Malaysian students reportedly clean Irbid streets in personal initiative

AMMAN — Social media users on Friday circulated photos of Malaysian students cleaning streets in the northern city of Irbid. 

The photos went viral among Facebook users, who commended the initiative of the students but also called on residents to keep their city clean and to implement similar activities. 

The cleaning campaign was carried out by Malaysian female students who study at Yarmouk University.  

The photos shared by many Facebook users attracted hundreds of comments with some people commending the gesture, and others criticising residents for throwing trash on the streets of Irbid, which is some 80km north of Amman. 

Moeen Mustafa wrote that residents throw garbage in the streets while foreigners clean up after them. 

“All respect to them. Their loyalty is not only to their country but also to where they reside,” Abla Wishah commented. 

Yahya Bani Amer said Malaysian students carry out a campaign to clean around the university campus every six months. 

In a sarcastic take on the matter, Reem Mubarak said students seemed to have lost hope in residents so they decided to clean the city themselves. 

“Guests clean while residents are watching,” wrote Manar Khamayseh. 

“I wish Jordanian students [would] take similar initiatives by cleaning where they live,” Ebtisam Daoud wrote on her Facebook page. 

Qais Irshaidat, who first posted the photos on his Facebook account, said the students deserve to be granted Jordanian nationality as they express the true meaning of being a citizen.  

“Malaysian students cleaning the trash of Irbid residents,” Irshaidat wrote in his post. 

According to social media users, this is not the first time Malaysians have implemented such initiatives, as they also collected garbage from Irbid streets last year.