REMBAU, Jan 4 — McDonald’s Malaysia aims to open 750 fast-food restaurants nationwide by 2030, creating various job opportunities for the public.
Its managing director and Local Operating Partner cum Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Malaysia president Datuk Azmir Jaafar said currently, it has 370 restaurants nationwide, with 32 new restaurants opened last year.
“This is the vision of McDonald’s Malaysia, and we will do our best to ensure that it becomes a reality. In addition to focusing on locations in major cities, McDonald actively seeks opportunities to open our restaurants in suburban or rural areas.
“This is to provide easy access to our customers and broader job opportunities for the local community,” he said during the opening ceremony of the McDonald’s drive-thru in Rembau, officiated by the State Non-Islamic Affairs and Industry Committee chairman Teo Kok Seong today.
Azmir said there are currently 20 McDonald’s fast-food restaurants in Negeri Sembilan, and this year, three more restaurants are expected to open in Gemas, Rasah, and Mambau to meet customer demand.
He said one McDonald’s restaurant provides 50 to 100 job opportunities for local residents, not including vendors or local contractors involved in the construction or maintenance of the restaurant.
The opening of new restaurants also directly creates opportunities for local people to learn new skills, thereby improving their economic status.
At the same time, Azmir added that despite the significant challenges faced by McDonald’s Malaysia due to the ongoing boycott, they will continue to make every effort to provide the best assistance possible to those in need through various community activities.
“Every year, over 18,000 community activities are successfully organised to create a positive impact in society.
“Last October, which was also McDonald’s Community Month and RMHC Month, we held birthday parties involving over 12,000 orphans from 400 orphanages nationwide.
“Throughout December, McDonald’s has been actively contributing food and daily necessities to flood victims on the East Coast to ease their burden,” he said.
At today’s event, McDonald’s Malaysia and RMHC also presented Back-to-School packs worth RM120,000 to 800 primary school children from less privileged families in Negeri Sembilan.
Since the programme’s introduction in 2017, a total of 157,000 children nationwide, including nearly 8,000 children in the state, have benefited from it.
They also contributed business tithe (zakat) payment for the previous year, totalling RM110,000, to the Negeri Sembilan State Islamic Religious Council (Mains) for distribution to the asnaf (tithe recipients) in the state.
Up to now, a total of RM651,000 in business zakat has been paid to Negeri Sembilan.
“McDonald’s Malaysia began paying zakat in 2017 when it was taken over by Lionhorn Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of the Reza Group from Saudi Arabia, making McDonald’s Malaysia a company fully owned by Muslims.
“When talking about our responsibility as Muslims, today we cannot avoid discussing the conflicts happening in Palestine. I express our support to those affected in Gaza by contributing RM1 million to the Palestinian Humanitarian Fund under the Prime Minister’s Department recently,” Azmir said.
In addition to this, McDonald’s staff throughout Malaysia also took the initiative to independently raise an additional RM100,000, donated to MyCARE to assist the people of Palestine.
— Bernama
