A few days ago I went to visit my former teachers in Sri KDU, and had a good chat with Mr Masukor. At one point in the middle of an interesting talk regarding boarding school, he told me that one of his student told him that she has never known any Chinese friends before. Then he also told me that a parent of one of the Chinese student expressed her concern of having her son to stay in the same house with Malay kids, citing that her son have never known any Malay friends before. And yet we boast about being a multiracial country, that our cultural diversity is our strength, that our racial harmony is something to be proud of.

But in reality, though we live side by side, we don’t live with each other. Our racial harmony may well be a by-product of ignorance, of not caring what the other races are doing, of non-interfering and very little interaction with each other, limited to only the occasional meeting in taxis and sundry shops and checkout lanes, where even then we barely talk to each other. This is certainly nothing to be proud of. Instead of the individual races being interwoven with each other to create the very fabric of our multiracial society, it is more like separate strands of ropes that don’t even touch.

Why is this so? I believe that in part – a huge part – our education system is to blame for. For any kids, schools are the best place for them to make friends. Many of us live in a racially clustered society – the Malays live where most (if not all) of the neighbours are Malays, and the same goes for the Chinese and Indians. The only place we can really bring our kids together is at school. And yet the Chinese and Indians send their kids to vernacular schools, where the other races make up of maybe less than 5% of the population. The Malays send their sons and daughters to boarding schools, where again less than 5% of the population are of the other races. In fact, in many boarding schools, there are no Chinese or Indian students at all. Little wonder then when these Malay kids and Chinese kids and Indian kids finish school and join the larger Malaysian society, they don’t know how to react with the reality of our social fabric.

I should know this. I’ve been in boarding school since I was 13. But I had a tad more luck than many of my friends. Right after I finished SPM (and my 5 years of non-interaction with friends of other races), I did my pre-university education in a private school in Kota Damansara. Of course, due to the generally less-financially-capable Malays, it was mainly the Chinese that send their kids to the school. But due to Petronas sending its scholars to this school, it’s International Baccalaureate community is rather balanced between the races. And this close interaction with the other Chinese and Indian friends forced me to really rethink my perception towards the other races in Malaysia. After years and years of living in a closed society – living alongside my own kind – this was not easy to do. I revolted. But in time, I learned to accept our differences. In time, I understood them better.

It is an inevitable consequence that without interaction, there can be no understanding, and without understanding comes all sorts of hostility and anxiety. Conscious racial harmony is simply not possible, for how can you really accept living with other people when really, you don’t even know them. Many of my friends continued their study in boarding colleges where again, very little of the population are made up of other races than Malay. I pity them, and I wonder how they’ll turn out when they leave the education world and enter the working world.

Fixing this is not easy. There have to be a major rethinking of our national education system. The Chinese and Indians would have to give up vernacular schools. The Malays have to give up boarding schools. The national schools structure have to be revamped to include the Mandarin and Tamil languages that the Chinese and Indians will surely want their children to retain. The Malays have to recognise that quality education can exist in the national schools, especially if the boarding schools no longer drain the good brains from all these national schools. These are but a tiny portion of what have to be thought and discussed about. But if we are to have a truly multiracial Malaysia where we really live with each other, not just alongside each other, somewhere along the line it has to be done. The individual racial strings can only go their separate ways for so long before they intermingle in a tight knot, and I’m sure none of us would want that.

During secondary school, debate competitions were not really my favourite. Even though I did join quite a number of them including representing my school once, I never really liked them. Yes, they’re mostly entertaining especially to the audience as we get to watch lots of verbal attacks and counter-attacks between any two debating teams. Some are down right hilarious, while others can be plain boring. But most of the time, it’s entertaining to watch. Where else can you get that much amount of sarcasm?

But now that I think about it, I knew back then why I didn’t quite like those debate competitions. There’s a major flaw in the way those debate competitions are conducted, one that I believe deserves quite a serious attention.

