SWIMMING WITH HIS HEART
“IS that Indonesia over there?” I recall my friend asking me while pointing to the horizon in front of us. There was just me and my two friends at the beach in Port Dickson, Negri Sembilan that evening a couple of years ago. On the horizon of the Straits of Melaka, we could see what looked like distant land with buildings.
“It looks so close, and yet so far,” the other friend chipped in.
“I bet we can swim there,” I told her. While it was just wishful thinking for us considering that none of us knew how to swim, it’s not the case for Ipoh-born Wong Hung Fai who’s determined to realise his dream of conquering the Straits, one of the busiest and most treacherous shipping lanes in the world.
What makes this aspiration so amazing is the fact that this affable 28-year-old is disabled. Blind from birth, he’s determined to make his presence felt when he joins other swimmers this weekend for the ultimate swim across the Straits of Melaka, covering a distance of about 40 to 50km.
The Melaka Straits Swim 2018 is a notfor-profit project organised by a group of dedicated and skilled swimmers whose objective ultimately is to promote open water swimming while having fun doing what they love. Some of the founding members have swum the challenging route back in 1992 and 2007, Wong Hung Fai will try to conquer the Straits of Melaka this weekend. and prove that disabled people too can achieve great things. “All my life, I’ve been bombarded with questions on how I live my life as a blind person. Swimming is my answer. I want to show that I can do anything,” reveals Wong, adding that he hopes there will be more dedicated trainers like Ooi who think nothing of giving up their time to train the disabled.
Ooi smiles sheepishly, but it’s clear that he’s touched by his protege’s words. “For me, it’s simple. Disability is not an inability. I hope other people with disabilities will not let their handicap deter them from leading an active life. Even if it’s not swimming, just go ahead and attempt other activities. You have to keep trying and not give up,” urges Ooi who also volunteers as a swim coach.
Swimming however, is the best activity for the disabled as they won’t get injured, says Ooi. The disabled are trained to build their strength and endurance. “As for the blind, I teach them how to measure distance using calculations of strokes and pulls,” he explains. Wong has represented Malaysia a few times before and has participated in swimathons — the recent ones being the Thailand Swimathon and the KapasMarang Swimathon.
“The Kapas-Marang one was about 6.5km. That was my latest achievement. For the Melaka event, it will be around 40 to 50km and it’s going to take about 20 hours to complete,” shares Wong, whose experience and achievements earned him a place at the Melaka Straits Swim.
Wong will join 22 relay swimmers who will be divided into groups of 4 to 5 based on their swim paces. Each group will take turns to swim for 45 minutes. Once their Datuk Ooi Win Juat is Wong’s mentor of 20 years.