Dengkil, 21 December 2018 

AEON CO. (M) BHD.’s commitment to diversify the forest trees in twenty six hectares of land in Paya Indah Wetlands has been successfully fulfilled. The land known as ‘Bukit AEON’ has been handed over to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN) here, today.

Initiated on 15 September 2004, the Malaysia-Japan Friendship Forest project is the first-of-its kind and saw the successful planting of 30,000 forest trees by 3,000 volunteers from the government agencies, schoolchildren, local community, university students, business partners of AEON, AEON staff and Japanese volunteers.

To date, the land is now filled with more than 60,000 forest trees of various species.

Present at the event was Yang Berhormat Dr. Xavier Jayakumar, Minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources, who said: “It takes dedication, awareness and commitment to successfully run a green project of this scale. With this in mind, initiatives such as these play an important role in conserving Mother Nature and while the results may not be seen overnight, our future generations will be thankful. Furthermore, this project is also a testament to Malaysian and Japanese relations, of which AEON has been sturdy bridge for over the years.”

The ceremony was also witnessed by Yang Berbahagia Dato Dr. Tan Yew Chong, Secretary General, Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources and Yang Berbahagia Dato’ Abdul Kadir bin Abu Hashim, Director General of PERHILITAN.

“The Malaysia-Japan Friendship Forest project is one of AEON’s most successful green projects. For almost 15 years, we have endeavoured to growing and sustaining this forested area with the aim of providing a sustainable living environment for future generations at the Paya Indah Wetlands. I am optimistic that this project will be maintained well by PERHILITAN moving forward,” said Shinobu Washizawa, Managing Director of AEON CO. (M) BHD. during the handover ceremony.

He added that the project will always be a benchmark for other Tree Planting for Biodiversity pillars, such as the Reforestation and Rehabilitation of Firefly Breeding Areas in Kuala Selangor; Tree Planting for the Diversification of Trees at FRIM in Bidor Perak; as well as the Tree Planting for the Reforestation and Rehabilitation of Orang Utan in Lahad Datu, Sabah.

Yang Berhormat Dr. Xavier Jayakumar, Minister of Water, Land and Natural Resources said: “We are honoured to be able to continue maintaining this heritage green project that symbolises not only the commitment towards preserving nature, but is also a testament to the friendship between Malaysia and Japan.

AEON’s corporate social responsibility in tree planting and Hometown Forest Programme was firstly launched in 1991 at AEON MALL Melaka. To date, AEON has planted more than 500,000 trees within Malaysia.