Kind Malaysians help out motorists stuck in ‘balik kampung’ traffic with offers of free drinks and use of toilets
KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — Many Malaysians, especially from the east coast region, faced traffic congestion over the weekend following the Hari Raya Haji celebrations.
As many were returning from their hometowns after a long weekend, highways and even other roads in the east coast were reported to be heavily congested.
Some road users even took to social media to complain that they have been stuck for over six hours on the road.
Facebook user Nik Norkatijah Mohd Razak took to her Facebook to share a heartwarming deed by a Terengganu family who opened their doors to road users stuck in traffic.
In the post, Katijah and her family who were on the road for five hours coming from Kuala Besut, shared that they came across a house in Kampung Saujana, Terengganu which offered their toilets to be used by those stuck in traffic.
The homeowner even put out cardboard in front of their house offering their free services.
As it turns out, the son of the house-owner, Muhammad Hafiz Sakarnor had told Harian Metro that the reason he and his family decided to open their doors to the public was because they wanted to help out those who were stuck in traffic, especially families with young kids.
He said that traffic had been building up in front of their house since 7pm last Saturday and he and his family just wanted to help.
“At first there was just one road user who came by our house to ask for directions to the nearest surau and I showed him the way. Although it’s nearby, it will take them longer to get there due to traffic.
“Looking at the worsening traffic situation, I offered them to use our toilet instead and I went inside the house to get a cardboard cutout and wrote ‘free toilet, just come in’ so that road users can just come and drop by.
“Before that, I asked for permission from my parents and they were okay with it. Since Maghrib until 11pm, road users have been dropping by our house non-stop,” he said.
Hafiz added that aside from offering their toilets, he and his family also offered road users to use one of their rooms to pray, while they’ve also received road users who asked them if they could stay at their home for the night.
He also shared that some road users offered them money as donations for their deeds and said that the congestion was due to road users being led there by navigation apps as a shortcut.
@zai.ismail Bagus dorang ni time jem, takde kedai bukak raya pertama, dorang edarkan air free. #RayaHaji #BalikKampung #RayaHaji2023 #BalikGuaMusang Angels Like You (Sped Up) - Miley Cyrus
On the first day of Hari Raya Haji (June 29) in Kelantan, a TikTok video of a man giving out free drinks to road users stuck in traffic has been racking up views.
The video uploaded by user zai.ismail showed a man along with his children on the roadside, passing out drinks to road users.
Similar to Hafiz, the man also had a cardboard cutout mentioning the drinks are all free.
“These people are just wonderful. The traffic is congested and no shops are open as it's the first day of Raya and they are out here giving out free drinks,” Zai wrote in the caption.
Zai’s video has been viewed over 300,000 times on TikTok and has garnered over 18,000 likes with social media users applauding the man’s effort.
“May the man get repaid tenfold for his efforts,” commented user f_najihah@1810.
“Malaysia is beautiful, a place with plenty of kind hearts. Keep it up, love it,” commented user j-2.
