Some of these patients ended up being abandoned by their children, usually because they couldn’t pay the treatment fees. Muji did more than her job as a hospital employee. She would take these stranded patients home.

Now 60 and retired, Muji has been running the Al-Ikhlas aged care home since the 1990s. She set it up in the halls of an unused mosque in Puchong.

As Al-Ikhlas’ reputation grew, so did the number of old people showing up at her doorstep.

Gerontologist Lily Fu, who recently documented Muji’s efforts, told FMT not all nursing home residents in the country were abandoned cases, but she said the number of such cases had been increasing.

The 72-year-old first-time filmmaker decided to record the stories of Al-Ikhlas residents after struggling to find a suitable nursing home for her 94-year-old mother.

“Most of these homes are in terrible condition,” she said. “Some of them don’t even have a licence to operate. They are very run down and managed by unqualified people.”

She said there was an urgent need to improve standards at care homes.

According to her, B40 Malays form the biggest group in these poor quality homes, perhaps because the Malays are the majority race in the country.

She said many people could not appreciate the pressure placed on the younger generation, particularly those forced to send their parents to nursing homes as they were not equipped to care for them.

“There are times when children in difficult circumstances reach a stage where they have no choice but to send their parents to a nursing home.

“Even I myself had to send my mum to one because she had Alzheimer’s disease and had fallen down twice. It was not easy for me to manage everything by myself.”

Fu said the government had made some effort to help the aged and address the issue of their abuse or neglect. But progress had been slow, she added.

With 15% of the country’s population expected to be 65 years old and above by 2030, she said Malaysia was running out of time.

She said the government could start by raising the retirement age from 60 to 65.

“The baby boomers, who are now 60 to 70 years old, are all living longer. The cost of living is higher now and we need to save up enough for our old age. Then we can take care of ourselves.”

She urged Putrajaya to speed up the tabling of a bill that would protect the rights of the elderly. The government announced last year that work was being done on the bill.

Fu’s documentary, “Meniti Senja” or “The Twilight Years”, will premier on Dec 10 at FreedomFilmFest, an annual human rights documentary film festival that will run this year until Dec 13.

Tickets are available for free at www.cloudtheatres.com.

https://vimeo.com/483406812