The Outstanding Student

In secondary school, we used to joke about 'outstanding student' to mean someone being sent out of the class to stand outside, for having misbehaved. The 'school runner' is one who runs away as in absent from school, not someone who takes part in running the 100-metre or 200-metre race.

Not everyone likes to attend school nor able to excel in studies. Some are intellectually ahead of their classmates and actually find the classroom environment very boring. Fortunately, there are more things in life than being good in studies. Some school, college or university dropouts have made such a success in their lives that they are actually role models for those who happen to have dropped out for one reason or other, and not necessarily because they could not pass the examinations. World renown dropout like Bill Gates comes to mind immediately because he was at one time, the richest person in the world and his name was synonymous with Microsoft and Windows, the most used operating system in computers!

Locally, the late Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong was known to be almost illiterate, yet made his billions from the one and only licensed casino in Genting. When Lat, the cartoonist drew a cartoon on someone who was awarded a 'datoship' with the exclamation, 'Gua sudah lapat latuk' at the time when people complained about the awarded persons' suitability in terms of at least knowledge of Bahasa Malaysia, I thought Lat had him in mind!

In terms of literacy in English, Raja Petra 'the fugitive' stands out as someone who has an excellent command of the language and he could put many of today's graduates and professionals to shame. He has an exceptionally sharp and perceptive mind in his analyses of our socio-political events and with his bold exposes of corrupt practices among top echelons of our political leaders and his frank opinions on ultra-sensitive issues on race and religion, he is like an unofficial 'spokesman' of the masses (especially non-Bumiputeras) on matters which they would not touch on. So it is amazing to know about his background: the fact that he was of royal blood and a Bumiputera; his grandfather was a Governor of Penang and so on, yet he did not really benefit from the so-called NEP which was specifically set out to help them. Perhaps, only those who are Umnoputras rather than Bumiputeras benefited.

More on Raja Petra's background:
http://malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/no-holds-barred/43243-the-spin-by-the-unspinners

Link