Kuala Lumpur, 24 April 2020 – Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) [KWAP] has donated RM100,000 worth of drones and accessories to the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) to assist their surveillance efforts to enforce the MCO in curbing further spread of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the country.
The deployment of additional drones for surveillance will enhance PDRM’s capability to provide a wider coverage and monitoring of hard-to-reach areas. This effort is in collaboration with one of KWAP’s technology portfolio company, Aerodyne Group, who is also a leading global drone-based asset management solutions and services provider. They are currently working closely with PDRM on aerial monitoring during the MCO and will continue to supplement PDRM with their resources and knowledge on the use of the fleet of drones for surveillance.
KWAP’s Chief Executive Officer, Syed Hamadah Syed Othman stressed that this is a crucial time for organisations to pool its skills and capabilities and extend assistance to all.
“As a Malaysian GLIC, KWAP would like to, where possible contribute to assist the nation to get back on its feet. Joining forces with Aerodyne Group who will lend us their expertise in this effort will enable us to provide additional assistance to the frontline workers as they relentlessly work to control the spread of the pandemic in Malaysia.”
Aerodyne Group’s founder and CEO, Kamarul A Muhamed said, “Our work which contributes to PDRM efforts, and is part of our CSR initiatives, has been highly effective. We have also developed a turnkey platform for management of data captured by the drones that provides near real time information to support decision-making and resource allocation. We now have 23 teams in the field, and these additional drones from KWAP will go a long way to enable us to support PDRM further in expanding the reach of their MCO enforcement.”
Syed Hamadah also reiterated that “KWAP is mindful of the necessity to ensure we deliver positive impact to the community, and this initiative is in line with KWAP’s ESG guidelines that encompass various social issues. Earlier, KWAP had contributed RM500,000 to the GLC/GLIC Disaster Relief Network (GDRN) Collective Contribution. The contribution is aimed to aid the demands from the local hospitals for medical equipment, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, food supplies, as well as to related NGOs among others.”
The drones are equipped with technologies such as thermal camera, pilot assistance system, analytics, and live operations support that are able to seamlessly gather still images, video recordings, and live videos while providing near real-time information in areas that may pose a challenge to be accessed on foot or via land vehicles by PDRM while conducting their operations.
It will assist in ensuring compliance during the MCO, serving key functions of the enforcement with the use of technology during this period which includes monitoring, patrolling, and crowd controlling. In addition to the visual data, some of the drones also collect thermal data. These are geotagged to allow for statistical analysis to be done in assessing the risk within the designated areas and classifying red zones, where routs are identified.
The Inspector General of Police Malaysia, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Abdul Hamid Bador received the drones from the CEO of KWAP, witnessed by Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Finance, and Tan Sri Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir, the Secretary-General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance, who is also KWAP Chairman.
KWAP CEO Syed Hamadah Syed Othman (far left) handing over the mock cheque to the Inspector General of Police Malaysia, Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Abdul Hamid Bador (far right). The handover of drones was witnessed by Minister of Finance, Tengku Dato’ Sri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (second from left), and the Secretary General of Treasury, Ministry of Finance, Tan Sri Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir, who is also KWAP Chairman.