00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 I have a life beyond work.
00:20 But I think more importantly, my writings
00:24 are reflections of my work, of what
00:27 I believe in, my principles in my life, my experience.
00:31 For example, the book on--
00:33 the new book that we are preparing,
00:35 it is about politics of service versus politics
00:39 of self-interest.
00:41 I wanted to look into the life of this particular politician
00:45 and look at how he has committed to politics
00:49 not because of wealth or position,
00:52 but because-- precisely because he
00:54 wanted to serve his community.
00:57 That is a reflection of what I'm going through as well
00:59 in my current role as a politician, as a wakil
01:04 raya, and as a minister.
01:05 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:08 Can you share who?
01:16 You will have to wait for the book to come out.
01:18 When is the book coming out?
01:19 We are now in the midst of editorial work.
01:23 So hopefully by this year.
01:25 He is actually a very little-known local politician
01:28 from Bukit Mertajam.
01:29 But when I look at his contribution in the '50s,
01:33 in the '40s, and then in the '50s,
01:34 I realize that he has done so much for not only my town,
01:39 my hometown, Bukit Mertajam, but also for the state of Penang
01:41 and Malaysia in general.
01:43 But many young people don't know about this person.
01:46 So I think whether as an MP for Bukit Mertajam,
01:51 wanting to give recognition to one of our early fathers,
01:54 or as a politician wanting to promote this,
02:00 or to embrace this value of politics of service,
02:04 I think this is something that I had to do.
02:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
02:10 One of the things that we have managed to deal with
02:17 was flood mitigation.
02:19 It was very important because Bukit Mertajam
02:21 was a hotspot for flash flood disaster.
02:26 I think this is one of the--
02:27 it's very close to my heart because I'm a Bukit Mertajam
02:30 boy.
02:30 I grew up having to deal with flood two or three times
02:34 a year in my taman itself.
02:38 I wouldn't say we have resolved flood issue 100%.
02:42 But we have substantially minimized
02:48 occurrences of flood, as well as minimized areas that
02:52 are flooded in Bukit Mertajam.
02:54 A few years ago, together with the local NGOs,
02:58 I started our annual Bukit Mertajam Art and Music Fest.
03:04 So we started with what I call the software, which
03:07 are essentially events--
03:10 music fests, art fests, food exhibition,
03:15 traditional food exhibition.
03:16 We've got Hakka, Hokkien food, Hakka food, Cantonese food,
03:19 Hainan food, et cetera.
03:20 But eventually, as we begin to organize
03:23 more of these activities, they sort of
03:26 nurtured a higher sense of awareness
03:30 about the need and the importance
03:32 to preserve our heritage and our culture.
03:34 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:37 We decided to start giving out laptops.
03:44 Some of my team members say, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
03:48 because if you give a food basket,
03:52 you give a [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] it probably
03:53 cost you 100 ringgit or 150.
03:56 But a laptop can easily go up to at least 2,000 ringgit.
03:59 At that time, there were no stock for the lower range ones.
04:02 I said, let's do whatever we can do.
04:04 We started by forging out money to buy one or two.
04:08 Then we said, if we can help one, we help one.
04:10 We can help two, we help two.
04:11 And then when I posted it out on my Facebook,
04:13 friends, those who are close to me, my former classmates,
04:16 decided, hey, we want to donate two or three or even use one.
04:21 And I think one thing led to another.
04:24 Our postings on social media helped.
04:26 Eventually, people came on board.
04:29 [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] at that time came on board
04:31 and gave us 50 laptops.
04:33 So I think eventually, without a single cent of allocation
04:37 at that time, we have managed to distribute about 600
04:41 new laptops and tablets to children in Bukit Metajam.
04:45 For me, that is a very personal experience
04:49 because I felt that this is something that we needed to do.
04:52 And we really worked very hard to get 600 laptops.
04:57 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:00 [NO AUDIO]
05:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments