MERCY Malaysia or Malaysian Medical Relief Society is a non-profit organisation focusing on providing medical relief, sustainable health related development and risk reduction activities for vulnerable communities in both crisis and non-crisis situations. As a non-profit organisation, MERCY Malaysia relies solely on funding and donations from organisations and generous individuals to continue their services to provide humanitarian assistance to beneficiaries, both in Malaysia and internationally. The organisation is a registered society according to the Societies Act 1966 in Malaysia, and the headquarters is in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
History
The Early Years (1999–2003) MERCY Malaysia was founded by Dr Jemilah Mahmood in 1999 in response to the conflict in Kosovo. Finding no pre-existing organisation that could sponsor her to volunteer her medical services there, she and a group of friends registered MERCY Malaysia with the Registrar of Societies with the objective of providing medical relief.Transnational activism in Asia: problems of power and democracy By Nicola Piper, Anders Uhlin, p133 Working with Helping Hands USA, MERCY Malaysia then sent a total of five missions to Kosova to provide mobile medical care. That same year, MERCY Malaysia sent relief teams to Turkey in response to the 1999 İzmit earthquake. In 2000, MERCY Malaysia provided medical assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) due to the Maluku sectarian conflict in Indonesia.
2001 saw the organisation responding to the medical needs of the survivors of the 2001 Gujarat earthquake. In October 2001, the organisation sent a team to Afghanistan to serve the IDPs at refugee camps., while in November MERCY Malaysia responded to the survivors of the Cambodia floodsBackground and Cambodia Disaster Situation in Kampong Cham. This proved to be one of the earlier tests of governance and decision-making for MERCY Malaysia's operational priorities.Transnational activism in Asia: problems of power and democracy By Nicola Piper, Anders Uhlin Ordinarily, decisions are made through consensus within the executive council, but they had to redirect their primary fundraising and networking efforts from Cambodia to Afghanistan because of widespread interest from stakeholders for the latter country. While MERCY Malaysia has asserted its apolitical stand, it was clear that public interest in Afghanistan grew after September 11 and humanitarian concerns increased after the US war on terror commenced. MERCY Malaysia partnered with Pakistan Islamic Medical Association for the Afghanistan response, while the Cambodian response was funded from MERCY Malaysia's own reserves and private sector donations.
In 2002, MERCY Malaysia continued its presence in Kabul, and later expanded its operations in Afghanistan to run the only medical centre in Spin Boldak,Succour to the needy in Spin Buldak an area located approximately 100 km away from Kandahar. MERCY Malaysia then launched the Cambodia Relief Fund to continue to support the relief efforts due to the flooding in Mekong. The organisation also began to receive more recognition and significant fundraising and donations from external parties as it responded to the needs in Palestine.Pertama boost for the cause of Palestinians
In 2003, MERCY Malaysia responded to the needs in Baghdad, Iraq and sent its first team in January.MERCY Malaysia among NGOs leaving for Baghdad In February, MERCY Malaysia launched its China Humanitarian Fund and sent a team in response to the 2003 Bachu earthquake, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake which struck a remote area of Xinjiang province in northwest China, near the border with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.Mercy Malaysia launches drive to help quake victims In April 2003, the MERCY Malaysia team were mistaken for hostile forces and was attacked in Iraq, where Dr Baba Deni and Dr Jemilah were both injured in the incident.‘Biting the bullet’ for Iraqis May 2003 saw MERCY Malaysia responding to the 2003 Sri Lanka cyclone where the republic suffered its worst floods and landslides in 60 years.Mercy Malaysia all set to help Lankan flood victims The six-person team was deployed to southern Sri Lanka to render critical medical and humanitarian aid to flood and landslide victims in Ratnapura, located about 100 km south-east of Colombo. The year closed with another mission sent to Kerman, Iran following the Bam earthquake which occurred on 26 December 2003.Mercy Malaysia to send medical team to Kerman The nine-person team -including Dr Bubble, a hospital clown doctor- provided medical and psychosocial support to the earthquake survivors, and was stationed at the former Italian Field Hospital in Baravat, 5 km from Bam.Blowing bubbles amid the rubble
The Tipping Point (2004) In the early part of 2004, MERCY Malaysia continued its work in the conflict zones, and launched a fundraising campaign in collaboration with the Ministry of Education of Malaysia to provide schoolbags for children in war-torn countries like Palestine, Afghanistan and Iraq.Bags for children in war-torn lands For Iraq in particular, MERCY Malaysia allocated RM1 million in medical and humanitarian aid, and collaborated with Islamic Relief to transport three trucks of humanitarian aid to Falluja.Mercy Malaysia allocates RM1m in aid for Iraq MERCY Malaysia then responded to North Korea's appeal for international aid following the collision and explosion the train in Ryongchon disaster.,Malaysian medical relief society sends aid to North Korea where the three-person team brought along medical supplies worth RM50,000.
