Bersih seeks more funds for ‘MakanKongsi’ initiative

PETALING JAYA: The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih 2.0), is seeking public donations for an initiative to provide two meals a day to the underprivileged affected by the movement control order (MCO).

The programme, called #MakanKongsi, is MCO-compliant and is not affected by the restriction placed by the National Security Council on NGOs, providing much needed food to the homeless and needy.

“To avoid the need for the vulnerable to gather at a predetermined place and time to collect their meals, we give them food vouchers that can be exchanged for meals at participating restaurants or food stalls near their locality,” Bersih said in a statement yesterday.

“We will then pay the restaurants the next day, based on the vouchers they have received. In this way, our recipients can go at any time during the day to collect their meals as takeaway,” Bersih said, adding that vouchers were date and mealspecific.

For families or communities able to cook their own meals, a sum of money will be provided and channelled to them through NGOs and individuals who are in direct contact with them.

Bersih said efforts would be made to find trustworthy NGOs or individuals to help with the disbursement of funds and due diligence would be conducted to ensure all the money is accounted for.

The sum allocated to each family will be sufficient for them to buy provisions for the duration of the MCO, it added.

Bersih said the initiative was to “leave no empty stomach” during the MCO. It also noted while the Prihatin stimulus package covers the B40 group, it does not reach out to those not registered in the system.

Bersih estimated it would need RM300,000 for the programme. It has already raised RM163,000.

Since it was launched on March 20, Bersih and its partner Engage have raised RM137,000 to feed 1,124 individuals until the end of the MCO period.

It said with the extension of the MCO to April 14, the situation could worsen.

“We hope to provide meals to about 2,000 people in the coming days and for that, we need RM300,000,” the statement said.