As those who visit my blog and read what I write knows, my wife has dementia. After her stay in St Vincent recently I have asked for help from readers of this blog to equip my apartment with the necessary bed, mattress, wheelchair, a special chair designed for those who sit for long period etc etc.I do so because I want to continue to care for her at home - not have her care for in an old people's home or in hospital - and the only way I can do this is to ask for help from others.
The first person to help me was a Chinese.
While my wife was in hospital I was there everyday to be with her. One day at lunch time this Chinese man came over to me and said "Apa Khabar"...and extended his hand in greetings. I thought he was there to visit someone in the same ward and wanted to say hello to me - another Malaysian. It turned out that he came specially to see me and my wife. Do not ask how he knew where to find us ...maybe he deduce from what I wrote in my blog where we were.
Long story short...after a few minutes of chatting he saw that I had to help my wife eat and he wanted to say goodbye...but not before he slip something into my hand...."to help me"...he said. You could have knock me down with a feather! I had to sit down and compose myself because here was a man who did not know us from Adam, who took the trouble to find us and with great tact and compassion, slipped something into my hand to "help me!". I was so overwhelmed that I cannot even remember his name. Forgive me brother for being so forgetful but what you did made me shed a few tears of joy that some one did care.
This Chinese and many other Chinese have helped us. Save for one of them who was in Melbourne a few months back and we met for dinner...the others I have never had the pleasure and privilege of knowing them. But they all helped.
A few Indians too did helped.
How many Malays helped? Dua ! Yes two! They know who they are and there is no need for me to mention names. They were Malays who said they will help....I am still waiting!
All this I have kept in my heart until I saw this on FB:
Mereka kata kita racist kerana melaungkan slogan:
"Hidup Melayu!",
" Boikot Low Yat !"
" Cina komunis!" dan sebagainya.
Memang kita racist.
Tetapi sbnarnya mereka lebih parah sikap racistnya. Cuma mereka tidak melaungkannya.Mereka 'bisikkan ssama mereka ' melalui media yg kita tak faham. Melalui organisasi mereka yang kita tk dapat tmbusi.
Hasilnya,:
Mereka mmboikot apa juga yg mlmbangkan Melayu. Tak pernah maumasuk ke kedai Melayu, malah mmakai baju batik pun seperti ada fobia.!
"Hidup Melayu!",
" Boikot Low Yat !"
" Cina komunis!" dan sebagainya.
Memang kita racist.
Tetapi sbnarnya mereka lebih parah sikap racistnya. Cuma mereka tidak melaungkannya.Mereka 'bisikkan ssama mereka ' melalui media yg kita tak faham. Melalui organisasi mereka yang kita tk dapat tmbusi.
Hasilnya,:
Mereka mmboikot apa juga yg mlmbangkan Melayu. Tak pernah maumasuk ke kedai Melayu, malah mmakai baju batik pun seperti ada fobia.!
And I knew I cannot keep quiet anymore!
I am a Malay and I cannot get help from other Malays?
Why would the Chinese want to help me? I really do not know but they do!
These are some of the messages they sent me with the donations:
- All the best.
- Blessing.
- Life's good.
- Donation
- Reader from Sydney
- Donation for medical expenses.
- God bless you and your family
- The pleasure is all mine....
- ...or they will just leave their name!
The only reason I am telling you all this is because I am tired of hearing about all these racial attacks by the Malays on the Chinese. Maybe they are stupid Malays, maybe they are uneducated Malays...but these idiots are fill with so much hatred in their heart for the Chinese that I wonder if they will ever be able to understand that we must first look at others as human beings if we are ever to expect them to treat us as a human being too.
You give what help you can to people who need it - and you must do so without regard for their race, color or religion.
I know there will be Malays out there who will hantam me for saying that I cannot get help from my own race - but I know what I have been through these last few weeks and I know what else is ahead as I try to deal with the realities of my wife needs and our ability or inability to provide for those needs. I can only ask for others to help me.
Asking for help is not an easy thing to do.
Asking for help from people you do not know is even more difficult.
Asking for help from strangers is almost impossible to do for most of us...but I did because I want to take care of my wife myself in my own apartment - and I feel no shame nor do I feel awkward in doing so. How to feel malu...we need help and that is a fact!
And really it is between me and the giver as to what transpire between us...and I do not want to say anything more that just this : I am grateful for your help...and I do not look upon any of you as a Chinese, Indian or a Malay....but when a Malay tells me that these bloody Chinese take care only of their own kind then I must say my two cents worth on this subject.
In my experience it is always the Chinese that have extended a helping hand to me in my hour of need - whether in business or in life - and this time around they have done so again...and for that my wife and me are indeed very grateful.
P.S this is what I wrote on Andak Zack Zohdi's FB page :
- Hussein Abdul Hamid Andak engkau ni Budak Kolet! I did not know that you were one when I first read what you wrote about the Chinese...now that I know I am most disappointed. Please think before you write these things about other Malaysians...pakai otak enegkau sikit! In all my time at College I have never ever been taught to think like the way you are thinking....
- Hussein Abdul Hamid Do not say that I tak sedar that the Cina are racists...I am 67 now and I have seen enough of life to know that I can depend more on the Chinese than on Malays!
- Andak Zack Zohdi Pndapat kita mmang brbeza.Prsekitaran kita pun brbeza. Mmang kita sama-sama dri kolet. Ttapi tidak smestinya kita brada di dslam satu pemikiran. Balik lah ke sini, dn peratikan sndiri bagaimana scara tanpa slogan dan battle cry kita tlah d boikot. Mungkin kamu kata ini adalahklemahan kita sndiri. Klemahan kita kah kalau arahan mmakai baju batik pada Khamis prtama setiap bulan pun jadi prtikaian? Balik! Dan prbetulkan aku kalau aku salah!
Hussein Abdul Hamid Of
course you are entitle to think as you think fit.....that does not make
what you think right. There is nothing in Malaysia that we Malays do
not control...nothing! There is nothing we Malays cannot make the others
do ...or maybe the right words would
be "force the others to do what we want them to do"...we have the means
to do so - legally and otherwise....but the world have moved on to
another level where people see each other as equals...as human beings.
That is why I chose to live where I now live. I cannot do so in KL. For
as long as the Malays think like you do...that is how long we will lag
behind the others. In College was it not the other races that taught us
more that the Malays? Brother there is another way of thinking about
these things....we are all of the human race....think otherwise at your
own peril!
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