Hino Motors Sales (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (HMSM) held a small handing over ceremony where they handed over their Hino XZU720L1 Mini Bus complete with School Bus colours to The Community Chest (TCC), a non-government charitable organisation which purchased the mini bus as a donation for SJK (T) Kangar, Perlis. The ceremony was attended by administrators of The Community Chest, the Parent-Teacher's Association president of SJK (T) Kangar and senior members of HMSM.
The Community Chest was first founded in 2011 in order to promote and support education in the Malaysian community. The non-profit organisation believes that education to be an important pillar for the development of future generations of Malaysians. TCC focuses on supporting non-profit learning institutions or those institutions of learning that have not received sufficient funding from the local or Federal Government or other community sources. It is usual that TCC receives requests from rural schools throughout Malaysia for them to contribute towards the building construction, renovation of classrooms and facility enhancements of the schools. But this time, the need for proper school transport came up from SJK (T) Kangar. A first for them.
The Parent-Teacher Association (PIBG) of the Tamil school had submitted their application to TCC for a school bus as the school faced a problem where it had students coming from all over Kangar. Some had to travel over 20km to reach the school. Since this was Kangar, and it was the only Tamil vernacular school in Kangar, many Indian families sent their children there and many of these were also not well to do. Some had been paying RM100 per month to ensure the safe travel of their children. This was also taxing on them and had from time to time caused many a student to drop out of school. Sad but true.
So now with the new bus provided by TCC, and HMSM (together with the help of coach builder Pioneer) had managed to provide a bus to TCC which will be donated to the PIBG of SJK (T) Kangar for their use. A very good cause indeed. Transport is one of the challenges faced by students in rural Malaysia and we now know a school in Kangar has now benefited from this combined effort. The school bus will now be used as daily transport for the students as well as to facilitate their extra curricular activities which may require them to travel to other destinations. It will ensure safety as the bus belongs to the school and they do not need to depend on an outside source of transport.
According to Mr Tan Kong Han, Administrator of TCC, the organisation is glad to have formed a partnership with HMSM in providing the school bus to the only Tamil school in Perlis (Not only Kangar, but the whole small state of Perlis, mind you). They are also thankful that Hino, being a leader in the mini bus segment here in Malaysia were willing to take up the challenge. They are aware of the quality, durability and reliability of Hino vehicles and this is also why they approached Hino over the other, more affordable brands in the market today.
The Hino XZU720 Mini bus is equipped with a 4.0liter 156ps / 429Nm torque direct injection diesel engine. It drives the rear wheels via a 6 speed manual transmission and in the form supplied, can seat up to 25 passengers. It is equipped with ABS, EBD, tubeless tyres (which aid in fuel consumption), speed limiter and a collapsible steering column with absorbs energy during an accident. The features are one of the reasons TCC chose Hino.
Aside from that, HMSM also stated that all vehicles sold by HMSM to date can run on the B10 biodiesel which is now on sale here in Malaysia. This is without any need for modification whatsoever.
Ken Iwamoto, Managing Director of HMSM had mentioned that it was an honour for HMSM to attend the ceremony as well as Hino being a part of this initiative.
"The initiative taken by TCC and PIBG SJK (T) Kangar is a great move that may contribute to enhance the student's comfort and help less fortunate families. Ensuring children's safety on the road is also part of Hino's responsibility. With this initiative, we can increase their safety when on the road to and from their school" he said.
This time we made a short video on the Hino bus in question. You can see part of the ceremony as well as the bus in more detail.
Second from left - Mr Sreethiaran Selwaraju, Chairman PIBG SJK (T) Kangar ( who came by ETS train all the way from Kangar), Third from left, Mr Tan Kong Han, Administrator - The Community Chest & Fourth from left, Mr Ken Iwamoto, Managing Director of Hino Motors Sales (Malaysia).
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