He helped a woman in distress 25 years ago and did not think his act of kindness would one day bring two families of diverse backgrounds together.
In a TikTok video on July 28, Malaysian lawyer Ahmad Zaharil Muhaiyar shared that back in 1998, he helped a cleaner who was charged with shoplifting.
He saw the police taking the Malaysian-Indian woman, who was in her 50s, into the courtroom.
"Seeing her in distress, I felt compelled to approach her to ask how she ended up in court. She explained that she had stolen a pencil box from a supermarket," said Ahmad Zaharil.
The woman had promised to reward her 10-year-old son with a pencil box if he became the top student in class, The Star reported.
But when the boy emerged first in his class, she was unable to afford the gift and resorted to stealing RM18 (S$5.30) pencil box from a supermarket.
"I thought to myself then that if she was jailed for the offence, who would take care of her son? So, I had to intervene," the lawyer said in an interview.
He requested for the case to be postponed for a few hours as he travelled to the boy's school to verify the woman's claim.
Together with the child's teacher, Ahmad Zaharil returned to the courtroom and spoke with the supermarket owner.
The lawyer offered him double the price of the pencil box and pleaded for mercy on the woman.
"However, he refused and wanted to proceed with the case," Ahmad Zaharil said.
Hence, the lawyer sought to mitigate the woman's case, which saw the magistrate discharging her for a year's good behaviour bond.
"Before she left, we passed the hat around and collected a couple of hundred ringgit contributed by court staff, policemen and me. We handed over the money to the woman."
"She left after expressing her gratitude and I never saw her again."
But the woman and her child never forgot the lawyer's act of kindness.
In 2018, a man in his 30s approached Ahmad Zaharil in court, telling him: "Hello, Sir. You may not know me, but I am the son of the cleaner you helped 20 years ago. Remember the pencil box case?"
"I searched for you and I am so glad to meet you. I am a practising lawyer now, Sir."
Hearing the younger man's words, Ahmad Zaharil was overcome with joy and gave him a hug.
"I almost fainted when he told me who he was. It was heart-warming and one of the happiest moments in my life," he said.
Ahmad Zaharil shared that since then, he has kept in touch with the family, saying that the younger lawyer is like a son to him and they would visit each other during Deepavali and Hari Raya.
He also recounted the reason for helping the woman 25 years ago:
"I helped because she is a fellow Malaysian. Here in Malaysia, despite our diverse backgrounds, our differences are minute, but we have similarities.
"We can live in harmony as one big family."
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