrifty.

Believe me or not, your act of giving openly, however good the intention it is, just does not feed all too well in this community.

Do you notice that the more you give, the list of people receiving multiply. Have you noticed that if you stay for two hours in places like Rasta or Uptown, you would eventually bump into the same “Tisu bang” again. Well, these people do the hourly sweep you see.

It is not my place to condemn, but some people say that they get a monthly income of approximately RM5K at least (tax free), which is 2 times bigger than the normal salary of a PETRONAS entrant. And some people say that we in PETRONAS enjoys the lavish benefit of Oil & Gas in this country. Hmm.. probably it is the best time to swap job. At 3 am when their shift is done, ‘through some personal experience’, you can see the handicap man drive away in that Honda that you always long for.

Hence people, listen. Realising this, why don’t you use your will power to channel your fund accordingly? It can be through zakat, or through various other efforts put by our company, PETRONAS. Remember the spirit of Energy Receive, Energy Return, Aspiring People Everywhere?
PETRONAS is the One-Stop-Solution for the Community.

Helping the kids – we have got the BAKTI program which helps underprivilledge students in improving their communication skills
Orphanage – Every year, we organize the Sentuhan Kasih for us to realize their dreams, and of course to give some duit raya as well
Community Service – Have you heard of the ongoing effort we are doing with the Penan, a community living remote off Sabah
Education – You can always volunteer to become a speaker at any of the Career Talk

And lots of other things on the list which continue growing. And right now, we have hundreds of dedicated PETRONAS staff serving voluntarily to drive the effort.

So, I am convinced that Malaysians are a generous bunch, and they just need to be directed to the proper way to channel their hard earn money and sweat. So, if you seek any advice, I can be consulted anytime as your Financial Adviser should you need to make that generous decision.