Ahmad Reza Samsuddin (Reza) is 38 year old single father, he works as a mechanic and he has 3 sons, Rafique (8), Danish (5), and Rafael (3).
During the raya season, initially he planned to take only Rafique with him; but Danish and Rafael begged their dad to take them as well. Following that, Reza decided to bring all of them along with his 100c Honda EX5 motorcycle. For safety purposes, he tied one of his sons to him bodily so that he wouldn’t fall off during the journey. Along with two luggages, they started their journey en route to balik kampung from Sepang, Selangor to Batu Maung, Penang—almost a 400km journey that would take slightly more than 16 hours.
A driver spotted Reza riding on the motorbike with his sons and posted a picture of them on social media. According to an interview, at least 10 drivers stopped Reza and offered them a ride in their car. Reza appreciates the drivers’ kind gesture, but he rejected their help and said in an interview that this is a test from God to him and that they were blessed with a safe journey back to Penang island:
“Namun, saya menolaknya dengan baik dengan mengatakan ini semua adalah ujian Allah SWT buat saya. Mereka akhirya memberikan duit raya kepada saya dan anak-anak. Alhamdulillah perjalanan kami dipelihara Allah SWT dan kami selamat tiba di Pulau Pinang, kira-kira 10 malam.”
Meanwhile the picture of them on the motorbike went viral online. The post have gathered tens of thousands of likes in just a matter of days. Netizens even posted photographs that they took with Reza and his sons at the rest stops along the highway (R&R).
He has also received numerous car donation offers from generous Malaysians. Some even commented that Boon Siew Honda Malaysia should consider appointing him as their spokesperson since in the process of becoming viral on social media, he has proved that Honda vehicles are reliable for long distance travel.
A businessman (who wanted to remain anonymous) was touched by Reza’s dedication and modesty and decided to donate a Proton Iswara to Reza, and it took him 2 hours to persuade Reza to receive the car. In thanking Malaysians for their kindness, Ahmad Reza was quoted as saying, “Jika saya temui insan lain yang lebih susah, mungkin ketika itu tiba pula giliran saya menyerahkan kereta ini kepadanya.”
During an interview with The Malaysian Insider, Reza said that despite having been given a Proton Iswara, he still prefers to ride his bike for work, trekking up and down the peninsula highways looking for stranded motorists.
Reza’s fatherly love has warmed the hearts of netizens, the country might not have seen Reza’s hardships, but the good people on social media certainly have. Even though some criticisms were made regarding Reza’s dangerous method of travelling, Reza countered by saying, “For those who have better means, it looks dangerous, but for those who don’t, it’s just normal, we have no choice.”
Reza also thanked Malaysians for praying for their family and hopes that he isn’t misunderstood due to this viral incident because it was never his intention to get such attention from the public.
This heartwarming story serves as a reminder that we have the ability to do good and help others, to make Malaysia a better place. We don’t need to wait for someone else to come along to do it for us, all we have to do is make the first step ourselves.
There are a lot of people who need help, and we don’t need a Facebook post to go viral in order to see it. Let’s hope we don’t help people just because they get Facebook-famous.
All images are taken from faizalyusup.net.
