From the generosity of total strangers to overcoming the curveballs life throws at you, Malaysians continue to show that they do care.
Time and again, Malaysians of all walks of life have proven that they can divorce themselves from hateful rhetoric and come together to help those lost in their darkest hour.
There, too, have been stories of people overcoming great odds stacked against them. This year was no exception.
FMT takes a look at some of the heartwarming stories that readers loved.
A tale of two Amandas
Dhia Amanda and Amanda Mei Chu share not just a name but health challenges too.
Dhia lives with GNAO1, a neurodevelopmental disorder, This is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes severe dystonia — uncontrollable twisting, stiffening and violent spasms brought on by electrical storms in the brain.
She can’t vocalise her pain, walk and run like other six-year-olds and, frequently, she can’t even find relieve from the pain running through her tiny body.
Nutrition comes through a tube rather than in a spoon, and her body needs constant infusion of oxygen.
For her parents, it means an extra expense of RM3,000 a month on an already tight budget for therapy, equipment, hospital visits, and medication.
But Dhia found relief soon enough, at the Suriana Welfare Society, where advisor James Nayagam pulled in all available resources to help the girl.
He began by telling Dhia’s father to register her for surgery rather than wait for the money. “We will find it,” he assured the man.
Within hours of FMT publishing the girl’s story, more than RM115,000 poured in from ordinary Malaysians of various faiths and creeds. Soon enough, it crossed the targeted RM175,000 mark.
Chu has a very different story to tell. Born with HIV, she was abandoned at birth.
Without documentary proof of her citizenship, she was denied treatment. She was once wheeled into hospital weighing just 22kg, barely over a third of the average weight of an adult woman.
After her story was carried on FMT, help poured in. The Malaysian AIDS Council and Malaysian AIDS Foundation paved the way for the resumption of her treatment. Her hospital bill was waived and today, at age 29, Chu is finally walking again, has grown stronger, put on some weight, and most of all, she dares to hope again.
Help from all walks of life
When the incurable motor neurone disease stopped once-mighty race walker G Saravanan from pounding the pavement, Malaysians from every rung of society chipped in to amass nearly RM100,000 in a matter of days to help him get back on his feet.
Leading the way was Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim who came in with RM10,000, while past sports personalities and ordinary Malaysians also contributed.
Among them was former national squash player Mohamed Kenneth Low, who himself is suffering from multiple sclerosis and was a beneficiary of strangers’ compassion.
The health ministry also moved swiftly to offer free physiotherapy, which Saravanan — who won the gold medal in the 1998 Commonwealth Games — needs daily to prevent further deterioration of his condition.
True grit
Aliff Hakimi Nizam’s story — from 12-hour shifts as a security guard at two hospitals to the coveted Chevening scholarship — is an inspiration to all.
The eldest of four siblings, Aliff grew up in a modest household in Kedah. His mother, the family’s main breadwinner, simply couldn’t afford to fund his education, forcing him to start working right after secondary school.
However, he took things in stride, working 12-hour shifts as a security guard at two hospitals so he could save money to further his studies.
On top of that, he struggled with English. A kind woman named Puan Maznah, stepped him, giving him extra lessons after school, which led to him scoring an A- in the subject for SPM.
He went on to pursue a diploma in TESL and later a degree in English language studies. And even while studying Aliff worked part-time in a kitchen to earn extra income.
At 25 this year, Aliff is pursuing a Master in Tesol Studies at the University of Leeds in the UK on the Chevening scholarship.
The comeback queen
Lisa Kwan was once Malaysia’s bowling queen. In 1991 she won silver at the FIQ world championships in Singapore and the gold medal at the SEA Games in Manila.
Two years later, she bagged silver at the World Games in the Netherlands and at the 1993 SEA Games in Singapore, she added three gold medals.
Then came the lows. Kwan divorced in 2010, and while her children went on to build their own lives, she was largely alone in a small, rented room.
She was making RM80 a day serving punters at a lottery outlet.
Then the tide turned in her favour. Jeffrey Kok, who runs Best Archery Centre gave her not just a job but also an opportunity to rebuild her life. For him the motivation is simple: every former athlete deserves a second chance.
A roof over a homeless migrant’s head
Seeing a viral video of a man being sprayed with water, being kicked and then had his belongings thrown, while he was sleeping on a walkway, was too infuriating for Tony Lian.
Lian, founder of an NGO that helps the poor, knew something had to be done.
He began to search for the man, later identified as Safiudeen Pakkeer Mohamed, and found him lying on the ground, emotionally drained.
Safiudeen had just lost his job as a waiter at a restaurant and had nowhere to go.
Lian, better known as “Uncle Tony”, took him in and offered to find him a job.
Safiudween has since returned to his home state of Tamil Nadu in India. - FMT
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