KLANG: The Rohingya Muslim community living in Meru, here, may not have much, but they are contributing all they can, including bags of rice and clothing, to be shipped off to their brothers and sisters back home via the Food Flotilla to Myanmar, which will depart for Yangon on Feb 3.
It took just one ceramah to convince the Rohingya here to offer their assistance, and within seven days, 13,000 tonnes of rice were collected – and the amount continues to rise as the departure date inches closer.
A huge chunk of Amir Husin's monthly salary as a fish stall assistant goes towards providing for his small family living in one bedroom in Taman Bunga Melor, but he did not hesitate to fork out RM500 to buy 20 bags of rice.
The 35-year-old father of two said he was touched by the ceramah, given Rohingya Ulama Council Malaysia president Jaber Mohd Subhan, and felt he must do something for his own people.
"The ceramah opened up my eyes and it struck me. If I don’t help them, who else will? I am of the same ethnicity, and it should start from me. The whole world is helping, and I thought that doing my part, even though small, would be significant and meaningful.
"I have saved up some money over the years working here, and I did not think twice about parting with it, although it means I have to watch my spending this month and the next.
"This is my first time donating and I want to do more in the future with what I have and can afford. I hope the food aid will reach family members I left behind when I escaped Rakhine to come here 18 years ago," said Amir.
Realising the urgency to quickly raise funds for the flotilla, Rashid Ahmad Abdul Shukur spread to the word to his friends so that bigger contributions could be made.
The 40-year-old said he knew he couldn’t donate much financially, and decided to network with his friends to pool money together to buy bags of rice.
"I know I myself cannot do much, because I have to support my wife and five young children. Together with my friends, we could do better. I do not have much to give, just two bags of rice, and my three friends managed to contribute one bag each. I hope I can do more for my Rohingya brothers and sisters the next time when I have enough money," said Rashid who also works at a fish stall.
Amir and Rashid were met at the Ma'ahad Al Islahiyah Al Islamiyah in Taman Bunga Melor today, where the 1,300 10kg bags of rice were handed over to the Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organisation (Mapim).
Jaber said he is thankful for the overwhelming response from the close to 800 members of the Rohingya Muslim community in Meru, who also donated clothing, aside from rice.
"This goes to show they are compassionate towards their people and they feel extremely sad. Those who are living here are very poor, but their spirit of giving becomes strong when they think of their families who do not have anything to eat and have no roof over their heads. I would have never imagined they would be able to contribute 1,300 bags of rice in such a short time," said Jaber.
Meanwhile, Mapim president Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid, who received the contributions from Jaber, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is expected to flag off the flotilla from Port Klang.
Azmi said the flotilla, which will first stop in Yangon before heading to Teknaf, in Bangladesh, will take about 18 days to complete its mission and return to Malaysia.
The flotilla will comprise a delegation of 240 people, including humanitarian volunteers from various international and local organisations, social activists, medical doctors as well as religious scholars.
They will be bringing along food, medicine, clothing, hygiene kits, blankets, as well as women’s and children’s necessities.