Formidable duo: IIzujuhan (left) and Sugumaran.
PORT KLANG: Social media influencer IIzujuhan Hamzah reckons it was fate that brought him and schoolboy C. Sugumaran, 13, together about three years ago.
“I have no other explanation other than that we are destined to be together to help each other,” said IIzujuhan, 37, who is popularly known as YB TikTok.
IIzujuhan, who does social media content for various ministries, government departments and businesses, always includes Sugumaran in them.
“It all started when my car wash workers started teasing Sugumaran. He would never back off and would poke fun at them in retaliation,” recalled IIzujuhan.
He added that he then gave Sugumaran some lines for a video and trained him on how to deliver them, which the boy did with much enthusiasm.
That was the beginning. Today, the partnership between the two has strengthened into a bond between brothers.
IIzujuhan said Sugumaran is also like a younger brother to his team of four who film and prepare the content.
“Both Sugumaran and I come from B40 families living in the Seri Perantau Flats here and we are depending on each other to make a good living now,” said IIzujuhan, who pays Sugumaran 10% of his total income monthly.
He also pays for all of Sugumaran’s expenses, including his education and other needs.
Sugumaran also bought his parents, who are both cleaners, a second-hand car a few months ago.
IIzujuhan, who emerged champion in a television station’s reality show Bintang Mencari Bintang in 2014, said his social media followers ballooned from over 400,000 to almost one million after Sugumaran joined him.
“After Sugumaran came on board, a lot of non-Malays and teenagers also became followers,” he added.
He said he would also take Sugumaran to all the meetings with government agencies and ministries.
“Many ministers know and like him and when I go without Sugumaran, they ask me why the ‘chubby boy’ is not there,” said IIzujuhan.
He said his plan was for Sugumaran to act in some local dramas and fill the void left behind by previous Malaysian-Indian actors in Malay productions.
For his part, Sugumaran said IIzujuhan has changed his life as well as his family’s situation.
“My family was facing hardship, and we were very poor, but now I am able to give my parents money for their expenses every month.
“He (IIzujuhan) is my big brother and I owe him a lot for changing my life,” said Sugumaran, who aspires to be a businessman when he grows up.
The articulate and vociferous Sugumaran said he will always be with IIzujuhan as the latter has become a pivotal figure in his life.
Sugumaran’s mother S. Indra said she fully trusts IIzujuhan to take care of her son.
“I have seen how he treats my son like his own family. And IIzujuhan has been a very positive influence on Sugumaran,” said Indra, who has another son, aged 17, and a 10-year-old daughter.
Heartwarming tales such as this are promoted and encouraged by the “Maaf Zahir Batin Hari Hari” campaign (#MZB365), which was launched on April 6. The campaign stands strong with support from major media organisations and civil society organisations.
