Clean act by Samaritan (in Kajang)

The Star, Thursday May 10, 2012

Clean act by Samaritan

THE people of Kajang calls him “the best Bandaraya”, “the most dedicated social worker”, “Mr A1” and some have even given him a nickname — “health minister”.

Every morning at 7am, for three hours, they see this old man walking the main streets of Kajang, bending his lean figure every now and then to pick up litter along the way.

 

 

The tanned and hardy man usually walks from Taman Jelok Indah, Taman Restu, Taman Bukit Mewah and all the way to Jalan Semenyih.

He sometimes take a rake with him to make the job easier.

He collects the litter into a gunnysack, not uttering a word nor showing any sign of fatigue.

When the time is up, he takes the same route back to Taman Jelok Indah and burn the litter in a quiet corner of the road.

He could be easily identified because he rarely wears a shirt or T-shirt. If at all he does put on a shirt, it means he may have something on or may not be feeling well. He will usually finish work early that day.

“I see Mr Bandaraya almost every day since I was in primary school, it’s been more or less 15 years!” said resident Elissa Ng.

“I really admire his selflessness, not many people would want to do good for nothing these days. He is really someone to be emulated,” she added.

Although he is seen almost every day, Mr Bandaraya remains a mystery to most people as he speaks very little. Hence, it is not surprising that some have misunderstood him as mentally unsound.

When this writer tried to initiate a conversation, he only responded with several nods to certain questions.

For a cleaner town: Lee, better known as Mr Bandaraya collecting rubbish along main roads in Kajang.

 

He gave the most obvious acknowledgement to comments that there were many litterbugs in the city. He is friendly, alert and clear-minded.

As we followed him, we noticed that he did not take recyclable items such as aluminium cans that could be sold for money.

He is merely doing it to keep his township clean.

“Some residents wanted to pay him to do weeding at their house, but he rejected. He did not want the money,” said resident Calvin Tham, 57, whom we met at a coffee shop nearby.

After a long search, we managed to locate Mr Bandaraya’s daughter, who was equally quiet and told us nothing more than his name — Lee Thiam See — and that he is 76 with five children.

“We used to disagree with what he does, but we sort of understand now.

“Anyway, we are happy that he’s doing something he likes, and that it serves some good to the community,” she said