Here in Malaysia, we are under
another very strict lockdown.
Malaysia has reported
the most amount of cases recently
and a very high number of deaths.
Sabah closed its borders in March 2020,
and we've been under one kind of lockdown
or another ever since then.
Sometimes we're in the marina
and not allowed out.
Sometimes we are allowed out,
sometimes we can sail, sometimes
we can't sometimes we're in a boatyard
not allowed out.
Sometimes were allowed out.
It's been really annoying
cry
But we haven't been starving
and we haven't lost our jobs.
We haven't been a part of the steep
rise in suicides
and we haven't lost hope.
We know that these lockdowns
have come about simply because
Malaysia and Sabah
is trying to help its people.
And they've been putting an awful
lot of aid towards poverty
and the underprivileged
and those that have been affected
by the lockdowns.
However, a lot of the aid
is not reaching the people
who really need it.
The rise in destitution
and poverty is now tangible.
Shops, restaurants, bars, hotels,
all these kinds of places
are now being boarded up all around
Kota Kinabalu.
We're in the capital of Sabah,
which is one of the richer areas.
Imagine what it's like
in the really poor areas.
It just meant that Malaysians
have been stepping up to the plate
and rolling up their sleeves
and helping their neighbors
either individually or through NGOs.
And recently, a new movement has started
called #BENDERAPUTIH movement,
translated to the white flag movement.
And the idea behind this
is that any Malaysian
or foreigner as well,
who feels that they are not in a position
to support their family due to hardship,
are encouraged to raise a white flag
outside the house and in return
various organizations and individuals
will come around
and drop off food parcels.
I mean, we've seen food banks,
even in the UK, the use of food banks
has been going up.
And it's the same here
in Malaysia as well.
We felt that this was such a great idea
a few of the boats have got together
and we've been asked to
collect baby formula.
It's something that
is quite expensive here,
but in much need, of course.
So we're going to drive round with Alvin
just to show you that this movement
is a really encouraging thing
to see in Malaysia.
And everyone has got behind it
from supermarkets, radio stations,
as well as the individuals
themselves, of course.
So let's go and see what
this is all about.
The current national recovery plan
means that we can't just cruise around
wherever we feel like it.
We're completely shut down here.
Even within Kota Kinabalu,
there are places
we can't go. To walk around
or drive around
looking for a white flag really
wasn't an option.
So Alvin Teh, our friend
here in the marina and in Borneo,
took us along to meet a couple of women
he knows who are doing
really fantastic work
helping the local communities.
Annie Tseu is organizer
of the Community Outreach Sabbah NGO.
But before we went to see Annie,
we met Peggy and her husband, Allan.
They have been helping neighbors
and poor communities within their area
out of their pocket
and out of the pockets of their friends.
It's purely voluntary.
I asked Peggy what made them
get involved in the first place.
One of our former boatmen, staff,
he was desperate.
He comes to our house
and he does a bit of gardening and
we pay him in kind,
pay for his petrol
and all his adult children and his wife
they were out of jobs last year. One day he came
and said his father in law
his family of nine adults were all starving.
Not having anything to eat.
So Allen immediately
went to the back into our freezer
and got some chicken out, frozen
chicken and whatever we had.
And so the two of us started
going to the supermarket and buying food
to feed his family
and his father in law's family
and then his immediate relatives.
Then we realized that
we could spend a bit more.
And then we helped about
20 families in his village.
And those who are desperate,
unfortunately, they are usually people
on IMM13, which is like the refugee pass,
because government only provides
aid food baskets to those
who have national
registration identity cards.
These people really are outside
the government's safety net,
and there are hundreds
of thousands of them,,
so those are very desperate people.
Thank you
for getting that message out there.
and thank you for all that fantastic work.
Thank you, Liz.
Thank you, Jamie.
We've talked about stateless people
before on FOLLOWTHEBOAT
when we met the bajau laut
community sea gypsies up in the Bohay
Dulang area of eastern Sabah.
It's over 50 year problem
that's been going on between
Sabah and mostly the Philippines.
These people are
caught in the middle.
They're on an IMM status
but it gives them absolutely no
rights whatsoever.
And the thing is that Sabah has been
pretty tolerant of allowing them to stay.
So you've got generations
of these people here
and they don't get any aid.
So while that didn't
matter in the good times
because they were working,
they were providing good, cheap labor
and getting plenty of money,
well, enough money to exist on, the moment
the pandemic hit
That all changed. With no official aid
they've been left to rely
on their own resources
or the kindness of strangers.
We popped round to meet Annie
and to talk to her
about the people who she's helping.
And it turns out
it isn't just the stateless people.
It's also people from Sabah.
She has to go right into the interior
to find these people
and to give them the aid
that she is accumulating around Kota
Kinabalu and around
Sabah specifically to help these guys.
And I should just point out
that when she says foreigners,
she actually means stateless people.
She means Indonesians
and mostly Filipinos
who are stuck here in Sabbah.
What do you say
that it's mostly stateless people?
Initially, we thought it was that way.
We used to think
that it was only the foreigners
and even then it breaks our heart.
But now, seeing our own people doing it
slowly dawns on us
how dire the situation actually is.
And how do you identify
where to go and give this aid?
OK.
We actually have our contacts
in different villages,
all over Sabah, in the interior.
So it's either friends from church
or from the clinics
or schools inside of the villages.
So they reach out to us,
they call us up and say, OK,
we have this need, can
you help? Some of them
even have to take motorized boats,
to come up by the river.
So this is how the interior places
that we are reaching out to.
Those are the places
that we as foreigners
we don't often get to see,
because obviously on our boat,
we see we see a lot of devastation
around the coastline and in the cities
but right inside I bet it's difficult.
Yes, it is.
The group will be transporting food
and the volunteers
would be the 4x4
teams like Alvin
and the rest of them
who come with the big trucks.
If there is a need, we bring in medical...
like small medical teams as well,
because many of the villages
we actually travel to they
do not have basic facilities,
even medical facilities, medical care.
What we try to help here
is to set up foot banks and
encourage people
to put a table outside
your office,
your shop, whatever,
and then put some food there.
Well, this is one very small start
from the people at the marina,
but now we're becoming more aware
of people like you, Annie,
and we now have somewhere to bring stuff.
We're hoping that
we'll be able to bring more to you.
So is the milk powser useful?
Yes.
But also, what else would
be useful to bring?
Yeah, milk powder is a great start
because most times we give them
rice and adult food,
whereas children,
and especially those in the village,
a lot of them are undernourished,
small for their age.
And their size
is really small for their age.
So milk powder is a great idea.
So it's no good just crying,
you need to get out
and do something. Do something,
and even if it's just
one individual, one family,
you have helped that person
maybe to
give him a meal for that whole week.
We were really honored
to meet Annie and Peggy.
They are just two among the many
inspirational people here in Sabah
who are trying to help their neighbors
and doing the best that they can.
And don't forget,
the white flag movement,
it's really started to take off here.
And people are benefiting from the help
that they're receiving
from their friends and neighbors.
Sabbah is making huge efforts
to get the number of hospitalised
down, the number of immunized up,
and that includes sending out
mobile clinics all over the state,
because we've still got quite a way
to go before we reach that 60 percent
or even 50 or 40 percent level.
There are many people here
without incomes and many
people struggling.
Let us hope that Sabah gets the job done
and gets the state open
and running again soon.
Jamie and I, we've done our bit.
We've both had double doses.
What happens next?
Well, we're here
until the borders open
and we're allowed out, or at least
until one of our neighboring countries
opens and allows us in.
We're hoping that the Philippines
will be doing that.
But who knows?
We're stuck here for the duration.