RIFLE RANGE BOY: unkind

It is heartbreaking to see a helpless grown man being beaten up and hosed down with water against his will. Things are different during Holi when people wilfully want to get wet and be sprinkled with coloured powder in the name of merriment.

This incident reminded me of a scene in the first instalment of Sylvester Stallone's 'First Blood', where John Rambo gets hosed with a powerful jet of water for being a nuisance.

Here, as seen in the movie, a few days ago, a homeless man was shooed, chased and kicked about for sleeping in the footpath outside a commercial bank. A lady security guard was hosing him away while a cobbler who had his corner nearby started kicking him as he lay on the ground, pathetic. A passerby, who thought that rather than confronting the perpetrators and incurring their wrath, he recorded the incident and viralled it. Without missing a beat, within minutes, the internet was buzzing in a mad pitch.

The bank acknowledged that the incident occurred outside its premises. It, however, refuted any involvement in the violence. Security was outsourced to a third party, and the bank washed its hands of it.

Within the hour, a kind soul who made it his life's goal to help the homeless arrived at the scene and took the homeless man to a sanctuary he ran. Everyone was happy that the problem was solved. The homeless man has a place to rest his weary body and a roof over his head. Is the problem really solved?

The reason for the man's homelessness remains unknown. Where is his family? He did not look too unkempt, so his problem could be new. Does he have a medical condition? So far, we know his name. Safiudeen Pakkeer Mohamed from Tamil Nadu.

We can give a tap on our shoulders for sorting out his problem, at least for the time being. But the way the two individuals handled the situation was quite appalling. They later, maybe as an afterthought, were heard telling reporters that they were merely cleaning him as the area reeked of excrement.

Here, we are living in a country which cries for people wronged thousands of miles away who do not look anything like us. And we spent supplies on them as they lay stranded in a war zone. If that is not enough, we even send our planes to fetch their wounded to provide medical aid.

Are we all guilty of exhibiting our prejudices to people beneath us? For those poorer than us, of darker complexion than us and of different appearances than us. We Malaysians are good at hosting foreigners and making them feel at home. When it comes to our own citizens who helped to build our country, we become suspicious. Suspicious that they would take a piece of the pie meant for us. Suspicious that the role would reverse.

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