Education

HSBC HANDS OVER NEW LIBRARY TO PULAIE COMPLEX RESIDENTS

Wednesday, 9 May 2007 

Promoting education amongst the local community is a major part of HSBC's Corporate Responsibility Programme, HSBC Cares. As a continuation of this focus on education and to encourage reading amongst youth, HSBC staff collected and bought over 3,000 books to fill up the shelves of Pulaie Complex library. The Bank supported this initiative by sponsoring the library's renovation, and today, HSBC held a ceremony to officially hand over the new library to the residents of Pulaie Complex. 

The ceremony, held at the Pulaie Complex in Jalan Kebangsaan, was attended by HSBC's CEO Guy Priestley and CEO-designate, Tareq Muhmood. Also present were Matthew Martin and Hajah Normah Ismail who jointly head HSBC Cares. 

The event began with the recital of Sural Al-Fatihah to bless the ceremony, followed by a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officiate the event. Datin Hajah Adina binte Othman, the Director of Community Development at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports was there to receive the handing over of the library from Guy Priestley. Meanwhile, Tareq Muhmood presented the books for the library on behalf of other HSBC staff members who had donated them. 

The project had started last year with the refurbishment of the library which was repainted and refitted with new shelves. The library was also in need of more books and staff members of HSBC were more than pleased to donate. Whilst some of the books were donated from their own collection, some staff took the liberty of sourcing book donations directly from book stores and some pooled together to collected funds to buy new books for the library. 

"The true meaning of HSBC Cares is reflected by the spirit displayed by our staff. Their willingness to volunteer and participate in activities that aid the community is what keeps this programme alive, as HSBC Cares is largely initiated and participated by our staff members. Each and every one of the books donated today came from our staff and represents their personal contribution towards the educational development of the residents of this complex. Being caring citizens in a multi-national organisation such as HSBC is what sets our employees and the Bank apart from others in Brunei and around the world." said Matthew Martin.