Desperate Malaysians fly white flags as a call for help to survive COVID-19 lockdown
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Desperate Malaysians fly white flags as a call for help to survive COVID-xix lockdown
Jambu Nathan Kanagasabai put up a white flag as a desperate call for help. It has since been taken downward afterwards he received aid from the hamlet committee. (Photograph: Vincent Tan)
02 Jul 2022 08:38AM (Updated: 04 Jul 2022 12:05PM)
KUALA LUMPUR: At the gate of a wooden and brick firm in Sungai Fashion New Hamlet, Petaling Jaya, a white flag hung limply on a long stick.
Mr Jambu Nathan Kanagasabai, 64, put up the flag on Thursday (Jul 1) morn after seeing a post by a local retail chain offering food hampers to those in desperate demand of assistance.
Shortly after that, passers-past took notice of his plea and alerted the local village commission.
"The committee chairman offered my father some cash, only he just needed nutrient considering 'segan' (ashamed)," Mr Jambu Nathan's daughter Vani told CNA.
Mr Jambu Nathan, his wife and his sis share a house at the Malayan Emergency-era settlement. He used to earn about RM1,300 (Usa$312) monthly as a security guard for a goldsmith shop.
With that money and small contributions from his children, he could afford to buy food and pay for rent, utilities and his wife'due south medication.
This income vanished during the beginning motion control order (MCO) final year to curb the spread of COVID-xix as the store was close as a not-essential business organisation. And this was repeated during the side by side two MCOs and the current first phase of the National Recovery Plan.
"I received RM500 through the government'due south Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat handouts, just RM450 of that goes towards rent," Mr Jambu Nathan said.
Vani, his daughter, said they could non afford to give him the same amount of money because they were as well facing fiscal difficulties due to the pandemic.
Her electrician service business was non permitted to operate and she has to take care of her own children and in-laws.
"We thought at first this year might get better, but information technology has just been worse and worse," Mr Jambu Nathan said.
READ: 'We focus on getting through each day' - Old KL eateries dig into savings while waiting out COVID-19 tempest
Mr Jambu Nathan was one of those whose livelihoods have been severely affected by the varying degrees of lockdown in Malaysia since last March. On Jun 1, a full lockdown for the entire country was enforced and many parts of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur were placed under stricter curbs start Sabbatum.
A movement calling for those in desperate demand of assistance to fly a white flag every bit an SOS call began gaining momentum on social media last week. Members of the public who encounter a white flag are encouraged to stride forward to offer assist.
Heart-wrenching accounts of people who have depleted their savings due to the pandemic and accept to raise a white flag to call for help have since surfaced.
Despite this, the movement has besides raised eyebrows, with some politicians denouncing the act of flying a white flag, which traditionally symbolises surrender.
"I'M Not SHY TO Admit"
Another Malaysian who has put up a white flag was Mr Lim Boon Wah, 65, who lives in Kampung Chempaka, Petaling Jaya with his wife Wong Ah Yuen, 61.
"I'm non shy to admit, I don't have savings anymore," he told CNA.
He put upwards the flag on Thursday morning later on his friends alerted him of the motility.
When CNA met the couple at their business firm, a adult female came to manus them some cash, while two employees from the aforementioned local retail concatenation showed upwardly with a care package.
Earlier, state assemblyman Siti Jamaliah Jamaluddin and Kampung Cempaka'due south hamlet commission chairman Theresa Lim as well presented them with some dry foodstuffs.
The help would be sufficient for the next two months, Mr Lim said, adding that they take been subsisting on instant noodles every solar day.
"We've cleaned out what little savings and retirement funds we accumulated, on account of my affliction," he said.
Mr Lim and his wife worked as sales promoters at a local supermarket in Kuala Lumpur, but after his kidneys failed, he was asked to resign, and his wife soon followed.
Losing their jobs meant they had to rush to find cheaper accommodation dorsum in 2022 and to survive on their meagre retirement funds.
