Poor and neglected

Last Saturday, I went back to Chengkau, Rembau to see my cousin, Jaafar, with a purpose to pay my zakat for this year. I have forgotten that he is eligble to receive zakat. I paid zakat every year before for the purpose of income tax but now I don't have income tax to account for, I have a poor cousin who deserves it. I have some guilt feeling actually for ignoring this side of my family. They are poor and have been poor the whole of their life. They have so many cousins and uncles who are so well-off but none bothered to give a helping hand. I feel sorry that I wasn't a good niece to my aunt when she was alive. I hardly went back to my kampung to see how they were - too busy with my comfortable city life. I just wish I was kinder and paid more attention to the plight of unfortunate relatives. I would like my children and whoever read this blog to nurture a drop of understanding, sympathy, kindness and a charitable heart to help the unfortunate especially if they are relatives. I just hope I have enough time to make up for my arrogance.

In our conversation, my cousin Cham (Jaafar's younger sister) recounted her disappointment that Jaafar's request for a PPRT house ( for the very poor people) was not granted and she didn't understand why. Cham is a single parent and the only sibling who cares for Jaafar. He is 62 years old, lives alone, with one blind eye and the other is loosing sight fast and has mental disability. I suspect he is a schizo ( according to DSM1v) but has never been treated or diagnosed. The house he is living now is really dilapidated and when it rains he has to scuttle to find a place where there is no leak and dry. It's white-ants infested and can collapse at any time. I am not exaggerating and wondered why I didn't see all this before. I suppose I didn't care.

I really felt guilty and sad in my heart that I didn't have this awareness earlier. I didn't know about Cham's disappointment until she told me that Saturday. There were so many questions that I need to clarify with the authority and I wasted no to time in asking Cham to take me to see the Ketua Kampung. It was a disaster. I was furious to see his attitude. Ketua Kampung is supposed to care for the anak buah in the kampung but when I had response something like " I have done my duty to get him the Social Welfare aid, that's my job. Getting him a PPRT house is not my duty. I don't want susah-susah do work that's not my duty.' I was losing my temper but able to keep calm and asked for the phone number of the Wakil Rakyat there.

I sms the Wakil Rakyat briefly about my cousin's case and insisted I wanted to see him personally, no matter where and when. Finally he asked me to come on Monday at 11 am. Hei, I am free now - any time and anywhere I'll' be there as I need some answers. I was ready to track him even to the end of the earth if he gives excuses. I even planned to camp at his office all day. But alhamdullilah, on Monday we met, 45 minutes later than the appointed time.

The ADUN Kota is an action man and immediately used his machinery to get more details. I presented my cousion's case with photographs and he promised to see this case which he was not aware of. I couldn't get to the bottom of the problem of where all Jaafar's application forms have gone, who sent, when etc. He just told me that now he knows the case he will do something about it and doesn't want to blame anybody. It's fine with me but I want to see the outcome and when action will be taken - that's important. Cham said the government lied to people to help but I told her it's not the government but the people who are supposed to do the job cannot be trusted. Imagine, Jaafar's personal details weren't there but a hoax number of reference - no interview was done, no particulars were collected and numbers registered were wrong. I was disgusted. This is tantamount to penipuan and penganiayaan.

I spent more than an hour chatting with the Wakil Rakyat, sharing his experience and frustration. From the interaction, I think he is a caring Wakil Rakyat but his people down there need to develop some conscience and really do their job. Being a medical doctor, he can do better at his clinic but taking this job is a big responsibility. I wish him the best and hope he will follow through this case and other cases that are neglected by his people. I will definitely follow through Jaafar's case until I am happy with the outcome.

I told Cham, being poor doesn't mean you're small but there's need to build courage and confidence to get your right. I am teaching her to assert herself and not just 'sabar'. Being 'sabar' is a virtue but not a misplaced 'sabar' - you get walked all over you.