Malaysians unite to create Covid-19 memorial website

PETALING JAYA: When Malaysia reached the grim mark of 10,000 deaths due to Covid-19, journalist Aidila Razak felt she needed to do something about it.

“Having to process information on these deaths daily made me realise the details shared, which included the age of the person, where they had passed away or whether they had comorbidities, felt rather impersonal.

“I felt these people deserved more than just being a number,” she said.

It was then that she realised there was no platform for the collation of such information or for people to mourn the loss of their loved ones.

Aidila took to Twitter, seeking out people willing to collaborate on a website to commemorate the lives lost.

This led to a group of Malaysians banding together to share their expertise towards developing a Covid-19 memorial website dedicated to the lives lost to the pandemic.

In a statement to mark the launch yesterday, the team said that Covid-19 Memorial Malaysia acts as a platform to share how the departed had touched the lives of others.

“The stories here speak for themselves and show that the 21,000 and more lives lost are not just numbers,” they said.

In honour of loved ones lost to Covid-19, the team selected the 19th of each month as a day of remembrance.

“On this day, we will share a selected story from the memorial site on our social media platforms.

“Malaysians are invited to share stories of loved ones lost to the pandemic every 19th of the month through social media using the hashtag #c19memorialmy and to mention us at @c19memorialmy on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook,” they said.

The team worked with disability rights group Bolehspace to design a site that was dyslexia- and colourblind-friendly, and easy to use for the visually impaired.

Covid-19 Memorial Malaysia saw more than a dozen professionals from different fields such as web design, graphic design, data and content management coming together with the common goal of building the memorial.

Malaysians interested in reading or sharing their story can visit http://c19memorial.my or reach out to [e-mail] for more information.