Enhanced MCO: Some Semporna villagers have yet to receive food aid
COVID-19 | Some villagers in Semporna, Sabah have been forced to go without adequate food supply four days into the enhanced movement control order (MCO) despite the government gaining the experience in imposing such restrictions a few months ago.
Kampung Air villager, Mukmin Nantang, 26, told Malaysiakini many villagers had not been able to receive food aid as the government's name list was incomplete.
Citing Kampung Bangau-Bangau, which is adjacent to his village, Mukmin estimated that more than half of the villagers had not received food from the government as of Oct 13.
"They don't understand the actual situation on the ground. They just get the name list from certain parties, or from some old enumeration, which is incomplete. Therefore, some are left out, for example, those who rent houses.
"Many people didn't get it (the aid). I think more than half of the villagers in Kampung Bangau-Bangau have not received it," he added.
The Health Ministry announced the Bangau-Bangau cluster on Sept 22 and it later accumulated more than 400 Covid-19 cases.
The administrative targeted enhanced MCO was imposed in the Semporna district since Sept 29, while six localities in Semporna were placed under enhanced MCO from Oct 10 to 23.
These include nine villages in six localities in Semporna: Kampung Bangau-Bangau Hujung, Kampung Bangau-Bangau Darat, Kampung Hallo, Kampung Ubian, Kampung Panji, Kampung Air, Kampung Selamat, Kampung Simunul and Kampung Pinggir Bakau.
In addition, the entire state of Sabah has also been put under the conditional MCO from Oct 13 to 26.
Residents under enhanced MCO are not allowed to leave their homes and food rations are to be supplied.
Food distribution not 'for fun'
The irregular alignment of houses in the villages is also a reason why some families are not included in the official data and have not received assistance, said Mukmin, who is also a social activist promoting education opportunities for stateless children in Semporna.
“In some villages, such as Kampung Air, the arrangement of houses is scattered and sprawling, so not every house has been marked and put on the map. As a result, some residents are not on the list for food distribution and did not receive assistance.
"They (the government) should mark and include all the families onto their map, then the aid delivery will be much easier," he said.
Mukmin further urged the government to take the ration distribution seriously as it's a lifeline for villagers who are unable to leave home.
"The distribution can't just be sent for fun. It cannot be 'if enough, then enough, if not enough, then we just leave'," he said.
He added that the government has also neglected the different needs of the villagers and did not include essential items such as baby diapers, milk formula, sanitary napkins or medicines in the rations.
"They think all the people need is just food."
Although the residents are not supposed to leave their homes under the enhanced MCO, some villagers were left with no choice but to go and buy food from local sundry shops as they did not receive the rations promised, an anonymous Kampung Bangau-Bangau villager told Malaysiakini.
Six members in his family, including his parents and younger siblings, did not receive any food as of the fourth day of the enhanced MCO.
The villager claimed that so far the village chief had not informed them when the rations would be delivered.
This is not the first time residents have experienced such conditions in enhanced MCO areas. In April, residents in confined areas of Selayang complained of going hungry due to the slow distribution of rations.
The issue came to light after locals called their MP for help. Some residents only received food four days after the enhanced MCO was imposed.
In the same month, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob also refused to provide food for migrants in two locked-down buildings in Kuala Lumpur, pushing the responsibility to foreign missions. The then Kuala Lumpur Mayor Nor Hisham A Dahlan later pledged to provide food after Ismail's remark received backlash.
NGOs strive to fill the gap
When contacted, the co-founder of Semporna Heroes Jamilah Ang said that the state Welfare Department has started distributing supplies.
However, she said, it was inevitable for some villagers not to have received the aid yet, and some local NGOs were working closely with the government to fill in the gaps.
"As far as I know, the Welfare Department has been distributing food packs since last week. However, it is really not easy to reach everyone as some kampung under enhanced MCO are high-risk areas. I think they are trying their best to distribute food.
"At the same time, many local NGOs are helping a lot. For example, there may only be 600 food packs budgeted for a village, but there are actually 630 in need. So, what the NGOs can do is to top up whatever is lacking," Jamilah told Malaysiakini.
During the interview, Jamilah pointed out that there was no milk formula available in the government ration supplies.
Semporna Heroes then called for donations to provide milk formula to hundreds of young children and babies, which benefited more than 200 children as of Oct 13.
"Milk is essential for the kids to be healthy, so that they will not get infected," said Jamilah, a Semporna native who is also the chairperson of the Semporna Tourism Association.
"Recently, there was a one-year-old baby from Semporna who died of Covid-19. I think her death was an eye-opener for everybody. It made the people realise that children need nutritious food to fight the virus," she added.
When the Health Ministry announced the Bangau-Bangau cluster on Sept 22, locals had begun to prepare for assistance. Currently, Semporna Heroes is cooperating with 14 other NGOs to help the locals, according to Jamilah.
She estimated that there are about 37,000 residents in confined areas in Semporna while the government has only prepared around 15,000 food packs - one per family.
"The MCO is expected to be extended to one or two months, so we can expect more supplies will be needed.
"However, the government food aid is one-off, so what the NGOs can do is to help on the second and third rounds of food aid distribution," she added.
It is worth noting that Sabah has the most stateless people in the country, compared to the other states.
Jamilah said everyone should receive the same assistance and treatment, regardless of whether they are citizens, undocumented migrants or stateless persons.
District Office: 85 percent has been delivered
The Sabah state government previously announced an allocation of RM2 million to each Covid-19 red zone districts for the distribution of food packs, including Semporna, according to the News Straits Times.
The Semporna District Office was tasked to coordinate the distribution of the state assistance. The distribution was carried out through the Welfare Department, the People’s Volunteer Corps and the Malaysian Civil Defence Force.
When contacted, Semporna district officer Benedict Asmat said the distribution and ration delivery have been challenging as certain areas are high-risk areas.
When asked, he said it was difficult to say how many food packs have been prepared and distributed to date.
However, Benedict said that as of Oct 13, an estimated 85 percent of residents in the restricted areas have received food.
In contrast, the "real-time data" on the official website of the Sabah Disaster Management Committee posted a different picture.
According to the data published, the total number of food packs distributed in the Semporna district was only 3,721 packs as of Oct 13.
If calculated on the estimation of 15,000 food packs in total, less than 25 percent were delivered until the fourth day of the enhanced MCO enforcement.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that the Sabah government has so far distributed 12,313 food packs to target groups in all areas involved with the enhanced MCO, targeted enhanced MCO and conditional MCO.
State Community Development and People’s Well-being Minister Shahelmey Yahya said the federal government, through the National Disaster Management Agency, had handed over 6,300 food packs so far and the number would be increased accordingly.
“The food baskets will be distributed to all districts, but we will give priority to families that are under quarantine,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Shahelmey added some elected representatives have also taken their own effort to distribute aid to their constituents. - Mkini
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