Compiled by QISTINA SALLEHUDDIN, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN
DESPITE criticisms, a mother in Kuala Lumpur devoted herself to nurturing her autistic son’s musical talent.
Her efforts bore fruit after more than a decade of training. The 30-year-old man is now a guzheng busker who makes a living playing music, reported Sin Chew Daily.
Luo Li Li, 65, said her son Mah Jin Min could never sit still when he was a boy.
He struggled to concentrate, which affected his ability to learn. Doctors later diagnosed him with autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
“Many people said I had given birth to a stupid child. It wasn’t just outsiders. Even relatives said things like that.
“Whenever we returned to my hometown, people would point and stare,” she said, adding that she was determined to help her son.
Luo found the answer in music after buying Mah an electronic keyboard.
The young boy showed remarkable musical ability, memorising and playing a piece after hearing it just once.
When the family holidayed in Shanghai, China, when Mah was 12, he became fascinated by the guzheng, a traditional Chinese plucked zither, after hearing it played at a restaurant.
He begged for one and Luo made him promise to take learning the instrument seriously.
According to Luo, Mah fell deeply in love with the guzheng and dedicated more than a decade to learning the instrument.
Mah was also adept at wearing his guzheng finger picks. Luo said his son was extremely patient when putting each of them on his ten fingers before playing.
After graduating from secondary school, Luo auditioned to be a busker and successfully joined a band of street performers.
Today, Mah plays three to five times a week at shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur and Melaka.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
