UNCLE KENTANG

Social activist and philanthropist

Kuan Chee Heng, better known as "Uncle Kentang", has received a prestigious award from
the Queen of England as recognition of his exemplary voluntarism and service to the
community. Uncle Kentang's career focuses a lot on welfare, and is famous for his welfare
activities that don't count race and religion groups based on that, most of the people he
helped were Malays. He helps by accepting donations from the public. His popular name
comes from his behavior that he likes to donate potatoes compared to other basic foods to
those in need. Among the assistance provided include the offering of paramedic services,
transportation and market goods for as little as 10 cents.He also established an organization,
Community Police which is responsible as a medium for his charity work as well as a center
for solving public complaints.

The first initiative was the ‘10 Sen Pasar’ (10 cents market). Kuan organised a pre-loved
donation drive where members of the public can give away their pre-loved goods and the
poor can buy any of the items for RM0.10 each. This initiative helped 10,000 families in
Klang Valley and other parts of Malaysia. Kuan spinned off a number of programs to help the
poor in practical ways. He started the RM0.10 taxi service for the urban poor families who
needed help getting to the hospital for medical appointments. Kuan also started the RM0.10
library as a daycare centre where parents can drop their children off when they need to go
for medical appointments. There is also a RM1 hearse service and an ambulance service for
those in desperate situations. For those travelling from afar to receive medical treatment,
Kuan set up a hostel in 2016 to provide very affordable accommodation at RM1 only.
Currently, there are five hostels in the Klang Valley, three in Puchong, one in Shah Alam and
another in Kuala Lumpur. For the past 14 years, Kuan has become well-known for his
community work. Other notable initiatives include 10 Cents Ambulance, Free shuttle from
KLIA to the hospital, free public kitchen and free tuition. But by far and wide, Uncle Kentang
has garnered most praise for his willingness to go out and help families to prepare for the
funerals of their loved ones and going as far as to even pay for them if they are unable to
afford the funerary costs, which can often be a considerable burden for those living on the
poverty line.

The good values that we can get from uncle kentang's journey is sincerely help people
regardless of race,religion and group as example, eventhough he was non-muslim he help
and sponsored the preparation for the muslim funeral. Besides, he also generous as willingly
donates without limit. He also taking care of public welfare such as giving meal voucher for
lunch or dinner and tucked into a hearty bowl of pan mee, or a plate of nasi kukus, char
kway teow and other hawker fares.To conclude,there’s a lot of good values that we can learn
from Uncle Kentang. Our country will be harmony and issue of life crisis such as poverty can
be prevent if many people have the awareness of doing the volunteerism like him.