{"id":6514,"date":"2022-03-01T15:46:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T07:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6514"},"modified":"2022-03-03T06:45:42","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T22:45:42","slug":"291-do-unto-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=6514","title":{"rendered":"291. \u201cDo Unto Others\u2026\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

30\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus replied, \u201cA man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.\u00a031\u00a0<\/sup>Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.\u00a032\u00a0<\/sup>So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.\u00a033\u00a0<\/sup>But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity.\u00a034\u00a0<\/sup>He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.\u00a035\u00a0<\/sup>The next day he took out two denarii,\u00a0gave them to the innkeeper, and said, \u2018Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.\u2019\u00a036\u00a0<\/sup>Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?\u201d\u00a037\u00a0<\/sup>He said, \u201cThe one who showed him mercy.\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cGo and do likewise.\u201d<\/span><\/strong> [Luke 10:30-37<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Parable of the Good Samaritan, 1647 by Balthasar van Cortbemde<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

By sheer chance, a google headline on the 21 December 2016 issue of the Penang daily, The Star<\/em>, caught our attention: \u201cAuction winner gives up house<\/strong>\u201d. The story is as surprising as it is heart-warming.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lee Hui Sen was at a public auction of bank-foreclosed residential houses whose owners had defaulted in mortgage payments. Taking fancy in one particular double-storey house, Lee posted a successful bid at RM445,000 and paid the 10% deposit in compliance with High Court Rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aged 47 years, the man of the house was named simply as \u201cS\u201d who was made a bankrupt in his bankers\u2019 debt-recovery process. To a lawyer, something was not right. With mortgage on the house, why did the bank go on to make S a bankrupt. It could have just foreclosed on the mortgage. Then, there is the unexplained question of why the court allowed the bankers\u2019 petition for bankruptcy against a mortgagor. If the bank relied on strict legal justice, the case seemed pretty short on equity, which ought to be the business of the courts as well. In any case, press reports did not give a complete picture. Bits and pieces of news reports, however, did suggest to us that the mentality of the bank officers was always \u201cbusiness first\u201d and \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d, even though the family of S and his wife Nor has been servicing the housing loan for a good twenty years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, they stood to lose the house once it went to public auction. Such is the cruel, faceless, heartless reality of the business world. It is a reality rich in sharp business practices, but has not even a scintilla of healthy sense of social responsibility. Is it right for businesses, a bank in this case, to do its utmost best to rack up billions of Ringgit in profit annually, without regard for the damage it causes to the social environment? In the event, the house did go under the auctioneer\u2019s hammer, and the inevitable eviction order did arrive at the door. But a sad and painful human story was unfolding behind that door. Did society care? Did the bank bother?<\/span><\/p>\n

Then, Lee entered the narrative of this pain.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having entered a successful bid at the auction and paid the 10% deposit of RM44,500.00, Lee and his family went to take a look at their new estate. What they saw interrupted the expected flow of the narrative. The family saw some clothes on the laundry line outside the house and was impacted by the sight. Lee\u2019s lawyers had already served the S and Nor family a demand for vacant possession and the withdrawal of the caveat they had entered on the property. Now feeling very bad for the family still living in that house, but facing imminent eviction and completely losing their home, Lee wrote a hand-written letter to them saying, amongst other things:<\/span><\/p>\n