GROUP PHOTO: from left: WWF Malaysia representatives, Carmen Jang and Hazel Chee; UCSI Mass Communication Head of Department, Gloria Chan; Be an Earth Hero Campaign Project Manager, Khoo Jun and the emcee of the Campaign launch, Adam Farid.

PLANT ADOPTION: One of the main attractions of the Campaign is the Adopt-A-Plant booth.

JEWELLERY FOR CHARITY: Students were seen visiting the handmade jewellery booth.

KUALA LUMPUR: UCSI University’s Mass Communication students recently organised the ‘Be an Earth Hero’ Campaign to help raise funds for WWF-Malaysia’s tiger conservation campaign, ‘Tx2: Double or Nothing’. 

The campaign – which also aimed to increase greater awareness of the dwindling number of Malayan tigers and threats to their existence – ran for four days and successfully raised RM2,650 in total. 

The students came up with creative initiatives to raise funds, selling homemade ice cream and handcrafted jewellery during the four-day campaign. They also opened an ‘Adopt-A-Plant’ booth, which saw various plant species being sold for RM10 each. 

Representatives from WWF-Malaysia were also seen providing insightful information about tiger conservation at their booth and during their talk. 

Speaking at the campaign launch, Be an Earth Hero Campaign (BEHC) Project Manager Jeremy Khoo highlighted that BEHC was their first collaborative project with WWF-Malaysia. 

“As of now, Malaysia has the second largest tiger population in the world. However, we may no longer be able to defend this (title) if we don’t start protecting and conserving our tigers,” he said. 

“I am very proud of my team. Everybody went all out to make this campaign a success. I am also very grateful to our sponsors and to those who visited and contributed at our booths. Without them, this campaign would not have been possible.” 

Expressing similar praise for her students’ efforts was Gloria Chan, Head of UCSI’s Mass Communication Department. 

“Our students did a great job and I am very proud of them. They ran this campaign for four days with zero ringgit, got sponsors without anybody’s help and managed to achieve their fundraising goals. I truly admire their commitment and team spirit.” 

Notably, the campaign’s cheque presentation ceremony was the culmination of the students’ days of hard work and saw WWF-Malaysia representatives Carmen Jang and Hazel Chee being presented with the cheque. 

“With as few as 3,200 wild tigers left globally, the need to conserve tigers is much needed. We truly appreciate your support in tiger conservation. We hope that today’s efforts will not end here,” said Hazel Chee. 

WWF-Malaysia has a long history of tiger conservation and is proud to be an essential part of TX2 through its Malayan Tiger Conservation Project. ‘Tx2: Double or Nothing’ Campaign was launched in February 2010 with the aim of doubling the number of wild tigers in Malaysia, and the world, by the next Year of Tiger (2022). Joining Malaysia to achieve the same goal are 12 other tiger range countries including Nepal and Indonesia.