WWF-Malaysia – Save the Turtles!

I am fortunate to be selected by WWF-Malaysia to write an advertorial for them. I’ve always been actively involved in taking steps to preserve the nature. In this regard, I’ve always recycle every piece of paper that I use and reduce the usage of paper and plastic bags.
Speaking about recycling, my office has a recycle box for paper. I’ve been leaving flyers, paper boxes (even tissue paper boxes) and junk mails in the recycle box.
Lately, I’ve gone to the extreme by saving up all the receipts I get and thereafter, cut them into pieces as stick-it-notes. I usually these notes to my secretary.

Unfortunately, many do not take steps to preserve the environment. Natural resources give us shelter, food, water and raw materials for industries. By polluting the environment, many animals will be affected and some will face extinction.
The extinction of animals will have a great effect on human lives. Those who lived in the late 1990s in the Klang Valley would clearly remember the water supply crisis. Water had to be rationed through trucks and families would fight over them. I was in high school then. My school forced us to bring our own water supply.
The toilet had no water supply as well. It’s a pain to go to the toilet those days. The cubicle walls had loads of brownish stains on them. Man-made brownish stains..euww..
I remember there was once we had to line up for water in front of a rationing truck. Everyone was in line except for one lady who decides to cut queue. She then screamed, “my house hasn’t had water for days!!!”.
Me: WOI LINE UP LA!!
Lady: YOU SHUTTUP!!
Me: NO SHUTTTUP!!! YOU *t00t* LINE UP NOW!!!
Soon I realize that the lady was my friend’s mother. How embarrassing.
WWF-Malaysia has recently launched a sea turtle conservation campaign and www.xes.cx has been approached to help them. Nowadays, sea turtles are one of the rarest things you see when scuba diving or snorkeling. Most of them are either turned into a souvenir or dead.
Sea turtles play a key role in maintaining healthy coral reefs and seagrass beds. These ecosystems are important for the tourist and fisheries industries. Coral reefs are important in preserving the beach and coastal lines. Without them, beaches will disappear and the topless angmoh ladies will have no place to tan themselves.

Green turtle
Green turtles are largely herbivorous, and their constant grazing on sea grasses increases the healthiness and growth rate of seagrass beds.

Leatherback turtle
Leatherback turtles, which forage in the open ocean throughout their life, are the top predators of oceanic jellyfish.
www.xes.cx is running an online donation campaign for this sea turtle conservation campaign.
You can send a SMS with the following message:
SMS WWF(note: space)Your full name(note: space)Email and send to 39398.
Each SMS donates RM3 (3 bucks only mannn. donate la)
Alternatively, you can donate online through the WWF-Malaysia’s website
Please leave a comment if you’ve donated.
More information can be found at wwf.org.my

15 thoughts on “WWF-Malaysia – Save the Turtles!”

  1. Dear xes,
    I am often harrassed by these WWF “volunteers” to make donations to WWF. They say that I can sign up with my credit card, to make monthly donations to WWF via autodebit. I always refuse, because the 1st person from this lot to approach me, followed me from the car park of BSC to the RHB ATM machine, and even harrassed me while I was queueing to use said machine. She harrassed me until, of course, I shouted at her, and people started staring at her.
    I later on learnt that from a 12-month donation, the 1st month’s “donation” goes to the company that WWF outsourced it’s donation campaign to.
    The 2nd month’s “donation” goes to the harrasser.
    The last 2 paragraphs are purely hearsay, and I have no evidence that they are true. However, I am inclined to believe that they are.
    You used the word “advertorial”. Were you paid to write this?

  2. so you were paid to write this. just as i suspected. paid out of the donations you are soliciting.
    are lawyers really paid so badly these days that they have to resort to getting paid by charitable organisations?
    the least you could do is to put a big notice on your site saying that before donating, please think about the percentage of your donation that is going to shameless bloggers, the percentage that is going to the company managing the SMS, and the percentage that finally reaches WWF.
    i bet you are not donating any part of what you were paid back to WWF now are you? well you SHOULD.

  3. as much as i would ideally love for every single sen donated goes to said charity (ies), it is seldom realised that any efforts at anything (organising, raising awareness, conservation etc) cost money. which reminds me of a charity do/ fund raising event a couple of years back, when some people were really upset when they found out that one of the committee members were being paid this and that amount of money to organise the event. herro, you want the best people to do it, then you have to pay lah. then people no need to eat one meh. how would we know if that person does not contribute in other ways to other charities? who are we to judge?

  4. suanie, organising a charity event would take a lot of time. if you get the best to do it, then obviously that is their full time job and you should not look down on them if they get some remuneration… it is their job.
    but as i pointed out to xes, this is not his job. he claims to be a lawyer. that is his job. if wwf were to approach him to do a case for them, and if he charged them, then your “people no need to eat one meh” argument will work.
    also, if you are being paid, it should be made crystal clear from the start that you are. don’t write a long article about how you write on the back of receipts, but yet, take money from the WWF.

