KOTA KINABALU: Help is pouring in for Eddy Laimin, who is hospitalised in Korea and needs help paying the hospital bill and coming home.
As of Monday afternoon (April 15), 27-year-old Sabahan received about RM7,000 in donations three days after his family’s call for help was shared by the media.
His sister Juitah, who is also in Korea, said the money received came from generous donors, including Bingkor assemblyman Datuk Robert Tawik.
“We are so touched by the kindness and generosity shown to us,” she said, adding that Tawik donated RM1,000.
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She said the donation would help pay the hospital bill and other necessities.
“We are also hoping and praying that the Malaysian government can help us. Please help bring my brother home and continue his treatment for pneumonia back in Sabah,” said Juitah.
She said the hospital bill in Korea would only accumulate the longer her brother is treated there.
"We cannot express how thankful we are to the hospital and doctors here in Korea for continuing to treat my brother despite all these problems," she said.
When asked why Eddy chose to continue staying in Korea after his work permit and passport expired, she said it was because he wanted to be able to continue helping his family financially.
“All these while, he would send money home. He would give some to our parents and also any of us siblings if we needed his help,” Juitah said.
She said Eddy was their go-to person for financial aid because he had a more stable income and he earned more than all of them back home.
Eddy was a welder in Korea, while most of his siblings were rubber tappers or housewives.
Two of his siblings worked as air-conditioner installers in Johor Bahru.
On the other hand, Eddy, who came to know about internet users condemning his actions of overstaying and working without a permit after his documents expired in March and April last year, admits his fault on that part.
He said at the time, all he thought about was earning money so that he could continue to send part of his earnings to his elderly parents and help out his other siblings.
“All I wanted to do was to help out financially because we are poor farmers, and my parents have no income as they are old and cannot go rubber tapping anymore,” he said.
“I didn’t expect to fall sick and have to be hospitalised for so long,” said Eddy, who has been hospitalised for over a month and expected to be treated in hospital for another month before the doctors deem him fit to travel by flight.
He has about RM90,000 in outstanding bills to settle at present.
His siblings and some relatives managed to raise a small sum to settle an earlier bill when he first fell ill.
Earlier, Solidarity Anak Sabah president Sem Kulian, who learned about his situation after the family contacted him for help, said they would continue to seek help online and through other means.
