Saturday June 25, 3 p.m.
This afternoon my wife wanted to send some food through Grab for her ex teacher who's admitted to KL GH for Coronary Cancer...I only came to know about this when the Grab delivery rider came and rang the doorbell to collect the package.
When I went to the gate, I was visibly shaken and saddened to notice the Grab rider holding a baby in a cloth pouch on his chest tied around his neck, the child was fast asleep..My heart sank..
I asked him to come in, and offered a drink or something for him and his baby. I also enquired about his wife..? He lives in Kepong and his wife is working as a helper.
I quickly went inside, took out some money and put it in his hands and said "buy something for your baby".
By then my wife came out with the food package and she was shocked and instinctively offered some food for the baby...he replied saying, "the baby just ate".
He's probably a 28 year old Malay gentleman trying his best to make ends meet. This is the real Malaysia, we live in...in the post pandemic era.
And the one hand, people are struggling to survive...this is what I see with my own eyes...How do you think Malaysians feel? And what do you want Malaysians to think about the never ending cases of abuse of power and corruption in this country.
Personally I've still not got over the predicament of a nice innocent guy trying to make a decent living - God bless him.
My comments : There is a lot of this type of crap going on in this very wealthy country that we live in. In Malaysia it is very easy to make a simple living. You can get a job, you can have three meals a day and you can even have a roof over your head.
The big question is what type of job, what do you eat three times a day and what type of roof do you have over your head.
Here is an old story. In Pantai Dalam where we last had our jewellery business our customers would tell us stories about what was really going on in all those flats that abound in Kampong Kerinchi, Pantai Dalam, Kampong Pasir etc. Parents kept their children from school because they did not have pocket money for their kids. Or they had no money to buy socks for their children. Thy thought it was too malu for both their kids and themselves if the kids did not have pocket money or did not wear socks. So they preferred the kids to stay home.
Then there are families who depend almost entirely on instant noodles for their diet. And they even become obese - from consuming instant noodles. I know there are going to be serious consequences for their health and the community's health in the long run.
This story about the Grab driver having his baby strapped to his chest is really sad. It is highly dangerous considering the motorbike, the traffic and the poisonous exhaust fumes the baby is exposed to.
We made a big mistake by not spreading out economic development more evenly throughout the country. 24% of our GDP is in Selangor, 16% in Kuala Lumpur. Klang Valley has 27%.
It is not too late. If economic growth is more evenly distributed then more people will be able to work in thir hometowns and home states. They will have a better quality of life too because you have more family in your hometowns. People also have the support structures of extended families, ancestral houses and such. In short a Grab delivery boy need not strap his baby to his chest while doing his deliveries in his hometown. There will be a grandma or aunty somewhere who could help. This is how we grew up when we were small. In Ipoh we used to take care of so many cousins when we were young.
Having said that, the situation right now, especially in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley is quite dire.
A new underclass has already developed. And this underclass is largely Malay. If ignored it will lead to other more serious problems - mainly the breakdown of social order. Do not say I did not warn you.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.
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