The Malaysian Insight

MORE people have been joining the queue for free food since the start of the full lockdown on June 1, said volunteer groups.

They said they have seen at least a 30% increase in the number of new faces coming to their soup kitchens in Kuala Lumpur, resulting in them preparing more food packs than before.

They told The Malaysian Insight that these new faces were there after losing their jobs or had their income reduced during the total lockdown, which was scheduled to be in place until June 14, but is now extended to June 28.

Under the total lockdown, only essential services are allowed to operate, leaving many daily wage earners and small traders out of steady income.

Pertubuhan Kesihatan Dan Kebajikan Umum Malaysia (PPKUM) founder Elisha Kor Krishnan said there has been a 30% increase in the number of people who are turning up at their kitchen in Jalan Raja Laut in Kuala Lumpur.

“The number of people turning up is gradually increasing. These people mostly have either lost their jobs or have suffered hefty pay cuts,” she said.

“When the lockdown started on June 1, we gave away 60 packs of food a day. Three days later, we had to add 20 more packs.

“Now, we have increased the number to 120 packs a day.”

PPKUM operates from Mondays to Fridays, providing breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Elisha said it has been slightly more difficult to operate during the lockdown.

“Without an approval letter from the relevant departments, we are limited to travel only within 10km of our office,” she said.

She added that funding for their venture came from Facebook friends and families.

Social and Enabling Environment Development founder Mitch Yusof said they used to give out 100-150 packs a day, but now, this has increased to about 250 per day.

“It has not been easy maintaining a crowd this big daily, but we try our best to follow a strict standard operating procedure (SOP),” he said.

“We also do not have any volunteers as everything is done by our team, which consists of eight people divided into two teams.”

The well-established Pertiwi Soup Kitchen said it also increased greatly the number of food packets prepared daily.

Pertiwi founder Munirah Abdul Hamid said her team is now preparing 1,000-1,700 meals daily, compared with 600 meals four times a week previously.

“Most of them who show up are not homeless. They are mostly the urban poor who are struggling during this lockdown,” she said.

Pertiwi distributes food from the homeless transit shelter in Lorong Medan Tuanku 2 in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia is on a total lockdown from June 1, except for the essential economic and services sectors, to combat the rising Covid-19 cases.

The lockdown was supposed to end on July 14 if the number of new infections falls during this period. However, the government yesterday announced that it will be extended for another two weeks to June 28. – June 12, 2021.