Zahid: From ICE-CREAM BOY to threatening people left & right

TELUK INTAN - When deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was in Standard One, he saw that some of the kids took the ice cream from a seller without paying him, and consequently volunteered to help the seller look after his stall.

The stall owner, whom Ahmad Zahid has openly said was his foster father, would offer him 20 cents and an ice cream as reward for his help.

Zahid helped Tan, the ice cream seller, look after his stall for six years, and the duo had since established a strong bond that lasted even after Zahid grew up and became a politician.

A righteous boy

Tan's wife told Sin Chew Daily at her home in Teluk Intan that her late husband always praised Zahid as a very righteous boy who would help him collect the ice cream money from the other kids because he felt that it was not right for the kids to take the ice cream without paying.

"My husband offered this boy free ice cream. After he passed away, we learned from the local community leaders that my husband also offered him 20 cents as reward besides free ice cream.

"A strong relationship was established between my husband and this boy, who was then from an impoverished family."

She said the family did not know who the little boy was until Ahmad Zahid grew to become active in politics, when her husband told her this was the boy who used to help him look after he ice cream stall.

"My husband died of cancer 16 years ago. Ahmad Zahid would drop by our house and paid us a visit. He also sent orange hampers during Chinese New Year.

"He even helped settle the medical fees of my son-in-law who was hospitalized for heart disease."

Tan's youngest son recalled that his father used to sell ice cream on a tricycle for seven years, and Ahmad Zahid offered to help him look after his mobile stall for six years when he was studying at a primary school.

'Foster father'

His eldest son, in the meantime, told Sin Chew Daily, "When Ahmad Zahid came back to Teluk Intan, he would visit the Indian newspaper vendor next to my father's coffee shop, and then came over to chat with him.

"We heard that when he came back here, he often mentioned his days selling ice cream," he added.

"What really warms our heart is that even after he has become deputy prime minister, he still openly addresses my late father as his foster father." -Mysinchew