A flooding of goodwill

The news of the recent East Coast Floods came on Christmas week; where a colleague of mine, who is a medical doctor, had left for Kelantan on Tuesday under the umbrella of Mercy Malaysia to provide medical assistance to those affected.

We received almost daily updates from her on the ground, confirming the worse: the water levels were rising rapidly and most of the hospitals were losing power. The last whatsapp message from her was on Christmas Eve, and I assumed that she just could not charge her phone.

More and more news about the floods came on social media, with a friend, Abby, reporting from a personal point-of-view on her instagram account from her kampung in Guchil; and another friend, Nik, saying that as a Kelantanese, this was the worst flood he had experienced and that most of his relatives living in Kelantan were cut off. More news came about other affected states on the East Coast, and even some areas in Perak and Negeri Sembilan. On Boxing Day, the 10th Anniversary of the Acheh Tsunami that devastated our region, we woke to news of Kelantan now being totally inaccessible due to floods.

I was worried for my friend, having lost contact with her that day due to the power outage. A part of me really wanted to do something, but felt extremely helpless. I couldn’t help but feel angry reading my Facebook newsfeed where, in addition to an article where a politician likened the floods to a sign from God that hudud law must be implemented in Kelantan, some Malaysians were commenting about politics and whose side of the divide should one vote for, seemingly without empathy to those affected by the floods.

It seemed like some Malaysians are just hell-bent on politicizing everything, even blaming natural disasters on which political party a majority of the state supports. I could only shake my head in frustration, and focused instead on the many pleas from groups of volunteers for supplies and the discussion on how to access the areas in order to send the supplies.

The many suggestions to air-drop supplies from helicopters had to be scrapped due to fierce winds and heavy rain, and new plans had to be made involving ground transport using heavy vehicles and boats, with the burden of the work on personnel who are experienced with relief efforts in such conditions. Nonetheless, many of those ordinary citizens of Malaysia trying to help were not disheartened andcontinued with their efforts.

As with other tragedies affecting our country, social media seemed to be a battleground of sorts with varied, often heated, opinions being shared. Yet, it also serves as a tool to viralize positive messages and in light of the floods, helped to spread the need for supplies and volunteers. In less than 24 hours, centres accepting donations of dry food, diapers, sanitary napkins, potable drinking water and the like were set up and received tremulous support from Malaysians due to the pleas being shared on social media.

It was overwhelming seeing the support, with teams of everyday Malaysians organizing the supplies and arranging how these can get to those affected; to business owners allowing their space to be used as such centres and volunteers from all walks of life coming together to help. Malaysians donated either monetarily, in kind or with their energy and time. Items donated were repacked according to categories of supplies needed, organized and sent out – with volunteers forming human chains to move the supplies into waiting trucks and buses; transporting these items to Skypark, Subang or Bukit Kiara for further distribution either by air or ground transport.

Being a part of the action at Harley’s in TTDI over the weekend, I had to concur that social media can be used for good. Again, it is up to each individual’s choice whether he/she wants to spread enmity and discord, or tospread messages of community service and positivity. I can only hope that the supplies will get to those affected, and that the clean up can be done smoothly and effectively.

It has not been a great year for Malaysians with the tragedies of mh370, mh17, qz8501, and ending the year with these devastating floods, but to see the positive response by Malaysians overcoming all the negativity is indeed, a beacon of hope that we Malaysians can truly overcome anything, together.

Here’s to a more positive year in 2015, happy new year! – December 31, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.