Children have to be educated, but they have also to be left to educate themselves.
— Ernest Dimnet , author
It’s good news to hear that the Sarawak government will pump part of the RM2.95 billion Petronas sales tax into its international schools.
Known as ‘Yayasan Sarawak International Secondary Schools’, this is the brainchild of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
These special schools will use the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and Cambridge syllabus to put Sarawak far ahead of the current national educational system.
If all goes well, the first internationally-recognised school will be opened at Mile 12, Jalan Kuching-Serian in 2023.
Four other state-owned international secondary schools will also be established in various parts of the state.
Abang Johari said that the schools which will start with Form One students are aimed at helping to develop the potential of the young in both rural and urban enclaves.
“Our concern is our rural students including the Chinese who are poor, but if they are good in their studies they can go to our international schools,” he said.
Abang Johari knows very well the plight of some of the poor Chinese who have been neglected by society, having been close to the community since his school days.
To his credit the chief minister established a special unit to “coordinate and manage” the financial assistance given to aided Chinese primary schools.
This year alone, Sarawak has allocated RM17 million to aided Chinese schools and Chinese independent secondary schools.
He also praised the Chinese education system, pointing out that at least a third of the students in their schools are non-Chinese.
Chinese schools now have a lot of multicultural students, namely out of the 60,000 students, 20,000 are Bumiputera students.
Kudos to Yayasan Sarawak and the founding fathers for coming up with noble idea of giving back to society in terms of education 50 years ago.
Sarawak Foundation was established under the Sarawak Foundation Ordinance in 1971 during the tenure of then chief minister Tun Abdul Rahman Yakub.
Born in the village of Kampung Jepak in Bintulu to poor Melanau parents, Rahman had to work his way up attending a Malay school before the war broke out.
When Sarawak became a Crown Colony he was able to complete his primary education before securing a job as an oil tester with Shell in Lutong in the Miri Division.
In 1952 after his short stint in Shell, Rahman who was interested in law worked as a Student Native Officer and First Class Magistrate before enrolling with St Joseph’s School in Kuching to complete his Senior Cambridge two years later.
With excellent results, he left for England to study law at the University of Southampton as well as Lincoln’s Inn, London before returning to Kuching.
In 1958 he returned to Kuching as a barrister-at-law and deputy public prosecutor and Crown Counsel before he became involved in politics.
When the current Governor of Sarawak Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud became chief minister in 1981, he continued with the legacy left by his predecessor.
But Yayasan’s golden era was during the tenure of Pehin Sri Adenan Satem — a man who also rose from the ranks to graduate as a Crown Counsel.
Adenan, who replaced Taib as chairman of Yayasan Sarawak in 1999, brought the foundation to another to level by promoting the learning of English in schools.
Thousands have benefitted from the foundation’s noble objectives of providing financial assistance to poor bright students to pursue tertiary education.
For example, three renowned doctors — Malaysia’s top urologist Dr Clarence Lei, Sarawak’s first paediatric cardiologist Dr Philip Raja, and present Sarawak Utilities Minister Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom — were beneficiaries of Yayasan Sarawak scholarships.
Miri-based Dr Philip who studied at the Bario primary school in the Kelabit highlands and Bintulu-born Dr Rundi were both sent to Kajang for their secondary education in 1973 and then to Sekolah Menengah Sains in Melaka for their matriculation.
In 1981 both attended Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and graduated with medical degrees four years later.
After serving in the Sarawak medical service Dr Rundi opened a private practice in Mukah before he replaced his uncle Tan Sri Celestine Ujang Jilan as
assemblyman for Kemena.
Dr Philip went on to pursue his post-graduate studies in United Kingdom in 1989 and was inducted as a member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) before training in paediatric cardiology in Sydney in 1992.
He now runs a children and heart specialist clinic in Miri.
Thanks to the pioneers of the Sarawak Foundation and their beneficiaries, we are a country with educated people who walk tall.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