  5. the word non-profit org does not mean it should only rely on unsolicited donations and kind hearted souls, it takes some business savviness to sustain it too. they’re not called an organisation for nothing.

  6. jackie: while neither do i support individuals receiving money to promote a charity, your criticisms here are neither helpful nor constructive.
    true, xes may be a cheapskate for taking a nominal sum from WWF to post this article, but don’t you think the content of this article is beneficial? i know this is a very popular website, any many people read it. therefore, by posting an article like this, many people who visit this site would learn something new and beneficial about the environment, and hopefully be motivated to do something about it.
    you criticise certain parties for taking money from charity to promote the environment. fair enough, it’s not a very honourable thing to do, but keep in mind that not everyone has the luxury earning a living and doing an honourable job at the same time. some people are just starved of choices, anything that comes their way that can help them make their next mortgage payment, goes.
    but what i can say, at least these people are doing something for the environment, or whatever charity, whether they mean to or not. you’re such a cheapskate you won’t even donate RM1 a month to a charitable organisation, and you wanna criticise xes for spending his precious time posting this article? you’re using your cheap ass to criticise xes for taking active everyday measures to help the environment? do you know that xes has to make annual payments to sustain this website? do you know that running a website like this requires alot of time and effort, which could have been used instead for feng tao and party sessions?
    what have you done for the environment? what have you done for charity? you can post here that you donated to this shit and that crap, but judging from how you would shout at some girl asking you for donations, i’m inclined to believe anything you write at all.
    plus, what you heard were hearsay. you are judging and criticising based on hearsay. wow, 2 thumbs up for the rumour moron. why don’t you make sure you have solid facts first before even attempting to judge someone. why not you quit your job, that pays a salary, and go work in some charitable organisation and live on nothing but air? idealistic dumbshit.

  7. CHUOMING MY HERO!!!!!
    if genuine people are making an effort to create awareness amongst the public to make just a little bit of donation, it RM3 will not hurt lah.

