KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 4 — If there is one thing these floods have shown us, it is that Malaysians are extraordinarily generous. In donations and in deeds.
Not content to just give money or donate supplies, many of them organised flood relief to the various affected areas all over the country.
Many even went personally to the flood areas to make sure food and other supplies got into the hands of people who need them most.
Over the past week, we have read many such stories but this one of a group of pub goers is particularly endearing.
The Mou Man Tai (roughly translated from Cantonese to mean “No problem!”) crew of Tom, Dick and Harry’s Pub is a motley bunch of 35 volunteers with 10 cars and five boats.
Spearheaded by the pub’s partners — Colin Soh, 36 and Ernest Ong and Bruce Wong, both 34 — the group came together four days ago and decided to take food and water to the flood victims.
At first, they weren’t sure where to go but they finally decided on Chenor, Pahang three days ago after Ong asked around the Mentakab area.
“This was because not much aid was going into Chenor,” he explained to Malay Mail Online, which accompanied them on the journey.
So at 4am yesterday, the crew set off from Tom, Dick and Harry’s in Ara Damansara with a container of goods worth RM100,000. There were 700 boxes filled with rice, water, milk powder, condensed milk, instant noodles, bread, sardines, water and biscuits.
The idea was to rendezvous in Mentakab at 7am with the Fire and Rescue Department there. The container got as close to the flooded area as possible and from there, they transferred the boxes to their four-wheel drives.
The Mou Man Tai crew managed to deliver 150 boxes of supplies to Kg Batu Bor and 50 boxes to Kg Lanting in Chenor.
These two villages are still inundated by floodwaters and many of the families are stranded on higher ground with no access to food or water.
The other boxes will be distributed later by the Fire Department.
From start to finish, this enthusiastic group managed to send out a call for donations via their Facebook page, pack the supplies and send it to the flood victims in just three days.
This is not the first time Mou Man Tai has taken things into their own hands. Five years ago, the Mou Man Tai fun run was started to raise money for charity.
Today, that annual run has grown so big they are able to raise substantial funds for charity.
And now, this.
It looks like Mou Man Tai really lives up to their name.
