Does honesty pays ?

a couple of days ago, while having our regular nasi lemak at penang village, a close friend was asking me whether it was worth been honest and trustworthy ! naturally i startled in disbelieved with such unexpected question. knowing him way back from our hostel years, he was the honest and naive type (and a bit blurr at times ,.... sorry Mr. N****). back to our dear friend, he must has been disappointed for been left out in the recent promotion exercise - most of his peers have been promoted to a pengarah level by now. he says his only weakness was that he was honest, transparent and doesn't know how to cheat his ketua pengarah (i suppose somebody has to tell him that there is such thing as tipu sunat!).

honest is a word which is hard to describe and can be interpreted in many different ways. you may not realise the act until someone congratulate you for your deed. usually those who appreciate your help and honest act will pay you in kind, be it a simple thank you or something beyond you expectation. just to reflect some of my personal 'unsangkarable' appreciations.

a. a young indonesian man was referred to me in HKL from a private hospital in subang jaya. he sustained severe head injury when he was high on drug and fell from his second floor hotel room. immediate attempt to contact his family members proved futile even with the help of the Indonesian embassy. his dad and mum arrived from Jakarta about 6 weeks latter after his came out from his coma and was able to tell us his house no. honestly i can't bear seeing his parents then with tears glistering in their eyes. for 6 weeks they were damned worried as their son has not contacted them. he was suppose to fly straight to Amsterdam via Changi, but decided to take a detour to kl. and i was really happy and proud to see him improving as the day goes by. when his parents requested that i accompany his son back to Jakarta, i naturally agreed. another big big surprise. yes we actually flew in his dad's private Lear jet ! little did i realize that his dad also own the Jakarta Grand Hyatt (never have i imagine that I'll be sleeping in a presidential suite at the hotel). 3 days in Jakarta, been very well entertained within the circle of the super rich is an experience of a life time. and an another surprise - a small token of USD 10K(that's what his mum said).

b. Puan F****** what admitted in a state of coma at about 3 in the morning. having arrived from heathrow about 5 hours earlier, her husband thought she was still having her jet lag until she started to have uncontrolled seizure. urgent CT scans of the brain done on admission indicated bleeding within a large frontal lobe tumor. all the while her complaint of frontal headache was dismissed as migraine attack. emergency surgery to remove the tumor was done in the wee hour of the morning. Thanks god, she survived. 3 weeks latter someone from the travel agency called. 'En. J***** was very grateful that you save his wife & he insisted that you take a well deserved holiday with you family'. and there we were, an unforgettable fully paid family holiday in mount titlis, Switzerland courtesy of Mr J*****. Thank you Mr J***** and Puan F******. do keep in touch.

c. Tan Sri Dato Seri D**** had a massive bleed in his brain following a fall in a posh hotel in Jalan Sultan Ismail. Apart from mild weakness of his left limbs and mild personality changes, he has indeed shown a remarkable improvement. and without fail, come hari raya, tan sri will deliver a huge 6 feet high hamper to my house, plus the rm 1000 dinner voucher. received a fax from his office on Monday for another informal dinner at his residence in tropicana golf and country club. well this is the second dinner in a year.

d. Dato L** was grateful that i treated his son who fell from the balcony while trying to so sneak his girlfriend into his room. we became close friends since then. and again he love to entertain friends and his close business associates over dinner. that reminds me of another dinner at one world hotel next week (lucky I'll be in langkawi then !). and of course he was rather disappointed that i couldn't attend the official opening of his restaurant in Perth last year.

e. and that reminded me of the other numerous gifts i received over the years ranging from nana ricci silk tie to mont blanc pen.

f. then there was this chap from muar who always bring a half gunny sack of rambutan or mangosteen when ever he came for his follow up visit. and not forgetting Tuengku A** who regularly travel from bandar aceh with buah salak madu sumatera and keropok belinjau (for some reasons, those patients from sumatera put more trust in our doctors than theirs)

g. and of course as usual, bottles of wine and boxes of chocolate from the Scott's whenever they came to see me in the follow up clinic at the southern general. needless to say, the nurses then were the happiest lots as they known invariably they were the lucky one to carry the bottles home.

h. above all, a small crayon painting from irina, a cute 7 year old sabahan girl from tawau touch my heart the most. in her drawing, apart from her parents and two other siblings, she included me as her beloved family member whom she dearestly love. sadly she died a week after i received her drawing. medulloblastoma is always a fatal and aggressive childhood brain tumor. Alfathihah.

well, despite what some people might think, I still believe that honesty and sincerity still pays. you may not get an immediate reward, but insyaallah the reward is always there in the here after.