..Of my former school's recent products... Part 1

“I hope we are not troubling you,” the makcik said for the tenth time.

“No, no problem. I’m glad I could be of help,” I reassured her.

On the way to our former school in Labu, Ira and I had agreed to go there via Nilai and return via Seremban exit on the PLUS Highway. I was thinking, should there be anybody who waited for a bus to Seremban on our way back, I might as well invited a few of them for a free ride on my car. After all, Ira had never visited Seremban for the past decade and wouldn’t mind taking a quick peek at how it has developed since we left school.

It turned out that we met an elderly couple waiting for a cab at the school’s entrance as we exited it. The makcik and pakcik were there all the way from Nilam Puri, Kelantan to witness their eldest daughter receiving a certificate of honour from the school for getting 11As in her SPM last year. I invited them for a ride and they gladly accepted.

“I hope we are not troubling you,” the makcik said before thanking me profusely.
“No, no problem at all. We are on our way to Seremban, anyway,” Ira had no idea that I was thinking of giving somebody a ride – but she seemed okay with it. After all, I was just giving a ride to an honest-to-goodness middle-aged couple in the middle of the day, not to some young, possible terrorist-wannabes-in disguise in the middle of the night.

The couple had already bought a ticket to go back to Kota Bharu that night and intended to kill some time in Seremban’s Terminal One as advised by their precious daughter who had stayed back at the school, with her other successful colleagues, for a motivational session with the fourth and fifth formers.

During the 11 km journey, Ira and I listened to Makcik Zaharah’s many stories – how Along, the eldest daughter, made her family proud by being among the first in their kampung to be offered to study Medicine overseas, how difficult it is for kampung students to score in their studies like Along did, how Along’s close friends were all doing equally well – being offered places to study medicine in Russia, biotechnology in UK and all. She also lamented about how far she and pakcik had to travel to send Along to school and recently to register for her pre-University course in Shah Alam; how Pakcik, an ex policeman who was currently working as a security guard had to forego his daily payment when they had to send Along to Shah Alam and now to attend the award presentation ceremony, but they gave in because this was a rare occassion and they really didn't want to miss it.

Very understandable.

Makcik Zaharah told us that Along had wanted to do medicine in Australia, but fearing for her daughter’s safety, she had prayed hard for the daughter to be sent to a Muslim country. She was ecstatic when Along was offered to study in Egypt.

“What are you worried about should she be sent to Australia?,” I queried

“Well, I worry about her surrounding, about getting halal food – I heard that the Aussie lots are not very kind towards Muslims…”

“Makcik, there are many halal food manufacturers in Australia. In fact – they are one of the biggest halal food manufacturers in the region. And the Muslim community there is quite strong – many Arabs and other Muslim migrants had decided to make Australia their home. I believe your daughter would be doing okay if she were to be sent there.”

“That’s what my daughter said. She checked it on the Internet, you know, about which course to take up, which university to go and all. I don’t know much, but I still prefer her to go to a place with more familiar faces and customs…” Makcik Zaharah’s voice trailed off.

I nodded my head in understanding. All things considered, Makcik Zaharah hailed from Nilam Puri, where studying abroad are more often referred to studying in Middle East than going to UK, USA or Australia. She thought that studying and maintaining one’s iman in a western country would be more difficult compared to being in a mostly-Muslim country. She thought that getting halal food would be a big problem to those studying in a non-Muslim country, proving how little she knew about the worldwide marketing and distribution of halal and vegetarian food. I did not blame her for her lack of knowledge – it would still take a lot to educate and increase the kampung folks’ awareness on the benefits of sending their children to study in more developed, urbanised Western countries.

Still, I silently saluted Along for daring to be different and applying to study medicine in Australia despite her parents' initial protest. She kept assuring her mom that she knew what she was doing and she respectfully asked both her parents to support and pray for her. Never mind that Along was finally offered to study in Egypt – she didn’t have much power on the final say, after all. It’s kids like her, who dare to be different - on the positive side - that make me still proud of my former school’s recent products.