Meet the stroke survivor behind Kafe Basikal Tua

MALAYSIANSKINI | No less than 10 minutes away from where I live in Taman Tun Dr Ismail is Kafe Basikal Tua, a hidden rustic cafe in Kampung Sungai Penchala. Even when one pulls up to the front doorway, it’s not immediately obvious that it conceals a large space that is home to artwork, antiques, and an intriguing open-air restaurant.

As I learned from owner Raja Iskandar Raja Mansur, there is a deeper purpose to this particular outlet. He views it not just as part of his healing process from a stroke he suffered seven years ago, but also as a way for him to keep pursuing his work with the disabled community.

“Kafe Basikal Tua really saw the light during the movement control order as I could not conduct my normal outreach activities of bringing people with disabilities and their families around to interesting destinations. So this was a way to anchor it down to one location where I hoped to bring the children for their dose of art activities.

“The cafe has two targets in that it serves as an art workshop for disabled children along with their abled friends on certain days and also as a cafe to raise funds for those activities,” the former landscape architect told Malaysiakini in a recent interview.

As it is, the cafe is empowering people with disabilities as much of the food is prepared by them, thus compassion is already in action, he said.

Over the course of our interview, Raja Iskander revealed...