6 Times We Used Social Media For The Greater Good Of Malaysia
Social media is not just about harsh comments from trolls and haters. Here are some inspiring and heartwarming stories that would not have happened if not for Malaysians using social media to do some good in the world.
Published for MDeC, 25 Nov 2014, 06:19 PM — Updated about 10 years ago
1. When the viral social experiment video, "Are Malaysians Racist?" proved that most Malaysians are actually non-racist people, which gave everyone hope for a future with no regard for racial differences
Less than a day after its online debut, the five-and-a-half minute clip was shared an impressive nearly 50,000 times on Facebook and received more than 200,000 combined views on video-sharing site YouTube and MMO’s internal JW video player. It was the second-most watched video on YouTube in Malaysia.
yahoo.com2. When the PAWS Animal Welfare Society was issued a sudden eviction notice, thousands of social media users came together to offer their support in terms of funding, volunteering, and even adopting pets from the shelter!
Extensive sharing on the social networks have brought the issue to the attention of YB Elizabeth Wong and YB Ean Yong as well as that of Selangor Menteri Besar YAB Azmin Ali. The eviction notice had been suspended, with the Land Office brought in the look for a new location to house the shelter.
3. When this Facebook post about a good Samaritan named Mr. Vasu - who went out of his way to help a stranded motorist in the morning rush traffic - reminded us that there is still hope for humanity
The writer of the post above was left stranded on the Federal after her car ran out of fuel. A man on a motorcycle stopped to offer his help, asking her to give him some money so that he could buy her petrol to refill her car with. 25 minutes later, the man - Mr. Vasu - returned with petrol and filled up her car with a funnel made from a deconstructed water bottle.
4. When 75 pitchers chipped in to back a reading initiative in Negeri Sembilan for underprivileged school children, raising close to RM4,000 which will be used to expand the school's collection of books and hence, encourage the students to read
"Sponsor A Child To Read" is a project created by English teacher Liew Suet Li, who hopes to increase the literacy rate of her students in a rural school in Negeri Sembilan by providing them access to books and by creating a learning environment in their homes.
The money raised will be used to buy 750 English books (25 books per student), to be utilised in a weekly reading session which will be held in the local town hall where the 30 students and their parents will attend. They will be given books to read and will then bring those books home to add to their home libraries (currently, the selected students have less than 5 books at home). In the weekly reading sessions, these students and their parents will engage in interactive reading activities that will both be educational and motivational.
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5. When Malaysians petitioned to Malaysian authorities in order to seek justice for Socky the stray cat, who was found disembowelled and left for dead in the middle of a field in Penang
On 24 November, Penangite Azra Azreen discovered the mutilated body of the black-and-white cat lying in the middle of a field near her home with its paws bound with rafia string and guts outside of its body. Azra would frequently feed the stray cat and had even affectionately named it Socky. Upon the discovery, Azra called the authorities to lodge a report, only to be told that they couldn't do anything about it.
Outraged and disappointed, Azra took to Facebook to detail the incident, asking the public to share the story in order to raise awareness about animal abuse and to urge Malaysian authorities to take such cases seriously. As of time of writing, the post has has more than 1,700 shares.
Azra has also started a petition to urge the Malaysian government and authorities to take cases involving animal cruelty more seriously.
6. When an online crowd funding project by The RE:ED Project to bring 40 underprivileged kids to KidZania raised more than its initial target of RM3,300, thanks to 25 backers who pushed the total amount to RM3,900. With that, the organisers were able to bring 59 kids with them instead of only 40!
Created by The RE:ED Project, the project was aimed to help underprivileged school children realize their potential through the role playing they are going to experience in KidZania, hence motivating them to be a better student in order to pursue their dreams. The funds raised were supposed to cover entrance fees and transportation costs in bringing the kids to Kidzania.
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The RE:ED project is set up to help needy school pupils at SMK Tengku Idris Shah in Kapar, Selangor get another chance at school and learn the things they need to do well in life, with the primary goal of helping underprivileged school children realize their potential as well as to change the attitudes of these children and break the cycle of poverty among these children.
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If you often spend time on the Internet, why not take the opportunity to do some good via digital volunteerism? Together we can make a difference with digital, #DoMoreLah4Malaysia.
Find out how you can be a part of something big at Digital Malaysia.