My Speech at the Press Conference

Good Morning to you all, distinguished guests, members of the press and media, sponsors, volunteers and friends. Thank you so much for being here.

First and foremost I’d like to say a big Thank you to our the Honourable Datuk Dr. Ng Yen Yen, Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, for taking time out of her busy schedule to be here with us this morning. Thank you also to everyone involved in putting this Press Conference together.

I must say that this is all so ‘huge’ for me… and what I mean by ‘huge’ is that I had never intended for my run to create such a positive outcome. Here’s a little summary of what has brought me here to this podium before you.

Around the end of January this year, a couple of friends of mine urged me to join them in enrolling for the 10km category of the KL AmBank International Marathon. I cast them aside saying it was not really my thing and that I preferred to stay fit within the confines of my gym. Well they continued to encourage me and said it would be a good challenge for myself. Eventually I relented.

The next 8 weeks comprised watching my diet, keeping hydrated, getting lots of sleep and waking up at the crack of dawn to train – an incredibly painful and torturous process – more so because I really am NOT a morning person. Suffice to say that most people in the music industry are nocturnal – it’s just the nature of our business!

I decided that as I was investing so much of my personal time and commitment into this task, that I should use this to drive some sort of fund-raising. I’ve always looked up to the likes of Madonna, Richard Gear, Sting and Angelina Jolie for using their public profile as a platform to help create awareness and spread knowledge on various charities. Here was my chance to do the same. I have always wanted to do something for charity and have had these 2 childrens’ charities in mind – Protect & Save The Children and The Children of NurSalam ChowKit. Why? And excuse me for the cliché, but children are indeed our future. Children are precious, innocent, fragile and they represent us in the future. It imperative that we ensure that they are safe at all times. How they grow and develop directly affects how they turn out as adults, as our future leaders and the formation of our communities. With the fantastic press and media support I’ve had since the launch of my career in December 2007, I felt it was time to start putting my growing public profile to some good use!

My team and I handled this very much as a ‘side’ project, afterall most of my time was spent promoting my album as new artistes do, so you can imagine how overwhelmed we were when the pledges started pouring in. On a personal level, that’s when the pressure kicked in… The charities would see NONE of this money if I did not complete the race within the stated 90mins.

Before I knew it, race day had arrived and I found myself drawing closer to the finishing line and there lined up were some children holding up posters and banners, cheering me on. It was amazing. I can’t even begin to describe to you the feeling of accomplishment, joy and love I felt. It was simply inspiring.

Hand in hand with this, as the pledges poured in we were thinking of other ways that we could help increase awareness and publicity on the plight of these children and the cause that the charities support. I remembered an old song I had co-written many years ago called FORBIDDEN LOVE. The song was written as if from the mind of an abused child and the lyrics are absolutely perfect to help represent these charities. It not only illustrates how many abused children are not aware that what is happening to them is wrong but it illustrates how we all too often turn a blind eye to issues that seem taboo. We forget that in doing this we give up all hope of ever making this world we live in a better and safer place for those who represent our future – our children. Allow me to read out to you a few lines:-

“……”

In this highly technological age that we live in, the next obvious step was to shoot a video to add the visual side to the audio storytelling in order to create further awareness – this would mean hopefully telling the story over television and across the worldwide web. Once again we were lucky to find sponsors to do this.

Thank you for listening to my humble words today. I am incredibly proud to say that in total, to date we have received RM126,240 in donations. I am absolutely thrilled and delighted with this outcome – especially for these two amazing charities.

I cannot thank all the sponsors enough for all their support – I would love to name you all but there are over 40 names to mention ranging from private individuals, to companies in the entertainment sector, F&B sector, hospitality and insurance sectors, to the larger shipping and oil & gas corporations. You can find a list of these names in your Press Kit.

In closing, the one invaluable lesson I’ve learned from this entire experience – every little bit counts. Every little thought and idea – Nothing is too small. This was meant to be a small run that I set for myself as a personal challenge that could perhaps raise some money for charity… RM126,240 later I’m here talking to you. This small thought and idea of mine became so much bigger than I had ever dreamed. You don’t always have to wait to be lead, take the first step. Never underestimate your own abilities.

Thank you