WHEN I was younger, my cousins and I had this trick of converting our kain sarung into an instant superhero cape of sorts.
One simple knot, pull the sarung over the head, and hey presto, you have an ala ninja costume, with just the eyes visible.
We would then run around the house or surau, pretending we were superhero this and superhero that, much to the chagrin of our elders.
We couldn’t care less about the cold stares or the occasional bellow of anger. The latter would momentarily halt us in our tracks, but the merriment would continue the minute we were off the hook. Occasionally, we would have our ears pinched so hard that they turned redder than Rudolph’s nose.
That simple act of make-believe brought much joy. After all, who doesn’t like a hero? Who doesn’t want to be one?
Strange, I think, that some people just hate anything good and happy. It seems there are plenty out there who are obsessed with spreading gloom — it’s almost second nature for them to project and amplify the negative.
A case in point was when Knight Frank’s The Wealth Report 2016 was released on Tuesday.
The report on how more ultra-high-net-worth Malaysians are considering leaving the country in the next decade quickly became fodder for the naysayers.
They are contemplating leaving — they haven’t even left yet — but some of the arguments that ensued leave you flabbergasted.
The report did say that they were leaving to seek greener pastures and for their children’s education, didn’t it? And, that, too, there is the big question of “if” they leave.
It is no longer perplexing that less attention is given to the fact that the report also said property ownership for the average Malaysian was higher than world statistics and Malaysia’s ultra-high-net-worth
individuals would rise over the next 10 years.
Why have we stopped loving the “heroes” and started adoring the “villains”? Sometimes, we are all guilty of propagating this. For instance, every time something bad happens to our children, we are quick to blame the system and government when we don’t exactly know the real story. Neither do we offer solutions.
Attack, attack, attack. Just like a real villain would.
I must confess to being enveloped in agitation with all the negativity around us. It doesn’t mean that everything is hunky-dory, but it cannot be all that bad. There’s a Malay saying, jangan selalu bersangka buruk (don’t always assume everything is bad).
Be grateful. Bersyukur, as my Mama always says. She comes from an impoverished background. The daughter of a fisherman who was also a journeyman, she had very little when she was young.
In her hometown in Seberang Takir, Kuala Terengganu, my Mama and my Che Su (aunt) had to live with their uncle and aunt because my grandfather worked as a sailor and would be gone for a long time when he wasn’t fishing.
My Mama doesn’t eat much fish until today. She can’t stand their taste. She only consumes kembung and tongkol. You know why? These were the regular types of fish that the fishermen would sell cheap to the villagers when they landed ashore. The good and expensive fish were for those with money.
When she was in her teens, she had the opportunity to work either as a nurse or teacher. She chose the former because “it paid more and I could use the money to send my sister through college”.
My Che Su did her studies at the teacher’s training college. Her children are doing extremely well, but she never forgets the hardship she and my Mama went through when they were growing up.
This story, however, is not about my dearest Mama. This is about a hero in Bukit Mertajam, Penang, and his name is Radzuan Ma’asan. He is the general manager of a hypermarket, and his kind and generous act sets my heart aglow.
Last Wednesday, Radzuan interrogated a 31-year-old father-of-three who was caught shoplifting at his hypermarket.
The “thief” had confessed to stealing food worth RM27 from the Tesco hypermarket in Alma because his children were hungry and he did not have any money.
He had quit his job as a contract worker after his wife lapsed into a coma due to a birth complication last week. He was walking to his relative’s house with his 2-year-old son when they passed by the hypermarket. He decided go in and went to the food section.
There, he grabbed some pears, apples and a few bottles of drinks because his son was hungry, but was caught on the way out.
Radzuan, upon hearing the man’s story, warned him not to steal again and offered the man a job at the store. His staff even visited the man’s wife, who has since snapped out of her coma. Sadly, the baby did not survive.
“For now, our priority is to ensure that he enrols his 7-year-old son in school,” said Radzuan, who had handed some cash to the man to cover his expenses.
God bless Radzuan. We could do with more heroes like him.
Yushaimi Yahaya, like his Mama, doesn’t consume much fish, especially the funny-tasting pomfret. He is NST deputy group
editor