Ranau lad who sleeps by roadside, eats once daily
Another of the unfortunate Sabahans in KL, Hermis Saimin, said he left his Kg Melinsau at age 16 in the hope of finding work in Singapore.
That was three years ago.
"I did not know that I will end up becoming another statistic of the country's homeless people," said Hermis, who stopped school after Standard Six, and is still struggling to find a job in KL.
He went to Singapore with a friend from Kota Marudu who worked as a private recruitment agent and worked as a dish washer in Singapore, earning about S$750.
"I didn't get all my salary because it was deducted every month. I worked for nearly a year and only after that the employer gave my passport back “maka dalam perjanjian tujuh bulan saja (although in the agreement it was supposed to be after seven months)," he said. But just as he wanted to leave Singapore, his passport went missing.
"I still had my Malaysian identity card. I sought assistance from the Malaysian High Commission there and then went to Kuala Lumpur," he said.
Hermis admitted that while in KL, he often had to live by the roadside “susah oh, sedih, rindu sama family, tapi apa boleh buat (difficult, sad, I miss my family, what to do)," said Hermis.
"I had this big dream that if I can survive here, I will be able to assist my family in Ranau, but it turned out to be like this," he said. He had been living independently since his parents divorced.
"I feel I want to go home, but I still have no job here.
Wait until I get a job, definitely I will go home," he said.
On how he managed to get by, he said he sometimes slept all day or ate only once a day, wherever or whenever there was food.
On his experience sleeping by the roadside, he said he was once hit by someone while fast asleep.
"It was a local man (peninsula people) who hit me “durang di sini (KL) anggap kita ni bukan macam orang Malaysia, kamu orang Sabah, durang anggap kita macam orang Indon (some people in the peninsula treat us like we are not Malaysian” they think we are Indonesians)," he said.
There were nods of agreement from other homeless Sabahans who were listening in during the interview when he said this in KL recently.
Asked if he got help from any government agency or the police or whether he knew about Rumah Sabah, he said he did not know where to get any assistance.
"Saya langsung tiada apa-apa, cuma ni baju, seluar, IC (I don't have anything on me, only this shirt, pants and IC)," he said.
The shirts and pants many of the homeless Sabahans wear were also given by charitable organisations, mostly church groups.
"Jarang saya ada duit oh, paling pun ada orang kasi, yang kenal sama saya lah, saya tidak pernah minta sedekah, saya masih ada perasaan, takkan muda-muda sudah buat macam itu (seldom I have money, even that is given by those who know me, I never beg, I still have feelings, I am still young, should not do like that)," he said.
He said these generous individuals are Sabahans working in Kuala Lumpur and that sometimes he hoped he would be lucky enough to find money on the ground.
Asked if he kept in touch with his family members in Ranau, Hermis said he did not have their telephone numbers but knows that his mother had since remarried.
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