Taking over from an icon is never an enviable task but the new head of Mercy Malaysia is unperturbed.
DR AHMAD Faizal Mohd Perdaus looks comforable enough in his role as head of Mercy Malaysia. Well-spoken with a very pleasant and soothing voice, he is easily identifiable as the new face of the humanitarian organisation renowned for its charity work all over the world.
The modest successor to Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood is quick to acknowledge that the latter is a Malaysian icon who can never be replaced,
Man with a mission: Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus comforting a survivor of the 2005 Bagh earthquake in Pakistan. – Picture courtesy of Mercy Malaysia “While we can’t deny the importance of leaders in any organisation, we are now looking at promoting the organisation as much as, if not more than, the personalities who are its leaders.
“We are a little concerned with the external perception that Mercy Malaysia is equal to Dr Jemilah. This is something she herself does not want. She knows very well that if such a perception were to persist, Mercy would have a bleak future.
“We want to convince our stakeholders, our major partners and the Malaysian public that Mercy will go forward in good stead as an organisation that will continue to be true to its principles and excel in the work that it does.”
Dr Faizal talks of the “founder syndrome” – when the founder leaves, that’s when the real test for the organisation begins. He took great pains to underscore the work done by the staff and volunteers of Mercy Malaysia.
“Hundreds, if not thousands of volunteers, supporters and staff members have contributed to the success of Mercy.”
The journey begins
Dr Faizal was one of those volunteers when he joined Mercy Malaysia in January 2003. Dr Faizal started out in 1992 as a medical officer with the Health Ministry, with postings to Klang, Kluang and Kuala Lumpur.
Subsequently he trained as a physician and later served as a consultant with Hospital Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and lectured at the university until this year. He is now serving as a consultant specialist (Internal Medicine) with KPJ Johor Specialist Hospital.
Dr Faizal notes that altruism and idealism played a large part in his decision to take up medicine. He was one of the trainers for HIV/AIDS counselling during his posting in Kluang.
“I wanted to do more than just work at the hospital,” he said.
There was a rush of excitement for Dr Faizal when Mercy Malaysia was formed in 1999, and Dr Jemilah and five others went to Kosovo during the conflict there.
Dr Faizal was undergoing training as a specialist at that time, and had to put his dream of joining Mercy on hold due to his busy schedule.
In 2003, Mercy was looking for someone to help out in its drug rehab programme. The timing was just right. Dr Faizal stepped into the picture, and headed Mercy’s programme for the next four years.
In June 2003, Dr Faizal headed the mission to Sri Lanka for flood relief work. The trip proved to be an eye-opener for the amiable doctor.
“The experience in Sri Lanka was inspiring, exhilarating and gratifying. I had found my calling and realised this was something I wanted to do all my life.”
Upon his return, Dr Faizal was made an executive committee member of Mercy Malaysia.
He admits he misses those days because Mercy was a smaller set-up, when things were simpler and everyone was really close, “like a band of brothers.”
The focus, says Dr Faizal, is about helping people and having hands-on experience. “That is something which money and all the things that we have in life cannot buy. Such experiences you only get when you help people who really need your help.”
Dr Faizal remembers well his early experiences in Sri Lanka. “There were no standard operating procedures and manuals back then. We wanted to distribute goods and hygiene packs to flood victims. We surveyed this particular village and estimated the numbers there.
“But everything went wrong from the start. When we opened the van door, we were surrounded by hundreds of people who all looked like they needed help.
“We could not tell if they were from the village, and we had no system of determining who was the head of the household. We ended up giving the items away without being accountable for many of them. When the aid packages were running out, there was almost a scuffle.”
Experiences like that helped them deal with future missions. Now Mercy has a manual in place for new volunteers.
The work so far
When asked to share some highlights of his time with Mercy, Dr Faizal shook his head and said there were just too many. However, he recalls three occasions that stood out for different reasons.
The first was the 2003 Sri Lanka mission where they had a psychologist on board for the first time. She could not speak Singhalese or Tamil but still managed to reach out and console people.
“There was this old lady who held our psychologist’s hands for a while, then suddenly she gave a spontaneous hug and held the psychologist in embrace for about three minutes but it appeared longer to us.”
In the same year in December, a devastating earthquake struck Bam in Iran. Mercy sent a team and for Dr Faizal, it marked a turning point for them.
“I remember vividly representatives from Unicef and MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières) coming to us and asking us whether they could work with us. And the look of amazement and awe on the faces of some team members. These giants of humanitarian work recognised us as an organisation and as a team. They actually came to us and not the other way round.”
Dr Faizal says they draw inspiration from the people they help. He cites the work done after the tsunami in Aceh as one that touched him the most. The head of the Aceh nursing services was almost in tears as he thanked them profusely for their help.
“It was at the handing over of the nursing academy which our technical team rebuilt with seismic-resistant technology with funding from our donors, of course. Hundreds have graduated from this rebuilt academy today. They have not only replaced the loses but have actually increased the capacity of nursing staff. This shows how much capacity building, done at the right place and time, can do to uplift a society.”
Dr Faizal acknowledges the sacrifices every humanitarian worker has to make. He is grateful for the support of his wife and three children. His wife, a general physician, is also a Mercy volunteer and has been on mercy missions to Afghanistan and Gaza.
“One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learnt from my involvement with Mercy is not to judge everyone by the same standards and the same rule book. Everyone is different and has his strengths and weaknesses, and his own way of coping.”
Talking to him, one gets a good idea why Dr Jemilah sees him as an ideal replacement. She foresees that Mercy will be solid and unshakable with Dr Faizal steering the organisation. He was a vice-president for two terms and acting president from the beginning of the year when Dr Jemilah went on sabbatical.
Dr Faizal sees his involvement with Mercy as a humbling experience, and one which has made him a better person.
“For that alone I wouldn’t trade the experience that I gained for anything in the world.”
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