Celebrating Humanity : The Story of Amin..

Amin came from a poor family and he was embarrassed about his parents. His friends would tease him “ Ayah Amin pengotor, selalu kutip botol dari tong sampah.” Although his dad earned a meagre income from collecting used bottles and sent the bottles back to the factory, it was enough to put food to the table for his family.

As Amin grew older, Amin got a scholarship to pursue his degree to the United States. He was very proud of himself as he didn’t need to rely on his parents. In fact he didn’t want to be acknowledged as son of his parents. Amin did very well in his study and went on to join a famous soft drink manufacturer.

After 20 years of working with the company, he was made the company’s VP for Asia Marketing. The first Asean to be given such a responsibility. For that he was interviewed by a famous business magazine. During his interview, he was asked”What was your success factor which led you to where you are?”. Amin answered “I was poor when I was young, and often my friend teased me, because I often wore torn shirts and carried an old school bag”. He said, he wanted to prove to himself that being poor doesn’t mean you can’t be successful.
For 30 years, Amin has not stayed in touch with his parents. He assumed that they died, and he didn’t care as he was living in denial, due to his successful career and lifestyle. But one day, when he was 48, he was ‘reminded’ by his young daughter, when she asked, “ Abah, ayah abah siapa? Ayah abah datuk mimi ke?”. Amin took the next flight home from the US and went straight to his parent’s house.

When he reached home, he saw an old lady sweeping the front porch. It was his mother. She turned and asked “ Amin ke? Awak Amin ke? Anak mama.....”. They hugged and they cried.Amin then asked about his dad. His mother then brought him to his dad’s room and told him that his dad has passed away a couple of years back. He became very sick ever since he read the article of Amin’s interview when he became the VP of Marketing. Amin’s cousin, Trisha read the article to Amin’s dad.

Amin’s mum then passed Amin a letter written by his dad, and one other letter. He opened that one other letter, and it was from Coca Cola Company.

It read “ Dear Enchik Abdullah, It gives me great pleasure to honour you, as one of our many stakeholders in our company, who over the years has given their dedication to helping Coca Cola Company in their everyday business, consistently making sure that the Coca Cola remains the choice of the people, while helping in environment conservation. Thank you for helping Coca Cola giving back to Mother Earth”

Coca Cola had during honoured people like Amin’s dad who collected coca cola bottles and sending back to the factory for recycling. Amin looked to his mum and said with tears in his eyes, “Mama, Amin sekarang kerja kat Coca Cola..”. His mother then asked him to read his dad’s letter.


Anakanda abah,
Abah tahu, Amin benci dan malu kat abah. Abah tau Amin marah kat abah, sebab abah miskin, abah pengotor, abah kutip botol, abah tak beli baju dan beg baru bagi Amin. Maafkan abah.
Sebenarnya, abah pun tak suka kutip botol. Tapi itu saje yang abah boleh buat. Semasa Amin bayi lagi, Amin demam panas. Tapi rumah takde ubat. Malam itu abah berbasikal ke pekan untuk beli ubat. Malangnye, abah kurang cermat, dilanggar lori. Tulang belakang abah retak and sejak hari itu, abah tak boleh buat kerja berat. Sebab itu, abah hanya terlarat kutip botol Coke dan jual balik bagi kilang, setiap botol 0.5 sen.
Abah syukur kepada Tuhan yang Amin dapat geran untuk belajar. Abah tak pernah marah Amin tak telefon balik. Abah tak marah Amin lupa kami, tapi Abah harap, Amin akan berikan yang terbaik bagi cucu abah, sebab abah tak pernah bagi yang terbaik kepada Amin.
Ayahanda Amin

(Note : This story is fictional, with intentions of highlighting the struggle of humanity)