Born without legs and “my right hand is my everything”, Tuah Atan stood against all odds to become a lawyer.
After 20 years in the legal profession, Tuah continues to be "OKU activist" having been instrumental in drafting the Disabled Persons Act 2007. [OKU -- Orang Kurang Upaya (disabled person)].
“I tell myself enough is enough. If we want to do something, the mindset must be changed from sympathy to empathy.
“Physical attributes is all in the mind…it’s up to the individual to improve his life so he can live honourably.
At a lunch talk in Wisma Bernama today, the 48 year-old lawyer spoke of the challenges he had to face in his life pursuit.
“My life has its bitter and sweet moments…it depends on how you look at it.
“I’m just like you all, I need to be loved, I want to love, I want to give…and I guess other disabled persons feel the same way.
He said he succeeded because his parents gave him undivided love and support.
“Our home was a humble place but it was heaven for me,” he said about his ‘kampung’ in Asahan, at the foot of Gunung Tahan near the Melaka-Johor border.
"My father respected my needs..he provided me not just with academic but religious studies as well," he said.
He recalled how difficult it was for him to enter school as “there was no precedent” to take in someone like him.
He had to sit for some ‘IQ test’ at a hospital where he was asked to put blocks of shapes into the right holes.
“That was shameful and I told my dad that if I had to do those silly things, it was better that I didn’t go to school.
“The doctor who overheard our conversation was surprised I already spoke ‘Queen’s English although I was just seven then,” said Tuah who learnt the language in kindergarten.
When it was time for school admission, Tuah said he heard the headmaster telling the class teacher: “This is our new student, I don’t know how he can fit in”.
Although he felt bad, the young Tuah took up the challenge when he was placed in Standard 1D – “the last class”.
“My classmates were initially afraid of me. I was an alien to them and they thought I would bite them or eat them up,” said Tuah.
However, he won them over when he taught some of them to read and write.
“I didn’t have legs and hand but I have a little knowledge that I share with them on reading and writing…and they gave me their legs and hands.
“Isn’t it fair?…a gain-gain situation,” he exclaimed.
They got on so well in their studies that the following year, Tuah managed to take along 21 classmates -- half of his class, for promotion to Standard 2A. He remained among the top students, up to university level.
“I joined in the games the boys played in school…..why?
“It’s not that I actually wanted to play but I want to make friends.
“A disabled person who keeps to himself will be very lonely….when I opened up, I made a lot of friends,” he said.
He also made lots of friends because he took the effort to learn languages.
Apart from Malay and English, he speaks Melaka Hokkien, “a little bit of Tamil” and French “which helps me when I’m abroad”.
When he entered University Malaya to do Law, he had to hitch a ride on his friend’s motorcycle to get to class and when their lectures clashed, he had to walk on his own.
“Once I was riding pillion when it rained…the motorcycle skidded and hit a tree.
“It caused a loud noise and everyone rushed to us.
“Suddenly a girl student screamed ‘This accident is so serious, he lost his legs and hand’,” said Tuah.
"Despite in pain, my friend Ibrahim, now a Datuk, couldn’t control himself and broke into laughter," he said.
Tuah was active in campus.
“I even have my own band – ‘Musang Blues’ when I was in Third College,” said Tuah, who now runs his own legal firm, handling syariah and civil cases.
When he was in university, the late academician Dr Ismail Salleh, who was blind, became his idol.
"I kept a photo of him which eventually turned yellowish," he said.
On a lighter vein, Tuah said he often told youths especially "Mat Rempits" to value their lives.
"I tell them that if they continue with their stunts, they might end up like me...without legs and hand," he said with a smile.
(Wikipedia: A Mat Rempit is a Malaysian term for "an individual who participates in illegal street racing", usually involving underbone motorcycles, colloquially known as Kapcai).
For his deeds, Tuah was named the Tokoh OKU Melaka 2009 where he received the award last April. He had earlier been accorded with the Junior Chambers Youth Award 1995, Melaka Human Resource Award (disabled person category) and Melaka Disabled Person Award 1996.
The fourth of nine siblings has also won the state’s Tokoh Maal Hijrah (Professional) twice in 1997 and 2008.
(Bernama photo: Tuah receiving the ‘Tokoh OKU Melaka 2009’ award from the chief minister's wife, Datin Seri Asmah Abd Rahman at the state-level OKU Day celebrations in April 2010.)
