I am not good in being patriotic, so this is my version of patriotism.
When he was in Kenya, Ros Kamal made a nazar but he didn’t have the chance to accomplish it. Now that he is in Egypt, inevitably he had to compensate the nazar by paying fidyah. Since he doesn’t have so much time to perform what is needed, my emak decided to pay on his behalf.
The easiest way is to feed or bersedekah to 60 fakir miskin or, to make it more easy, 2 ringgit [harga 1 kg beras] times 60 which is rm 120. Or more, the better.
Emak thought, she would find the time to visit some sekolah anak yatim and pay the fidyah.
She went to Jakarta on Sunday and was back on Tuesday. Yesterday morning she told me that she paid half of the fidyah. I asked her, how come? since she just got back from Jakarta.
The she told me her story.
While she was in Jakarta, she stayed with dad former driver, Pak yusa and his wife neneng. Both of them live with neneng’s mother in a single story house. I went there for hari raya 3 years back and trust me their single story doesn’t look like our single story at all. Smaller, way smaller. So to have someone to sleep in the kitchen is somewhat absurd.
Now neneng has a maid and she was the one who had to sleep in the kitchen. No, neneng and pak yusa were not ruthless people but the house was too small to cater more than their family could hold. So why did they hire the maid you ask? Simply because the maid desperately need a job that she is willing to even sleep on the kitchen’s floor.
At night, when everyone is sleeping, the poor lady would wake up to perform tahajjud and other prayers. Family members who happened to wake up at night for nature call always stumble upon her doing her prayers.
On the last day at Jakarta, emak realised she had extra money, just few hundred extra[our money]. She thought she wanted to change them back from rupiah to ringgit but then she suddenly thought of the maid. She then asked neneng’s mother more about the maid. Whether the maid will be a good candidate to receive the money for fidyah.
According to neneng’s mother, she is now pregnant with 2 kids. Her husband left her for another woman. She had no choice but to leave her two kids in her sister hand and look for a job, to support her 2 children and the baby that soon be born. They live in a very small house back at their kampung. Yes, she is a good candidate.
So emak went to her and told her she wanted to pay the fidyah and she would be the one who would be receiving the money, she was happy when emak started to recite the akad. Now, emak only have rm100 in her hand to spare. The rest were shell out for airport tax and other necessary bills. After she hands her the money, emak went inside the bathroom.
When she came out, she heard the maid crying. Puzzled, she asked why did she cry.
Suddenly, the lady went down on knees and hugs my mum’s feet. Tears were all over her face
She told emak, never in her life anyone gave me that much money. She just doesn’t know how to thank emak.
It’s ok emak said, it is for fidyah but she hugged emak tightly and said she will pray for emak every night. That God will bless emak and our family. By this time, emak was already in tears.
No. This is not the story about how dermawan my emak is. Giving RM 100 can’t be considered as dermawan since you can spend that amount of money within seconds here.
But to her, RM100 ringgit had made her kneeled on her knees and cry.
Hearing the story made me cry too. I didn’t know rm100 would make a big difference for someone.
How would you react if someone give you rm100?
I know I would smile and say thank you.
But I don’t think I will cry.
I don’t put or display jalur gemilang in front of my house nor even at my car. But I try not to litter around and I am trying my best not to discriminate people although sometimes I did. And I am still trying my best to achieve the “merdeka” state of mind.
As weird and not patriotic as it may seem, I guess that is my way to show I am grateful to be born here where 100 ringgit doesn’t really make much difference nowadays.
Hmm. I have so many things inside to tell but like the lady and the rm100 I just don’t know how to say it.
Selamat ulangtahun kemerdekaan ke 50 Malaysia. Semoga rakyatmu lebih tahu mengenal erti apa itu rakyat merdeka.
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