This was revealed by Malai Hj Abdullah, president of SMARTER, in a press conference held at SMARTER ASD Centre in Sengkurong yesterday.
“At the moment we are very happy as this is the best response so far amongst all the events that we have organised,” he said. According to Malai Hj Abdullah, this is the 7th fund raising activity held since SMARTER was founded in 2001. The first was held in 2002, dubbed ‘Walk, Run and Cycle’, and witnessed participants by SMARTER family members only. The second fund raising event was held in 2005, a 120 km walk from Kuala Belait to Taman Hj Sir Omar Ali Saifuddien and in 2006, SMARTER organised another 100 km walk from Sg Kebun to Muara and back to Taman Hj Sir Omar Ali Saifuddien. In 2007, it was the five-hill challenge and in 2008, it was the seven-hill challenge. This year is the ‘President’s Charity Giant Walk’, to be held on May 2-3, one of SMARTER’s efforts to raise funds to pay for the bank loan used in purchasing the $1.9 million building.
According to Malai Hj Abdullah, both SMARTER ASD Centre and BACA Centre will be relocated to the new building as soon as the bank loan is approved.