PUTRAJAYA: Form Four student Wee Soo Yen surprised the audience when she went on stage to receive the Maulidur Rasul award from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.
The 16-year-old Kelantanese, who was recognised for her fluency in Arabic, was the only Chinese among the list of seven recipients.
She had scored an ‘A’ for the subject in the PMR examination last year. The distinction was among the string of straight As she obtained.
She started studying Arabic three years ago.
“I love languages and since my school offered the subject, I gave it a try,” said Wee, who is also fluent in Malay, English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien.
She was the only Chinese in her Arabic class and did not attend tuition classes to master the language.
“At first it was a bit weird being the only non-Muslim in the class but I adjusted quickly,” she said.
Wee, who aspires to be a lecturer in either psychology or linguistics, said her younger sister Soo May is also learning Arabic.
Her father Wee Hock Lim said the family did not pressure her to excel.
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