The president of the association, Aerie Dwi Andika, urged pet owners to ask for assistance from their neighbours and community instead of giving up their pets. This is a concern to animal rescuers, as people may again abandon these furry kids in the future when life goes back to normal, which fuels the unhealthy culture of pet abandonment.Īfter being inspired by the White Flag Movement, the Malaysia Animal Association launched the Red Flag Movement. On the flip side, more pets have been adopted to offer companions during the lockdown. All these cases are increasing the workload and capacity of shelters. Although feeling distraught, they had no choice but to surrender their pets. Some families really love their dogs, but due to financial difficulties, they have to shift from a landed property to a room in a high-rise building where pets are not allowed. With this thought, three different movements were initiated since late June of 2021, namely the white flag movement (#BenderaPutih), red flag movement (#BenderaMerah), and black flag movement (#BenderaHitam). Nonetheless, Malaysians are truly amazing as they realize the importance of supporting each other and staying united while going through these tough times. There is also an increase in suicide cases reported with an average of four suicide cases daily for the first three months of the year. However, the reality is tearing everyone’s hopes apart, and more people are striving to cope with greater mental stress. Most people had hoped that 2021 would be a better year than 2020, where the condition would be under control and everything can revert back to the pre-COVID situation. Although online learning is carried out, students from less fortunate backgrounds often lack support for virtual remote learning due to connection issues, lack of devices, differences in learning speed, and so on.

Apart from that, most students are facing significant learning loss due to school closures. The frontliners constantly face burnout due to long working hours throughout this seemingly never-ending pandemic. As the infected rate increases, supportive medical equipment is gradually running out. Long-term pandemic control is overwhelming the healthcare system. Furthermore, the pandemic had also exposed and amplified other social issues.

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