His energy for championing children’s rights seems limitless. It was a choice he made over 40 years ago after a life-changing experience. Now well into his 70s, his determination to advocate for the young has not to tarnish nor fade.

I had the privilege to experience it first hand when I interviewed him at an eatery in a corner at Petaling Jaya. He insisted that we meet.

When I walked over from my car, he was waiting for me. He had a big smile on his face, glasses, a small stack papers in his left hand, and a surgical mask in his pocket. He reminded me of my dad. They would have been around the same age.

When we sat, I noticed that there were handwritten notes on the paper. He came prepared. I have to respect that. Then I noticed the medical patch on his chest.

“I just had heart surgery”.

I realised he was also wearing a loose shirt and a pair of shorts. The standard loungewear of hospital wards for someone his age.

We talked for about an hour over fried banana and tea. I wanted to keep my mask on, for his sake. But he was insistent that we have something while we talk. It’s an old school thing.

He shared a lot about what he has done, the things he has seen, the current condition of the people he works with. His fight is not yet over, there is so much more to do.

He kept calling me ‘Brother’ right before sharing an insight into the world of child advocacy. He has a strong feeling about the importance of culture in nurturing, how small changes in the way we do things here today could make a huge difference for the future generations, and how combining the two would take us leaps and bounds beyond the Western ideology of child care.

Those conclusions came from years of experience working at home and abroad, comparing how different countries, governments, and cultures raise their young. Combined with his knowledge of law and psychology.

I capped the story with a current issue that he is very passionate about: restorative justice. It is an idea of using courtesy judgement when applicable instead of the word of the law when it comes to applying justice to children. This is in done the spirit of restoring their innocence instead of throwing them into the system which will chew them up and spit them out worst than before.