Mark Ryan Kimura and Athirah Zaini (second from right) and YB Teresa Kok with their winning certificate

Malaysia is well-known for palm oil and its products. In fact, Malaysia has gone a step further by embracing palm oil as its national pride. We are the second-largest palm oil producer in the world with a production over 2.1 million metric tonness after our neighbouring country, Indonesia.

To raise the awareness of Malaysians towards palm oil, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) through their Love My Palm Oil campaign has recently organised a 90-second short film contest named Love MY Palm Oil 90.

UCSI University BA (Hons) in Graphic Design students, Mark Ryan Kimura and Zhan Hui Lam also known as “The Last Minute Men” rose to the occassion and managed to obtain the Special Mention Prize in the contest.

The Minister of Primary Industries, YB Teresa Kok delightedly presented the award during the prize-giving ceremony held at IOI City Mall, Putrajaya on the last 17th August 2019.

Displaying full creativity in producing the desired video on ‘100 Facts About Palm Oil’, both Mark and Lam chose to sing their hearts out through lyrics they wrote themselves.

During the period of making the music video, their Video Production subject lecturer, Athirah Zaini has helped them to create the it from the pre-production to post-production process.

“It was a last minute decision for us to join this competition. One-month duration is definitely not a long to write the lyrics and even producing a music video. But we believe that anything can happen and Miss Athirah also has helped us from the very beginning, thus, it somehow makes us feel secure,” Mark explained.

Their video entitled ‘Palm Oil Brother Nature’ was on how we should work together starting from the present to ensure that we can have a sustainable oil in the future as more of our animals such as elephants, tiger and others are facing extinction.

The Last Minute Men were given the honour to perform their song to the audience at the end of the prize-giving ceremony.

Love My Palm Oil 90 was organised in conjunction with a year-long Love My Palm Oil campaign initiated by MPOC in January.

A total of 72 participants joined the contest to present their vibrant ideas in the form of the videos regarding Malaysia’s palm oil.

The campaign’s objective was to instil national pride and a greater appreciation for Malaysian palm oil. Apart from that, it also focused on the socio-economic importance, health, nutrition, and food as well as non-food applications.

Moreover, sharing with the public about the benefits and positive impacts of palm oil, the videos created by the younger generations used fresh, creative and brilliant ideas to support the campaign.

All submitted short films were included and used in the Love My Palm Oil campaign by MPOC to champion Malaysian palm oil.