Since young, we’ve been taught to lend a helping hand to those who are less fortunate than us. But what if one of them has been taking advantage of his disability?
A Malaysian named Matt Ong recently took to Facebook to share his encounter with an elderly blind uncle in Bangsar. According to Matt, the blind man has been exploiting his disability in order to demand money from the public.
In his post, Matt wrote, “Just hanging out in Bangsar when I noticed a blind man in the middle of the road. Another guy was trying to help him off it because he was holding traffic up but he didn’t budge. Thinking it was a language issue I went up to him to help, but then I realized, he wasn’t clueless. He knew exactly what he was doing and wouldn’t budge unless I gave him some money. So I gave 1 Ringgit to pacify him. He took the cash and then continued standing there after berating me that it wasn’t enough. He wanted a 10 or 20. That’s when I took this video.”
The blind uncle can heard angrily threatening Matt in the 85-second clip, saying, “You come and disturb me, you watch out okay? You just watch out.”
“I wasn’t at all angry, just sad that he had to resort to this to beg. I was half and half about posting this because while I don’t want to villainize the man, I was wondering if it’s legal to blackmail and hold traffic like this,” Matt pondered.
In a surprising revelation, many Malaysians have previously encountered this same man before. Several netizens claim to have spotted him in various spots such as Damansara Uptown, Subang, Puchong, and Mont Kiara.
“By ‘helping’ him, you are causing more traffic congestion if he keeps doing this everywhere. If it’s wrong it’s wrong. This is no different from robbing or blackmailing. If you are stuck in a traffic because of this guy for 20-30minutes, are you sure you want everyone else to tolerate this behaviour? If someone accidentally knock this fella down, who is to be charged? Such behaviour should not be tolerated. What is the difference between this guy and a scammer who scams for money,” asked Snakje Jake.
“Saw this same old man at SS15/8 road doing his usual MO (standing almost in the middle of the road) few months back. Saw some kind college students trying to help him cross the road thinking he needed help but was told off loudly. I tried to help him too and told him to stand to the side. Instead, he insisted that I buy something from him for RM10. Started to think it’s all a bit strange so I gave him a few RMs instead (I still thought he was a genuine case). He took the money but loudly complained as to why I didn’t buy some outdated catalogues/ booklets. Walked off and then saw a few more people trying to help him cross/ get off the road. Again same thing happened,” shared Aiza Az.
She added, “So okay. He’s blind. He may need help. But he’s endangering motorists and good samaritans by purposely standing in traffic and making people uncomfortable (and rethink about being kind) when he berates these good souls for “helping” him. There’s a difference between being desperate and helpless and being a nuisance and a con. Relevant authorities or whichever, please take this uncle away, place him somewhere safe and make him stop preying on generous souls.”
Watch the clip here:
To echo Matt’s question, what can we do should we encounter a similar situation such as this? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
UPDATE (Thusday, 18th May):
As you can see from the link above, the video previously uploaded by Matt Ong has been removed from Facebook. He explained that the removal was mainly for the uncle’s safety.
It has been revealed that the real name of the blind uncle aka “Uncle Luke” is Khor Chai Wing. The Star recently reached out the 63-year-old in light of the recent viral video showing his aggressive tactics to solicit donations from the public.
“I am sorry for 4 things: number 1, for standing in the middle of the road. Number 2, I am sorry for being born 100% blind. Number 3, I am sorry for being partially deaf and number 4, I am sorry for being mentally challenged,” he told the publication.
Khor Chai Wing also admitted that he went overboard when he got physical certain individuals who wanted to help him. “I also assaulted some of them by pulling their shirts for refusing to buy from me. I was angry because the sales were not good at that time,” he added.
After a number of complaints, Uncle Luke has been let off with a warning. “I will try my best not to do this kind of thing again. I will try to control my temper when I am out doing sales,” he promised.
