9 Funny Things M’sians Staying At Home Are Doing To Keep Busy During Movement Control Order

Malaysians keep entertained while staying at home

It’s only Day 3 of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, and we’ve seen our share of the bad and the good that should’ve convinced all of us to be staying at home by now. But no one can deny it – the struggle is real and we’re all trying our best to stay put without going bored. 

This naturally means that the funny part of the internet has come out to play with all the free time we have now. Since the hashtag #stayathome is now trending, we’ve rounded up 9 funny things Malaysians are doing while staying at home for much-needed chuckles that prove that we’re truly all in this together. 

1. Playing dress-up with cats

Working from home has its definite perks. And one of it is the fact that we can spend more time at home to hang out with our furkids and shower them with endless cuddles. But sometimes the feelings aren’t necessarily reciprocated – as shown by this Twitter post:

Image adapted from: @theghrack

Twitter user Sis Lynn tweeted a photo of kids who look like they’re goofing around in their garden, with a close-up of a black cat that seems to have accepted its fate. Sis Lynn added the caption, “Cat: Apa lah nasib aku”, which can be translated into English as “Cat: this is my fate”.

Sis Lynn said she was actually trying to take photos of the headscarves she sells online
Image credit: @theghrack

The comment thread on her Tweet is filled with other users sharing photos of their cats that’s giving us a good dose of cat videos on Twitter. 

But user @SyazwienAdlina had the best response, posting a meme of “politician cats” at an Astro “Meowani” press conference. 

Image adapted from: @SyazwienAdlina

2. Separating contents of 3-in-1 packs of instant coffee

There’s no doubt some of us are starting to get cabin fever at home – especially extroverts who’re having to learn how to social distance. But Facebook user Danny John has a good suggestion for how we can spend time at home in a unique way – by separating the contents of our 3-in-1 coffee packs. 

Image adapted from: Danny John

His viral post can be translated from Malay to English as, “Instead of going out, why don’t you just stay home and separate your 3-in-1s into creamer, sugar, and coffee. It’s much safer”. While it looks tedious, if all else fails, we might just have to give this one a shot if we finally run out of things to do.

3. Playing “social-distancing” badminton

Video credit: @nash_bieber

Memes of gaining weight while we’re staying at home while under the MCO are endless on social media. And while we’ve gotten our share of laughter from it, it’s also making us miss out on our regular activities that keep us active and healthy.

Social distancing is in play, and public parks in KL are now closed by the government. So we don’t blame these 2 Malaysians for creatively taking their regular badminton game to Whatsapp by drawing out their moves and sending them over text.

Nash tweets, “When there’s COVID-19, but you still want to play badminton”.
Image adapted from: @nash_bieber

4. Singing out of their balconies

Video credit: @anthraxxxx

Italy has seen one of the worst outbreaks outside of China, but its citizens have kept their spirits up by singing in harmony from their balconies while confined to their homes. An Italian opera singer even conducted a free show for his neighbours from his balcony. 

Image adapted from: @anthraxxxx

This Twitter user wanted to join in on the trend that has gone viral worldwide, posting a video of himself belting out Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s duet, Shallow, from his apartment’s window. But sadly no one joined him, to which he remarks “Yer no fun” in typical Malaysian fashion in the video and his tweet.

5. Sprucing up spare rooms into work-from-home spaces

Image adapted from: @uzairitaib

No doubt, most of us have seen Tidying Up With Marie Kondo and have been inspired to get rid of anything that doesn’t “spark joy”. But with daily 9-5 jobs, most of us have just left this task to  rot on our to-do list.

With all the time we have at home now, Twitter user Sir Uzairi decided to do more than just “Marie Kondo” the spare room in his house. He has given it a complete facelift with a new industrial theme to it that includes new IKEA beds, a desk, a whiteboard, and a coat of grey paint.

Image credit: @uzairitaib

Sir Uzairi has definitely set the benchmark for working from home, but creativity isn’t lost in the way other Malaysians are dealing with their new work arrangements. Twitter user Emmelynn turned to an ironing board for the next best thing: 

Image adapted from: @emmelynnamal

6. Working out in creative ways

Image credit: @Neelofa

A quick scroll through social media will show you that pretty much everyone has been snacking more than usual, since our kitchens are now close by 24/7. But several Malaysians have come up with unique ways to work out at home so we don’t fail to achieve our fitspo goals. 

DAP Socialist Youth Chief Howard Lee joined in on the list of people who have to make do with items at their disposal at home – namely, his baby.   

Image credit: @howardlee_my

Others took to social media to show how you can use everyday items to add weights to your workout, including woks, detergent bottles, mops, and packs of rice. Not leaving out tissues, which has become a hot commodity lately, Instagram user @yuuuqing even makes a game of tetris out of it in her workout routine.

Image credit: @yuuuqing

7. Practice balancing eggs

Image adapted from: @goldenkookieluv

Egg balancing is something we thought only happened during the Lunar New Year – if we’re lucky enough to catch the right time in the day to do so. But Twitter user 조⁷proved us all wrong by balancing over 10 eggs on her living room floor while cooped up at home.

Image credit: @goldenkookieluv

8. Replacing the usual kopi with a fancy trend

Image adapted from: @zairfulradzuan

The closure of all restaurants’ dine-in services means that we have to postpone our lepak sessions at mamaks and kopitiams. But that doesn’t mean we can’t get our daily dose of caffeine from the safety of our own homes. 

Malaysians have shown that they can do more than just resort to 3-in-1 coffee, taking on the latest craze of Dalgona Coffee from Korea that will have all of us coming out of the lockdown as baristas – as Twitter user Zairful puts it so well. 

Image adapted from: @JiunErLiu

If you don’t already know what Dalgona Coffee is, it’s instant coffee that’s whipped with sugar into a frothy cream and mixed with cold milk.

And if caffeine is not your cup of tea, you can also try the same steps but with Milo powder, which Lily on Twitter claims will make your Milo taste like the ones from the iconic Milo truck. 

Image adapted from: @omgilirawaidaa

9. Binge-watching all sorts of content online

Image credit: @heechulsub 

More time at home means more time to catch up on the latest releases on Netflix that we’ve missed out on in our busy lives. With the amount of legit Korean barbeques and K-pop related stores in town, it’s no surprise that a genre Malaysians seem to be showing a preference for is Korean dramas. 

But with COVID-19 on the rise, Malaysians have shown that their interests are greatly varied – with Fifty Shades Freed taking the no.1 spot on the “Top 10 in Malaysia Today” on Netflix, surrounded by Korean dramas such as Crash Landing On You and Kingdom.

Image adapted from: Netflix

And some Malaysians have even shown that they’ve been toughing out the outbreak in other interesting ways. It goes to show that we’re all complying with the MCO  and occupying ourselves in our own unique ways.

Funny things Malaysians are doing while staying at home

There are stories of good deeds and funny news that have cropped up during the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. And these are exactly what we need to keep our spirits up during this time. 

With this battle to fight, it’s important that we keep this positivity up. And every little thing helps add to it, even if it means staying at home and bringing wholesome laughs to those around us, both offline and online, while we Malaysians are practicing staying at home. 

Keep up to date with COVID-19 with our other articles:

• What does “lockdown” mean to Malaysians
• What to do if you have COVID-19 symptoms
• 24-hour clinics for midnight worries
• 10 online grocery delivery services

Cover image adapted from: @theghrack & @goldenkookieluv