We are in a wrong kind of Malaysia: starving families are flying white flags outside their homes, seeking food and assistance.

Sadly, Malaysia is the new face of hunger.

Unparalleled demand for food aid is on the rise and many rely on charity for food.

The fear of being unable to feed their children hangs over the days of people whose livelihoods have been snuffed out by local economies battered by lockdowns.

Periodical one-off assistance by the government has had little effect. The poverty line is bulging.

The white flag of hunger is a sure sign of rising anger against the Muhyiddin administration that has failed to get the Covid-19 crisis under control.

There will be great relief if the government instead waved the white flag. Surely, the time to admit defeat has come.

The surge in hunger comes amid an indefinite lockdown, spiralling Covid-19 infections and deaths, soaring suicide rates, and everything else that drives a nation into a state of deep depression.

The very texture of our daily life is under assault, casting a morbid, sinking feeling.

Such is the temperature of unrelenting grief, that it is hard to avoid the sense the government has little appetite for the heartbreaking issue: “How am I going to put food on the table for my family?”

But in the face of this crippling reality, the exceptional “white flag” hunger relief campaign by the rakyat demonstrates the distinctive spirit of Malaysians to put fellow countrymen out of their misery.

Neighbours and entire communities have come together to ensure those around them did not have to suffer in isolation and nourished them in more ways than one.

In Pengkalan Chepa, Kelantan, a single mother and her 14-year-old daughter who survived on biscuits for three days were fed by neighbours.

The woman flew a white flag in front of her shoe-box home after she had run out of rice.

Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim went to the aid of a hawker who was on the verge of ending his life due to mounting debts brought about by lockdowns.

The man who had arrears on his house and stall rental, motorcycle mortgage and utility bills, and bought meals after selling his washing machine and fan, cried for help with a white flag in front of his house.

Sim settled the arrears, paid the rental for a new hawker lot until end of the year and bought him ingredients to begin business immediately.

Both the stories – and there will be many more to come – have the power to remind someone else that there is hope, and that there are people with compassion in troubled times.

You can’t blame people for not accepting the Malaysia they are being offered.

Many can’t see the nation they wanted for their children, especially when existing inequalities have been exacerbated.

It’s unfortunate that many have been dealt a heart-wrenching challenge to live.

Everything feels so unpredictable and nobody knows what’s going to happen in the months to come.

What we know is that the people are getting the short end of the stick from the authorities.

Underemployment and joblessness could last for years, which means millions of Malaysians are likely to need help with food, utilities and rent in the medium and long term.

If the numbers stay like this, there’s no way community food aid can cope. A lot will depend on federal and state help and how long it lasts.

The worry is the line of people waiting for food would still be long when the dust settles.

Still, we’ve got to be together no matter what happens.

Just as the “‘white flag” campaign has galvanised people to confront hunger among the vulnerable, we must go forward with love as though everything depended on it, because as we now know, everything does depend on it.

White flags at three homes in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. The hawker who almost gave up on life, lives in the middle house. (Steven Sim Twitter pic)

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.