Within a pencil box lies a tale of compassion

Amid the attempts by politicians to divide Malaysians along racial and religious lines, a tale of colour-blind compassion has emerged.

This is the story of lawyer Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar, who spotted a Malaysian Indian woman being brought to court in handcuffs in 1998.

Upon seeing the distressed expression etched on her face, he approached her to find out more about her case.

The woman, in her 50s, told him she was a cleaner and was arrested for stealing a pencil box from a supermarket. She had promised her 10-year-old son, her only child, a pencil box if he became the top student in his class.

Since she could not afford the RM18 pencil box, the woman stole it and was apprehended.

“I thought to myself then that if she was jailed for the offence, who would take care of her son? So, I had to intervene.

“After speaking to the magistrate to postpone the case to a later time that day, I went to the boy’s school in Sentul to verify the mother’s claim.

“After speaking to the headmaster, it turned out to be true that the boy was indeed the top student in his class,” Zaharil, now 57, told The Star.

Together with the teacher, the father of five returned to the courtroom to meet with the owner of the supermarket with the hope of settling the matter.

“I offered double the price of the pencil box and pleaded with him (the owner) to have mercy on the woman. However, he refused and wanted to proceed with the case,” he said.

Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar recounting the story on TIkTok

Following this, Zaharil decided to mitigate on the woman’s behalf when the case came up. The magistrate subsequently discharged her on a good behaviour bond.

The lawyer said before the woman left, he and others, including court staff and police personnel, donated several hundred ringgit.

“We handed over the money to the woman. She left after expressing her gratitude and I never saw her again,” he added.

In 2018, a man, in his early 30s, had approached Zaharil when he was in court and brought up the “pencil box” case.

The man, who was now a practising lawyer, introduced himself as the cleaner’s son. 

According to the man, his mother had seen Zaharil on the news and recounted the incident involving the pencil box to her son.

Since then, the man had been looking for Zaharil to thank him and the latter said he could not hold back his tears during the meeting and both of them hugged each other. - Mkini