Some need to learn empathy for good of country

Republished from New Straits Times, Apr 26, 2022,
with the author’s permission. Read the original here

By Yong Soo Heong

THE NINTH month of the Islamic calendar is also a special time for me because of several reasons.

Besides being invited to buka puasa events where I get to meet long-lost friends and acquaintances (and occasionally being the only non-Muslim at the table, I am also tasked to “guard the food” while my mates go for maghrib prayers!), it also allows me to reflect on the significance of empathy for those who are less-fortunate.

Fasting during Ramadan, I believe, helps to instil compassion for the poor, who may have much difficulty in putting food on the table.

My Muslim friends tell me, the last 10 nights of Ramadan are considered to be the best of the year. Of the 10, Lailatul Qadr is the holiest, where prayers are recited throughout the night.

One of the interesting activities for me during Ramadan is to help well-meaning friends like Fuzi Hanim Omar, a tireless 70-something “lady warrior”, whose tagline is “Building Bridges of Goodwill”.

Fuzi Hanim, who has been described as someone embodying the spirit of Merdeka with her work promoting inter-ethnic cohesiveness among underprivileged children, had often involved me in her Fuzi Magic “charity cluster”, where she would send food, clothes and money to orphanages and people in the B40 group.

Her volunteers will bring some festive cheer to the under-privileged in the Kayu Ara and Damansara Damai areas in Selangor by distributing satay and roti jala, as well as duit raya. They even provided aid to an orphanage in Kuala Lipis, Pahang.

Some startling facts emerge from these places casually referred to as orphanages, which we should reflect and ponder.

Many of the children are not really orphans but abandoned children. An orphan is one where he or she is deprived by death of one or usually both parents, but the parents of these children are still alive but divorced.

I’m told that these “orphanages” teeming with abandoned children are beginning to change their names to care centres (pusat jagaan).  

While cherishing people like Fuzi Hanim, I am also distracted by some disturbing news of the actions of some people just because they bask in the glory of wealth, titles and power.

I was dumbfounded when a wife of a Datuk was bound over for five years on a good behaviour bond of RM20,000 after she changed her plea and pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt.

She had allegedly used a kitchen knife, a clothes hanger, a steel mop and an umbrella to cause multiple injuries to her maid’s head, hands, legs and internal organs.

Then, there is the case of a Tan Sri who didn’t pay his maid for 12 years until the latter reported it to the Indonesian embassy. These are just a few of the untold antics of the privileged class!

I commend the Indonesian ambassador to Malaysia, Hermono, and his officers for actively protecting Indonesians here. This is what real diplomats do whenever their citizens ask for help, not strut about at cocktail parties.

And we had better beware because Indonesia has stated that it’s not keen to send its citizens to work in countries where labour abuses go unpunished.

One maid recruitment association chief even said Malaysia may have to look elsewhere after this. Look elsewhere to continue our abuses?

Already, some Malaysian exporters have found difficulty in getting their products into developed countries because of their human rights track record. Have we still not learnt our lesson?

It’s a time for self-reflection, especially during this special month — you live in palatial homes, drive luxury cars, tote designer handbags and yet mistreat workers while still yearning for roti canai and teh tarik at 10 sen each in the 21st century? Come on. Get real.

• Datuk Yong Soo Heong is a former chief executive officer and editor-in-chief of Bernama. Read more about him here.