Malaysians who made us proud in 2020

But as we close the door on a difficult year, we want to highlight Malaysians who brought people together and inspired us through activism, kindness and achievements.

• Penang-born Teng and Sarawak-born Tan produced the multi-award winning documentary St.Louis Superman.

• Both made it to the Oscars’ final five for the Documentary Short Subject films category.

• The US-based Malaysians’ 25-minute film is about the story of Bruce Franks Jr, a Ferguson activist and battle rapper, who became Missouri’s State Representative, where he had to overcome personal and political trauma to pass a bill crucial for his community.

• The film received numerous awards from international festivals including Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Indy Short Film Festival, Traverse City Film Festival and Rhode Island International Film Festival.

• Malaysia's favourite songstress earned a spot in Forbes Asia's 100 Digital Stars list for her advocacy work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Siti made it into the list, together with another Malaysian artist and entrepreneur Neelofa Mohd Noor, alongside world-famous celebrities like K-pop’s Blackpink and Hollywood actress Ruby Rose.

• She presented reviews of meals and snacks from small food vendors affected by COVID-19 among her eight million Instagram followers, with the aim to help boost their businesses

• She did all that all while gearing up to launch her 18th solo album ManifestaSITI 2020 in July and while running a successful halal-certified beauty brand, SimplySiti.

• Eng is the first person from Malaysia to win an Eisner, the equivalent of the Oscars for the comic world.

• The Johor-born animator received an Eisner Award for her webcomic ‘Fried Rice’.

• Eng faced Dreamworks Animation visual developer Jason Brubaker, Spanish cartoonist Javi de Castro, as well as US-based artists Matt Huynh, Erik Lundy, and Meredith Moriarty, but ultimately came out on top.

• Fried Rice is about a teenage girl from Johor who aspires to be an artist and animator. Set against the bustling backdrop of Kuala Lumpur in 2015, Fried Rice tells the humble story of Min, an aspiring young artist, with hopes of studying in New York, US

• Eng began writing Fried Rice in May 2019, as she was in the middle of applying to university. She is currently pursuing a degree in 3D animation via remote learning with Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California.

• Samuel Isaiah was shortlisted among the Top 10 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize 2020, in partnership with UNESCO, which received applications from 140 countries, from over 12,000 nominations from teachers worldwide for their outstanding contribution to the expansion of the teaching industry.

• The Pahang native’s outstanding achievement was apparent, when he was able to raise the school’s average English pass rate, as the students from the Jakun Orang Asli tribe progressed in the national standardised examinations, from 30% (2008-2012) to an average of 80% (2013-2017).

• ‘Cikgu Sam’ as he is affectionately known, introduced ‘Sekolah Pokok’ (loosely translated as school under a tree). He set up a makeshift school outdoors to teach on certain days. During his lessons, Samuel used the ukulele to keep the children entertained and inspired.

• Through his successful crowdfunding initiative, he was able to provide the students with laptops and tablets, to make sure that they did not miss out on technology and innovative learning platforms and to be on a par with urban schools.

• In his previous achievements, Samuel was awarded with the Best Teacher Award at the ASEAN-ELT Conference (2018), Best Innovative Teacher (2018) presented by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Star Golden Hearts Award (2019) and the National Hero Teacher Award (2019).

• Samuel is currently pursuing a master’s degree in educational policy and Leadership as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Albany, New York State University in the United States.

ZYSON KANG ZY SHUN - Nasa’s Lunar Loo Challenge 2020, Winner

• Zyson won the challenge with his innovative idea to solve astronaut’s gravity-defying toilet problem.

• The nine-year-old beat nearly 900 participants from 85 different countries with his invention.

• The ‘Spacesuit Lunar Toilet’ works by applying a manual mechanical kinetic concept to produce a vacuum suction power to crystalise the urine and fecal matter for safe disposal.

• All one has to do is, move their legs and press on a syringe attached to their boots to create a suction force that will transfer the urine down into a container.

• Norzlifa who is a lecturer at International Islamic University Malaysia is also the founder and advisor to Jungle School Gombak Malaysia (JSGM), a project with the aim to help Orang Asli families.

• Her initiative won the Gold award, Canadian special award and Committee/organizer choice award in the i-CAN 2020 competition.

• Dr. Adeeba is also the chairman of the Malaysian AIDS Foundation, a member the National Health Advisory Council and Dean of Univeriti Malaya's medical faculty.

• She is involved in numerous health-related programmes, including the 50 Keluarga Sihat (50 Healthy Families) pilot programme for households in Taman Medan, Selangor earning a monthly income of RM3,900 and below.

• She has been on a 15-year fight for drug policy reform. She championed for harm reduction to be implemented in Malaysia. Dr Adeeba have also been advocating for a more humane and evidence-based drug policy.

• During the MCO, when fashion designers were not able to run their businesses as normal, fashion designer Melinda Looi spearheaded an initiative to make Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as surgical gowns and face shields for t medical frontliners battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

• She was inspired by entrepreneur Liyana Zainal who donated protective gears to health workers in government clinics.

