‘Abam Botak’ and crew offer dignity in times of grief

PETALING JAYA: Losing a loved one is already a traumatic experience, and lacking the resources to put the deceased person to rest with some dignity only makes it worse.

But in Sandakan, Sabah, Yunizam Yusop is there to help. He has been providing underprivileged bereaved families a free casket transportation service for six years now.

Known to the locals as “Abam Botak” for his bald pate, Yunizam and his all-Muslim team of six have, at times, been asked to traverse long distances to take a deceased person home to his village in very remote areas.

As expected, it can be a major challenge. Yunizam recalls driving hundreds of kilometres along pothole-ridden roads, sometimes going off-road to drive on gravelly hillsides and crossing streams just to provide a bereaved family a certain amount of relief.

He recalled that in May, he was asked to deliver the remains of a Christian from Sandakan all the way to the isolated Kampung Sinaron Tengah in Sook, Keningau, a distance of 230km.

The drive was made more challenging by patchy telecommunication en route.

“We were worried that we would not be able to contact anyone in the event of an emergency,” he said.

“Many heavy vehicles were signalling at us to turn back. It may have been because of the difficult drive that no one was willing to deliver the body, but that’s no excuse for us. As long as our vans work, we’ll help.

“Just thinking about the grief the deceased’s loved ones must have been feeling, we pressed on to pick up the remains and finally delivered it at the village. It was a challenging 17-hour round trip,” Yunizam said.

The band of volunteers now has six vehicles at their disposal.

But worse than the logistical challenges are the criticisms they receive from some who question their motive for providing the same service to non-Muslims.

Yunizam and his team, who are Muslims, have never turned down a request for help from anyone, regardless of their faith.

“When someone is in need, help him regardless of his race or religion,” he said.

This is a principle he and his friends have lived by.

They take such reprimands well. “We just tell the critics that our intention is to help those who are underprivileged, whatever their race or religion,” Yunizam explained.

To avoid causing controversy, they do not display Quaranic verses on the van when transporting the remains of a non-Muslim.

Yunizam, whose day job is a supervisor at a plantation firm, started offering this service in 2018 while volunteering to help fetch patients from low-income families to Sandakan Hospital.

On one occasion, one of the patients he often ferried passed away.

“The family had trouble getting a hearse, and my first thought was that it would be great if we could help the underprivileged by providing this service too,” he said.

Yunizam concedes that it has been exhausting but even after six years, he and his team continue to find satisfaction whenever they see the relief and gratitude etched across the faces of those they have helped.

This, and other little gestures of kindness, keep them going.

“Blessings come in various forms. There are times when people offer to pay to fill up our petrol tank while others have bought us meals.

“Perhaps that’s our blessing,” Yunizam added.