PEKAN: The Regent of Pahang Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatudin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah has been appointed as the royal patron for the Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) Volunteers.

       Tengku Hassanal received the letter of appointment from the UMP Board of Directors’ chairman Tan Sri Dr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman after participating in the UMP Sustainable Cycling Programme: Campus Greening Initiative at its main campus here today.

       The programme, which was organised by the UMP Foundation, was also attended by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Student and Alumni Affairs) Professor Datuk Dr Yuserrie Zainuddin who is also performing the duties of Vice Chancellor.

       At the programme, Tengku Hassanal consented to cycle four kilometres around the UMP campus before planting a sapling of the national tree, ‘Merbau’ at Rimba Lestari.

       Rimba Lestari has over 1,800 trees including 24 types of trees such as ‘Meranti Tembaga’, ‘Beruas’, ‘Jelutung’, ‘Simpoh Air’, ‘Sungkai’ and ‘Pokok Peluru’. It is part of a two-hectare reforestation area implemented via a co-operation between the Malaysian Forest Research Institute (FRIM) and the Pahang Forestry Department.

       Tengku Hassanal also consented to receiving the special vehicle registration plate ‘UC2’ in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of UMP.

       The ‘UC’ plate series is a combination of the prefix for the word university, namely, ‘U’, while ‘C’ is from vehicle registration letter for Pahang, and is open for online sale from Feb 25 at http://www.ucplat.com.my.

       Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz, who expressed his appreciation to Tengku Hassanal for consenting to the appointment, said it would enliven the spirit of UMP staff to be involved in more volunteer activities. - Bernama