A fictional story of Halim and Ahmad
COMMENT | Halim and Ahmad are both in their early 20s. They come from struggling families and like their other siblings, they do not have a solid education background.
Halim and Ahmad work in a market – Halim sells soya bean milk while Ahmad sells coconut water. As their stalls are situated side-by-side, they are well acquainted with one another.
Both men work very hard to assist with their family’s financial needs. Their income reduces the burden carried by their parents and eases the struggle to make ends meet.
However, Halim and Ahmad are very wise for while helping their families with the little proceeds they earn from their stalls, they always keep aside a sum for their own futures.
One year after operating the coconut water stall, Ahmad decides to use his savings to...
COMMENT | Halim and Ahmad are both in their early 20s. They come from struggling families and like their other siblings, they do not have a solid education background.
Halim and Ahmad work in a market – Halim sells soya bean milk while Ahmad sells coconut water. As their stalls are situated side-by-side, they are well acquainted with one another.
Both men work very hard to assist with their family’s financial needs. Their income reduces the burden carried by their parents and eases the struggle to make ends meet.
However, Halim and Ahmad are very wise for while helping their families with the little proceeds they earn from their stalls, they always keep aside a sum for their own future.
One year after operating the coconut water stall, Ahmad decides to use his savings to settle down with a nice young woman from his village. His wife who is a factory worker also comes from a similar background just like himself.
A couple of months after tying the knot, Ahmad and his family receive happy news – his wife is pregnant with their first child. Nine months down the road, Ahmad’s son is born and his wife resigns from work to dedicate herself to providing the best care for their son.
While Ahmad got married and built a family, Halim worked hard to expand his stall. Besides his usual soya bean milk, he starts selling tau foo fah (soya bean pudding) and soya bean jelly. With his savings, he makes a down payment for a little food truck.
Soon, Halim’s business operation is no longer limited at the market. When the morning crowd at the market reduces, he sets up his food truck elsewhere – sometimes by business shop lots and sometimes by shopping malls.
As Halim’s business grows, so does his income. Now Halim isn’t only able to assist his parents to pay bills but he helps to pay for his siblings’ education too. His younger brother who has always been so keen on repairing things is sent to a vocational school while his younger sister who is good with numbers is enrolled in an accounting course.
Due to family pressure to tie the knot, Halim finally settles down with a nice lady who soon learns the trade and assists him with his food truck business. Together, they plan their future – they do not want to live their old age struggling to make ends meet like their own folks.
A few years down the road, Ahmad has four little children to care for – and his wife is pregnant with their fifth. As their family expands, Ahmad continues selling coconut water at the market. In his free time, he spends time at home with his children and wife. He also visits the mosque quite frequently, seeking blessings from God to ease his financial burden.
As for Halim and his wife, they are happy with their only son – after all, based on their planning, they can only afford to save enough money to send one child to university. In order to give their son the best in life, Halim gets a second food truck – having been trained well, his wife has no problem running their second food truck by herself.
By this time, both Halim’s siblings have graduated and begun earning on their own. With everyone chipping in monthly, they are able to provide better care for their elderly parents. In return, Halim’s parents happily take care of his son while he and wife are busy running their business.
As Halim and Ahmad reach their mid-30s, they no longer meet each other like they used to. Ahmad remains at the market, selling his coconut water to the same crowd while expanding his family unit. Halim, on the other hand, continues to expand his business and upgrades the status of his family.
Ahmad and his family continue to be in the B40 group. Most likely, his children will too. Halim and his family have managed to remove themselves from the B40 group. Most likely, his children will never be in the B40 group.
But all is well as people like Ahmad who fail to plan for the future will be assisted by the government in the spirit of "prosperity sharing". And people like Halim who work their butt off to secure a better life for themselves and their family will be regarded as "wealthy" and able to manage on their own without any assistance whatsoever.
Twenty years down the road, in his 60s, Ahmad will probably still be selling coconut water at the same market where he met Halim while Halim will be happily retired and spending his old age entertaining his grandchildren.
Halim's son, nieces and nephews will probably be doing very well in their professional careers while Ahmad's children and grandchildren will be getting government assistance to improve their future. Most probably it is the tax proceeds from people like Halim's family which will be used for the well-being of Ahmad's family.
FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a director, a struggling producer, a photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