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Many people do a little good and make a big fuss about it. Many people talk and preach to other people to do good, but he himself never does anything beneficial or contribute to the society. But there are some people who do a lot of good and bring a lot of benefits to the society without a single hint of wanting to boast or brag about what they do. And this post is to celebrate one such person.

Meet Mr JG (from his name, Jayaganapathy Eswarakrishnan). He was my IB Mathematics Higher Level teacher in Sri KDU for half a year in 2007, when his eye problem forced him to resign and return to his home country, India. He had undergone many eye surgeries to rectify the problem, but his eye worsens toward the middle of the second half of 2007. When he had to leave, one of his eyes was not capable of vision. Everybody was so sad to let him go, because he was so dear to us. After he returned to India, some of us continued to have occasional chat with him through Yahoo! Messenger, but none of us know anything about his noble acts in India.

Recently, I went to Sri KDU to visit my teachers before flying off to New Zealand this month. My Chemistry teacher, Mr Lawrence just came back from visiting Mr JG in India, and he shared with me and my two other friends who went to the school that day what Mr JG has been doing for the past 9 months.

Miraculously, Mr JG’s eye had completely recovered. And that is minuscule compared to what he decided to do with his life. He opened up a school for the poor kids in India, and give them a gift of education.

He hired a number of teachers to teach the kids and fill them with knowledge that should have been their basic right, but denied by poverty. He pays each of these teachers a salary of RM100 a month. He himself gets nothing. And every month, according to Mr Lawrence, the school runs on a deficit. A planned expansion of the school to accommodate more students has to be put on hold due to insufficient funds.

The school survives entirely on donation. There are a few smart whiteboards in the school, donated by some generous people. The school is also equipped with clean water, an important hygienic factor in India. At present, there were 100 kids at the school. 100 poor kids receiving a gift of education.

And through the previous 9 months the school has been operating, none of us from the IB community in Sri KDU knows about it. Not me, not the IB coordinator, not the teachers, not those of us who occasionally chat with him, not anyone. This is a man who does noble things and does not boast or brag about it. It’s little wonder Mr Lawrence calls him Father Teresa.

When I asked him how can we help, he told me to finish my studies first and only think of helping when I’m working. Not satisfied, I pushed him a little further and he told me that one way of helping is by sponsoring a poor child’s education. It is not much, only RM800 per year. Per year. That’s roughly RM67 per month. Heck, you can give a child a year of education simply from a fraction of the amount of living allowance you receive from your sponsorship. And that includes the cost of three sets of uniforms, two sets of shoes, school bag, all text books and note books, stationeries, snacks and milk , academic fees, accidental health insurance, fee for karate, dance, music, yoga, etc…

And still right here in Malaysia, many of us do not truly appreciate the education we get.

It is those people like Mr JG who really makes the world a better place to live. These selfless people contribute to the society without ever asking anything in return. And unlike many of us today, they don’t brag or boast about it. There are true generosity and goodness in their hearts, and if there’s anyone whose voice and opinion should be listened to and paid attention to, it is their voice and their opinions.

Hear them, help them, emulate them. And when we do that, realise that we have made this world that much a better place to live. Drop a comment or send me an email at khairulsyahir [at] gmail [dot] com if you’re interested.

The pictures and videos below are given to me by Mr Lawrence, from his visit to Mr JG’s school in India.

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Darn, I wish I could’ve posted this earlier. That server disruption is really a bummer.

I would spare you all the drama and suspense of the night when the IB results for the November 2008 session are made available (go to Jon Mah’s for that). Instead, I would just go in straight away. I got 43 out of 45. I wasn’t expecting it, as I’ve been ’seeing’ 41 or 37 in my mind for few days before that. Coupled with the fact that there were many problems and interruptions during my two years of the IB diploma course in Sri KDU as the pioneer batch, it’s easy to see why I wasn’t expecting my results to be that high. So it’s little wonder that I straight away jumped in euphoria (to borrow Faizal’s now-favourite word) and went up to my sister’s room, woke her up and we screamed in joy in the middle of the night.