  8. xes,
    getting all lawyerish on me eh? in that case, i have to point out that i have no idea which e-mail you are referring to.
    kimberlycun,
    once again, please read what i said carefully.
    “…that is their full time job and you should not look down on them if they get some remuneration… it is their job.”
    “…if you are being paid, it should be made crystal clear from the start that you are.”
    so don’t come and tell me irrelevant stuff about unsolicited donations, because that was not what i was talking about.
    i sometimes wonder whether you bloggers understand the english language.
    chuoming,
    i never said xes is a cheapskate. you did.
    “but keep in mind that not everyone has the luxury earning a living and doing an honourable job at the same time. some people are just starved of choices, anything that comes their way that can help them make their next mortgage payment, goes.”
    we are not talking generally here. we are talking about xes. once again, i have to repeat myself because you people read 1 line and think you have gotten the gist of the whole paragraph. let me put this in caps just in case you decide to practice your “speed-reading” again. HE IS A LAWYER. just look at his newest entry. he spent 1k on drinks and angpow. how much of that was wwf’s money?
    i won’t even donate 1 sen to a charitable organisation if a percentage of my donation will be going the same fools who are trying to make you feel guilty about not donating.
    whether or not i do give to charity i think is none of your business, and even if i did, i will not publicise it. it defeats the purpose doesn’t it. so don’t go throwing the word cheapskate around without concrete proof. it makes you look stupid. since we are going on the assumption that you don’t donate to charity unless you publicly declare that you do, you could very well be the “cheap ass”.
    and yes, xes’s website is to be maintained at the expense of a charitable organisation, as all he posts are charitable posts. well done.
    you are inclined to believe anything i write? do you know the meaning of inclined? too CHEAPSKATE to buy a dictionary?
    and please don’t make it seem like the girl asking for donations was a saint. her motivation was not to save the turtles, her motivation was to get 1 month of my donations into her pocket. that is all. and i did politely tell her “no” many times. unless she is mother teresa, i don’t think anything other than money could have motivated her that much. please get your head out of your arse and breathe some fresh air.
    and motherfucker, since you can’t put forward an argument without name calling, allow me to return the favour. while you are on a break from motherfucking, please read this:
    “jackie: yup, i’m paid for it. but just a small amount :D”
    let it be known that leong chuo ming is one dumb fucker.
    sorry motherfucker is a sorry excuse for a lawyer. you don’t even know the meaning of hearsay you piece of shit. i pity your clients. what a dumbshit lawyer.
    i guess a lawyer like yourself, a “lawyer buruk” if you like, does not read all the posts above before posting a lame comeback. perhaps you should. it won’t help someone like you come across as intelligent, but at least you won’t look so stupid.
    now, please read this, taken from thestar online about 2 years ago:-
    “PETALING JAYA: You donated RM1 for a bookmark that carried the National Kidney Foundation’s (NKF) name, hoping that your contribution would make a difference to a renal patient.
    But the truth is, only 10 sen of that ringgit went to the foundation’s coffers.
    The rest may have been split between the person who sold you the bookmark, his boss, and the company that produced the item.
    Charity has become a business, and much of what people give may not end up where it should.
    And this does not just stop with the selling of items such as bookmarks and greeting cards – it also involves the public’s bank accounts, where up to 40% of what is deducted monthly as donations does not go to charity.
    In the case of NKF, it had an arrangement with Montrans Connections Sdn Bhd whereby a small percentage of revenue from the sale of the company’s products was channelled to the foundation.
    Montrans Connections, a subsidiary of Montrans Holdings Sdn Bhd, hires people to sell items it makes to promote a certain organisation.
    “Montrans approached us with the idea of giving us publicity and selling bookmarks, plastic fans and pens.
    “From the 10 sen we receive for every bookmark sold, we got about RM8,000 a month. In the last 11 months, we received RM79,000,” said an NKF official.
    Checks by The Star with Montrans Connections employees revealed that they can make as much as RM100 a day in commission. Pens are sold at RM10 each and plastic fans, RM5.
    NKF said the arrangement was good as it raised not just cash but also awareness of the foundation.
    “The company has the manpower and the money to bear the initial costs of a project like this,” said the official.
    “If we do a similar project, what would happen to the people we employ when the project ends?”
    The official said if the public were not comfortable with giving money this way, then they should refrain from doing so.
    BUSINESS OF CHARITY: Aisah Ibrahim is one of those selling bookmarks at the KLCC LRT station.
    However, the official added that people had complained to NKF after buying the items and the foundation has not renewed its contract with Montrans Connections, which expired on July 31, partly because of the public’s reaction.
    But NKF is still continuing with the direct-debit donor programme run by Sharity Greetings (M) Sdn Bhd, a local fund-raising company, together with Asian Support Direct (M) Sdn Bhd, which is owned by Appco Sdn Bhd.
    Under such programmes, the foundation and at least four other groups – the National Cancer Council (Makna), World Wide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF Malaysia), Shelter Homes for Children and Kiwanis Down Syndrome Foundation – benefit from monthly deductions from bank accounts.
    Makna fund-raising director Vemanna said the council had as many as 40,000 active contributors and donations came to about RM1mil every month.
    Both Makna and WWF said they received the full amount deducted, and payments to the companies concerned – which have people on the ground actively soliciting donations – were made separately, but they declined to reveal the amounts paid.
    However, the NKF official said 30% of deductions went to Asian Support Direct for overheads in the first four months of the programme, with another 10% to Sharity Greetings to maintain the database of donors.
    For every month after that, Sharity Greetings receives 10% of the donors’ contributions.
    A Sharity Greetings official confirmed that the company received 10% of deductions from each of the groups it worked with. Asian Support Direct and Appco could not be reached for comment.
    In addition to such programmes, Sharity Greetings also partners with Granton Sdn Bhd to produce festive season cards sold in the name of charity.
    Granton and Appco are both part of the Cobra Group, a direct marketing company based in Britain and Australia.
    Registrar of Societies (ROS) Kaswuri Keman said a registered society was not allowed to have any party collecting donations on its behalf.
    The Societies Act 1966, he said, required any organisation registered under the Act to obtain approval from the Registrar to collect money from the public.
    “Collections can be done only for the period approved,” he added.”

  9. this post helps many to be aware of the critical condition these poor turtles are in and may persuade some people otherwise uninformed, to make some donations. paid or unpaid? my question is, does it really matter?
    get a grip, zomg

  10. kimberlycun, you are right. i didn’t know about the turtles until i read this post.
    you get a grip.
    how many internet users / blog readers are not aware of the turtle issue. please don’t look down on xes’s readers.
    perhaps you were assuming all blog readers have the mental capacity of YOUR readers? what kind of blog name is that anyway. i bet you are horribly ugly.

