The Malaysian Insight

ELDERLY folk and people with disabilities are among those seeking help by flying a white flag as the lockdown to curb Covid-19 drags on with no end in sight.

Some said they would have committed suicide if not for the white flag movement which began on social media in response to the growing number of people in need for assistance.

Aid recipients who spoke to The Malaysian Insight said they had no other means to survive another day as the prolonged movement restrictions have stopped their income and eroded their savings.

Twenty-nine-year-old Mohd Nor Abdullah who lives in Taman Ikan Emas, Cheras, was selling nasi lemak at a roadside stall prior to the lockdown. His stall has been shut for three months.

“It’s been difficult to find money. Even if I want to work I can’t due to the lockdown,” he said at home, where he lives alone.

Of the RM400 living allowance he receives monthly from the Welfare Department as a disabled person, RM350 goes to paying rent. With other bills to pay, there isn’t much left for food and he has been relying on the kindness of friends for the last few months.

“I had to borrow money from my friends (to buy food). But I didn’t know what else to do so I put up the white flag,” he said.

Within a day of putting up a white piece of cloth in his window to signal for help, Nor said people were knocking on his door with offers of aid.

“Those who have offered help are all strangers.”

In Bukit Mertajam, Penang, a 45-year-old man who wanted to be known as Soon, said he contemplated suicide as he felt there was no one who would help him.

“I’ve been depressed and have had a lot of negative thoughts that I’m alone in this world and no one will help me.

“This (white flag) was my last try and if it hadn’t worked, I was going to jump off the Penang Bridge,” he said.

Soon used to make around RM800 a day running a food stall but his business was severely affected by movement-control orders (MCO) since last year.

“I’ve been struggling to keep my business afloat since the first MCO last year and when they announced the total lockdown on June 1, my business could no longer survive.

As his income dried up, Soon started defaulting on his rent and utility bill. He owed four months in rent, water and electricity bills.

Soon put up a white flag outside his home earlier this week and was helped by Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim, who helped him settle his outstanding bills and also start a small business.

In Bentong, Pahang, Bilut assemblyman Lee Chin Chen also responded to three people who put up white flags.

One of them was Faiz, 21, who also left a comment on Lee’s social media posting asking for food aid.

“He commented on YB’s post then we went and found him. He had also put up a white flag, but by the time we went there, he had taken it down because someone had come to give him the aid,” Shan Mei Yen, Lee’s personal assistant, told The Malaysian Insight.

She said Faiz, who was originally from Kelantan and lives alone, was given a bag with 5kg of rice, biscuits, instant noodles, and other dried goods.

Another recipient was a 60-year-old man who lives alone.

“He doesn’t have a phone. We don’t know how he knew to put up the white flag,” Shan said.

Lee’s office also helped a family of two, an aunt and nephew, both of whom are jobless.

“They live together and the woman has Parkinson’s.

“Previously, they received a lot of help and support, but the donations have dwindled since the MCO, and in the end, they put out a white flag to seek help,” Shan said.

Activists, analysts and politicians had said that the movement is a symbol of Malaysians anger toward the government due to its failure to bring the pandemic under control and lack of strategies to ensure people keep their livelihoods.

The white flag movement on social media began on June 28, the day Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a RM150 billion Pemulih aid package after extending the MCO, already in place for a month, for an indefinite period, further triggering public anger.

It is not clear who started the movement but posts appeared on social media on Monday, urging those who needed help or food to raise a white flag outside their homes, and others to respond by giving assistance.

Despite the assistance offered under the Pemulih package, business and small and medium enterprises groups have said the only real solution to protect livelihoods is to allow more economic sectors to operate, which they said can be done under stricter standard operating procedure and by ramping up vaccinations against Covid-19.

Now, large and urbanised areas of Selangor, and parts of Kuala Lumpur have also been placed under the enhanced MCO from July 3 to 16. Both states which form the country’s industrial and business hub, have been contributing nearly half the daily number of new infections. – July 4, 2021.