That night before I went to sleep, I received a text message from an unknown number congratulating me for the “fantastic results”. It turned out to be Mr Masukor, woken by Jon Mah in the middle of the night. I thanked him, and asked about how the others did. He said he couldn’t remember exactly and was sleepy and wanted to go to sleep.

That night, before I went to sleep I sent an email to Mr Lawrence, my lab-eccentric chemistry teacher:

Hi Mr Lawrence,

Just wanna pass on to you the great news. I got 43 points for my IB results, and thanks to you I got 7 for chemistry and A for my EE! Most of us made it with more than 35 points, but I haven’t heard from a few others.

But anyway, thanks again!

The next morning, still in euphoric mood, I received a reply from him:

You are the only one hwo got A for EE…any regret doing DNA with me…stay back late through the night

I want your EE softcopy to be save in library…send me attachment pls
Well done….keep in touch…let ju ann know Siang harn know  I want his EE also…he got a B

Ju Anne and Siang Hang, I did not spell your names wrong. That’s how Mr Lawrence wrote it

It’s true, I stayed back late through the night in the lab, doing experiments. There was a time when I went back home to my apartment at 12 midnight. So when my junior, Hannah wrote on my wall in Facebook that Mr Lawrence told them not to be afraid about EE because they have mine as example, I disagreed. I think they should be afraid. They don’t know how much time have gone into that EE, how many chemicals and experimental apparatuses have been brought home, how many cups of coffee have been drank, how many evenings have gone by while Agnes is sleeping soundly. Come to think of it, I don’t think they would want to know about it.

That night, I wrote another email and sent it to all the teachers in Sri KDU who have ever taught me, including Mr JG who is now in India. This is the email:

Hi all,

I’m writing this email with no other purpose except to express my heartfelt gratitude for all the teaching, knowledge, experience, and time you spent for me and my fellow friends during our 2 years of the IB programme at Sri KDU. I have indeed achieve tremendous success that is beyond my rational expectation, and there are no other persons that I can attribute it to but every single person of you.

However, while it is with utmost gratitude and happiness that I receive my IB results, I do feel sad and disappointed for those of us who didn’t pass the cut-off point as required by Petronas. While I am aware that those persons are responsible for their own results, I do wish that I could have done more for them. I do wish that I could have done better. We could have done better.

Throughout the two years I have tried to instil a sense of community among us, a sense of urgency and importance that we need to help each other, that in our climb to the top let us not trample on and forget those below us. Instead, let us reach our hands and help each other to climb together. It will be hard and long, and there will be many challenges and urges not to do so, but only by doing so can we reach the top collectively as a community, and only then will we truly feel the joy and satisfaction of being successful. This I have not felt this time around. Make it your goal. I implore you.

I am looking forward to paying a visit to the school again before flying off to New Zealand, God willing. It has been such an incredible experience and many new things were shown to and experienced by me, though I have to say not all of them are pleasant. But through it all, it has been a pleasant journey and experience.

Wishing you all good health and happy days ahead! Make sure to really grind those guys in the June 07 and June 08 batch. But don’t do it all by yourself. Just devise the grinding machine. Make them run it by and on themselves .

Lastly, all the best in your endeavours. I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you soon, and wish the best for me too!

By that time I have known that 11 of the Petronas scholars in my batch didn’t make it past the 35 cut-off point required by Petronas to qualify them to further their studies overseas.

Just an hour after I sent that email, I received a reply from Mr Masukor, my Maths teacher:

Khairul, I am lucky that our paths crossed, I share the sentiment expressed. I am proud of the fact that you can express your thoughts so clearly and forcefully and more importantly; that you expressed them.

Better stop before I jump into my “kutbah” mode.

I, off course, expect to see you before you depart to NZ. ( where are you now, …Langkawi?)

Cheers
masukor.

