Malaysians gave nearly $2 million to help their country with its national debt. Malaysia has a new party in power for the first time since 1957. It promised to fix the problems left by the past government. One of these problems is the huge national debt. Malaysia's new leaders say the old government lost a lot of money. They want to put that right. The government used a new way of raising money - crowdfunding. This means setting up a special page on the Internet to raise cash. People can give money to the page using their credit card.
The $2 million raised so far is very small. It is just a drop in the ocean compared to the country's $251 billion debt. This is about 80 per cent of Malaysia's economy. Malaysia's finance minister said it was important for people to help the country. He said: "The people voluntarily want to share their earnings with the government to [help]." The idea came from a 27-year-old Malaysian lady. She said she was, "very much in love with and proud" of her country. She started a fundraising effort that very quickly attracted interest from like-minded people who also wanted to help.