Since Dec 18, Malaysians have been saluting the hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers who have given their energy and time, and even money, to help victims of the floods that struck several states.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity of chatting with one of them, a young man who could not sit around doing nothing when people all around him were suffering.

Shahrul Zuhri Shahoran, his wife Tengku Anis Batrishia Tengku Jamalluddin and their friend Effiq Shahzrul Haziq Ramli have been busy since Dec 19 sending food and basic necessities to victims, and also helping clean houses. All three are 25 years old.

After helping in Selangor, they drove thrice from Shah Alam to Pahang to give a hand to victims.

Sometimes adults tend to dismiss young people as lacking a sense of responsibility or being lazy, especially if they don’t do any work at home. But, as I learned from watching youngsters at work in Taman Sri Muda, and also talking to Shahrul and others, our young people will rise to the occasion when the need arises.

Earlier, I heard that Indian youths, some of whom would probably be stereotyped as “suspicious characters” due to their looks or their dress sense, were at the forefront saving lives in Taman Sri Muda on Dec 18 and 19.

Noting the enthusiasm and courage shown by these youths in helping move victims safely out of their flooded houses, one victim told me that this was proof, yet again, that one should not judge a book by its cover.

Yes, it’s one of the lessons we should learn from the massive floods that have taken 48 lives and displaced more than 60,000 people in eight states.

Another is that young people can be depended upon when the crunch comes, as demonstrated by youths such as Shahrul, Anis and Effiq.

When floodwater was rising to almost the ceiling of single-storey houses in large parts of Shah Alam on Dec 18, Shahrul and Anis were visiting her mother in Ampang. Fortunately, their house in Shah Alam was spared.

Driving home the following day, they were shocked and saddened to see the devastation caused by the floods. Anis told her husband: “Let’s do something to help as we have a pick-up truck.”

Shahrul was all for it. After conferring with Effiq, who also has a pickup truck, Shahrul sent out messages on social media to say they had two trucks available to transport goods to stranded victims.

Hearing that the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) needed people to deliver dried food and goods, Shahrul, Anis and Effiq went there to collect the items.

However, when they arrived at Taman Sri Muda to deliver the items, the authorities refused to let them enter after a certain point. It was then about 7.30pm.

There were barricades on the roads a short distance from the area which was under floodwater. Many volunteers were crowding there, appealing to be allowed to go in to deliver food and water and help in rescue work. Some had boats with them.

There were many government officials, including uniformed staff, within the barricaded area.

When Shahrul phoned an MBSA official to say they were not being allowed in to deliver the goods, he was told to say that he was with the city council. That too didn’t work. But Shahrul was not angry as he knew those manning the roadblocks were only following orders.

However, one of the policemen said if Shahrul could get permission from his superior, he would let the trucks through.

So, Shahrul and Effiq walked almost a kilometre inside and managed to get an official to allow them in.

After delivering some of the goods to a contact person for distribution to victims, they discovered that the second person they were told to hand over the goods to was stranded in one of the flats which were surrounded by water.

This contact told them to call a certain number and hand over the goods to that person for delivery to the flat dwellers, some of whom, she told Shahrul, hadn’t eaten for more than 30 hours.

Shahrul expected this person to be a government official but when he finally located the man, the youngster discovered that he was an ordinary civilian who felt he had to help save lives. The man, who had managed to somehow bring his boat into the area, took the goods from the trio.

As they were about to leave, nearly 20 people who had managed to swim or somehow get out of the flooded area approached them for a ride to higher ground and the trio obliged.

The youngsters then went to Section 10 in Shah Alam, picked-up food for volunteers and returned to Taman Sri Muda. However, they were denied entry and no amount of pleading helped this time, with those manning the roadblock saying there was already an abundance of food there.

Not wanting to waste the food, the trio drove to Kuala Lumpur to drop off a few volunteers, and on the way distributed the food to five police stations.

Exhausted, they decided to rest on Dec 20. The following day, they answered a call to deliver food and basic items to two government flood relief centres – one in Kota Kemuning and the other in Section 28.

Later, Shahrul received a call from a woman saying she had some stuff to be delivered to flood victims in Bentong, Pahang. That afternoon, the trio went to the Sri Kembangan, Selangor, condominium of the woman to find that she had managed to get about 500 people there to donate items such as pillows, blankets, dry food and other stuff that flood evacuees might need.

They arrived at the flood relief centre in Bentong about 4pm, unloaded the items and returned to Shah Alam the same night.

Shahrul could not shake off the images of the swathe of destruction and damage he had seen. Some of those he had met told him they were used to floods but not one of this magnitude.

The following day, while Anis and Effiq rested, Shahrul went to his cousin’s house in Section 25, Shah Alam, which had been badly affected by the floods, to help clean up.

Meanwhile, a friend of Anis called to say that some people in Section 13, Shah Alam, had collected materials for the victims. The trio too had raised some money on their own from family and friends to buy more stuff.

On Dec 25, they loaded all of these items and the two trucks set off for Termerloh, Pahang. After dropping off some items at a flood relief centre in Temerloh, they went to the Mentakab flood relief centre where they unloaded some more goods.

At the suggestion of a local resident, they went deep into one of the villages where they parked the vehicles and invited the kampung folk to take whatever they wanted.

After distributing all the items, they returned to Shah Alam. On Thursday, they went to Kuantan with a group of volunteers to deliver goods and help clean up houses.

I am proud of Shahrul, Anis, Effiq and youngsters like them who have put the needs of other people above their own. Their spontaneity and enthusiasm are to be praised.

When they went to help, these youngsters, and others like them, did not see Malays, Chinese, Indians or others. They saw Malaysians in distress and dived in to help. They did not wait for the government to act; they led the way.

They have shown us that young people can be, and are, responsible.

As a New Year dawns, the large-hearted actions of our young people signal hope of a better future for the nation.

(L to R) Effiq Shahzrul Haziq Ramli, Tengku Anis Batrishia Tengku Jamalluddin and Shahrul Zuhri Shahoran – action-oriented youths.

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