IPOH: "Every Ramadan I wake them up for sahur. Each night, I will send them to the mosque for tarawih prayers," said Lim Peng Chik, 74.
Lim, who lives in a rented house in Taman Cempaka here, has four adopted Malay children, two boys aged 5 and 8 and two 15-year-old girls.
"I take care of their education since they come from poor and problematic families. I send them to school and fetch them home in the afternoon.
"The fact that we are of different races and religions does not bother me. I am not asking for anything in return because I am happy to be able to help them and see them happy," he said.
Lim was met by reporters at the handing over of donations to 60 new converts and 20 non-Muslims in conjunction with Ramadan. The programme was organised by the Malaysia Muslims Welfare Organisation (Perkim) of Kampung Paloh Branch with Pertubuhan Mualaf India SeMalaysia (MIRA) at the Paloh mosque, Jalan Datoh here recently.
Lim said he had been living with and taking care of Malay adopted children for almost 30 years. It all started when he was living in Taman Desa Tambun next to a poor Malay family.
"I knew they were struggling to make ends meet. So I helped them by providing them rice, food and drinks, and pocket money. I never had second thoughts about it," he said.
Lim, who was living alone at the time, felt that what he had was more than adequate, and did not have any problem with providing for the family.
The chemistry graduate from University Malaya worked in one of the laboratories in Singapore for two years, before returning home and getting involved in palm oil export business in Port Klang, before serving the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) for almost 20 years.
"I then went to Manila and worked with an oil refinery company for two years, but returned to Malaysia as manager in a chemical-related company. Then I worked as a housing developer but it only lasted eight months because I did not have the experience in the field, " he added.