In Kelantan’s Kampung Manek Urai Lama, neglected folk flock for aid

Trucks carrying supplies to Kampung Manek Urai Lama are often stopped by villagers from other areas as no supplies have been distributed to them. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 8, 2015.On the bridge leading to Kampung Manek Urai Lama, in Kuala Krai, Kelantan, three middle-aged women squatting under a torn piece of zinc attempted to hail down the many trucks carrying food supplies to the flattened village.

Sometimes, the trucks paused and gave the women some of the goods, But the bulk of the supplies goes directly to Kampung Manek Urai Lama, which has become famous after images of the tsunami-like devastation left by the floods went viral on the Internet.

The women on the bridge, however, were not from Kampung Manek Urai Lama, but were forced to flock “like birds” to the area because no donated goods were coming to their own village, even though they, too, are flood victims.

“The distributed goods aren’t reaching my home, so I have to come here. I’ve been waiting for an hour for some food that I can take home to my family,” Aminah Che Se, 47, told The Malaysian Insider.

“We are like birds coming to look for food and this bridge is the tree that yields all the fruits.”

Aminah and her two friends are from Kampung Peria, and they travelled 10km on their motorcycle to reach the bridge with the hope of diverting some of the supplies their way.

She marvelled at the endless stream of vehicles entering Kampung Manek Urai Lama to bring aid, and wondered why no good Samaritan has bothered to check on her village as well.

“Since the floods, my village chief has distributed food supplies only twice. There’s just not enough to go around! But here, I can’t even count how many cars come in with so much food, drinks and clothes,” she said.

But therein lies the problem of unsystematic distribution. According to the National Disaster Management for the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, groups that were “dumping” aid items to flood-hit villages were upsetting planned disaster relief efforts by authorities.

Its chief, Datuk Wira Dr Bahari Datuk Abu Mansor, told English-language daily The Star that some villages were getting more than their share of aid, while those in remote locations were left with nothing.

As a testament to the abundance of supplies Kampung Manek Urai Lama received, freshly donated clothes lay in muddied piles on the ground every few metres, while the road leading to the village was choked with four-wheel-drives teeming with supplies.

Volunteers, who stopped their trucks to distribute aid to Aminah and other “birds” waiting on the bridge, admitted that they had no idea where to go and what supplies were needed, but had come here because they had heard it was the worst hit area.

“Look, there are so many people donating items here. But none at my village. Please come to my village as well,” one local could be heard pleading to a volunteer.

The local, Wan Sulaiman Wan Zainal, told The Malaysian Insider that his village, Kampung Manek Urai Baru was located just before the bridge, yet no volunteers thought to enter his neighbourhood.

“So now we just stand here by the bridge, like beggars, and hope to get a few crumbs from what our neighbours are getting.”

Wan Sulaiman said he had lost his restaurant in the flood – a business he had built since 1987 – and, driven by need and hunger, had come here for the past few days with two of his children.

Beside him stood Mohd Shahri Saga, 54, a retired armed officer who shared a similar predicament. He said if he did not make the journey to Kampung Manek Urai Lama, his family would go hungry.

“I have no choice but to come here. I can’t force all the volunteers to come to my village as well. So I just come here and wait,” he said.

Clean-up operations are still far from complete as some villagers in Kampung Manek Urai Lama spend their nights in their cars. – – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, January 8, 2015.

- TMI