When I was younger, I thought my classmates were my only best friends. Then at the Royal Military College (RMC) I had all 100 of of my batch as classmates and best friends; regardless of race or geographical origin. I called them all my brothers and told my family that I had found my other long-lost family, instead of those I was told lived in Kerala, India.

At university, though, I realised that we are all wired differently as human beings. The sportsmen and women continued with their sports, but the non-players began a different field of activity; public engagement on issues and concerns of import. They ‘played politics’.

I then met the most political friend I ever knew but he was also a sportsman in the same events in which I competed. He ‘taught me his politics of survival’. He argued and convinced me about the whys and wherefores of the May 13 debacle. He explained why Malaya would never be stable as long as there are poor Malays. He was from Kelantan.

The Gua Musang pilot project

I have never been to Gua Musang, Kelantan; although I remember it as the polling station with the greatest accusations and assertions about electoral offences. The military base there is the obvious victim of all these assertions and accusations, but, they have never spoken up to defend their innocence. Instead, an Air Force major has been dismissed recently for speaking up about indelible ink.

This past month, during the fasting period, a few of us RMC Old Puteras who call ourselves El Puteras (after our year of entry, Enam Lima), met a young man whom I had come to know some time ago.

He and friends had started what they called Epic, or Extraordinary People Impacting Community. It was their dream of servitude about how they can minister to this nation and they selected the aboriginal peoples of Malaya, or those whom we call Orang Asli, or the same ones who are sociologically labelled the Orang Asal of Malaya.

Epic does this by building homes for these indigenous folk, one home at a time, because as the founder puts it, it is all about building relationships with them and to give them a hope and a future in Malaysia. So far, I understand they have built 63 homes over four years.

In Gua Musang we were driven to help by the recent flooding crisis and by the choice of the promoters from our El Putera project, who will attend as voluntary builders. We have selected the village of Manik Urai Lama as the recipient of their first pilot coop project home built with and by the El Puteras of the RMC.

These EL Puteras hope to build about three homes over time but we are currently growing a partnership model to raise funds by creating and facilitating an alliance of the committed.

Faith-based alliance of volunteers

Last weekend, the Kairos Dialogue Network, now called the ‘other KDN’, had their launch event for the Christian Social Vision for Malaysia. At that full day event, we had some astute observers, who were Muslims but they came as volunteer observers.

They sat through almost all presentations and gave the organisers sensible feedback about why this agenda is good for Malaysia and why we as a larger group should now develop an agenda for growing an alliance of the committed.

The alliance of the committed is a faith-based alliance of volunteers who want to see good done in Malaysia, without consideration for what is our ethnicity, or religious affiliation, or even geographical heritage, or even who are the recipients.  

We want to focus less on race or religious issues but spend energy in doing good deeds; especially where we can see obvious and telling needs, like for example with the Orang Asli and their living conditions. Their needs far exceed ours.

The column is therefore my public appeal about the same.  We have marked out the following dates for the training session (Aug 15 for volunteer builders) and then the actual build up days for the pilot project in Manik Urai Lama between Aug 20 and 23, 2015.

We only need 30 volunteers who pay for their own way there and expenses related to food and lodging while they participate in the four-day build up. Together with others like the El Puteras, and another partner law firm and one Old Putera family, we will raise the RM55,000 needed to build this pilot home, especially for the costs of foundation-laying and building materials shipped to Kelantan.

If you are interested, please go the Epic website and sign up to either be a donor or a volunteer builder. Well, let me put it this way, I am volunteering to become a builder for those four days and I have already turned 65, as my last column screamed.

Many of our classmates, who are older, will also be there, and some even with their children or grandchildren (must be above 12 years though). That is not too bad a deal, right? You will be in the company of the committed.

Whither Malaysia?

I recently sent a text message to a dear friend in a high place and asked; whither Malaysia today? I did not get a reply. I understand though; he has no real answers worth responding. I agree, Tan Sri.

While Malaysia is in a mess today, there are many other countries in a greater mess. And then there is Greece; let us not even consider their excesses, but they are waking up now. Look at Syria, or Egypt, or Tunisia or Yemen. Do any of these countries deserve what their peoples are getting? Of course not, but these are cultures rife with bribery and corruption and the people of those nations ignored them until now.

Suddenly, they are all in the soup and want to rely on the international partners to bail them out. The truth is they never grew up and became mature. But, have we really?

Bailouts are important only for taking care of the weak and underprivileged; never should it support the well-connected. All the well-connected have their own bailout plans, and let us be honest about it, it is always the poor and marginalised who are real victims in the end of poor and bad leadership.

How can we change that? My view is that the ordinary people of Malaysia must wake up and speak up and say that enough is enough. Yes, the ordinary here means the middle-class house-owning democracy, and cannot include the poor and marginalised, as they are almost by definition the victims, always.

Are we prepared, Malaysia? Or do we prefer to blame everyone else but ourselves. May God bless Malaysia.