JOHOR BARU: As the Stulang assemblyman, Andrew Chen has carried out various activities and efforts to help those in need.
However, he would never have imagined that one day he would have to help a group of mothers who are stranded in Singapore to deliver breast milk to their babies in Malaysia.
That is exactly what Chen had done over the last few weeks; transporting frozen breast milk from Singapore and delivering them to various parts of the country.
“I found out about the plight of these women, who left their babies in Malaysia to work in Singapore, through email and social media and contacted them to see if I can help.
“Usually, the women would come back to Malaysia on weekends so that they can see their babies and store enough breast milk for the week.
“However, with the imposition of the Movement Control Order (MCO) here and similar restrictions in Singapore, they can't do that,” said Chen.
At first, he was at a loss on how to accomplish this task as it had never been done before.
“I talked with a few friends and a logistics company to see how we can proceed with transporting breast milk. I also asked the relevant authorities at the Custom, Immigration and Quarantine Complex about the procedures that needed to be followed.
“Finally, we managed to get the necessary approvals and declarations to proceed with the task,” said Chen when contacted by NST.
Chen had to first secure a cold room in Singapore where the mothers would send their frozen breast milk for temporary storage.
“In the first delivery on April 8, we managed to transport 30 boxes of breast milk weighing about 600kg from Singapore to Malaysia before delivering them to the intended destinations.
“The second time around on April 13, we transported 118 boxes of frozen breast milk weighing about 2.3 tonnes. The destinations are mostly in Johor and as far away as Kedah,” said Chen.
He said any further delivery would depend on the request from the mothers and possible extension of the MCO.
“I must admit this is one of the more unusual things that I have done to help people as I have never heard of anything like it being done before.
“However, I am happy that I can help these mothers during this difficult and critical time. Breast milk is the best food for babies so they must be able to have them at all time,” said the two-term assemblyman.
He thanked the volunteers and the logistics company for their efforts In accomplishing the task.
“We did not charge the mothers anything for the delivery. We do this to help them.”