ABOUT US
THE HORNBILL FOUNDATION
202401017184 (1563034-K)
The Hornbill Foundation is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 2nd May 2024 by the Suruhanjaya Syarikat Malaysia as a charitable non-government, non-profit foundation, under the Companies Act, 2016 of Malaysia.
The Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri, Malaysia granted tax-exempt status to the Hornbill Foundation under Reference Number: LHDN.AG.600-12/1/4-6.8895 in respect of donations received for a period of 5 years from 1st June 2025 to 31st May 2030.
The Objects of the Foundation are:
A
To raise funds to provide tuition on a charitable basis via direct or distance learning to students in secondary schools in Sarawak as well as other states in Malaysia, irrespective of race, religion and creed.
B
To provide education on a charitable basis, principally in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects (“STEM”), to secondary school students through direct and/or distance learning and to include education in other subjects as and when the Foundation deems fit and suitable.
EDUCATION
STEM education is the teaching of a combination of the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics into a single interdisciplinary framework, the goal of which is to develop STEM literacy, to enable students to acquire the ability to apply STEM concepts to real world situations.
A privately funded project (“Initial Project”) was conceived in 2017 by the Promoters (details below) and their cohorts, in collaboration with the Dato’ Sri Senator Temenggong Lawai Jau (“DTLJ”) Education Trust and Lucia Paya Kalang, the Ketua Kampung of Long San, to address inequalities arising from the disparate opportunities offered to urban over rural students. Tablets, loaded with STEM subjects based on an international age group syllabus prepared by the Khan Academy, were supplied to 250 selected students, that is, 50 students each from Forms 1 to 5, at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan ("SMK") Temenggong Datuk Lawai Jau at Long San. Students selected were then tutored on a face to face basis by on-site teachers. Selected students form a “test” group whose SPM results would be compared to the SPM results of the group not selected ("control" group). The Promoters stressed that whilst the results of the students at the SPM examinations were important, paramount was the exposure of the students to STEM education.
​5 YEARS
INTO THE
INITIAL PROJECT
In 2021, 5 years into the Initial Project, the 1st batch of the "test" group students, sat for their Form 5 SPM examinations. To their credit, the "test" group performed far better than the students who were not selected ("control" group). The following year, the 2nd batch of "test" group students who sat for their Form 5 SPM examinations performed even better than the students who were not selected.
In June 2023, the Premier of Sarawak, YAB Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, encouraged the Promoters to expand the teaching of STEM subjects to all students from Forms 1 to 5 in the 9 SMKs in the Baram area, from Marudi to Bario. Encouraged by the success of the 1st and 2nd batches of the "test" group students in their SPM examinations, the Promoters were confident that all students taught STEM in Sarawak would similarly benefit from an expansion of the Initial Project. There would be an increased appreciation of the teaching of STEM to students to meet the demands of a modern state.
However, to ensure a successful expansion of the Initial Project, the modus of the Initial Project and its funding requirements had to be reorganised under a charitable foundation to meet the expansion.
NO KID LEFT BEHIND
”
“
The “NO KID LEFT BEHIND PROJECT”
was the slogan adopted in the expansion of the Initial Project.
THE HORNBILL FOUNDATION
BACKGROUND
In order to teach STEM effectively to all students in Forms 1 to 5 in the 9 SMKs in the Baram, altogether about 4,500 students, the Promoters, in consultation with cohorts, felt that the No Kid Left Behind Project should be carried out under a charitable non-government, non-profit Foundation with tax exempt status, with private and public funding, with ability to utilise the latest teaching technology available, to carry out teaching with the best and most experienced teachers of STEM available in the State of Sarawak, and to teach students online via low orbiting satellite in the presence of on-site teachers. The activities in the No Kid Left Behind Project were therefore designed to be cost effective, sans “brick and mortar”.
The Hornbill Foundation was incorporated on 2nd May 2024 as a charitable non-government, non-profit foundation, and tax-exempt status was granted by the Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri, Malaysia on 24 June 2025 for a period of 5 years from 1 June 2025 to 31 May 2030. The Promoters, together with Kapitan Peter Wong Hung Huang, were the original directors of The Hornbill Foundation and Mr. Lim Chien Cheng was appointed the Chairman of the Board. By December 2024, the Board of Directors of the Hornbill Foundation comprised Mr. Lim Chien Cheng, Datuk Tan Thian Hoo, Mr. Peter Wong, Mr. Libat Langub (a lawyer), Miss Anna Dreba and Miss Valarie Luhong (both educators).
