Life In Lockdown With Expired Papers When Sickness Can Turn Deadly

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Charity workers of Nahdlatul Ulama Malaysia deliver aid to a group of Indonesians in a plantation. There are some 2.5 million Indonesians in Malaysia, many of whom live in desperate conditions during the MCO. (NU Malaysia pic)PETALING JAYA: While governments wrestle with national lockdowns and the big picture, it’s left to volunteer groups of ordinary people to deal with the personal dramas and tragedies that result inevitably
In a tiny, dilapidated room in a kongsi communal shanty in Puchong, Selangor, Sumiyati’s skin and the whites of her eyes have turned an alarming, jaundiced yellow
Mahfud Budiono looks at her lying listlessly on her thin mattress on the floor. She’s obviously very sick
He’s no doctor but he thinks she has a liver problem
She and her husband share this kongsi with other recently unemployed construction workers
Her husband went out earlier to buy medicine for her but he still hasn’t returned and is now well overdue
He had no documents on him, and the word around is that he was nabbed by police
Such situations are encountered all too frequently by Mahfud, who heads the volunteer group from the Malaysian chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim body and the largest independent Islamic organisation in the world
NU is also a charitable body funding schools and hospitals as well as organising communities to help alleviate poverty
It has a membership of anywhere from 60 to 90 million, and since it was founded in 1926 it has had significant influence on Indonesia’s politics and government
Last year, Ma’ruf Amin, NU’s senior cleric was elected as Indonesia’s vice-president
NU Malaysia’s Mahfud Budiono says his group has helped close to 10,000 Indonesians living in Malaysia to help them survive the MCO.Mahfud’s branch is now looking after destitute, hungry and sometimes sick migrants in Malaysia
Today, Mahfud has walked into an urgent situation
He arrived with cooking oil, a tray of eggs and 10 packets of instant noodles for the couple
He and his team-mate found Sumiyati lying immobile on her mattress
“Her situation is critical,” Mahfud says. “I feel like crying.”Sumiyati’s elderly neighbours – also from Indonesia – are taking care of her
It’s the type of scene that Mahfud and his band of volunteers keep coming across as they work tirelessly to distribute food to their fellow Indonesians trying to survive without jobs in locked down Malaysia
NU Malaysia’s Mahfud Budiono listens intently to a woman in Puchong. (NU Malaysia pic)That task is keeping them very busy. Already, NU has received 20,000 applications for aid. So far, they have managed to help nearly half of those
The movement control order (MCO) presents challenges for everyone, especially after the government began restricting movement to a maximum of 10km
Sometimes NU teams have been turned back on their way to deliver food because the area they were heading to was a red zone
“Other times, the authorities just don’t believe us,” says Mahfud
“We didn’t expect the MCO to be extended. We thought we could manage with our existing funds,” he tells FMT. “But our provisions ran out in the first week.”There is still a long waiting list, and now the first recipients need further bundles
“It’s critical because they have no money and should not go out. Most don’t have bank accounts so NU can’t wire money to them,” says Mahfud
There are 2.5 million Indonesians in Malaysia now and he estimates that a million are in desperate conditions
“I wish I was rich or had the authority to contact the prime minister to appeal for aid.”Distributing aid is tiring and stressful, so he and his colleagues need to think positively, he says
“If we are stressed ourselves, how can we help others?”Back in the kongsi, Sumiyati is still on her sickbed, waiting for her husband, but it seems unlikely he’ll return soon for it has transpired that he is in the Sepang lockup. He’s apparently healthy but, despite her own ill health, she’s very worried about him
Still nobody knows what she’s suffering from, and still she has no medicine
Someone sent a masseuse in an attempt to help her. After her ministrations, the verdict is that her tummy looks somewhat less bloated than before
She lies there, sick, no medication, and husband in the lockup. But at least today there’s food for her elderly carers to cook and feed her
Small dramas such as this are all in a day’s work for these NU volunteers in these extraordinary times. - FMT

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