Dua bulan yang lalu, saya amat gembira dan teruja sewaktu menghadiri sambutan perkahwinan anak saudara perempuan saya kerana peluang untuk bertemu sanak saudara dan sahabat handai yang sudah lama tidak bersua.
Dalam kesibukan persediaan majlis di kediaman Abang saya, semasa khemah dinaikkan, bunga hiasan digubah – saya mengambil sedikit masa untuk bersendirian.
Tatkala menatal media sosial di telefon bimbit, ruang kegembiraan saya dijengah dengan gambar dan video lelaki, wanita dan kanak-kanak yang berada jauh beribu batu sedang cedera parah malah ada yang kehilangan nyawa akibat serangan bom bertubi-tubi dan peluru berpandu yang tiada henti.
Mustahil untuk kita mengelak dan tidak berasa pilu apabila melihat kesengsaraan mereka yang sudah lebih setahun membanjiri media sosial kita.
Teringat apabila jari saya terluka, saya terus bergegas mencari pembalut, namun kemudian apabila terlihat imej seorang kanak-kanak perempuan terlantar di lantai hospital sedang menunggu untuk dipotong kakinya tanpa bius, ia membuatkan saya tersedar, apalah sakit luka di jari ini berbanding dipotong anggota badan sebegitu?
Dua jurang realiti yang berbeza antara kegembiraan majlis perkahwinan anak saudara saya dan kesengsaraan dialami oleh jutaan umat membuatkan saya tersentak daripada zon selesa – malah seharusnya begitu.
Apabila memandang raut wajah gembira Abang saya menguruskan perkahwinan anak perempuannya, ia mengingatkan saya kepada satu video yang pernah saya lihat di sosial media.
Ia menunjukkan seorang ayah menghemburkan jeritan sekuat tenaga memanggil nama anak perempuannya ke arah timbunan serpihan runtuhan konkrit yang dahulunya kediaman mereka – salah satu antara ribuan kediaman yang dimusnahkan bom.
Tanpa peduli luka berdarah dan basah peluh, dia mengalihkan serpihan batu sepenuh kudrat dan terus memanggil nama anaknya.
Menyedari hakikat takdir ketentuan-Nya, dia terduduk dan menangis tersedu di celah runtuhan rumah yang dahulunya pernah dipenuhi kebahagiaan.
Selesai majlis akad nikah anak saudara saya, kami semua menuju ke khemah santapan di perkarangan taman rumah. Pelbagai juadah telah dihidangkan.
Sememangnya kami rakyat Malaysia mewah dengan makanan, dalam apa-apa keraian, sanak-saudara dan tetamu pasti disajikan dengan pelbagai hidangan lazat semasa majlis.
Ketika suapan nasi pertama ke mulut, muncul pula bayangan wajah kanak-kanak yang lemah kelaparan menanti makanan yang diedarkan petugas bantuan sambil memegang sebarang bekas yang ada dengan penuh sabar . Tidak terbayang penderitaan yang dihadapi mereka untuk meneruskan keperitan hidup yang tidak tahu bila penamatnya.
Saya juga sedar di Malaysia, terdapat banyak keluarga yang perlu membanting tulang demi menyara keluarga semata-mata untuk membayar bil dan sewa yang ditanggung.
Ada dalam kalangan mereka hanya sekadar cukup untuk mengenyangkan perut sekali sehari dan tidak mampu untuk bermewah walaupun untuk membeli baju baru.
Oleh itu, tiada alasan untuk tidak memikirkan tentang orang yang kurang berkemampuan kerana kita sudah dikurniakan lebih daripada apa yang diperlukan.
Kepada semua jiwa yang dekat mahupun jauh – yang bangkit setiap hari untuk berjuang dalam kehidupan penuh pancaroba, kami amat terhutang budi kepada anda semua, kerana mengajar kami erti keberanian, ketabahan dan kesabaran yang sebenar.
Zarith Idris
1 Ogos 2025
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The Despair of Others
Two months ago, I was happy and excited to be at my niece’s wedding celebrations. I would get the chance to meet relatives and friends I had not met for a long time.
While everyone was busy with the wedding preparations at my brother’s house – tents were being set up, flowers were brought in – I took some time to be alone.
As I scrolled through social media posts on my phone, I was jolted out of my little bubble of happiness when I saw photos and videos of men, women and children thousands of miles away who were horrificallly injured or had died after yet another barrage of bombs and missile attacks rained down on their streets and their homes.
For more than a year now, as these photos filled social media, it has been impossible to look away or to ignore such images without our hearts breaking to see the suffering of so many.
I remember the time I cut my finger and rushed to find a plaster, only to see on my phone the image of a little girl lying on a hospital floor before having her leg amputated.
What was a little cut on a finger compared to having a limb amputated without any anaesthetic drugs?
So it was that at my niece’s wedding the disparate realities between my happiness and the suffering of so many would shake me – and rightly so – out of my complacency.
As I looked at my brother’s happy face while he dealt with the details of his daughter’s wedding, I was reminded of a video of a man shouting out his daughter’s name as he searched for her amongst the jagged and broken bits of concrete that was all that remained of what was once their home.
Their house was just one out of many thousands of buildings that had been bombed. He moved away the huge pieces of rubble with his bare hands, not caring that his fingers were cut and bloodied.
His t-shirt was soaked with sweat. He continud to call out to his daughter. Finally, accepting the inevitable, and that he would never hear her voice ever again, he slumped down and sobbed amidst the ruins of their once happy home.
After my niece’s Nikah ceremony, we all moved into the dining tent in the garden.
We were served with a dizzying array of dishes – we Malaysians love food, and whenever there is a celebration, we always make sure relatives and guests have the most delicious dishes to tuck into before they leave.
As I took my first mouthful of rice, I thought of those tired faces of children thousands of miles away.
Although weakened by hunger, they waited patiently, with any containers they could find gripped in their little hands, as aid workers gave out whatever food there was and which could be distributed to families whose daily lives were and are an unimaginable struggle to carry on despite all the odds against them, and to try and survive yet another torturous day.
I am aware too that here in Malaysia, there are many families who have to work hard because they have bills and rents to pay.
They do not have the luxury of time nor the financial means to blithely decide to buy an extra shirt or dress. Some may have just enough to have one good meal a day.
For those of us who are blessed with more than we need or deserve, there really is no excuse for us not to think about those who have so much less than us.
To all – near and far – who wake up to yet another day of struggle and uncertainty, we owe you our gratitude for showing us what true courage, strength and patience really mean.
Zarith Idris
1 August 2025
