Aroma from the grilled satay wafted through the air just outside of the recreational center, overlooking the calm sea. Amazingly the weather was good with spots of clouds dotting the blue sky. A wonderful day, especially when it has been raining almost everyday for the past one week.

Sitting under the brolly, devouring the juicy satay dipped with slightly sweet and spicy peanut sauce, Rahimin looked relaxed and contented that Lumut Power Plant (LPP)’s safety week and open house were on schedule after months-long preparation.

Being a staff for many years and involved in organizing social events such as these, he said that these are just some of the ways for LPP to give back to the community. Being in existence in Segari for more than ten years, he was thankful that the management gives full support to events like these as a way to engage with our stakeholders, the people of Segari and its surrounding areas.

The support from the management encourages many others like him to find ways to give back more to the local folks. There is no monetary gain from organizing events like these. It demands extra effort from them, in addition to their day-to-day tasks, but they did it in good will, so that these folks will be better acquainted with the plant that resides near their community. Over 2000 visitors attended the open house which comprised the staff and their families, local folks, children from adopted schools and orphans from local orphanages.

As this is the one of the few opportunities for them to get closer to the plant, LPP used this as a platform to give something extra to them by organizing a safety day to coincide with the open house. While enjoying the sumptuous spread that includes specialties such as rendang rusa and kambing golek, they were able to visit various booth at the safety exhibition. 10 booths varying from government agencies to private companies, such as Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat, Polis Diraja Malaysia, Agensi Anti Dadah Kebangsaan, and Radio Amatur.

This two-in-one event also aimed at educating the community on safety and the safety measures at the plant so they can sleep soundly at night, knowing that the plant is in good hands and not a threat to their community and environment.

Looking at the smooth-running event, you’d be thankful that there are experienced staff who are willing to sacrifice their time and work extra hours to organize the occasions. Rahimin said committee members of BKK and PSRM actively participated in the running of the event. BKK made arrangements for the anak yatim while PSRM took care of the safety week, that includes mini sports, blood donation drive, and contractor slogan competition, to name a few. More than 100 bags of blood were collected and donated to Hospital Manjung and prizes were given to those who donated the most bags of blood, with the winner having donated a total of 16 bags to date!

This voluntary act deserved an applaud but as with the nature of volunteerism, they do not expect any rewards. The joy of seeing the events running smoothly and the happy faces of their colleagues and local folks are enough to acknowledge and reward the blood, sweat and tears shed by them during the preparation and execution of the events.

Puan Azizah is a familiar face at the plant. Easy-going, friendly and warm person by nature, she started working at the plant as a cleaner -tea lady that earned her RM400 a month, and never expected her life will change drastically with the existence of LPP.

“Previously, I worked in Manjung and as jobs were scarced, I cannot afford to be choosy and accept any work although the payment was meagre.”

She is one of the local folks who benefited from the plant. Work at the plant is different from her previous employment at the Mattel factory in Manjung where she sew clothes for Barbie dolls. A target of 1000 pieces of clothes per day had to be met or she would be penalized.

LPP provides a different working life for her. At first, she was assigned to clean the houses by the sea that were occupied by the contractors who worked at LPP. When there was an opening for a tealady at the plant, she quickly applied and went on to preparing and serving drinks for the staff at the plant. She has served as tealady for En Mohd Radzuan and later on for En Shakiman and she even recalled that one of En Mohd Radzuan’s favourite dishes was kari kepala ikan.

Grateful for LPP existence as it has helped improved her income and provided her with a secure job, she also noted that many local folks like her benefited from the plant, too. Jobs don’t come easy in Segari or Manjung a few years back and LPP was god-sent to them as it provided them with financial security and better working environment than the local factories.

As a responsible corporate citizen, LPP yearns to give back to the community by providing them opportunity to improve their quality of life and hopes that its existence will benefit the folks within the area, and vice versa.