The imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia on 18th March 2020 has left many people without jobs and without food. The Community Services Division of the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) has been out and about in Johor making sure that the needy are helped with deliveries of meals and dried foods. Other organisations were also quickly out on the streets of Johor Bahru to help the needy, and as well as possible unequal distribution of food, there was the concern that these NGOs might unwittingly spread the coronavirus through the local population.
The MRC is an auxillary to the Government and was therefore given the sole task of housing and feeding many of the homeless of Johor Bahru who could not find shelter elsewhere. A total of 230 persons were initially moved to a recreational camp (Kem Wawasan Gunung Pulai), some 30 km from downtown Johor Bahru. They were then checked by staff from the Welfare Department, the Health Department, and the Anti-drug agency, and any with existing medical issues were taken away for treatment. A few of the 230 were illegal immigrants, so the Immigration Department is looking after them.
When Lawrence and I visited Kem Warasan Gunung Pulai to make a short video of the work of the MRC, there were 191 inmates housed in dormitories (less than 20 were female), with their meals and accommodation currently sponsored by the MRC and the Johor State Committee for Relief and Disaster. The MRC volunteers prepare four meals a day in an outdoor kitchen. Since we are now in the holy month of Ramadan, meal times had to be arranged to suit the different eating schedules of the inmates. We met a lady who was driving over an hour daily to transport fresh fish to the camp, and we met many volunteers who were spending time away from their families so they could help the homeless here. The willingness of Malaysians to help those in need is impressive.
Once the food had been distributed into containers, these were then transported a little way up the hill to the campsite itself. Bags containing the correct number of meals for each dormitory were then placed on a table and a representative from each dormitory would come to collect it. These persons had to maintain social distancing and members of the civil defence unit were there to keep everyone in order.
Another representative from each dormitory was assigned to collect bottled water. Sugary drinks were discouraged so that the inmates could have a healthy diet.
At first glance, you might think that the homeless were having a good time here in this camp. After all, they had shelter, four meals a day, and any medical matters were being dealt with. They were also in some of the best countryside in Johor! So they were going to finish here much healthier than when they arrived. But, if you have lived your life on the streets, then being forced to live in dormitories with people you do not know, and having to follow instructions to the letter, these matters probably make things quite tough to handle. The inmates can't even be used to help in the kitchens as they were still under strict quarantine rules and were not allowed to leave their dormitoriy area. This is also why you won’t hear any conversations with the inmates in our little video, as we were kept at a defined distance from them.
Filming methods during this period of social isolation required some extra planning as I could not get too close to the person I was interviewing. So I wore a lapel microphone to record my voice and I captured other voices by using a microphone on the end of a boom handle. Lawrence then did the filming with a small camera so he was easily mobile. In the end, we did not use my part of the conversations but it is always better to get as much material as you can so the magic can then happen in the editing room!
In the photo above we have the MRC volunteer Danial who guided us around the area and explained the protocol for keeping everyone safe and fed. On the left is Dato Rashidi (Deputy Chairman, National Committee for Community Services & Health) who explained the role of the MRC in relation to the other official agencies.
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