The colour blind Ong Kim Koon

APRIL 25 — An incident took place amidst the “1Malayu, 1Bumi” movement and
“using Chinese to subdue Chinese” advocacy.

Two weeks ago, 52-year-old lorry driver Ong Kim Koon saw a road accident on
the MRR2 highway near the Tesco roundabout on his way home. A seriously
injured Malay couple were trapped inside their mangled car.

Ong stopped and quickly pulled out Zainal Mohammad.

When he was about to return to rescue Zainal’s wife, Rosamiah Hashim, after
placing Zainal on a road divider, he was hit by a MPV and dragged for a few
metres. The MPV driver then fled the scene.

Together with the Malay couple, Ong was rushed to a hospital.

The couple were in a stable condition while Ong was put in an induced coma
and had his right leg amputated.

The MPV driver who had sped off after hitting Ong was reported to be a
Chinese.

Ong had been struggling on the edge of death over the past two weeks and his
left leg had to be amputated too due to infection. However, the surgery was
postponed as his condition was too weak. His condition deteriorated and he
passed away on April 22, 2011.

It is a great story about an ordinary man. Perhaps, similar incidents have
taken place in car accidents, fire, flood and other disasters. They might
not necessarily make front page stories or attract great attention.

However, when some people are advocating the “1Malay, 1Bumi” movement while
some are talking about “using Chinese to subdue Chinese”, I am sad and angry
over the incident.

When Ong stopped to help the couple, he did not check whether they were
Chinese or Malays. What he saw were two lives waiting to be rescued.

When Ong was rescuing them, he did not consider whether they were Chinese or
Malay, he just wanted to pull them out of the car as quickly as he could.
Every single life is precious regardless of race. It is a glorious human
nature to view all lives as equally important.

I do not know whether the Utusan Malaysia covered the incident or not and I
am not sure either what Mingguan Malaysia columnist Awang Selamat and Utusan
Malaysia assistant editor-in-chief Datuk Zaini Hassan would feel when they
read the news report.

I just want to ask that under the “1Melayu, 1Bumi” movement, should Ong just
turn around and walk away when he found that the trapped couple were Malays?
When Awang Selamat said that the Chinese should not be taken care of, did
Ong consider not to rescue Zainal and his wife because they were Malays? No,
of course Ong did not do so as he was a humane Malaysian. He saw no skin
colour but life.

One day, if Awang and Zaini are in great need of help, would they ask those
who come to rescue them: “Are you Malay or Chinese?”

Similarly, if MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s theory of “using
Chinese to subdue Chinese” is justifiable, the Chinese MPV driver would have
immediately rushed Ong to a hospital and sincerely apologise instead of
speeding off when he found that they were having the same skin colour.

Foolish racial arguments have indeed disgraced the great spirit of Ong.

[Source: SinChew]