Do-It-Yourself public services – Malaysians who go on their own to help people in need

We chart a few stories of Malaysians going the extra mile to help others, as a response to the sluggish and sometimes lack of response from our public servants. 

Text by Susan Tam

 

1. Bikers fixing potholes

Image credit: Malay Mail
Image credit: Malay Mail

 

A chap named Lando leads this initiative – repairing the all too familiar potholes in many of Kuala Lumpur’s roads.  His real name is Azlan Sani Zawawi and he works with his team called the Ikatan Silaturrahim Brotherhood to fix these treacherous potholes.

Potholes are dangerous to motorists, especially motorcyclists, who not only have to dodge the holes but are also victims when cars hit them as the larger vehicles avoid the holes.

Lando and his team’s frustration with government agencies and local councils motivated the group to do this work, which has been going on since 2008.  To do this, the team raises money by selling t-shirts and merchandise to get the tools, materials and a lorry for the repairs to happen.

His Facebook page keeps the public up to date about the work that they do, and often has motivating and encouraging messages on it.

Among the group’s posts is a message of their commitment to ensure the safety of fellow motorists and motorcyclists, as reflected in this one, “We don’t feel at all insulted when we have to sit by the potholes to remove the dirty water before repairing the pothole. This is because we feel more insulted if we allow our friends to die because of such damages, or allow our friends to injure themselves for ever if we do not do anything about it.  Take a look.”

In a recent interview with Edgy, Lando said they spent up to RM3,500 to cover 10 potholes within a 10 km radius, almost five times less than than what contractors were usually paid to do the same job.

As a challenge to local authorities, he said, “We call ourselves pencabar.  We are challengers.  If we can do it without any funds, then what about you man? You have pay and allowance. We are not even a non-government organisaiton. I just call,’bro, come here bro’, and people come,” he said in the interview for the Dec 21 issue of The Edge pullout, Edgy.

In a December 8 Malay Mail Online report, Kuala Lumpur City Hall had requested Lando and his crew to liaise with authorities to work on voluntary road repair works.  The mayor also promised to speed up the response to complaints about potholes.

 

 

2. Teddy Bear doctor and the homeless

Dr Madhu Sudhan

 

Volunteer doctor Dr S. Madhu Sudhan has been in the limelight of late, for leading campaigns to provide free medical checks to the homeless community in Kuala Lumpur.

In one of the interviews with us, Dr Madhu had said, “Offering free clinic services to the needy has always been my dream, if I am allowed to do it, I’ll do it everyday.”  The kind-hearted doctor spends his free time mobilising volunteers to help the needy and his latest initiative is to offer free check-ups through a mobile clinic every Wednesday for the homeless. This voluntary work is on top of his full-time job running a clinic in Cheras.

The 33-year-old had told us his work couldn’t have been possible without the support of two other volunteers Shalini Yeap and Alfred Samuel Mariyaras, as well as Kechara Soup Kitchen where he has been volunteering at for some years now.

In another interview, Yeap told us that free medical clinics offered the option for the homeless who might not know about government hospitals or clinics, or who were probably too nervous or scared to go to government faiclities. “They avoid government hospitals perhaps because they have low self-esteem, face discrimination by others and lack of identification documents,” she said.

And since then, Dr Madhu’s movement of offering services to the homeless has grown, working with Street Feeders of KL, Syed Azmi’s Free Market initiative and Lex Low’s free haircut movement.

You can read more about Dr Madhu’s work here.

 

 

3. CERAH wants blue skies

Haze in KL 2015

One of the latest people-led movements to be formed this year is CERAH, what we thought could be Malaysia’s first anti-haze lobby group.

The voluntary group is made up engineers, housewives, media professionals and environmental experts and began online in the popular chat application Whatsapp.

Group leader Animah Kosai told us that frustration and anger were some of the drivers that pushed people to set up this up.  “There was this sense of anger and resignation, it’s really bad, I want my life back,” said Animah.