Private funds were pledged to the Hornbill Foundation by Dato Richard Wee Liang Huat from the Yayasan Sarawak, Mr. Augustine Wong Chung Ho of the Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (SHEDA), Datuk Sri Richard Jong East Full, Datuk Tan Thian Hoo, Kapitan Peter Wong and Mr. Lim Chien Cheng.
The Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development ("MEITD") and the Ministry of Natural Resources & Urban Development ("MUDeNR") provided essential assistance, advise and funds to the No Kid Left Behind Project. Swinburne Innovation Malaysia Sdn Bhd (a subsidiary of Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak) ("SWIM") was the training provider.
The Hornbill Foundation commenced teaching STEM to students on 18 March 2024 for the 2024 school term under the No Kid Left Behind Project.
TEACHING
VIA
SATELLITE
Whilst the Initial Project had taught STEM to 250 selected students at SMK Temenggong Datuk Lawai Jau, Long San through resident on-site teachers, the No Kid Left Behind Project, under the Hornbill Foundation, teaches STEM to approximately 4,500 students in the 9 SMK schools in Baram.
​
Currently, 26 selected teachers, experienced in STEM, and residing in urban Sarawak and parts of Peninsula Malaysia, teach STEM subjects online to all students from Forms 1 to 5 at the 9 SMK schools in Baram through the “Starlink” low orbiting satellite, in the presence of 18 on-site teachers. Specialised equipment with interactive capabilities are installed in designated classrooms in each of the 9 SMK schools for such purpose.
26
REMOTE
ONSITE
TEACHERS
18
LOW ORBIT
SATELLITES
SMK STUDENTS
4,500
The Hornbill Foundation intends to discuss with the Khan Academy, the content provider of the STEM syllabus, in order to determine if the pedagogy and teaching methodology currently employed in the No Kid Left Behind Project can be further improved. The modus of the No Kid Left Behind Project will evolve, be reorganised and be streamlined accordingly.
Approaching the second year of the No Kid Left Behind Project, requests have been made to the Hornbill Foundation to extend the teaching of STEM beyond the 9 SMKs at the Baram to other SMKs in Sarawak. The Hornbill Foundation is currently evaluating this request in the light of its current resources of teachers, equipment and finances.
Discussions are undergoing to include the teaching of “Arts” in STEM.
The Hornbill Foundation is discussing the introduction of programs to acquaint students with employment, vocation, services and professions associated with STEM education. The Hornbill Foundation is also discussing the adoption of an “Internship Program” where graduating students could be provided opportunities to experience work in certain vocations, industries, services and professions that requires workforce to be educated in STEM. These programs are integral to STEM education and the Hornbill Foundation believes that students will appreciate the STEM education they have received and more students will then be persuaded to elect science as their major subject in school.
Discussions are being held to introduce an outreach program to select teachers from amongst high achieving students from universities in Sarawak to teach STEM online under the No Kid Left Behind Project.
Certain electronics industries, hospitals and service sectors in Sarawak and in West Malaysia employing workforce with STEM educational background have indicated interest in the programs proposed by the Hornbill Foundation.
PROMOTERS
​Datuk Tan Thian Hoo,
(a “Datuk” awarded by the State of Sarawak, in addition to a “Dato” awarded by the State of Penang)
is the principal Promoter. He is a beneficiary of STEM education at King Edward Vll Secondary School in Taiping, Perak, and was admitted to the University of Malaya in 1968 to read physics. Upon graduation in 1971, he joined a United States multinational company involved in the manufacturing of semi-conductors and thereafter, moved to another multinational company which became the world largest independent manufacturer of hard discs with plants in Milpitas, California, Penang, Kuching, and Johore. The company was eventually listed on NASDAQ, making Datuk Tan Thian Hoo the earliest Malaysia-born CEO of a NASDAQ listed company. Datuk Tan Thian Hoo is firmly convinced that his STEM education allowed him to progress, compete and succeed in his international career. He believes teaching STEM to students in rural Sarawak will provide students the opportunity to progress in their own community, in the State of Sarawak, nationally and internationally.
​
Lim Chien Cheng,
Mr. Lim Chien Cheng was trained as a social scientist at Universiti Sains Malaysia and in law at King’s College, London and currently practices law in West Malaysia. He is a director of several companies listed with Bursa Malaysia, other private companies and another Foundation. He has worked with multinational companies in Malaysia and Malaysian companies overseas. He is familiar with rural Sarawak and is convinced that students taught STEM in rural Sarawak will contribute positively to their community, the nation and internationally. He believes the adoption of STEM education will address social inequalities and that STEM education is essential to a modern state.