This year national level Tokoh Maal Hijrah is Billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary. Negeri sembilan's Tokoh Maal Hijrah is Malaysia's first man in space, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor Sheikh Mustapha. The award was presented by the Yang DiPertuan Besar Tuanku Ja'afar Tuanku Abdul rahman at the Seremban Municipal Council Hall.
According to Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar, his parents taught him to provide for the poor and destitute. His philanthropies values were nurtured from the age of 23 when he started a small business dealing in rice. When he received his first monthly income of RM1,500, his mother has told him to donate half of it to the poor. Today, countless poor people benefited from his Albukhary Foundation. From 1996 t0 2006, his foundation has contributed almost RM1 billion to charity.
His business interests range from trading to banking and port development, are spread throughout the world. He has humanitarian projects in Asia and Africa, including rebuilding the lives of Afghan refugees, Pakistan's earthquake survivors and Indonesia's tsunami victims and is now working to establish an AIDS hospital in Uganda.
Among the Foundation initiatives are the Albukhary Tuition Programme for the poor underachievers and Albukhary Scholarship Programme for poor high achievers.
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