RYTHM Foundation to organise convention on Orang Asli issues, challenges this June

KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 (Bernama) -- The RYTHM Foundation in collaboration with Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and other local universities is organising a convention focusing on the issues and challenges faced by the Orang Asli communities in Malaysia from June 20-22 this year.

Head of the foundation, Santhi Periasamy, said the convention aimed to create widespread awareness of the pressing needs of the Orang Asli in Malaysia to lead a decent and progressive life. 

“The convention will include roundtable discussions, forums with panel speakers who are authorities in various fields related to the development of Orang Asli communities, project presentations by stakeholders, and dialogues with undergraduates from the Orang Asli communities, among other events,” she told Bernama.

Meanwhile, Santhi also unveiled the foundation’s various projects that would be launched this year, including ‘Jaguh RF’ (RF Champion) in collaboration with the Asa Foundation, which highlights sports career opportunities for teenagers.

“We will also be launching the ‘Maharani Learning Lab’ that will be located in Damansara Damai for girls from B40 families to give them exposure to contemporary skills, information technology (IT) skills such as coding, robotics, apart from all these soft skills and communication programmes.

“It's going to be a seven-day programme that children will attend on weekdays and also weekends to acquire all these skills, and we are working with a good service provider who can come and develop these girls. We hope to launch it in the third quarter of this year,” she added.

Santhi said the foundation would also launch the Community Adoption Programme (CAP) for the indigenous people this September in Perak, as it had reached its goal in Sabah and Pahang.

According to Santhi, the three-year programme focuses on academic support for primary school students as well as youth development to empower the group with life and business skills.

Santhi hoped the government would lend its support and acknowledge the foundation’s programmes in schools as well as other projects in the future.

-- BERNAMA