MALAYSIANS KINI | It is not every day you meet someone who proclaims himself to be a 'mad' man, especially one with a profile picture of a potato and almost 230,000 followers on Facebook.

But 54-year-old community worker Kuan Chee Heng, whose nickname is "Abang Kentang" (Mister Potato), does not think he is the only mad person around.

“I name (my followers) all 'orang gila' (crazy people) because they are as mad as I.

“They argue with me when they are too late to donate (for any projects or initiatives).

“They are awesome people (and) they are really mad, mad like me,” he told Malaysiakini at his newly-launched RM1 house in Taman Puchong Utama, where anyone in need is welcome to stay at for RM1 per night.

His followers are so mad that on the day of the RM1 house launch, Kuan said he received so many donated household and food items from his followers that it was “as if we were going to war”.

With close to 20 years of experience in community work, the former police officer of six years said he is now an entrepreneur, which is also how he got his start in community work.

Kuan, who is from Batu Pahat, Johor, used to have a shop in Bukit Bintang, he explained, where he started to build rapport with the local community.

“A lot of people who are in trouble would come over (to my shop) and see me. Most of the people around there, those who are influential, we are together normally (also),” he said....