KUALA LUMPUR, 27 December 2022 – COVID-19 cases are again on the rise, and Malaysia’s favourite home improvement retailer MR D.I.Y. Group (M) Berhad [MR.DIY] wants to play its part in keeping everyone safe. The retailer recently extended its free test kit programme to undergraduates in Sabah and Sarawak under the “#DIY4Universiti: Sentiasa Berwaspada, Tanggungjawab Bersama” programme.

MR.DIY contributed 29,000 test kits each to both Universiti Malaysia Sabah and Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, to be distributed to their undergraduates. It also extended 14,000 kits to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, which is earmarked as a COVID-19 treatment hospital, and another 14,000 to Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Sabah to be distributed to all government health clinics across Kota Kinabalu. 

With the help of Soroptimist International Kota Kinabalu (SIKK), MR.DIY distributed a further 4,000+ test kits to organisations in need, including Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) All Saints, Comfort Care Home, One Home Care, Grace Home Care, Bethany Home, The Anglican Retirement Kampung (ARK) in Likas, Persatuan Ibu Tunggal Sabah, Cheshire Home, Bukit Harapan and Pusat Pemulihan Dalam Komuniti (PDK) in Kota Kinabalu, as well as Kanaan Home in Petagas, Putatan, Sabah, and Miri Methodist Children’s Home, Miri, Sarawak. All in, a total of 90,000 kits were distributed.

Commenting on the initiative, MR D.I.Y. Group’s Head of Marketing, Alex Goh, said, “#DIY4Universiti: Sentiasa Berwaspada, Tanggungjawab Bersama '' aims to remind undergraduates to test regularly and to make testing accessible, so that they keep their university communities safe. We initiated the #DIY4Universiti programme in October 2021, as students started to return to campuses post-pandemic, and we are now extending it to Sabah and Sarawak as we believe it is important for undergraduates to remain safe so that they can keep learning.”

Goh expressed his thanks, on behalf of MR.DIY, to all those who had made the distribution possible, saying, “Our outreach programmes to help stem the resurgence of COVID-19 have been effective because we have had excellent support from the universities, Soroptimist International Kota Kinabalu, as well as the local organisations.  We wouldn’t have been able to do it without their support and assistance; we really appreciate the huge effort that has been put in to ensure the kits reach those who truly need them.”

The #DIY4Universiti initiative is one in a series of collaborations between MR.DIY and higher learning institutions designed to help undergraduates re-settle into campus life following the prolonged pandemic lockdown.  

Previous editions of the programme include the distribution of sanitisers, face masks and other aid to students in Universiti Malaya and Universiti Tuanku Abdul Rahman in October and November 2021 respectively, as well as the distribution of cash aid to 12,000 Universiti Malaya students in November-December 2021. Between June to November 2022, 10 universities in Peninsular Malaysia were provided with free test kits to keep their university communities safe.

For more information, visit MR.DIY’s website, www.mrdiy.com, e-commerce platform, www.mrdiy.com.my, and their social media channels, Facebook and Instagram. 

#DIY4Universiti - "Sentiasa Berwaspada, Tanggungjawab Bersama” aims to spread awareness and educate the undergraduates on the importance of testing regularly to keep themselves and university communities safe continued in UNIMAS, Sarawak, and UMS, Sabah






MR.DIY, and SIKK during the test kits distribution at some of the home care in Sabah