EDITORIAL: My Kind of Hero: Hero Singh a.k.a Gurmit Singh

I had never met Gurmit Singh in person although I had always enjoyed his character in Phua Chu Kang Pte Ltd. He would make me laugh till I cried whenever I watched his series.

So it was coincidental (or was it fate) that I was told I would get to meet him in person during a stand-up comedy show over a weekend. The show organisers had invited the charity I represent – Children’s Wish Society of Malaysia to be the beneficiary of the event. Now this isn’t the normal “you will get a percentage of the ticket sales etc” deal. Our opportunity to raise funds relied mainly on our ability to raise the money from the audience by going around the whole convention centre in the 20 minutes intermission for donations.

This was a challenging task for sure. Each night the audience was 2,000 strong. We had two nights to raise funds. This is where Gurmit in his character “Hero Singh” came in to support our efforts. He made the difference by appealing to the crowd (who were in stitches a minute earlier watching Joanne Kam Poh Poh perform) to dig deep into their pockets for just RM10 each and donate it to our cause. Gurmit even sang a song as our volunteers approached the audience for donations.

Gurmit. You Rock! You are my kind of Hero. You have proven to be more than just a man who can humour us with your stand-up comedy routines. You have proven to us that you have a heart behind the funny characters you play and most importantly you are a man of your word. The society raised more than RM50,000 from the two nights.

Now, it is not easy for a volunteer to go around with an empty donation box to encourage total strangers to help you fill it up. It is a nerve wrecking task not knowing if you will get a donation or a rejection. Have you ever been on that side of the fence, holding out a box to ask for donations? If you have, you will know what it feels like. If you haven’t, try it out. You will find it to be a very humbling experience.

We had 14 volunteers half of whom were Subang Jaya teenagers with us on both nights of the show. They were enthusiastic and eager to reach out to the audience and to raise as much as they could for children their age who are suffering from life threatening and life limiting illness. I salute their courage and their enthusiasm in helping us out at their young age.

Now, it’s not every day that you will find people who are generous and who will go out of their way to help us. Most times, we will get ignored or we will get a remark that surprises us. Other times, we may get ridiculed by some. It helps if we are a little “thick” under the skin to handle such people.

In many ways being in Subang Jaya helps to prepare us to face difficult people who pass us by in our daily lives. We come across all sorts of people. Most times we come across very nice people. But on a not so fortunate day, we may come across stubborn and selfish people who are just thinking for themselves. If it’s not to their credit or benefit, they will just attempt to steamroll over you, if you allow them to.

I choose not to be part of such people’s lives. I choose not to spend my valuable time and energy on such people. I have better things to do with the limited time I have in a day. I choose to be with people who share my aspirations for Subang Jaya and not with those who are out to destroy it with their selfish attitude and behaviour.

Which side do you choose to be on?

In less than two months from now, we will have the Kelana Jaya LRT Line Extension at our disposal. The trains have started rolling in for their test runs and the LRT service is expected to roll out by June 30. I look forward to this as it will mean an end to the years of having to bear with the construction phase of the project. We will have our roads back and an extra public transport facility at our disposal.

Here’s wishing all Mothers a Happy Mother’s Day and teachers a Happy Teacher’s Day. Have a wonderful month ahead.

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