SPEECH BY RECEPIENT OF THE 2002 LANGKAWI AWARD, LEE LAM THYE AT SRI GARDEN SCHOOL, CHERAS WHEN HE WITNESSES THE MALAYSIA BOOK OF RECORD

I wish to thank Sri Garden for inviting me to WITNESS AND ENDORSE the Certificate to Sri Garden for “Breaking the record of making the biggest logo made of recyclable materials” and fulfill the requirements endorsed by the Malaysia Book of Records.

I congratulate the students for having worked very hard to make this project a success. I am sure they must have spent many hours collecting all the recyclable materials for this project.

This project is indeed very commendable as it will raise the awareness among the students in SRI GARDEN on the importance of “RECYCLING” and to need to preserve our environment.

The public can make an impact by reducing the amount of trash generated by adopting the 3R lifestyle of REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE.

The 3R lifestyle is NOT DIFFICULT to start and maintain. Just be smart shoppers, disciplined home owners and helpful and caring neighbours.

I call on all Malaysians to make it a habit to RECYCLE.

Statistics show that the people know the importance of RECYCLING but the percentage of those who make it a habit is still low.

Children learn fast, it’s never too early to teach them about preserving the environment through RECYCLING.

As our children will be the ones to inherit the EARTH, in the future, it is also necessary to inculcate in our young generation the importance of understanding and appreciating that our “EARTH IS PRECIOUS” and is “A GIFT TO SHARE” and “A TRUST TO CARE”.

I have always maintained that in our efforts to increase public awareness in regard to the protection and preservation of the environment, the SCHOOL is the most appropriate place to inculcate love and care for the environment in the young generation, so that they will grow up realising than MAN and NATURE can co-exist in HARMONY.

I am convinced that awareness of the importance of the environment can be achieved through environmental education in schools such as is being done in SRI GARDEN today.

And teachers should spare no effort to ensure that love for the environment is instilled among the young generation.

Environmental protection is everyone’s responsibility. If we fail to look after our environment the consequences will be disastrous.

It might be appropriate for me to remind everyone that CIVILISATION CAN BE DESTROYED IF WE DON’T MAKE PEACE WITH OUR ENVIRONMENT.