Shattering an old time myth
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser
THE UNIQUE SUCCESS STORY OF ZAID IBRAHIM HAS SHATTERRED OLD MALAY MYTHS
I am deeply honoured to be asked by Zaid Ibrahim to sponsor the launching of the Mandarin version of his book ‘I TOO AM MALAY’
The book narrates the story of a series of unique achievements by Zaid Ibrahim, which make very interesting reading.
Basically, he was a poor kampong boy from Kelantan. His father moved around on a bicycle as there was no family car. At Kota Bahru he enrolled first at the Sultan Ismail primary school, joined the Sultan Ismail college at the age of 13. He was an avid reader and he knew how to choose his schools.
Next he chose to study at English College in Johore Bahru, a big jump from Kota Bahru. He chose the college because it was the ‘best college’ and had a mixture of students of different races, and besides it was near to Singapore where the action was.
From there he emigrated with a scholarship to Mara Institute of Technology in Kuala Lumpur, graduating in Law. With a Mara degree he went to London to read for the BAR exam.
His foray into a law career started well when he formed his own law firm Zaid Ibrahim & Co. By dint of hard wark and business savvy he landed a fat client PLUS. From then on he rocketed upwards and his firm became the largest in the country.
Although at the top of his profession, Zaid was not ready to rest on his laurels. His intelligence and quest for new challenges led him into politics which was in a political ferment.
The call of politics landed him first into PAS. He next joined UMNO, and here he was picked to be Minister of Law with the task to institute judiciary reforms.
