Asian Agri, through its business unit PT Gunung Melayu, recently held an anti-drug campaign activity which saw the participation of hundreds of students at SDN 017139 in Batu Anam Village, Asahan City, Indonesia.
The event, held in celebration of Youth Pledge Day, was organized as part of Asian Agri’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Program.
As part of the event, participants put handprints on a piece of canvas bearing the words “We Reject Drugs” and also hung messages about the dangers of drugs on tree branches.
Present to deliver a brief lecture was Head of National Narcotics Agency (BNN) of Asahan City Baringin Sitompul, who urged the younger generation in the village to stay away from drugs.
“We all know that drugs are useless. Drug will only result in misery. Stay away and don’t ever try them,” he said.
He also reminded the village to take any residents who were dependent on drugs to BNN for rehabilitation.
Also present at the event was Victory Brahmana, Group General Manager of PT Gunung Melayu.
Victor said that his company facilitated counseling about the dangers of drugs, through creative activities such as poetry competitions, poetry readings and caricatures, with the main goal of encouraging students to be actively involved in the rejection of drugs.
“Prevention must be done continuously and repeatedly, so that we are really far from drugs and we do not lose to the dangers of drugs,” he said.
Asian Agri’s CSR Program aims to help improve the quality of life of the communities surrounding the company. The company constantly makes changes for improvement in running the program. At present, implementation of the CSR
Program includes community empowerment as well as philanthropy in the areas of education, health, environment, infrastructure and economics.
In the economic area, Victory said his company provides guidance to farmers who are living around the company via partnership programs which currently involve 500 families of farmers with a land area of about 1,800 hectares.
