After successfully changing the livelihood of the people in Bukit Merah, Perak, property developer MK Land Holdings Berhad is now turning to do the same on a group of 45 underprivileged children in Langkawi.

These comprised 30 orphans from the Rumah Nur Kasih Orphanage and 15 special needs children from the Rehabilitation Within the Community (PDK) programme in the island where for a start, they were entertained in a fun-filled activity at the Langkawi Lagoon Resort, Saturday.

MK Land acting chairman and executive director, Felina Mustapha Kamal said this came as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme, which was started since 18 years ago.

She said her father, Tan Sri Mustapha Kamal Abu Bakar, who is also the MK Land's chairman, was the man who started the programme which first involved a group of children in a village at Bukit Merah.

The Bukit Merah programme, according to her, had succeeded in assisting one of the participants there to pursue tertiary studies in engineering in Canada.

She said initially the participating children at Bukit Merah was apparently thought less of going further in their future plans as she recalled one of them had only wanted to become a rubber tapper when he grew up to follow his father's footstep.

"This changed when every school holidays, we brought them out from their village to Kuala Lumpur where they began to be exposed to different environment that change their thoughts to be more determine and successful," she said.

Felina said the success of the programme could be emulated in Langkawi where she believed the underprivileged children also had the potentials to be nurtured and guided to be successful in life.

"This is not about a one-off kind of activity where we entertained them at a resort and that's it. What we are emphasising on is the outcome of the programme and we want to ensure that the children here will be guided and assisted continuously in their education," she said.

Apart from Bukit Merah and Langkawi, Felina said MK Land also planned to start similar CSR programmes at Bukit Jana in Taiping, Perak in June this year.