Chua Jian Boon is a humble hero. When he was just a teen, his father told him to get a job to learn the value of money. Later in life, he had to work hard as a promoter to pay for his college fees, sometimes even skipping classes to make ends meet.
But through all the hardships that he went through, Chua Jian Boon continued to be a pillar of support for his peers. And his efforts didn’t go unrecognised. At the young age of twenty-two, he bagged the Iskandar Malaysia Social Hero Awards for Human Empowerment.
As a mentor, Chua consistently motivates his peers not to be discouraged by lack of authority and titles from realising their dreams. He also stresses the importance of remaining humble, citing humility as a core value he holds on to.
Young people are often dismissed and their words tend to fall on deaf ears, but with actions and through delivering facts, Chua believes they can stand a chance. He once rallied his peers to demand an apology from a school principal when political parties entered their school grounds for their political agenda. It was an action he felt that was not ethical as schools are meant to be politically neutral. The principal and director of the school publicly apologised.
“Don’t limit yourself,” Chua says, wanting to empower young people to aim for the front lines of society. Aside from being a mentor, he served as a Special Officer in the Johor State Legislative Assembly, a member of Youth Parliament Malaysia and Iskandar Malaysia Youth Council Member. He was also the Secretary of Yayasan Sultanah Fatimah, never missing an event, being on the ground to help members of different communities. However, he decided to give himself time to “reset” and press pause on his involvement there, focusing on running the two branches of his milk tea cafes instead. He has plans of going back to this line of work in the future.
“People think I come from a rich background with all that I have achieved – that is not true,” he insisted. In the beginning, people around him thought he was foolish for spending his time helping the community. They felt he could make better use of his time by building a career. He learnt to see who his real friends were through his moments of ups and downs.
When asked what he would do if he had one million ringgit, Chua, all smiles, revealed he would take his family on a holiday as he does not come from a well-off family. He would also start a programme to invest in young people, funding them to join student elections or political parties. Chua knows that to make an impact in communities, the best way to start is on the grassroots levels where one can rise and make his or her voice heard.
“My name is Chua and I am a member of the community, just like you.”
