Former Senator Praises Bernama Correspondent’s Action To Help Two Malaysians Stranded In Jakarta

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- “He didn’t even know them but was willing to bring them home.”

That was the account shared by former senator Datuk Seri Boon Som Inong about Bernama correspondent in Jakarta, Nik Nurfaqih Nik Wil, who helped a Malaysian couple stranded in Indonesia following the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatau.

The couple, Amir Hamzah and Fatin Zulaikha Azizal, were supposed to return to Malaysia on Sunday but became stranded at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta after their flight to Kuala Lumpur was postponed several times before eventually being cancelled.

Boon said he tried to assist the couple, who were family acquaintances, by contacting friends at the news agency before getting in touch with Nik Nurfaqih.

“I must mention one thing. Nik Nurfaqih did not know them at all. They were neither relatives nor friends, and they had never even met before.

“But he went out to look for them and found the couple. Not only that, Nik Nurfaqih then took them to look for another hotel,” Boon said in a Facebook post.

He said Nik Nurfaqih eventually invited the couple to stay at his home after efforts to secure a hotel room failed due to a lack of availability.

“When all efforts to find accommodation failed, Nik Nurfaqih made a decision that truly touched my heart. He said, ‘Come and stay at my home.’

“He brought the newlywed couple, whom he did not even know, back to his own home to stay temporarily while waiting for the day they could return to Malaysia. I was speechless when I found out,” he said.

Boon praised the Bernama correspondent for helping two Malaysians who were in difficulty abroad, describing the gesture as “the true face of humanity”.

“Not everyone is willing to leave the comfort of their own home, go out to look for people they do not know, take them from one hotel to another, and when all the hotels are full, open the doors of their own home to them. That is the difference between sympathy and action,” he said.

The couple is expected to return to Malaysia on a rescheduled flight on Friday.

Seven airports in Indonesia — Soekarno-Hatta, Halim Perdanakusuma, Radin Inten II, Budiarto Curug, Husein Sastranegara, M. Taufik Kiemas and Pondok Cabe — remain temporarily closed.

As of 9 am Monday, volcanic ash had affected about 2,300 flights and 270,337 passengers since Sept 5, including flights that were cancelled, delayed or diverted, according to data from Indonesia’s Transport Ministry.

-- BERNAMA