Back in 1998, a Malaysian lawyer decided to help a poor mother who stole a pencil box from a local supermarket.
She had wanted to get the pencil box as a reward for her son, who did well in his studies. However, the mother resorted to stealing it as she could not afford it.
Not only did the lawyer prevent the mother from going to jail, but he also contributed some money to the struggling parent.
20 years later, the lawyer reunited with the mother-son pair and remains close friends with them to this day.
According to The Star, the lawyer, Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar, was still in his 30s back when the case took place in 1998.
Source: The Star
He met the woman, who was a cleaner in her 50s, in the courtroom after the hearing he was handling concluded.
As he sat alone in the courtroom, police officers escorted the handcuffed woman into the venue.
Sensing that she was in distress, Mr Ahmad approached her to ask how she ended up in this situation, he shared.
She explained to the lawyer that she had stolen a pencil box from a local supermarket. The cleaner had wanted to gift it to her 10-year-old son.
“She said that she had promised to get her son a pencil box if he became the top student in class,” Mr Ahmad recounted.
So, when the young boy completed his exams and emerged top of his class, the mother wanted to make good on her promise.
However, she could not afford the pencil box, which cost RM18 (S$5.30 today) at the supermarket. The mother ultimately resorted to stealing it, but ended up getting caught.
Source: Sinar Harian
“I thought to myself then that if she was jailed for the offence, who would take care of her son? So, I had to intervene,” said Mr Ahmad.
Mr Ahmad managed to postpone the case and went to the boy’s school to verify his mother’s claims.
The lawyer later returned to the courtroom with the son’s teacher, and they both tried to work out a settlement with the supermarket owner.
Even though Mr Ahmad offered to pay double for the pencil box, the owner still wanted to pursue the case.
Fortunately, the magistrate discharged the mother on the condition of good behaviour for a year.
Source: AskLegal, for illustration purposes only.
Before the mother left the courtroom, the lawyer passed a hat around and collected few hundred ringgit. The money was contributed by court staff, police officers, as well as Mr Ahmad himself.
“We handed over the money to the woman. She left after expressing her gratitude and I never saw her again,” he recalled.
Some 20 years after the memorable case, a man in his early 30s went up to Mr Ahmad when he was in court one day in 2018.
The man said to the lawyer, who had reached his 50s by then, “Hello, sir. You may not know me, but I am the son of the cleaner you helped 20 years ago. Remember the pencil box case?”
Apparently, the mother saw a television broadcast featuring Mr Ahmad and one of his cases, and told her son about him.
Since then, her son apparently began looking for him. The latter then learnt that the boy he helped all those years ago is now also a lawyer.
Mr Ahmad told The Star that he teared up upon hearing what the son had to say.
“I almost fainted when he told me who he was,” he expressed.
“It was heartwarming and one of the happiest moments in my life. We proceeded to visit his mother, who is now 76 years old.”
Mr Ahmad and the mother-son duo have become close friends ever since the touching reunion. The older lawyer even sees the younger one like a son now.
They would visit one another during special occasions such as Deepavali and Hari Raya.
Looking back at why he decided to help the mother on a whim, Mr Ahmad simply said, “I helped because she is a fellow Malaysian.”
“Here in Malaysia, despite our diverse backgrounds, our differences are minute, but we have similarities. We can live in harmony as one big family.”
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Featured image adapted from The Star and Sinar Harian.
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