Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia impressed with Kechara

30 July 2012 - 9:02pm No Comments

Kechara’s Soup Kitchen was invited by our Government to participate in PEMANDU GTP 2.0 Open Day at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday.

The Performance Management & Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) was formally established on September 16, 2009 and is a unit under the Prime Minister’s Department. PEMANDU’s main role and objective is to oversee implementation and assess progress of the Economic Transformation Programme and the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

At the GTP Roadmap 2.0 Open Day at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre yesterday, the almost 5,000 visitors were briefed on the programme by the Chief Executive Officer of the Performance Management & Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) Dato’ Sri Idris Jala, who is also a minister in the Prime Minister’s Dept. Members of the public were able to review key initiatives in the GTP Roadmap 2.0 and participate in breakout sessions with him.

The GTP Roadmap 2.0 was formulated after PEMANDU conducted a series of labs in April and May across six weeks to identify key issues and new areas of growth opportunities which could be worked on within the National Key Results Areas (NKRAs).

Kechara is very proud to be invited as it is a recognition by our government that we are the leading NGO in the country together with Mercy Malaysia and Epic. Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin visited the Open Day and was accompanied by Ministers in Prime Minister’s Dept Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon and Dato’ Sri Idris Jala.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked for a brief from Chua Siong Woan, our Soup Kitchen’s Project Director and she gave a good introduction of our good work to the VIP visitors. He wanted to know how many people we serve, the number of full time staff, how we filter the deserving recipients and if we have obtained tax exempt status. Siong Woan explained that we share our data with our National Welfare Dept and we are awaiting approval from the tax department.

Our DPM said we must get tax exempt status as it is important for funding. Our DPM also acknowledged our Buddhist background and he nodded his head as though he has heard of us before.

And good news to share: the guests were totally impressed with our soup kitchen!