To answer his question, I sent a reply email:

Yes, I’m in Langkawi. Last weekend I went fishing with my dad, and spent the night at sea! Caught quite a number of fishes. It was a big new experience for me. The morning before I went fishing I went kayaking (my mom and dad went kayaking too, and so did my younger sister, and seriously any worries about ’snakes falling off branches onto your head’ is really a paranoia), and the day before that I went snorkelling, yesterday and today I went volunteering at the local animal clinic. Now I’m hoping can go jungle trekking in the next few days.

Life is much more meaningful when you get out of your comfort zone. Confront your fears, and you’ll build character. Experience really teaches. How I wish I can really share what I feel with my fellow friends

And I hope this post does its bit in sharing what I feel with my fellow friends.

An hour after Mr Masukor’s email arrived, I received another reply from Mr Lawrence:

I truly believed we will only feel the success if along the way we are able to help our fellow friends make it………one down all down ….one go all go……

In life…it is not ideal….in any battle there is bound to be casulties of war……part of growing up and learning to cope with reality.

Proud to be your teacher and all my dreams and hope is that one day if you are in a position like me to help and change lives….please do it…God will bless you

Well done and keep in touch ….invite me to your wedding one day

The world is out there…..go and make it a better place…

Please go to this link…..it will change your life……..http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ylgchWR-Ig

While I would be very glad to invite him to my wedding, I think I’ll be having problem tracking him down by the time I need to send him that wedding invitation. I’ll make an effort for it, surely.

By the way, this is the video that he wants me to watch:

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The reason why I share all these rather personal emails is because I want to share with you what I believe should be shared. I want you to really care about your friends and colleagues and the other members of the community. We live in a selfish world, but we can change that. It starts with us, so let’s start together.

I want to urge you that if you can make a difference, do make a difference. Don’t be those people who only know how to preach and talk loudly and accuse people and say a lot of bad things about other people, but they themselves do not contribute anything useful to the society. Trust me, you don’t need to talk so loud for people to listen if you actually bring good for them.

I want to encourage you to get out of your comfort and go experience new things. Be brave. Going fishing and spending the night at sea was such a big new experience for me. Don’t just be a bookworm and study all the time. It might make you pass IB with 45 points, but it won’t develop your character as a person, and it won’t get you the other skills you need to really succeed in life.

And to those scholars who will be taking the IB exam this May, I want you to go read this. If you have already read it before, read again.

Remember that the world does not revolve around us. Step away from being self-centric. The world doesn’t need selfish people, so if you are, stop being one.

I have compiled whatever pictures I have from my 2 years of IB programme in Sri KDU and selected quite a number of them to make up this gallery, in which I hope to capture some of our experiences and memories from those 2 years. I say some because there are still a lot of events and experiences not covered by this picture compilation I have. Anybody else who wants to contribute to the gallery can send the pictures to me.

I originally thought of uploading these pictures on Facebook, where people in the pictures can be tagged and comments can be posted on individual pictures. However, due to the number of pictures in this gallery (275 pictures), uploading to Facebook will be an extremely tedious exercise. So I decided to post this on my blog. Though you guys cannot comment on the individual pictures (a great feature, I admit), you can still comment on this post.

Right now, I don’t think the pictures can be copied. If you want a copy of those pictures, let me know. If there’s enough people asking, I’ll upload the full-sized pictures for you guys to download

These pictures are sorted according to the date they are taken. The ones that appear first are taken earliest, meaning as you view the gallery, you will view pictures from early 2007 first and slowly move to late 2008.

You can click on “Show as slide show” if you don’t want to be clicking or pushing the right arrow button while viewing the pictures, though the picture size will be reduced to fit the available space.

Enjoy

Update: I have uploaded these photos to Facebook. Apparently there’s a batch upload function, though it is only limited to 60 pictures per album, so I have to create 5 albums for the series. Follow this link to view the first part of the series.

[Show as slideshow]

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