PETALING JAYA, April 20 — The newfound love and appreciation Malaysians have for Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah seems to be growing stronger each passing day.
The 56-year-old has received extensive praise in recent weeks for his handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country, catching the attention of people both locally and internationally, with many feeling a new sense of admiration for Dr Noor Hisham.
So much so that Malaysians decided to fill the health ministry’s live Facebook post of Dr Noor Hisham’s daily press conference yesterday with birthday wishes for their new hero—two days ahead of the actual date.
Within minutes of the press conference going live on the ministry’s Facebook page, hundreds of social media users filled the comments section with respectful and appreciative early birthday wishes.
The post has garnered more than half a million views, with nearly 10,000 comments as users from every nook and corner in the country hopped on the birthday bandwagon.
Many users kept it simple, simply saying “Happy Birthday Dr Hisham”, as others also wished that he will live long and happy.
“Happy birthday Datuk Dr Noor Hisham. Hope you stay healthy and God protects you always,” wrote one user.
“Happy birthday Datuk. We share the same birthday,” wrote another.
However, no one really realised that Dr Noor Hisham’s actual birthday is tomorrow, on April 21, and not April 19 as many Facebook users were led to believe.
But some social media users probably didn’t get the memo as hundreds have continued wishing him, even during today’s press conference, as birthday wishes continue to pour in.
“Happy birthday Datuk DG. Good news on your birthday. Thank you for your hard work,” wrote a user.
And if flooding the comments section with birthday wishes every day isn’t enough to show their support for Dr Noor Hisham, appreciative Malaysians have created a Change.org petition in accordance with his birthday.
The petition, titled “Happy Birthday Dr Noor Hisham DG MOH & In Support & Appreciation to all Front-liners”, was created two days ago in a bid to get more Malaysians to value our Dr Noor Hisham’s efforts, as well as those from the frontliners.
“The Health DG no longer needs any introduction, he has become a welcome face every day providing much-needed comfort and assurance to all Malaysians,” said the petition.
“His ever-composed demeanour calms the anxiety of Malaysians everywhere and his outstanding attention to detail and work ethic is now globally recognised.
“We hope that through this petition we can rally Malaysians behind the ministry of health, so that they may be continually motivated to know that the prayers, support and appreciation of all Malaysians are with them.”
The petition aims to collect one million signatures from Malaysians “united against Covid-19” to show their support and appreciation for Dr Noor Hisham and all frontliners in the country, with over 28,000 people signing it thus far.
“We sign off by wishing our beloved Dr Noor Hisham a very happy birthday, and may God bless him, all frontliners and their families the best of health,” said the petition.
Malaysia enters its 34th day of the movement control order period, with a total of 5,425 confirmed cases to date.