I WANT to get this off my chest. I am an undergraduate in a local public university and come from a family that is not so well-to-do. Many of my friends on campus come from much more comfortable backgrounds and I am glad they get by with their studies and daily lives without having to worry too much about finances.

But I find that a handful of my university friends have become a bit insensitive to the plight of the less fortunate ones in our midst. Don’t get me wrong, they do not look down on the poor nor taunt them for their financial lack. But perhaps due to their entitled backgrounds, they seem unable to relate to how people like myself value any assistance that comes our way.

For example, the RM200 cash aid given to tertiary students like myself earlier this month under the government’s Prihatin programme went a long way. That amount was almost half of what I had allocated monthly for my expenses like rental (which I share with my varsity mates) and transportation costs.

Recently, during a casual conversation with my course mates, some of them ran down such government initiatives, which they felt was a form of vote-buying or whatever. Perhaps they did not know how much it meant to people like me, who couldn’t afford to have their weekly Starbucks fix like some of them do.

To such entitled people, the plight of the less fortunate is a blind spot for them. Imagine being ridiculed for receiving help that helped to tide you over.

I used the RM200 given earlier this year to help me complete my thesis, which required some field work but made more difficult due to the travel restrictions and Covid-19 standard operating procedure.

Also, considering that a lot of our coursework was done online, the government’s free 1GB plan since last year came in handy for people like me to hook up to classes via Zoom and Google Meet. In fact, I plan to use the RM150 e-wallet credit allocated to all youth under the Pemerkasa plan to upgrade my mobile internet plan.

For many of the peers in campus, such amounts may be small, or even negligible. But for people like me, it can go a long way.

So, before you run down such assistance, at least spare a thought to those who truly are appreciative of them. Show some empathy to those around you, please. – April 13, 2021.

* CK Lim reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.