Surviving on tapioca, decades after Merdeka

The life of a destitute family in Klang harks back to the hungry years of WWII.

KLANG: During the Japanese Occupation, food was so scarce and poverty so widespread that the typical Malaysian survived on tapioca (ubi kayu) and suffered the consequences of malnutrition.

The Japanese occupiers are long gone and not many are left of the generation that lived through those lean years.

But even as our politicians speak of turning Malaysia into a high-income nation within a few years, there is a family in Kampung Delek, Klang, that has been surviving on tapioca for the last 20 years or so.

Kamariah Mohammad’s family has no stable source of income and struggles every day for even one decent meal.

“We plant tapioca around our house for food,” she told FMT. “We’ll eat anything we can find.”

Apparently, even eggs are a luxury.

Kamariah, who is jobless, lives in a rundown home with her seven children, five of whom are still in school. Some years ago, her husband, a lorry driver, took a second wife and practically abandoned her and her children.

“He does visit us at times, but does not provide any material support,” she said.

Kamariah said life for her and her children used to be worse before some NGOs heard of her plight last year and started donating groceries from time to time. “We still eat tapioca, but not all the time.”

Her household expenditure comes to about RM300 a month and is borne by her eldest son, who does odd jobs.

She said she could not go out to work herself because there would then be no one to care for the younger children.

The bread-winning son, who is 24, recently met with a traffic accident. “He still works,” Kamariah said, “but he can do only simple jobs now because of his condition.”

Recently, she gave away three of her children to foster parents. “But they come back to see me during weekends,” she said.

Kamariah still holds on to the hope that her life would improve one day. “One day, I’m going to own a house that can accommodate all my children,” she said.