  11. bimbobum: now that i’m your hero i think i at least deserve to know more about you than what your cleavage looks like. i think a blind date is in order. PM me for time and venue baby.
    now on to serious issues.
    jackie: wow, so much anger. may i suggest consulting dr. ridel to resolve your issues.
    a couple of points:
    1. you know my full name, and my profession. funny thing is, i have no idea who you are. so, either you typed my name in google and yahoo, or you poured through xes’ archives to find any posts on me, which, in either case is really sad as to the abundance of time you have on your hands, OR, you actually do know me personally. i didn’t realise i was that famous. must be my dashing good looks. bimbobum, take note of that.
    2. the sentence on my inclination was a typo, i meant to say i’m NOT inclined, but unlike you, i don’t have so much time to check through my posts nor reply every other hour.
    3. as for hearsay, look at your own post and where YOU referred to hearsay. that sentence you quoted, was not where I was referring to when i mentioned hearsay. with your abundance of time i thought this would’ve been an easy point to pick out. therefore, i DO know the meaning of hearsay, and i do know that it should not be used to substantiate an argument. you apparently are unaware.
    4. as for name calling, i noted that my style and manner of doing it is much more tasteful and eloquent than yours (which is down right vulgar, no class and unsubstantiated).
    5. i know xes personally and he can be a cheapskate some times. and i never said that you said that he is a cheapskate. it’s your turn to read carefully.
    6. i didn’t announce to the world that i do charity, simply because i don’t. whether it’s because i’m a cheapskate, or cheap ass, or whatever you want to call me, it’s up to you. at least unlike your self-righteous ass, i don’t go around criticising anyone for doing it, or not doing it, or the reasons for which others do it. at least others actually do it rather than sitting around criticising unconstructively.
    Points aside, by your self-righteous “i don’t donate to charity because not all of it goes to charity” attitude, doesn’t improve matters. charities are often very tight-budgeted, so any amount of money or publicity that comes to them, helps.
    for example, if a man pays a contractor to put up security fencing for a non-profit old folks home, and the contractor makes a profit out of it (as opposed to at cost), are you gonna criticise him too?
    you try to differentiate the general circumstance of charity from that of xes. what is the difference? how is xes’ situation different from any other person? and why should the way he spends his money be of any concern to you? even if he blew RM5000 on a sub-standard prostitute for a rough hand job, who are you to judge whether or not he spent it wisely, and then criticise him publicly? the money is his, however he got it, even if it was from a charitable organisation, which he did something beneficial in return for them.
    and get this right, no one is bothered about making you feel guilty for not donating to charity. no one cares. but you have no right and no basis to criticise anyone for doing something good (even for a price) when you have done nothing yourself.
    from what it sounds like, i think the scenario is that you have too much time on your hands and you have just decided to stir up some issues. i think it’s good, because you probably caused more people to actually come and look at this site, and subsequently helped xes and WWF achieve its purpose of publicising this article! bravo to the reluctant hero! or more like the arrogant imbecile lol.

  12. chuoming,
    1. i didn’t have to google you. you know me. and i know you. when i 1st met you, you didn’t give a very good 1st impression. now it all makes sense.
    2. well as a lawyer, perhaps you should limit your typographical errors to situations where you will not be mistakenly saying the exact opposite of what you mean.
    3. your hearsay argument is rather vague. is that how you argue in court, “lawyer buruk”?
    4. name calling remains name calling, no matter how “eloquently” you put it. the fact that you have to start name-calling during an argument in the 1st place shows a complete lack of class. please do not try to distinguish between classy name-calling and vulgar name-calling.
    5. then who are you agreeing with here? Yourself?:
    “true, xes may be a cheapskate for taking a nominal sum from WWF to post this article…”
    6. once again, i am not criticising anyone for either doing or not doing charity. i am criticising someone who probably doesn’t need the money as badly as a charitable organisation but is TAKING money from it. Get the concept, dude.
    7. “charities are often very tight-budgeted” – yes especially those that can afford to pay out money to other organisations and/or people and/or bloggers. you are right there.
    8. once again, your contractor argument proves your stupidity. i have pointed out before, but your blind-ass somehow couldn’t see it, that if wwf approaced xes to do a case for them, then as a lawyer, since that is his bread and butter, he should take his fee. however, as i said before, blogging is his hobby, not his bread and butter.
    it surprises me how lawyers nowadays go around criticising people without even getting the argument in the 1st place. perhaps that is why our lawyers are so lowly regarded compared to singaporean and australian lawyers. people like you are an embarassment to your profession.
    i pointed out how xes spent his money to show to the idiots around here that wwf probably needs the money more than he does. do you still not get it?
    9. as to the guilt factor, the girl who approached me in the mall did push it once her initial plan was failing. so, i don’t think you should be saying that “no one is bothered about making you feel guilty” especially since you don’t know all the facts and circumstances, yes? dumb shit.
    if more people donate to wwf, then good for them. if they do not feel the manner in which donations are solicited is wrong, then by all means, go ahead. however, if i feel someone has done something wrong, as is clearly the case here, then i will point it out. however, all you rich kids are too busy making money from every corner possible, including charitable organisations, and are clearly too blinded by dollar signs to think about those who may need it more.
    perhaps if this argument was with people from middle-income families, and not brats like yourselves, the slant would be very different.

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