By all accounts, it’s been a rather crappy half year.

In the first instance, the lifetime hero for many of us left us less than a month ago. To me, and certainly many others, Muhammad Ali was not only the best boxer of ALL time - and will remain so - he also epitomised the rebelliousness of our youth.

He embodied the voice of anti-imperialism in his opposition to the war in Indochina. He echoed the voices of downtrodden black Americans, as did Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.

Others may reflect on Ali’s weaknesses and arrogance. But, for me he was - and will remain - the real deal.

In music, we lost two giants, David Bowie and Prince. While I confess to not being a real fan of either, both undoubtedly, had substantially influenced popular music, leaving behind legacies that the younger generation ought to be thankful for.

Political developments around the word have been equally depressing. The one politician who, for me, could lead the USA out of the mess it is in, is Bernie Sanders, who despite giving Hilary Clinton a damn good run for her money, looks like he’s going to lose the Democratic ticket.

And on the other side, a racist, fascist moron looks set to be the Republican candidate and, if he becomes the president, will surely send the US of A back to the Dark Age.

In Europe, Britain’s really dumb decision a couple of days ago to leave the EU is quite rapidly illustrating how, in the short run, this will prove disastrous for ordinary Britons and, certainly for most of the world.

But what about the long run, you may ask? Well, to paraphrase a renowned economist, in the long run we are all dead.

Back home, despite the ongoing 1MDB scandal that has spread worldwide, despite our main institutions and their ‘leaders’ being castrated by this regime, despite the clear dangers and threats of the rise of Islamofascism, even despite this PM saying one thing and doing the complete opposite we, somehow, get the voting public evidently still rooting for this regime.

The election results in Sarawak and the two recent ‘buy-elections’ in Perak and Selangor seem to confirm this.

And it doesn’t help, of course, that the opposition is in complete disarray, each party busy - and inanely - jostling for an already-diminished portion of (real) political power.

Each sacrificing a real, concerted and, of course, united, attempt at unseating a corrupt and unpopular regime for the crumbs of, for example, coming out second in a three-cornered fight.

Or for a state assembly seat, or, even, for the `fame’ of being a local councillor. Pathetic.

Throwing us an unlikely hero

But - and this is a big but befitting a big-hearted human being - often during these moments, the Almighty, the Cosmos, Mother Nature (fill in your favourite deity) has this knack of throwing us a sign, a symbol, a personality, an unlikely hero, to help cheer us up, to steer us to start thinking and doing.

David Wu, despite self-assertions about his hensemness, is clearly anything but. While some other men of his ripe old age of almost 50 dream of being ‘babe magnets’, David clearly has ‘aunty appeal’. But I digress.

I wrote about this quite remarkable Malaysian last year when he walked all the way from Selangor to Kelantan to raise funds for poor Kelantanese villagers. He raised enough money on his own to rebuild 10 rough-and-ready homes in a small village in Rantau Panjang.

This time around, possibly in a drunken stupor (again), David decided to visit his ancestral home in Guangdong, China, for the first time.

No big deal, of course, given modern modes of transport and China being just a few hours away, even on AirAsia.

But, no, he decided that he would cycle all the way there in a route that would take him through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and, finally, China. On a bicycle he named ‘Dim Sum’. And raise enough money in the process, under what’s been called Projek Wumah 2, to work with another remarkable Malaysian, Hayati Ismail, to rebuild more homes, this time in different parts of the country.

The journey began more than 50 days ago, on May 6, from his former family home (now demolished) in Alor Setar. It was also his 49th birthday.

For the first 1000 km to Bangkok, he was accompanied by a small group of friends and companions, including popular and outspoken Malaysian personality, Patrick Teoh, and the owner of Dave’s Deli, David Chin.

What is even more remarkable and inspiring is that both the latter have health issues of their own, apart from being at least in their late 60s.

Yet the group made it safely to Bangkok. And while they celebrated, the many following them through David Wu’s daily witty reports and photographs on Facebook marvelled at their triumph and celebrated as well.

Of course there have been the detractors, like this sour-faced, sad IT geek who fancies himself as a macho biker, who tried to run down the whole effort as a PR stunt, especially with there being a support vehicle for the Alor Star-Bangkok stretch.

But, as with many of these insects, he’s had very little to say since David started out from Bangkok, on his own and, certainly, with no support vehicle, for the remaining 4k plus kilometres.

Charity coming from a rich man?

Which brings us to the present.

As I write this on an overcast Saturday morning, David Wu is negotiating an undulating, perilous dirt road that stretches 150 plus kilometres from outside Luang Prabang in Laos to some god-forsaken village. It is a route, apparently, that has Hiluxes and other 4WDs wheezing past, clearly a path that is not exactly built for a lone cyclist.

Sure, we could cynically dismiss his ride and Projek Wumah 2 as charity coming from a rich man who has time on his hands.

But is it really?

No. The charity actually comes from us through our donations for his Malaysia-China ride.

David, of course, possibly could have come up with his own money and those of his wealthy friends and bankroll Projek Wumah 2 from the safety and comfort of his home. But he didn’t.

He opted instead to ride Dim Sum all the way to China. Partly to cock a snook at the xenophobic Neanderthals who have asked fellow Malaysians to 'Balik Cina'. But mainly to simply help make life more bearable for marginalised Malaysians.

It should, of course, be the duty of a responsible government. But in the absence of such an entity, in an age when abrogation of the duty of purported leaders is clearly the norm in Malaysia, let’s just thank God, the Almighty, Mother Nature, the Cosmos, indeed whosoever you worship, for a package like David Wu, his lack of hensemness nowithstanding.

And, of course, help fund his effort.

ROM NAIN is a media analyst and academic who is weary of incompetent, unethical leaders and their apologists and spin doctors in the media who try to get away with murder while professing to rub shoulders with God’s angels.