KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — While armchair critics kept busy by wagging their fingers as floodwaters swamped Malaysia, a little-known pharmacist sought to dispel the popular belief that nothing moves unless commanded by VVIPs.
Syed Azmi Alhabshi who was burnt for organising a pet-a-dog session for Muslims last year has since bounced back to kick off a recent successful donation and delivery drive to aid disaster victims in flood-struck states on the peninsula’s east coast that had been deprived of sorely-needed basic supplies of food, clothing and drinking water.
It began with him wondering on Facebook in November on how to get a helicopter to help fly in supplies for those stranded by the floodwaters, prompting a response from a US firm, Solaire which offered to fly Syed Azmi in one of their choppers to deliver aid direct to Marang, Terengganu.
He now sees his “helicopter story” as a symbol of hope, to show Malaysians that they can make a difference for the better even if they are mere ordinary folk.
“That proves to people... Come on, we can make a difference, simply by working together we can make a change,” the pharmacist told Malay Mail Online when contacted on Tuesday.
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Syed Azmi said the massive response to a two-day collection drive for flood aid supplies last month surprised him and his “Free Market” team, saying that they thought they were “nobody” and did not expect their campaign to be “famous”.
He pointed to prominent social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir and her husband queuing up with other volunteers to pass boxes of supply to lorries as an example of the attention the campaign had attracted.
Many Malaysians have responded to his team’s call for help, with Syed Azmi estimating that three 40-footer containers and around 10 big lorries’ worth of donated items were collected, while a team of 160 volunteers could be seen helping out at any given time.
“I just want to prove to Malaysians that I have nothing, I don’t have money, I am not under any organisation, I’m not a politician, yet I can help people if I share my vision and plans,” he said.
“I like people to know if I can do it, you can do it and you can do it better than me. You can improve and make it better, that’s the fun part,” he added, pointing to endorsed group Monkeyvapes Malaya’s initiative to get pre-sorted family packages to save time and effort.
Let everyone just do good together
Many have done and are doing collection and donation drives for the flood victims, but what is it that makes Syed Azmi and his team tick?
“Because we see that this is something which everybody can participate in. We do it because everybody can participate. It’s free, nobody can force anybody. The cause is pure,” he said.
Syed Azmi said his team believes that “everyone always wants to help others”, saying that an individual’s ideology and background is not important at all.
“When you see the chance and opportunity that you can do so something correct and right and good, you take the opportunity.
“That’s what we are telling people, you don’t need to wait for somebody to do it,” he said.
Rest for the volunteers too
While some questioned his call to stop while his team’s centre was a top drop-off centre, Syed Azmi said it was the year-end holidays and he saw that many of the volunteers were parents who would need to buy school supplies for their own children.
He said he wanted volunteers to spend time with their families, also adding that “And I want them to rest because it’s their holiday”.
“They (flood victims) are important but the people who are giving out are also important, you have to take care of them also,” he said, pointing out that one of his favourite photographs was that of volunteers eating.
“We don’t have floods but we are humans, we need to rest too,” he said.
But it’s a short break before the unstoppable Syed Azmi and his team continue on with the next phase on January 3 and 4 — a two-day collection of school uniforms and supplies needed in the clean up when the flood recedes.
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