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Politicians Should Visit Dean, An Invalid Who Refuses to Give Up on Life, Fighting to Survive With His Art and Roti Palembang.
By Mihar Dias
(C) Copyright February 2022
Politicians, mainly those in Kedah must-visit Dean of Dean Design. He lives just across the river from Tunku’s old residence and not too far from Tun M’s old kampung.
When met at his home, Dean struggled to get into his wheelchair with the help of his wife and children. Once seated they rolled him out to the verandah to meet guests and neighbours who called on him daily. Or on clear days he loves looking after his miniature garden on his front yard.
But most of the time this 63 year old, former owner of a small but well known advertising company in Kedah, Dean Design, is rendered immobile by a variety of ailments.
He has about every illness you could think of. He has complications with kidneys, liver, heart, lungs, bladder and urinary tracts infections, stones in the urethra, muscular dystrophy, cataracts and a few other illnesses that made him an invalid.
He is bedridden, confined to his bedroom except when he had to use the toilet. His wife and children assist him when he needs to ease himself or take his daily bath.
He can hardly stand on his own two feet. His legs are thin as bamboo sticks, the muscles are too weak to support his body weight.
His body had grown improportionately because of steroids prescribed by doctors over the years. Just picture a Humpty dumpty with thin legs and arms attached to an oversized torso. That’s him.
Yet not too long ago he played rugby, cycled hundreds of kilometres a week, worked on his six-acre farm and climbed buildings to hang signboards for government agencies to support the propaganda of the day.
But his spirits are high. He is motivated to try new ideas and willingly embrace innovations including latest technological tools to help him achieve dreams hatched daily when he is flat on his back in the bedroom.
His most recent project was to make Roti Palembang. It is a type of bread with unknown origins probably introduced by people from Palembang. But for Malays in Kedah it is a delicacy that some said could be traced back to the Istana.
It is made from wheat flour, butter, eggs, yeast and sugar that the poor in the olden days could hardly afford. Thus it was confined within the realm of the palace with recipe kept as a closely guarded secret. In 1950s and 60s only a few families in Alor Setar who were close to the palace knew how to bake this bread. But to this day Roti Pakembang is sought after but hard to find a real tasty home-baked like the ones produced by Dean and his wife.
The bakery run full time by his wife and son, KaZa Bakery, succeeded beyond Dean’s wildest dreams. He is planning on expanding the bakery with a bigger oven and electric dough mixer that could produce more bread to meet demands which currently exceed his production capacity. They are running at 50 to 70 loaves a day but demands keep climbing.
For instance, Hari Raya is months away but for that week alone he had already received orders for as many as 100 loaves just for one day in early May.
The family has some savings. His three children work from home. But Dean said he and his wife were hoping that the bakery could help sustain them in their old age.
He is also a talented artist but now paints with a great deal of difficulty because he is hardly able to move his fingers which are stiff and crinkly and look more like claws of a crow than that of an artists that we once knew.
No longer able to control muscles on his fingers, doctors have strapped a holder to his hand that helps to secure a spoon for food or a brush for him to paint.
He could only lift his right hand when supported by the left. To paint just a branch of a tree takes hours because his hand gets tired easily. But he would not lie down and be defeated.
Every day his children would prepare the blank canvas and set up paints, palettes and brushes and placed them within his reach and then they would leave him alone to create uninterrupted.
Occasionally he would shout for help when the brush dropped from his hand or the paints get spilled on the floor.
He told us that for an artist who used to work independently, having to rely on someone else was rather frustrating.
He paints from inside his bedroom mostly and have sold some of the paintings to admirers, one of which appears on this page. Demand for his paintings is increasing as words spread over social media of his attractive artwork.
A lady showed up on his doorsteps recently wanting a painting of a sandy beach that she purchased for an undisclosed amount because it reminded her of her daily walk with her late husband until he died of a massive heart attack.
Dean is one case that doctors, nurses, therapists that attend to him at Alor Setar General find curious and amazing. His determination and motivation to survive after a number of surgeries is incredible.
His fighting spirit they contend was far beyond what they have witnessed in their careers. Most of their patients who were unable to walk or move their hands and legs would accept their fate. They would rather lie in bed accepting their fate waiting to die.
Dean, refused to give up on life!
Politicians, NGOs and motivators who are often out of touch with reality, ought to pay him a visit. They might learn a thing or two on how to help the handicapped, the poor and deserving to lead better lives.
Malaysians like Dean who are still highly motivated, despite physical ailments and obstacles thrown in their way, brought upon mostly by fate, could be the real models that we need to help show others, even normal people, how to lead more meaningful lives.
Go visit Dean at Taman Rakyat Alor Setar. You’ll find him really amazing indeed!
Dean’s Instagram: kamaruddin_said.
KAZA Bakery
+60 12-427 5621
Mihar Dias is a content writer under Headliner by Newswav, a programme where content creators get to tell their unique stories through articles and at the same time monetize their content within the Newswav app.
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