Policemen carrying out despite heavy rain
Image adapted from: Malay Mail and The Sun Daily
You don’t need to check the weather forecast to know that thunderstorms are an everyday occurrence during the wet season. While most Malaysians won’t mind the rainy weather as we’re all in hermit mode for the time being, the harsh weather is certainly not doing the frontliners any favours.
Frontliners like policemen still have to carry out their duties rain or shine, especially during a crucial time like this when the Movement Control Order (MCO) is being observed. Photos of these policemen braving the heavy rain while manning roadblocks during the MCO were recently shared on social media, drawing supportive comments from fellow Malaysians who were appreciative of their hard work and sacrifice.
Inspecting cars even in the middle of a rainstorm
A short 35-second clip from The Sun Daily showed our local policemen braving the strong gusts of wind and pouring rain.
In the video, we can see 3 officers who only had thin raincoats on and even then, they weren’t able to cover their heads as the hoods would get blown away. The raincoats also weren’t able to shield their whole body as it only went down to their knees, leaving their bottom half exposed to the pelting rain.
Image adapted from: The Sun Daily
Due to the strong winds, one of the officers was struggling to even hold the umbrella in place. Another officer had difficulty putting the “Berhenti” sign up and appeared to have a hard time just walking forward.
Image adapted from: @KKMPutrajaya
The clip was also shared on the Ministry of Health’s official Twitter page along with a caption that can be translated to:
“Endless thanks to the PDRM officers who are hard at work to make sure that Malaysians are observing the Movement Control Order. Restricting movement is of utmost importance in order to break the chain of COVID-19 infections in the country. Stay at home. Don’t roam.”
Twitter user @myruleee also shared a photo from Malay Mail that showed a similar scene where 2 officers were carrying out inspections for a roadblock under the rain. They didn’t have any gear to shield themselves from the rain and were simply standing by the side as they inspected the cars passing by.
Image adapted from: @myruleee
The Twitter caption in Malay can be understood as “When I see this photo, I feel like kicking those who head out during rainstorms thinking that the police won’t be there so that they can freely roam. Don’t you feel bad seeing the policeman and army officer getting rained on when you pass by them?”
The post quickly got the attention of Malaysians, garnering 11,500 retweets and 7,200 likes in just less than a day.
Netizens stan hardworking police officers on Twitter
The comments sections from these threads blew up with supportive comments from Malaysians who couldn’t help but feel for these police officers hard at work.
One of them was Twitter user @exwhyzac whose comment in Malay can be translated to “They think that by going out when it’s raining that they can simply pass through the roadblock. But our Royal Malaysia Police is crazy committed to making sure that Malaysians observe the Movement Control Order.”
Image adapted from: @exwhyzac
Another user expressed her thanks to the frontliners who are so busy with their duties that they don’t have time to rest, eat, and even sleep. She ended her message by saying that she hopes the world would heal itself soon.
Image adapted from: @erulnyyzam
Referring to the clip from The Sun Daily, Oliver said “The sad background music you used makes me feel like crying”.
Image adapted from: @moonlightmannnn
Police officers dedicated to the job
While we feel for the police officers who have to brave the harsh rainy weather just to carry out their duties, it’s heartening to see that most Malaysians share similar sentiments upon seeing these photos. They’ve been urging each other to stay home during this period of MCO instead of finding opportune moments to sneakily head out.
If Malaysians can come together to responsibly ride the MCO out, we’ll be making things much easier for our frontliners.
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