CEO's NEW YEAR MESSAGE

As 2018 draws to a close, it is time to reflect on 2018 and welcome 2019.

The Year 2018 has been a rather refreshing year with new experience for Malaysia and MTCC. The Year saw for the first time in 60 years the formation of a new Government and for MTCC, the appointment of YB Puan Teresa Kok as the new Minister of Primary Industries and YBhg Datuk K. Yogeesvaran as our new Chairman  

Besides the routine work of monitoring forest management and chain of custody certification, and conduct of activities to promote the Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), we have been actively engaged in the review of both the MTCS forest management standard, as well as the PEFC SFM and CoC standards in 2018. We are pleased to note an overall increase in the number of certified forest management units (FMUs) from 16 to 21, and a slight increase from 357 to 359 timber companies certified under the chain of custody certification. The Year also saw the successful conduct of the Second MTCC Photography Contest that had attracted much publicity through the submission of a total of 990 photographs and 12 short videos, as well as the MTCC Strategic Planning Workshop to solicit feedback from stakeholders to chart the future directions of the MTCC.

Looking forward, I wish to take this opportunity to announce that MTCC turns 20 in 2019 – a significant milestone taking into consideration the many challenges faced in the growth and development of the MTCC since it started operation in 1999. The last 20 years have seen MTCC taking the arduous task of starting from ground zero, planning, creating awareness, and building of trust and confidence amongst the various stakeholders in implementing a credible Malaysian timber certification scheme. The efforts made were duly rewarded when the MTCS received international recognition in 2009 when it was endorsed by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the world largest forest certification system. Today we are delighted that the PEFC-endorsed MTCS has been accepted under the public procurement policies and green building schemes of many developed countries notably in Europe.

In this context, 20 years is definitely a significant milestone for MTCC and worth celebrating. Hence I am also pleased to inform that a number of activities will be organised by MTCC throughout 2019 to commemorate its 20th anniversary. To begin with, a special 20th Anniversary Logo bearing the Tagline: Pushing Boundaries Advancing Sustainability, has been designed to promote and heighten awareness of this momentous milestone and celebration.  


The overall logo in circles exhibits a notion of continuity – signifies the establishment of MTCC and its continual operation for many more decades to come, which also embodies the goal for sustainability. A multiplicity of textures and elements of nature is depicted by freestyle strokes in different shades of green, be it patterns on a soil ground, rings of a tree trunk, shadow stripes of branches under the sun, or water flow in a stream. Whilst other small words are neatly legible, the dominant font of “20th” is imbued with components of growth through the shapes of a wavy leaf and twirling stems. The MTCC logo is incorporated and forms a fruit shape that signifies fruitfulness and the accomplishments of MTCC in various aspects to reach its 20th year and beyond.

The overall logo in circles exhibits a notion of continuity – signifies the establishment of MTCC and its continual operation for many more decades to come, which also embodies the goal for sustainability. A multiplicity of textures and elements of nature is depicted by freestyle strokes in different shades of green, be it patterns on a soil ground, rings of a tree trunk, shadow stripes of branches under the sun, or water flow in a stream. Whilst other small words are neatly legible, the dominant font of “20th” is imbued with components of growth through the shapes of a wavy leaf and twirling stems. The MTCC logo is incorporated and forms a fruit shape that signifies fruitfulness and the accomplishments of MTCC in various aspects to reach its 20th year and beyond.

The Tagline “Pushing Boundaries Advancing Sustainability” aptly encapsulates what MTCC has been doing over the past 20 years and will continue to do so to advance the cause of forest sustainability through the implementation of the MTCS.  Since its establishment, MTCC has been pushing boundaries to advance forest sustainability notably in the following fronts:

(i)      changing mindsets of all parties involved to realise the importance of implementing sustainable forest management through forest management and chain of custody certification;

(ii)     increasing stakeholders’ participation and engagement to garner better acceptance of the MTCS; 

(iii)    strengthening certification standards through multi-stakeholder consultation process to embrace the three pillars of sustainability covering social, environmental and social aspects;

(iv)    widening recognition and acceptance of the MTCS both locally and internationally; and

(v)     expanding the extent of forest areas and number of timber companies certified under the MTCS to cover all three regions in Malaysia.

You will be updated periodically on the MTCC’s 20th Anniversary Celebration which will culminate in the conduct of a MTCC Timber Certification Conference followed by an Anniversary Dinner scheduled to held in September 2019.

The achievements of the MTCC over the last two decades would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of our stakeholders representing the environmental and social interest groups, timber associations, government departments and agencies, research and academic institutions as well as the certification bodies which provided the independent third-party audit for both forest management and chain of custody certification.  MTCC greatly appreciates your contributions and looks forward to your continued support to chart the future of the MTCS to advance the implementation of sustainable forest management in Malaysia.

Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Productive 2019!

Yours sincerely,

Yong Teng Koon

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