• Looi collaborated with the Malaysian Official Designer Association (MODA), Fashion Valet and The Islamic Medical Association of Malaysia Response and Relief Team for the campaign. They successfully delivered 143,297 PPEs to medical frontliners.

• Among other designers who joined in on the iniative; Khoon Hooi, Celest Thoi, Alia Bastamam, Key Ng, Jimmy Lim, Datuk Radzuan Radzwil and Nurul Afidah Zulkifli of Mimpikita, Neelofa and Datuk Jovian Mandagie.

• Support also poured in from home sewers wanting to help make the PPE gowns.

• When they were not working on the PPE gowns, Looi and her team helped volunteers with making 3D plastic frames, elastic plastic sheets for face shields.

• Funds received from public and corporations were used to purchase fabric and other raw materials to make shoe covers, boot covers, latex gloves, face masks and face shields.

READ MORE: Here are five other Malaysians who have inspired us this year

If there is one icon for the year 2020, it is the person who would appear on our national TV almost every day to provide us daily updates on COVID-19 - Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Dr Noor Hisham is an endocrine surgeon and has been serving as the Director-General of Health Malaysia since March 2013.

His exemplary leadership, specifically in handling Malaysia’s COVID-19 pandemic, has not only gained him attention at home but also overseas.

In April, the China Global TV Network (CGTN) had recognised Dr Noor Hisham as among the “top doctors” of the world, along with the US' infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci and New Zealand’s director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield, for his approach in handling the pandemic.

He has also received multiple awards for his service to the nation, including the National University of Malaysia’s Medical Faculty "2019 Most Notable Alumni" and the Brand Laureate’s "Outstanding Brand Leadership Award 2020".

He was also awarded the distinguished title of “Tan Sri” in August in conjunction with the King’s birthday.

Dr Noor Hisham has become the nation’s role model that he even appeared as an animated character along with characters from the BoBoiBoy franchise in a public service announcement to remind Malaysians to take steps to prevent COVID-19!

25-year-old Jocelyn Yow has made history by becoming the youngest woman of colour to be elected a mayor in California, United States.

A mother to a six-month-old baby boy, Yow was born to a Vietnamese mom and a Malaysian father who moved to the United States in the 1990’s.

““In 1996, we had to move to Malaysia when my paternal grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, and I ended up spending 10+ years there, allowing me to learn more about our family history, heritage, and culture,” Yow said on her Instagram page.

“I am honored to be my parents’ daughter, and I am proud to be a Malaysian Vietnamese Chinese American,” she added.

Yow graduated from UC Berkeley and is currently working on a masters degree in government at Harvard Extension. She was elected to the Eastvale city council in 2018 and was officially appointed as Mayor on December 10.

Dr Chan Yoke-Fun is an Associate Professor and the Head of Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, at the University of Malaya (UM), Malaysia.

As an infectious disease expert, her research focused on enterovirus A71, an emerging virus that causes hand, foot and mouth disease commonly found in children. Her works include developing vaccines, antivirals and education tools for the highly preventable disease.

Chan started her career as a research scientist after completing BSc and PhD degrees at the University of Malaya.

She has won many accolades for her dedication and accomplishments including being a recipient of the L’Oréal-UNESCO for Women in Science Malaysia Fellowship (2014), one of L’Oréal-UNESCO International Rising Talent (2015), Young Women Leaders award Category Science and Technology, National Council of Women’s Organizations Malaysia (2015), Asian Women Entrepreneurs leadership award, Science and Environment (2019) and most recently the winner of the ASEAN-U.S. Science Prize for Women 2020.

Not many of us can be as brave as thirteen-year-old Nuraina Erieka Abdullah who saved her younger brother from their burning house.

Nuraina Erieka, who has learning disabilities, was awarded the Hang Tuah Medal for her selfless act of bravery during the 2020 National-level Children’s Day Celebration.

According to media reports, Nuraina Erieka, who had managed to save herself went back into her burning house to save his brother who was only a year and three months old, at Taman Anggerik Desa flat in Kuantan, Pahang last September.

The Hang Tuah Medal is an award given by the government to children under 18 for their extraordinary courage in saving human lives and properties which include their actions during emergencies and disasters.

The world got to know of Muhammad Syukur Khamis or better known as “Malaysia’s Mogwli” or “Kampung Boy” for his affinity towards animals, specifically buffaloes.

Early last year, Syukur became an internet sensation after photos of him displaying his bond and love for his father’s buffaloes went viral on social media and captured the attention of many photographers — both local and foreign.

Photos of him taken by Mohd Nazri Sulaiman received awards and were even selected to be displayed at several international events.

Unfortunately, this year, the world was shocked by the death of nearly half of the buffaloes, among which were Syukur’s favourites, Semek and Tongkol.

Nevertheless, the adversity that hit the family did not dampen this boy’s spirit.