Maintaining a school is never easy as it requires lots of financial support to ensure that the building is maintained well enough for students to study.
For a group of primary school students at a Tamil school in Setiawan, Perak, they owe it all to the immense generosity of an elderly rubber trader who didn’t collect rent on the building for the past 30 years.
Supported school by not collecting rent for 30 years
According to MySinchew, Yek Dong Ping bought a piece of land 30 years ago in Ayer Tawar at a price of RM330,000. However, there was one problem — SJKT Ayer Tawar was already situated on the land and in operation.
Instead of chasing the students out, Yek allowed them to stay and didn’t collect rent, even until now. He even went ahead and paid the quit rent for the school, which covered half an acre of the land.
According to Yek, the reason he allowed the school to stay put was because he wanted Indian children to have the opportunity to learn their mother tongue.
Sold 3 acres at lower price
In 2022, SJKT Ayer Tawar’s board of directors approached Yek with the intention of buying the land from him so that they could expand and refurbish the school.
Although the land was valued at RM200,000 per acre, Yek sold three acres at just RM400,000, which was readily accepted by the school.
He further donated RM50,000 to the school’s fundraising campaign when he heard that the board of directors did not have the funds ready, meaning that he would only collect RM350,000 from the land’s sale.
Yek later went a step further and lowered the land’s price to RM300,000 due to the school’s difficulty in raising funds.
Praised for his kindness
Yek’s display of kindness has since earned him the gratitude and praise of the school’s two vice headmistresses, who commended him for not collecting rent as well as sponsoring school activities and sending mandarin oranges during Chinese New Year.
As for Yek, he said him supporting the Tamil primary school was his way of giving back to Indian rubber tappers who have supported him over the years.
I am not rich, but I can still afford to pay the quit rent,” he added.
What a heartwarming story of fellow Malaysians helping each other out! We wish Yek good health and may he be rewarded for his generosity!
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