While that’s admirable in and of itself, what’s more impressive is that Ong was born without a right hand and forearm. He has two fingers on his right arm and and can only move one of them.
These challenges, however, have not prevented him from living a full life. Today, the Kelantan-based speaker uses his personal experiences to inspire positivity in people and encourage them to achieve their dreams.
“Positivity is a very useful tool to have. No matter what kinds of problems we face, our mindset can always keep us strong,” Ong, 50, told FMT Lifestyle via Zoom recently.
The fourth of five children, Ong was the only one born with a disability. He shared that growing up with just one arm had many challenges: he was often bullied and would get into fights with other kids. One of them, he recalled, kicked him all the time.
“It made me very sad. There were times I wanted to give up. I didn’t even like looking at my arm. But I realised there were two symbols I could still do even with just two fingers: the ‘V for victory’ and ‘peace’ symbols.
“So I used this to motivate myself. Anytime I felt sad, I reminded myself that I was here to bring peace to everyone, and achieve victory over myself.”
Ong also threw himself into sports, from volleyball and swimming to ping-pong and badminton. Additionally, he was a runner on his school’s 100m team.
Even today, he occasionally challenges participants at his talks to friendly push-up contests. He always wins, Ong said with a laugh.
When he was in Form 4, he decided to take up the guitar. “It was the cool thing at the time, but it was difficult to learn because we didn’t have many resources like YouTube at the time.
“Many people didn’t want to teach me because they didn’t think I could do it.”
But plucking the strings with just one finger could get tiring, which is why Ong needed to modify the way he played. He is also unable to play certain chords that require the use of more fingers.
Nevertheless, the father of five doesn’t really consider himself a musician. He mainly uses his guitar skills to entertain crowds during his motivational sessions.
Ong is also a fan of writing poetry in Bahasa Melayu – he cites Usman Awang and Dr Lim Swee Tin as his favourite poets – and enjoys setting his writing to music.
As for how he embarked on motivational speaking, Ong shared that he used to be a Malay-language teacher at a secondary school. His positive attitude and can-do spirit did not go unnoticed, and one of his colleagues suggested he share the story of his life.
Ong took this advice and, since 2009, has conducted over 3,000 motivational talks all over the country, addressing students, parents and teachers alike.
His work has won him numerous accolades, including the Ten Outstanding Young Malaysians Award in 2013, the MyHero2.0 Award in 2016, and the Unsung Hero medal award in 2019.
Ong is currently working on a book that he hopes will help readers with disabilities. He will also be performing in “Unveiling Uniqueness”, an upcoming show in Kuala Lumpur that turns a spotlight on performers with disabilities, and will resume teaching part-time from next month.
His advice to anyone facing obstacles in their lives? Look within.
“To change your results, you must change your actions. To change your actions, you must change your perceptions,” he said.
“Your thoughts are key to everything, and if you master them, you will have joy in your life.”
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