READ: Parents in Malaysia fret over academic progress amid prolonged schoolhouse closure, online learning
At their age and with her husband'south condition, it was almost impossible to discover any jobs - even menial ones - in the current economic system, which contracted past 5.vi per cent in 2020.
Even with gratis dialysis bundled by a clemency, travelling to the centre and the medication cost coin.
Mr Lim said he often woke upwards at night, wondering how they would be able to beget the fees and the rental.
"At times, I've idea about giving upwards. Information technology would be simple, just don't nourish a few hemodialysis sessions and just pass away quietly," he said.
WHAT SPURRED THE Motion?
Social and political activist Nik Faizah Nik Othman, who is the deputy main of the Tumpat Amanah'southward women'south wing in Kelantan, was identified as ane of the earliest Twitter users to suggest flying a white flag to indicate the household needs urgent assistance.
"I was saddened seeing the suicide incidents taking place every day, hence I started this campaign. I experience these (suicides) should not accept identify, and indicate something far worse will happen to the land if the issue is neglected," she told CNA.
Mdm Nik Faizah added that she did not wish to see acts of suicide become a new norm for the younger generation.
"Hence the idea to get those who are in difficulty and depression to raise a white flag every bit a telephone call for help came past spontaneously," she said.
Law statistics showed that a total of 468 suicide cases were reported nationwide from January to May, and Selangor topped the chart with 117 cases. 3 principal causes were family problems, emotional pressure and finances, according to Criminal Investigation Department manager Abd Jalil Hassan.
In Tumpat, Mdm Nik Faizah said, some households had flown white flags and received assist from the public.
"Fifty-fifty then, many would rather live in difficulty than taking the initiative to fly the flag due to embarrassment, fear of accusations from others and the lack of confidence that they'll really receive help," she added.
Mdm Lim, the hamlet commission chairman of Kampung Cempaka, said the appearance of a white flag had come as a surprise, as she was already running a food aid plan distributing dry out foods to over 300 households.
"We went on morning rounds to see if there were any flags put up, then when I saw Mr Lim's white flag, I quickly informed our local metropolis councillor and state assemblyman, and nosotros managed to put together a intendance packet which we passed to Mdm Wong," she said.
She added that she would be post-obit upward with the couple and would discuss how best to assistance them with the state assemblyman.
"There are various schemes to aid them, so we can help guide them in terms of application, and if more assistance is needed, I can notwithstanding call the charities for help," she said.
Not EVERYONE AGREES
Despite the heartwarming tales of people stepping up to assistance fellow Malaysians, some accept decried the white flag movement every bit a form of defeat.
The Kedah state government, for case, said it would non help those who put upwards such flags.
Kedah Principal Minister Muhammad Sanusi Medico Nor was reported past Malay-linguistic communication daily Utusan Melayu equally saying that the land regime would not recognise using the white flag every bit a sign of needing nutrient aid throughout the lockdown period.
READ: Commentary - Political infighting hampers Malaysia's COVID-19 response
The chief minister was quoted equally saying that the authorities would but aqueduct food aid to those who had officially requested such as by phoning in to the local disaster command centres.
He claimed that the white flag was a political propaganda to create the perception that the government had failed in the eyes of gild.
Bachok MP Nik Mohamad Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz posted on his Facebook folio, stating that rather than raising a white flag, those in need should "raise their hands and pray to God."
"Don't raise surrender towards tests by pedagogy the people to fly white flags," the politico said, cartoon the ire of some netizens.
A religious ruling posted on the website of the federal territories mufti'south function noted that such an act is permissible if it makes information technology easier for those willing to assist to identify needy recipients. "Notwithstanding, if we see it equally something that would embarrass u.s., then it should be avoided," the commodity read.
The article noted that people in need of help could also attain out to those who offer aid directly. "It is upward to each private'due south judgement in implementing the methods and initiatives that ane feels comfy with."
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