KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — A group of Malaysians have set up an online memorial to honour people who died from Covid-19 in Malaysia that has recorded more than 22,000 fatalities to date.
Covid-19 Memorial Malaysia, which went live today, has posted memorials of 351 victims so far.
“To continue to honour our loved ones lost to Covid-19, we have selected the 19th of every month as a day of remembrance. On that day, every month, we will share a selected story from our memorial site on our social media channels,” the Covid-19 memorial developers, led by journalist Aidila Razak, said in a statement.
“We hope the memorial is a contribution towards eternal remembrance of the lives lost to the Covid-19 pandemic, so each person is not a number but a loving memory.”
Nurul Akmal, the niece of Rosna Baharon who died from Covid-19 at age 64 in Selangor on July 5, wrote in the online memorial that her unmarried aunt lived with her family and cared for them.
“She did not have children of her own, so we were like her children, and she was our second mother. Her departure was such a loss for us. It feels like half our souls are gone. For us siblings, she will continue to be the queen of our hearts,” wrote Nurul Akmal.
Chew Kar Yuen died from the coronavirus at age 55 in Selangor on June 4, leaving behind his wife and two daughters.
“He gave us the best life that he could afford and was the friend that you can count on, to many. Though we did not have a chance to say our goodbyes properly because of the pandemic, his legacy lives on forevermore,” his daughter Samantha said in her tribute.
Dhineshnarayanan, 52, is survived by his sister, mother, and niece after he succumbed to Covid-19 in Selangor on August 11.
“Dhinesh was a very noble and spiritual human being and was involved in a lot of spiritual activities. He loved helping people and he will go to any extreme to help and solve their problems,” his unnamed sister wrote in a tribute.
The government has yet to set up a physical memorial to commemorate Malaysia’s Covid-19 victims that currently number at 22,009. More than two million people have been infected with the coronavirus in the country.
Malaysia has the highest cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 deaths per capita in Asean at about 671 fatalities per million people as of yesterday, according to global tracker Our World In Data.
The Covid-19 Memorial Malaysia was created by Afrie Irham, Aidila Razak, Alif Firdaus, Amirul Abu, Amy Amirah, Bryan Tan, Chiang Yi (CY), Danial Haikal, Eshaan Menon, Farul Haziq, Jackie Koh, James Lee, Jey Prakash, Khairil Zafri, Ku Mudrikah, Luqman Rom, Mieza Isa, Mujahid Anuar, Rohaizad Raffe, Saiful Aazizi, Shiuh Jer, and Veshalini Naidu.
The online memorial collates information from media reports, public social media postings, and submissions to its website by those who lost their loved ones to Covid-19.