The organisation started gaining more recognition for its humanitarian work, receiving five nominations for the NSTP-PwC Young Humanitarian Award,Mercy Malaysia strong contender for award and in July, Dr Jemilah Mahmood was appointed the first president of National Federation of Non-Governmental Organisations for Disaster Relief Malaysia (NFNDRM).Jemilah Heads Disaster Relief NGOs
In July, MERCY Malaysia responded to a request from the United Nations (UN) agencies to lend medical assistance to the IDPs in Sudan.MERCY Malaysia Needs RM1.5 Million for Relief Mission to Sudan After the initial assessment, MERCY Malaysia kick-started the fundraising for the Maternity and Child Health Clinic for the women in El-Geneina in West Darfur.MERCY Needs RM2 Million for Sudan Relief In addition, MERCY Malaysia also constructed shelters for relatives of patients at the El-Geneina Hospital, as well as a feeding centre to cater to the patients' nutritional needs.Shelters for patients’ relatives
MERCY Malaysia concluded its rehabilitation of the Ibn Al-Quff Hospital and the Al-Mansoor Paediatric Teaching Hospital in Iraq, and delivered essential items to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Fallujah as winter arrived.Mercy Malaysia dispensing aid to Fallujah’s needy Another reconstruction project in Bam, Iran, was also officiated. The new health centre, financed by the people and government of Malaysia, was designed to cater for the city's 130,000 people and treat up to 200 patients a day.Gift of health centre for Bam Early December 2004 saw MERCY Malaysia responding to the humanitarian needs in the Philippines to assist the survivors of the tropical storms, which had left some 1,000 dead.Mercy to aid storm victims in Philippines
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami in December was a major tipping point for the organisation. "We were the first international organisation to arrive (in Aceh) and it was publicised by the international media. Suddenly, people realised there was MERCY Malaysia," Dr Jemilah said. MERCY Malaysia deployed teams to Aceh and Sri Lanka,Sri Lanka welcomes help from Malaysians as well as assisting the tsunami survivors on the home front in Penang, Malaysia.Mercy sends team to Penang
A Period of Rapid Growth (2005–2007) 2005: The Aftermath of the Tsunami, and Coping with Other Disasters
The earlier part of 2005 was occupied with the humanitarian response due to the tsunami, and MERCY Malaysia readily admitted that the scale of the disaster had stretched their operations to the limits.Mercy team stretched to the limit in Aceh Public support was overwhelming, and donations flowed in the form of financial assistance as well as donations in-kind such as body bagsSocial worker close to target of getting 20,000 body bags and clothes. In-kind donations became unmanageable at one point when irrelevant and unusable items were donated, and MERCY Malaysia had to appeal to the public not to look at the organisation as a dumping ground for unwanted goods.‘Donors’ using centres as dumping grounds As part of the reconstruction effort for the tsunami survivors, the organisation provided seismic-resistant homes for the refugees from Kampong Weu Raya and Sebun Ayu in Lhok Nga,Mercy Malaysia to provide earthquake-proof houses as well as rebuilding the Meuraxa Community Health Centre in Banda Aceh.
The rebuilding of the houses for the people of Kampong Weu Raya proved to be a good learning experience for the organisation. Identifying actual boundaries was a difficult task, as surviving villagers had to delineate the plots of land where their houses used to be.A new beginning in Aceh Once construction started, the team of 30 skilled villagers and 180 construction workers from Medan managed to build at a rate of one house a day, using shorea wood and concrete. Originally designed to be 36 square metres, each unit was later expanded to 52 square metres. Discontentment arose among some of the villagers who wanted brick houses or different designs given by other NGOs. As the village was rebuilt on its original site – about 20 minutes from the Banda Aceh city centre in the north-west coastal area – it remained vulnerable to future disasters. Preparedness measures were needed, and a tsunami escape route was designed to guide the villagers towards the quickest paths to safer, higher grounds. A book was launched in 2005, entitled A Time To Heal: A Reflection of Mercy Malaysia's Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami,"A Time To Heal: A Reflection of Mercy Malaysia's Response to the Indian Ocean Tsunami" to commemorate the disaster that struck on 26 December 2004. The coffee-table book relates the experiences of MERCY Malaysia's relief workers in Malaysia, Indonesia's Aceh province and Sri Lanka.
In March, MERCY Malaysia responded to the 2005 Nias–Simeulue earthquake which struck the Nias islands.Heavy rain delays Mercy trip to Nias October saw the organisation providing aid in response to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake which struck the Pakistan administered Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad.Mercy team gets to work A field hospital was set up, and more than seven teams were sent to serve over 400,000Some Mercy Malaysia volunteers return home survivors in the remote town of Bagh.NGO seeks funds for clinics in Pakistan
2006:
MERCY Malaysia handed over the Reproductive Health Unit at the El-Geneina Hospital, and a local school to the local community and exited West Darfur in March, due to lack of funds as well as escalating violence in the region.A touch of Mercy in West Darfur In April, Dr Jemilah Mahmood and Dr Baba Deni were conferred the title Datuk from His Royal Highness, Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong, His Majesty's birthday for their services in Iraq.Award only the deserving
2008 and Beyond
In 2008, MERCY Malaysia also responded to Myanmar to aid the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.Mercy team off to Yangon to evaluate cyclone crisis
In 2009, MERCY Malaysia deployed two-member team to Padang, Indonesia to respond to the West Sumatran earthquakes.
In 2010, MERCY Malaysia worked in partnership with Merlin UK to deliver aid in Haiti. They also responded directly in the emergency phase to the earthquake in Chile as well as the floods in Pakistan.