By Hasanul Banna
When the word ‘fund raising’ springs to your mind, you will think that students collect money by holding placards and placing box for donation, organising charity night, or selling food and drinks.
You will be surprised that students wash cars and motorbikes to raise funds to help the Orang Asli community (indigenous people of peninsular Malaysia).
The Student Club Jalinan Siswa Bersama Masyarakat Asli (JASA), referred as Students Engagement with Aborigines Community, started carwash programmes from 1 March until 9 March. This project was organised by the club within the IIUM campus in Gombak.
Muhammad Al-Mubarak bin Ahmad Rufai, Exco member for Media and Publicity of JASA, said, “We have done this to collect funds which will be utilised to help the Orang Asli community.
“Our objective is to fill in this loop with what we have, by collecting funds which will be used to buy foodstuffs and medical supplies for them, as well as conduct modules to enhance their children’s education and bring da’wah by teaching them the basics of Islam, such as prayers.”
As has been known, the Orang Asli are facing lack of food supply as well as the education support, as they live in villages deep in the jungle, and their exposure to Islamic teaching is also very limited.”
“In addition, the azan in the village has not been heard for two months due to the broken public address (PA) system of the surau. Therefore, we are in a mission to look for a sponsor that would provide a PA system for the surau,” he added.
Muhammad said that the people bring their vehicles to be washed and support our charity carwash. “Our club initiated selling moist cakes where there has been a lot of demand. We spread our donation posters where people can donate directly to the bank account provided.
Alhamdulillah, we got many cars and motorbikes, from the students as well as the staff. The numbers were mesmerizing that it encouraged us to continue for three more days,” said the student leader.
Muhammad Alif Bin Azhar, a student, brought his car to be washed here. He said, ”It is a good initiative by JASA club to raise funds. I need to go outside campus to wash my car and it is costly. But here, I was charged cheaply and this has also enabled me to contribute for a good cause.”
What JASA is
JASA is a student club supervised under the University Centre for Community Engagement (BUDI). This club was established in 2001 with a mission to help the Orang Asli community with leadership qualities and with the vision to bring at least one Orang Asli to study in IIUM before 2023.
The main objective of JASA club is to provide better education for the aborigines community. This club is active in organising community service project for the community in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Kelantan. JASA will organise programmes next week, in Kampung Leryar, Cameron Highlands, and this carwash charity will collect funds to be fully utilised for the programme. ***