Meet the stroke survivor behind Kafe Basikal Tua

MALAYSIANSKINI | No less than 10 minutes away from where I live in Taman Tun Dr Ismail is Kafe Basikal Tua, a hidden rustic cafe in Kampung Sungai Penchala. Even when one pulls up to the front doorway, it’s not immediately obvious that it conceals a large space that is home to artwork, antiques, and an intriguing open-air restaurant.

As I learned from owner Raja Iskandar Raja Mansur, there is a deeper purpose to this particular outlet. He views it not just as part of his healing process from a stroke he suffered seven years ago, but also as a way for him to keep pursuing his work with the disabled community.

“Kafe Basikal Tua really saw the light during the movement control order as I could not conduct my normal outreach activities of bringing people with disabilities and their families around to interesting destinations. So this was a way to anchor it down to one location where I hoped to bring the children for their dose of art activities.

“The cafe has two targets in that it serves as an art workshop for disabled children along with their abled friends on certain days and also as a cafe to raise funds for those activities,” the former landscape architect told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.

As it is, the cafe is empowering people with disabilities as much of the food is prepared by them, thus compassion is already in action, he said.

Over the course of our interview, Raja Iskander revealed, in his own words, just how he met life’s challenges head-on.

WATCH MORE: VIDEO | Reflections of a stroke survivor

I had my stroke seven years ago. Now I’m walking towards the horizon at 56. It’s a funny feeling as I feel 25 inside. Hopefully, it will be a glorious sunset and I can go beyond yonder in style!

A stroke is something that is always unexpected if it happens. I was paralysed for a good six months but I knew I had to do something to get back on my feet, as I felt I had a lot more to achieve in life.

I was 48 at that time and I felt it was too young an age to give up. But it wasn’t easy as I don’t have a family. No wife, no children to cheer me on, save for my dear aged mother.

All I had was my own will to muster my energy to rehabilitate myself. Yes, at times I hit the low notes but I knew it wasn’t a forever low, just a cycle.

This is when I realised the power of helping other less fortunate people. It is a form of medicine for the soul. I got addicted to it. I truly believe that the more depressed you get, the more you must retaliate by helping others and getting that jolt of power back.

People with disabilities aren’t liabilities, they are assets. People with disabilities can still earn an income and be somewhat independent. We’re neither a burden nor are we demanding handouts.

My social outreach started and slowly gathered momentum. Little did people know that I was helping myself to heal too. At one point, I decided to give it a name. Which is “Artattackingrajais”.

I use art as my medium to make others smile and be happy, even if only for a moment. My target group is often blind families with children. I repair and paint murals to beautify their shops to attract customers for them. I also do recreational field trips for their children as I find that if you gain the children’s trust, you can easily then touch the adult soul!

I use myself as an inspiration for those who have a lesser drive to strive to get back their lives. The shout-out that I hope and seem to resonate with is “Hey, look what I did to get back up! If I can do it, so can you!” I believe in the saying “conduct is the best sermon”.

I grew up in a family of civil servants. My late father served in the police force ascending to be an officer in the Anti-Corruption Agency (the predecessor of today’s MACC). We moved a lot throughout the country in the 70s right into the early 90s.

My childhood was glorious and I remember growing up in huge government homes back then. My friends are essentially multiracial and it was harmonious.

In 1976, I had my first tragedy when I lost an eye as a result of being knocked by a lorry in front of my school. I was 12 and that was a turning point really as the head injury made me less deft in academics but I excelled in art from then on.

I was a dedicated landscape designer prior to the stroke, for a good 30 years. It was a profession derived from my innate passion for plants and nature. I was practising on my own in a little outfit. I used my God-given talent to draw and to convince potential clients to allow me to make their gardens materialise.

I named my little outfit Studio Raja Iskandar (Sri) and I learnt the trade from zero. It was a journey I decided to take. To educate myself, learning along the way. During this journey, I would soon realise a good wholesome landscape scheme is not just about plants and it encompasses a lot more than botany.

I took a path not normally taken by other landscapers of my time and I was known as the bad boy among my peers. I got to know the world-renowned tropical landscaper, the late Made Wijaya, and we collaborated on a few small schemes as he made his way into Malaysia.

I think I didn't do that badly and I stayed grounded all along because I was always humbled by my awareness of my lowly beginnings with no academic base in this field. This profession I was in had fame and maybe fortune slowly creeping up my way, but preferring to be more of a man behind the scenes, I shied away from all that.

The day I had the stroke was the day I had helped to carry 25 pieces of plywood to the second floor of a glass house I was building for a client. The stroke struck the next morning at 3am before I could rest and sleep.

Music also helps me heal. One of the things I find I excel in is not just visual arts but also the performing arts, and I love to belt out songs by the likes of James Ingram, George Benson and Stevie Wonder, to name a few. They sing with such raw talent and full of soul it moves me to goosebumps sometimes. Nowadays I'm still the lowly gardener who sings to his plants!

Apart from plants and nature, animals, and music my other passion is travel as my interest lies a lot in culture and art. As for the subject of sports, I am interested only in athletics, which offers a straightforward quick finish. I have absolutely no interest in lengthy soccer matches where the only aim is to score a small round object. Same as golf, I just cannot fathom it!

I also absolutely abhor politics in any form and would be the first to run away from political banter as I feel all politicians are thieves in one form or the other. With age, I’m beginning to return to religion as a journey all on its own.

Now ‘Mat Kilau’ is big news, but I’m of the thinking that a warrior spirit should be something that you subdue and hide. Let it arise only when necessary!

Thus my outreach logo is of a warrior with his gaze lowered. This is also a calling by my religion, which is to be humble at all times but in no way compromise one’s spirit to be a fighter.

I’m not in the school of thought that the showing of a keris held to the sky is a sign of a champion. To me, that stance is really unnecessary, for real warriors are humble God-fearing souls!

Therefore, I believe ‘Mat Kilau’ is nothing more than a fabrication and romanticised propaganda.

Malaysianskini is a series on Malaysians you should know.

Previously featured:

Hands Percussion founder Bernard Goh believes love will find a way
Model won't let vitiligo get in the way of her dreams
Scaling the world’s highest peaks with no fingers
Spreading the gospel of sitar
Wrestler Ayez Shaukat makes history in Texas competition
Hakken: Bringing favourite anime characters to life for millions
Dancer Jeremie Gan is thriving at Singapore Ballet

Hands Percussion founder Bernard Goh believes love will find a way

Model won't let vitiligo get in the way of her dreams

Scaling the world’s highest peaks with no fingers

Spreading the gospel of Sitar

Doing his best to keep martyred Ganapathy’s memory alive

Wrestler Ayez Shaukat makes history in Texas competition

Hakken: Bringing favourite anime characters to life for millions