Rasanya masih belum terlambat untuk saya ucapkan Selamat Tahun Baru 2017. Tahun ini cabaran kerana saya perlu menyiapkan tugasan utama saya. Anak-anak pula semua sudah bersekolah. Ada yang pagi ada yang petang. Semuanya saya sendiri hantar, agak kelam kabut. Apabila ada kerja luar baru lah guna talian hayat. Tapi nama pun talian hayat, tidak boleh digunakan selalu. Persekolahan anak-anak perlukan duit, dan jumlah duit agak besar sehingga mencecah empat angka, dari yuran, buku, pakaian serta duit belanja.
Keadaan ekonomi juga masih tidak memberangsangkan, kakitangan awam seperti biasa, tiada bonus. Harga petrol yang tidak stabil ditambah dengan ringgit semakin lemah juga menyukarkan lagi keadaan. Masih lagi ada pekerjaan dengan gaji yang tidak dipotong pun dah bersyukur. Beberapa rakan saya dalam sektor swasta juga telah kehilangan pekerjaan. Di saat ini, mereka perlukan pertolongan untuk meneruskan kehidupan dan majoriti rakan-rakan saya telah bekeluarga.
Kadangkala, pertolongan datang dengan pelbagai cara dan tanpa kita duga dan fahami. Ia juga melangkaui batasan bangsa dan agama. Sifat perikemanusiaan tidak dibatasi dengan warna kulit, bahasa yang ditutur dan juga pegangan agama masing-masing. Rakyat Malaysia terdiri dari pelbagai bangsa, bahasa ibunda, agama dan kepercayaan.
Kisah dibawah saya ambil dari laporan akhbar The Star bertarikh 21 Disember 2016.
PETALING JAYA: When Lee Hui Sen attended an auction of houses that
had been recalled by banks, he liked a double-storey house and bid
RM445,000 for it. He paid a 10% deposit to the High Court for the
double-storey house.
He then went to check out the house. When he saw a family still
living there, he could not bring himself to take the house from them.
The Good Samaritan decided to forgo the RM44,500 deposit and hand the house back to the family.
Lee’s lawyer had already sent the letter of vacant possession and a
letter asking the earlier owner S, 47, and his wife Nor, 42, to remove
the caveat from the house.
S was declared a bankrupt in 2014 after defaulting on his mortgage loan.
In a handwritten letter to S, Lee wrote that he had decided not to
continue with the purchase even though he had paid the 10% downpayment.
“I am Lee Hui Sen, the buyer of
the auctioned house that you are living in now. I am sorry for buying
your house and it might have made you and your family worried.
“The other day, my family and I went to your house and we saw shirts outside the house. We do not have the heart to evict you.
“We will lose the money but it will go into the bank account of your
house. We hope this can be of some assistance to you,” Lee wrote.
He also advised S to go to the bank to restructure his loan to avoid having the house put up for auction again.
Lee also provided some feng shui tips, telling S to remove
old plants and flowers at the side of the house to make the house
brighter and to welcome positive energy.
“Good luck to you and your family,” Lee wrote.
Nor said she found it hard to believe when she found it in the letterbox.
She showed Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM) chief
Datuk Nadzim Johan the letter, who helped to verify with the bank’s
lawyers that the letter was genuine.
“This is really unbelievable and a miracle to get a chance to rebuild
our lives again,” she said, adding that they received the letter in
July.
Nadzim said this was a very good example of a man with a golden heart.
“You have not met this person and yet you can just part with your
money to help someone. People are fighting for so many things outside
and yet this man can provide assistance to a family for them to start
anew.
“We urge Lee to come forward so we can offer our appreciation to him,” he said.
Nor said S has been servicing the house loan for almost 20 years but was not prompt in his payment.
The bank allegedly declared S a bankrupt in July 2014 without his
knowledge and at the same time, offered him a reschedulement of
RM350,000 for 25 years.
S and Nor were former bank officers before they resigned in 2010 and
2011 respectively to focus on their business in the service sector. But
they faced financial difficulties after the business floundered.
“I feel the bank really cheated us as they never told us about the bankruptcy and still offered us a reschedulement.
“In 2014, we received notice of the first auction. After a meeting
with the bank officer, we were told to pay RM40,000 before the auction
date. We paid the amount and were arranging with the bank to do a
reschedulement.
“From there, the matter was prolonged until four auctions,” Nor said, adding that she had written numerous letters to the bank.
Nadzim, to whom the couple had turned for assistance, said he had
tried to arrange for a meeting with the bank for the past three months
but to no avail.
