"I have no intention of being a candidate," says Al Gore. It is early May 2006, and the former United States Vice President's documentary An Inconvenient Truth is due for release in a few weeks. In the days and months to come, the motives behind his filmmaking venture and its timeliness with the next presidential run will be weighed by millions of judges on blogs, newspapers and forums. Shrewdly, Gore has predicted this, and preempts the accusations by saying under the same breath, "Global warming is a moral, not a political issue."

Across the Pacific, Honda has chosen to operate on a similar ideology. In preparing for the 2007 season, the Japanese carmaker's Formula 1 team has announced they will not be wearing any corporate badges; instead, the car will be covered with a picture of the earth, as part of the 'My Earth Dream' programme. It is a radical concept, since such space is usually used by teams to bring in money through advertising; the bigger the budget, the more competitive a team becomes. In other words, Honda has given up millions of dollars (and speed) just to raise awareness about global warming.

Radical indeed; yet Honda and Gore's activities are hardly novel. Rather, they are simply more examples of 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR)—the hottest phrase circulating through the vents of office buildings these days. Oil companies, mobile phone operators and tobacco conglomerates are all looking for ways to demonstrate their selflessness. Even reality TV has gotten in on the act, with American Idol's recent 'Idol Gives Back' episode raising US$60 million for children charities in the United States and Africa.

In playing follow-the-market-leader, Malaysian corporations have jumped on the bandwagon. An early adopter is DiGi, whose Amazing Malaysians CSR programme started in 2005 and focuses on preserving Malaysia's cultural heritage by supporting individuals engaged in such endeavours, especially in rural areas. "The company is created on Malaysian soil by Malaysians," says CEO Martin Lundel. "I think it just makes human sense to give back something to society that makes use of our resources."

An online forum geared at helping Malaysian companies understand the intricacies of CSR has also recently been set up. "The corporate social responsibility movement in Malaysia has been gaining momentum," says Poon Su-Lyn, a Business Development Associate with OWW Consulting, the CSR consultancy behind the forum. "Business talking shops are fine, but the stakeholder is king, [and] that's ultimately what CSR is about—companies responding to their stakeholders' expectations."