KUALA LUMPUR: Oscar-winning actor and director Mel Gibson sprang a surprise when he attended a sponsorship-signing ceremony here yesterday for conservation of the rainforest.
The event was the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Petra Group and the Royal Society South-East Asia Rainforest Research Programme (SEARRP).
Petra will sponsor the latter's rainforest ecology research programme in Sabah (StarBiz: Petra plays its part in conservation)
Gibson, who last directed Apocalypto, which was set in an ancient Mayan jungle settlement, is on a two-week vacation in Malaysia. He was at the ceremony to lend his support to Petra Group's participation in the research programme on how to conserve the rainforest.
“I'm really proud and happy to be a witness to an agreement such as this. I've backed a lot of good causes – environmental and humanitarian,” he said.
He also cited a similar rainforest conservation project in El Mirador, Guatemala, which he strongly supported.
Petra Group president and chief executive officer Datuk Vinod Sekhar said the group had also “contributed in a small way” to the Guatemalan project.
Gibson also backs Green Rubber Global, a Petra Group unit in the United States that will operate a tyre recycling plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He expressed his intention to visit the local rainforest and Danum Valley Field Centre, where the SEARRP programme is undertaken.
Australian Gibson got his first break in 1979 in Mad Max, and later in the United States with The Bounty (1984).
He is also famous for his work in the Lethal Weapon series with Danny Glover.
After spending more than two decades as a leading man, Gibson ventured into directing with Braveheart and was immediately recognised with two Oscars in 1996.
A serious filmmaker, he braves all sorts of controversies – both personal and professional – to make groundbreaking films such as The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto.
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