So patriotic, yet I send my children to international schools.

Umar Mukhtar

Before I had children, I was watching TV with a 6-year old son of a friend studying abroad, I pointed out to him a spider on the TV screen. He looked at me incredulously and said that it was a tarantula. From then on I was wondering that if only I had a better education, I could have conquered the world!

I then sent my only daughter, now 31, to the International School of Kuala Lumpur because it was allowed since my wife was a foreigner, a Malay Singaporean. Her secondary and tertiary education was continued at my expense, for the next 14 years, in the United States. Then one day, surprisingly, she came home even though she had a lucrative job offer in New York.

I kind of whispered why just she didn’t migrate, with all these ridiculous things happening in Malaysia. Again I got that incredulous look, “Malaysia is my country. We can work it out.” I was secretly happy but kept a straight face.

Now that fate had caused me to have 9-year old son, I did not hesitate to send him to an international school at 5 years old even though I am then retired and could barely afford it. His mother and I decided to forego the second house and use the money for his school. It cost me RM5,000 a month tuition fees alone at that age. My Mara Loan for 4 years of law school plus food and lodging, books and the occasional dates totalled only RM7,200. All repaid, ok.

Is it worth it?

I don’t know. I must admit I was hesitant to send him to Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan because of the numerous changes of national education policies, the lowering of passing marks to ridiculous levels, and the segregation of the races by default. I sure hope those high officials know what they are doing and not make a whole generation of kids the victims of their fickle-mindedness.

Smart kids can excel even in dumps. But I prefer to think my kids are average, they needed the best help they can get.

At his school now, they mostly teach him how to learn. To the point that none of the things I don’t know that he hasn’t got references for, by Googling the Internet. And he insisted always on two choices for me to decide on, his teachers had taught him that. Not much homework at all but he comes home at the end of the day tired physically from sports which is compulsory. Not mentally tired though.

His school bag is surprisingly light, filled only with a water-bottle, a legal pad, a compulsory story book from the library for every night bed-time reading, and a school-issue I-Pad. That’s how I check his school-work. All that pornography and anti-national filth don’t seem to bother him. I hope the RM4 billion BESTARI project is also helping rural kids and not just a white elephant helping YTL’s 4G YES to expand nationally.

So now I only had to worry when to bring him camping and fishing and the occasional durian-searching in the dusun. Dusun which I had to sell to make up for my depleting finances. And twice a week religious tuition and Malay classes. I remember sending my daughter and her Uztazah to Umrah when she finished with flying colours. Being non-Malay speaking, they picked up the language from their environment; TV, grandparents, cousins and all. My daughter even got a high credit when she sat for the optional GCE Malay paper.

I reminded him not to take pork as it is against our religion, and he answered that the cafeteria doesn’t serve pork or pork products and it has an ISO something something for cleanliness and hygienic food-preparation. I was tempted to ask if it has the all-redeeming Jakim’s Halal certificate when I remembered that the messy Mamak stall I frequented doesn’t either. A debate with him on labels and taking personal responsibilities would have left me at the losing end, so I didn’t.

When the government lifted the quota for Malaysians to attend international schools, the school was deluged with rich Chinese kids who did not prefer Chinese schools. When I saw their numbers in his class, I asked how many Chinese in his class. His answer was two. I saw a lot more, I said. He said that the two were from Hong Kong, the rest that I saw were Malaysians. That was embarrassing.

Boy, I got my ‘tarantula’ answer right there. Bless him that his education did not encumber him with my prejudices, and he was able to call a spade a spade. I wish now I had that kind of education. Don’t we all?

But he won’t be inheriting an appreciated-value house and a dusun. But I pray he is learning now how to earn one himself later. Only one, please. “The other Malaysians need houses too,” he said. They teach politics or what? Oh, only common sense.