The foreigner who voluntarily cleans public parks in Malaysia

Free Malaysia Today

Muhammad Yusuf, troubled by the heaps of trash he sees, has been cleaning parks in Cyberjaya since February.  Written and presented by: Theevya Ragu  Shot and edited by: Andrea Edmonds   Read More:    Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5 Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Download FMT News App: Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46 App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP  #FMTLifestyle #KeepingPublicSpacesClean #Cyberjaya

Transcript

00:00That is a lot of trash and it is the ugly reality in many parks across Malaysia.

00:11One man, however, has taken it upon himself to change all that.

00:16And he's not even Malaysian.

00:20Hi, my name is Muhammad Yusof.

00:23I live here in September.

00:25I've been staying here for over four years.

00:29I prefer to tell that I'm a citizen of humanity rather than telling where I'm from.

00:36As you can see here in the lake, it's been open for over a year.

00:40And it's been open for public.

00:42A lot of people come here to enjoy, to fish, to have picnics and all.

00:46But I also realize that they dispose their trash irresponsibly.

00:52And I've been watching a lot.

00:57I've been seeing this unpleasant scene and I decided that if nobody does, I should do something about it.

01:04And this is how it started.

01:06Jogging past piles of rubbish day after day at Slangor Cyber Valley Lake Park, Yusof couldn't ignore it any longer.

01:14By mid-February, he started cleaning the park himself.

01:21It hurts.

01:22It really hurts.

01:23It hurts my eyes.

01:24It hurts my heart.

01:25And there was a feeling of embarrassment a little bit.

01:29But then I thought, why should I be embarrassed?

01:32I'm not the one who's trashing.

01:34I'm doing something good for community.

01:37I live here and I thought, like, it's my responsibility to do it.

01:42On his days off, Yusof starts cleaning early in the morning.

01:46After about two hours, he usually hauls out several bags of trash.

01:51FMT Lifestyle followed him on one of his clean-ups and the scene was even worse than expected.

02:03Water bottles.

02:04Most of them are water bottles.

02:08I occasionally see plastic bags, some food containers, plastic containers, and, unfortunately, diapers.

02:19There were even fishing hooks that could potentially harm the birds and animals around the park.

02:25Just little.

02:27This is little.

02:28Yeah.

02:29And I usually separate trash, like cans and plastic separately,

02:36because they can be recycled.

02:39Yusof says that despite sending numerous emails to the city council,

02:43there has been no response from them,

02:46and still not a single rubbish bin in sight.

02:49But in his experience, bins don't make much of a difference either.

02:54It's frustrating.

02:55It doesn't take long for people to trash again.

02:58Usually it takes two or three days.

03:01Though challenging at times,

03:03he describes cleaning up the park as therapeutic,

03:06a way to calm his mind when stressed.

03:10Focusing his cleaning efforts mainly on areas in Cyber Jaya,

03:13he occasionally ventures out,

03:15recently helping with the massive post-fire cleanup in Putra Heights.

03:20All of which he documents on his social media handle,

03:23at yourpovcleaner.

03:25The reason I do the content is to bring some awareness,

03:30is to educate a little bit that whatever they do is wrong,

03:34and we can be a little bit better than this.

03:37So the next time you're enjoying a public space,

03:42think of Yusof and do your part to keep that space clean.

03:46Fibiragu FMT.

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