Hanoi (VNA) – A number of charity groups founded by the Vietnamese ꦿcommunity in Malaysia called on the public to make donations so as 💃to provide relief aid to disadvantaged people in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Malaysian government recently adopted measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, including a movement control order (MCO).   The order has widely affected lives of Malaysian people and expats in the country, particularly the Vietnamese community. According to charity groups and Vietnamese labourers on social media platform, many Vietnamese in the Southeast Asian country face difficulties, some of them were forced to leave job temporarily without payment. Numerous daily labourers hardly have money to get by, while workers without legal documents live in fear of being caught by local police. There are Vietnamese women getting married to Malaysian who live in unfavourable conditions or are sick. All of them face food shortage or are not able to afford food and medicine, or just cannot go outside to buy essential commodities. The Embassy of Vietnam promptly assigned personnel to contact humanitarian groups in Malaysian localities to confirm the situation. Afterward, it launched a fundraising campaign to call on Vietnamese people to donate and support those who are victimised by the pandemic. The liaison boards of Vietnamese in Malaysia and Johor state in particular, the Vietnamese women group and businesses in the country responded to the call by disseminating information on their websites.

 In addition, other charity groups called for donation from the community to prepare aid package𝓰s for distressed people.

Staff at the Vietnamese Embassy and representative offices in Malaysia offered at least one-day salary to the fund. Close to 8,000 ringgit (about 45 million VND) were raised, which was entrusted to the liaison board, the Vietnamese women group and others to purchase goods for poor people. Members of those groups also raised thousands of ringgit in the spirit of “the haves help the have-nots”. In particular, the Vietnamese business association in Malaysia raised more than 4,000 ringgit, and the FPT Software Malaysia 1,200 ringgit. As of April 11, over 24,000 ringgit had been raised. On the last few days, the liaison board and the Vietnamese women group have worked to distribute aid to the needy. Tran Thi Trang and Tran Nguyen Phuong Loan (Christine Tran), who are the head and member of the standing board of the Vietnamese women group in Malaysia, have overcome obstacles brought by the MCO to buy foodstuff and directly distributed aid to those in need. As of April 12, they had handed over aid packages to about 150 people. Other humanitarian groups, such as Thuong Le-Maridam and a group set up by Nguyen Dac Thiep, have sent packages comprising of rice, cooking oil, instant noodles and milk to hundreds of people. Some Vietnamese workers in Malaysia also donated between 30 and 200 ringgit each to the campaign. Vietnamese charity groups and community in Malaysia warned that difficulties and challenges remain ahead. The MCO was first enforced during March 18-31, and extended until April 14, in an attempt to curb the spread of the COVID-19 in the country. Given the complexity of the pandemic and large number of new COVID-19 infections, the Malaysian government announced that the order will last for two more weeks to April 28. Statistics of the management board on Vietnamese labourers and experts in Malaysia show that the number of Vietnamese workers legally working in the country has dropped strongly to 20,000 at the end of last year./.