AS the sordid "Israeli spy" caper and Molotov cocktails hurtling into a supermarket chain hogged the headlines, one profound act of astounding honesty had slipped by almost virtually unnoticed.
Weeks back, during a routine patrol at a Damansara shopping centre parking lot, a security guard stumbled on a pink-and-white bag containing about RM500,000. His next move is what anyone in his position would do: surrender the bag of cash to the police, who then revealed the stunning discovery at a press conference.
Details were scant but based on corporate hiring trends, the security guard is presumably a Nepalese who probably hated his prospects as a Himalayan mountaineering guide back home, so he took up his current gig, a job shunned by locals.
We are familiar with the famed narrative of the warrior Nepalese as courageous Gurkha soldiers. Now add probity at its purest form to that noble characterisation. Not only did the guard reach a highly moral and conscientious decision to hand over the cash to the authorities, he clearly understood the dark pitfalls of hoarding the cash.
Let's be frank: how many people in the guard's position would have the rectitude to give up what is the discovery of a lifetime? Even though this case is yet to be resolved, the guard, Sherpa Dawa, has been honoured by his employer as a model of trustworthiness on March 22.
Let's hope he will be further rewarded when police find the mysterious owner. Just as he gave up the cash in amazing candour, he may likely be embarrassed by the attention to what he thinks is an unremarkable feat among his peers, community and co-religionists.
Now, on that colourful bag laden with the RM500,000: how on earth was it abandoned at the parking lot? The guard also took a huge risk: it could have been a bomb. Soon after a police press conference, a "company director" staked a claim for the cash, but curiously, he failed to turn up despite the police summon.
Police have processed the bag for fingerprints but we expect them to also cover human DNA, even gun, bomb or poison residues. Police can't be too careful in this treacherous situation.
In the meantime, let us turn that guard into a cause célèbre for the indomitable human spirit of integrity.
While we drown in a dizzying array of high-profile corruption indictments, a humble and nondescript security guard working doubly hard just to send a tiny fraction of the RM500,000 back home to his family has demonstrated the true meaning of human enlightenment and values.
