‘I’d be lying if I said I’m happy’: Former para-athlete Dasuki Skate opens up on lost dreams, loneliness and regrets
Nearly three decades after setting off with little more than a backpack and skateboard, Mr Dasuki Johari reflects on the choices he made that had him sleeping in mosques and working on prawning boats.
Street artist and former para-athlete Dasuki Johari drawing along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman near the Sogo shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Aug 27, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Ili Mansor)
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Taufiq Zalizan 12 Sep 2026 09:30PM (Updated: 13 Sep 2026 07:51AM) Bookmark Bookmark Share WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Set CNA as your preferred source on Google Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results. Read a summary of this article on FAST. Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST Every morning, 58-year-old Dasuki Johari wakes up alone on his motorised wheelchair, which doubles as his bed in a tiny room in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He takes a sip of last night's iced teh-o (tea with sugar) from his insulated tumbler, heavily decorated with stickers of his favourite heavy metal bands and Liverpool Football Club.
With no one to exchange "good morning" greetings or eat breakfast with, he gets dressed in an old, worn T-shirt – one of several in a plastic bag in a corner of his room.
Then he sets out on his morning commute, a 10-minute journey in his wheelchair from his room in a building along Jalan Masjid India to an open spot on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, just across from the Sogo mall.
CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less He has no colleagues to greet or make small talk with upon reaching his "workplace". He ties an umbrella to the back of his wheelchair and crawls down to the pavement to lay out a cloth, a donation box, a portable speaker and a skateboard that he uses as his work desk.
He puts on a slow rock tune, picks up a charcoal pencil and starts sketching.
"I need to listen to music, then I'll have the 'feel' to draw," he told me when I visited him in August.
Apart from the music he constantly has playing while at work, Mr Dasuki makes little sound. He interacts little with others, outside of the occasional customer and a handful of regular passers-by who stop to say hello.
This is how he has spent nearly every day of the last five or six years, eking out a meagre living as a street artist in Kuala Lumpur. But his life was not always this solitary.
Over three decades ago, Mr Dasuki was working as a data entry clerk in Singapore, where he was born. He even became a competitive para-athlete for some time, clinching a bronze medal for Singapore in para-skiing in 1995.
In 1998, he decided to leave behind his life in Singapore – his job, family and friends – to "find something for myself" in Malaysia.
Now, nearly three decades on, it's hard to determine what exactly Mr Dasuki set out to find.
Born without legs, Mr Dasuki has relied on mobility aids for as long as he can remember.
At age 12, he made headlines in Singapore for coming in second place in a 50-metre wheelchair dash at a sports meet for the handicapped.
He studied in a schooling programme run by the Red Cross Home for the disabled in Changi Village, completing it in 1983.
Soon after, he developed a taste for moving around on a skateboard instead of a wheelchair, eventually earning him the moniker "Dasuki Skate" among his friends.
"I'd (skate) to the MRT station, take the escalator up and down, get on the train and everything." He recalled a particular fondness for hanging out with his friends around City Hall MRT station.
He was so distinctive that when he started resurfacing in news media over the last few months, several online users piped up, easily recognising him as Dasuki Skate.
