HULU SELANGOR: Jonid Ahmad was one of many Malaysians who moved house last month, but while others packed their belongings and had them transported to a new place, the 73-year-old did something different altogether.
He literally lifted his home off the ground and moved it 20m down the road.
The remarkable angkat rumah feat was accomplished with the help of some 200 people comprising neighbours and friends.
What's more, this was not the first time Jonid had moved his 79-year-old house.
"The house was built in Jalan Temenggong Ahmad in Muar, Johor, in 1945," he told the New Straits Times.
In the late 1980s, the government acquired the land that the house was built on and Jonid had to move.
However, there was a slight difference then, as Jonid had to disassemble his whole house in Muar and put it together again on a piece of land in Serendah, Selangor, akin to a self-assembled piece of furniture.
"I took the house apart piece-by-piece — its doors, walls and windows, put it on a lorry and reassembled it here."
Some 30 years later, Jonid had to move again to make way for a service road for the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project.
This time around, there was no need to disassemble the entire home, and Jonid, along with 200 residents of his Taman Desa Melor neighbourhood, rolled up their sleeves to move it away from the proposed service road.
The relocation began early in the morning, with volunteers young and old lifting the house — which had been stripped of its floorboards and roof two weeks prior — using wooden struts.
There were cheers and shouts of joy from volunteers and onlookers once the house had been moved to its new location, a task which took around one minute.
Jonid's daughter Emilia said her father's determination to move the house was a testament of love for the family.
"My dad is incredibly determined. He poured his heart and soul into the project, never giving up.
"Dad wanted to preserve a place where our family's stories can continue to be told for generations to come," she said.