We had an unforgettable time with the smog this year, covering up Malaysian skies with nasty particles and smoke for nearly four months of the year.  Guardian UK had reported that the smog was a result of raging forest fires across Indonesia.

Animah said people felt that the Malaysian government was not going to do anything, so they decided use CERAH to take action themselves through CERAH.  The group is currently on a fact-finding mission to find out more about the causes of the haze and actions that ordinary citizens could take to prevent smog in the coming years.  CERAH is split into several smaller teams so they could focus on using their expertise and knowledge to develop effective solutions.

CERAH has also reached out to like-minded individuals and organisations in Singapore, Kalimantan and Jakarta to find solutions.

 

 

4. Pitas villagers build their own road

Pitas Road villagers (TRP)
Image via The Rakyat Post

 

In the Pitas district of Sabah, waiting for the government to fulfil its promise took a toll on the villages.  They waited 15 years for authorities to construct a new road but as patience wore out, they took matters into their own hands.

The villagers got together to build a road on their own, working their way through thick jungle and improving access to not only one or two villages, but seven in that area.

Pitas located over 200 km from the state capital of Kota Kinabalu.  The district had been promised a link into their villages but since the promise was made over a decade ago, very little progress had been made.

The World Bank in 2010 had noted that the Pitas district is one of the poorest and most undeveloped areas in Malaysia.  The road project was meant to uplift the lives of people living there, and was approved under the country’s 7th Malaysia Plan.

But as we are in our 11th Malaysia Plan, it was frustrating for villagers to see little work done to complete the project.  Construction began on a few kilometres of the road, but it was abandoned halfway.

Fed up, villagers raised money and used their own resources and creativity to build the road. Locals chipped in their time and effort into the road and each resident contributed between RM5 and RM50 each for the project.

Although not tarred, the Pitas villagers’ version of a road cut down the time for children to go to school and to transport goods, improving the lives of people living in those villages.

Read the full story here.

 

 

5. Syed Azmi’s FreeMarket 

Syed Azmi Free Market Selangor (The Star Online)
Image credit: The Star Online

We are familiar with Syed Azmi Alhabshi’s work and generosity in helping the needy, and in this instance its his speedy efforts in helping the flood victims in Malaysia’s East Coast states.

Thousands were badly affected by one of the country’s worst floods, displacing many families, damaging schools, railway lines, livestock and property.

According to a Guardian UK report, the flood victims had accused the Malaysian government of being slow in offering assistance for victims to cope in natural disaster.  At the same time, Malaysians vented their anger at Prime Minister Najib Razak, after the release of photos which went viral on social media showing him playing golf with US president Barack Obama, during the storms.

For Syed Azmi, it was all about helping the needy, so replicating his FreeMarket movement for flood victims was one of his creative ways to reach families fast and provide them with the support they needed.

The bubbly Petaling Jaya resident had organised FreeMarket in early 2014, a place where people can donate their pre-loved goods to the needy, such as single parents and hardcore poor families.  Goods are simply donated to those who need them without the need for cash to exchange hands.

To help people in the East Coast, he brought FreeMarket to them. Syed Azmi worked with his frriends, and hundreds of volunteers to collect supplies, goods and school uniforms for families affected by the floods.  Using social media as a tool he mobilised enough support to raise 200 tonnes of donations for the flood victims from the public and private sectors.

The FreeMarket Facebook page has nearly 12,000 members and is growing, with new FreeMarkets being set up by communities in states outside of Selangor.  Syed Azmi and his friends are part of a group called the Rakyat 4 Rakyat initiative, (Citizen for Citizen) a platform where everyone is considered a leader and offers an honest and grassroots approach to charity.

In media interviews, the humble Syed Azmi usually tells reporters that, he is “a nobody”, and that anyone could do a charitable act if they set their minds and heart to it.

 



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