Top “O” level student Lai Kai Rou is a Malaysian
(Temasek Review) Singapore has become a magnet for students from neighboring countries especially Malaysia where its ethnic Chinese have been flocking to Singapore to further their studies over the years due to Malaysia’s discriminatory racial policies.
The top “O” level student this year is Ms Lai Kai Rou from Saint Nicholas Girls School who scored 10 A1s.
She hails from the Malaysian state of Selangor and was persuaded to come to study in Singapore after hearing from last year top student Haw Sue Hern, also a Malaysian.
Singapore has become a magnet for students from neighboring countries especially Malaysia where its ethnic Chinese have been flocking to Singapore to further their studies over the years due to Malaysia’s discriminatory racial policies.
Many of them are high filers who end up settling down in Singapore. When Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Najib Tun Razak visited Singapore last year during the APEC Summit, he was astonished that more than half the medical specialists in Mount Elizabeth hospital are Malaysians.
In Malaysia, one can be a top student in the SPM examinations (equivalent of Singapore’s ‘A’ levels) and that may still not guarantee a place in a respected university in the country such as University of Malaya.
However, these bright Malaysian students are able to obtain a Singapore government scholarship easily to pursue their tertiary education in Singapore.
Singapore’s octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew told National Geographic magazine in an interview lately that it is a “good” thing that Singapore has welcomed so many Chinese immigrants as they are more “hard-driving and hard-striving” than locals.
While Malaysian Chinese forms the bulk of Chinese immigrants in the past, there are increasing numbers of mainland Chinese in recent years. This year’s top student is from China.
Ms Lai will probably stay on in Singapore to complete her studies after which she will find work here and take up PR and eventually Singapore citizenship.
