A dose of youthful vitality

A BOUT of fever probably induced by the combination of heat and haze, followed by an annoying cough, caused (among other hits to productivity) writer’s block, but luckily, my colleague insisted that I meet a group of secondary school students from SMS Tuanku Aishah Rohani that is still known by the acronym SGS from its previous name, Science Girls School.

Indeed, I was present with Tuanku Aishah Rohani in 2017 when they changed the name of the school upon the site that was housed by another school named for a Tunku Ampuan of Negri Sembilan: Tunku Kurshiah.

The six teenage girls present were being introduced to the work of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), given their interest in public policy and penchant for debating. Indeed, having witnessed the culture of debating in many Malaysian schools and universities, it is clear that debating is a key co-curricular activity for bright and articulate students (and indeed many debaters have ended up working at IDEAS).

And because they were debaters, the usual period of awkward silence where everyone is too shy to say anything was happily curtailed. In a mix of English and Malay, we got straight into interesting topics like academic interests, debating tactics, pop culture, musical and sporting preferences, their experience of sexism (especially being in an all-girls school) and the significance of rainbows.

And it was utterly refreshing. Although recent open houses allowed for some cross-generational conversations, it is different when speaking to a cohort of like-minded young people pursuing similar goals.

All take their academic pursuits very seriously and are keenly aware of the prestigious legacy of their school. I was pleased that “science” to them includes the social sciences, with two among them desiring to become a politician or diplomat.

In discussing debating and public speaking, we all agreed on the need for proper research, conviction and respect for the other side.

Naturally, they were horrified by some of the worst examples of speeches in our Dewan Rakyat. I had to ask who their inspirations were – and most were foreign.

But that segued nicely into a conversation about important changes in our policymaking processes, in particular the new and vital roles of Parliamentary Select Committees and All Party Parliamentary Groups, where civil society and academia have a chance to contribute to policy and even specific bills concerning refugees or political financing, for instance.

Their views on politics in general were injected by youthful optimism. Despite acknowledging the poor performance of mostly older politicians, they had a much more forgiving view of fresher faces, across all parties. Everyone had an opinion of the unity government and policy preferences for certain topics, which did not neatly map onto any existing party.

The whole time, these six Malay girls showed their commitment to a multicultural Malaysia, but their consumption of culture was even more interesting, comprising K-pop, British band Coldplay, Russian composer Tchaikovsky, movies of every genre and language, books of every ilk, and food preferences to match.

Upon exchanging views about education, comprising much agreement about the importance of critical thinking, sports and music, one of the party, Iman, asked me: “Should elites attend the same schools as the majority of the rakyat?”

Of course, there is an underlying logic for that sentiment: leaders should experience the same thing as the people. Having said that, there is a huge diversity within the education system. In some cases, the difference between two government schools can be bigger than the difference between a government and private school.

These differences aren’t just about academic achievement and co-curricular opportunities, but also about the racial and religious composition and culture of a school.

And as I’m not yet a parent, I haven’t experienced this personally, but I have seen how parents prioritise their children’s education, using an array of devices to get their kids into the best schools and best classes, such as exploiting contacts for recommendation letters, taking advantage of relatives’ home addresses, serving on parent-teacher associations and making donations for renovations and to school societies.

Some of these tactics may be questionable, but it is why government policy should acknowledge the drive for excellence and increase competition in the system. The students understood. We spoke about choice, exemplified by more Malays attending Chinese vernacular schools, and they were keen to learn that IDEAS Autism Centre and Ideas Academy were established to serve the most marginalised in society.But what was most striking to me was how these girls were aware that they themselves were attending a great school, with all the opportunities it entails. Seeing such youthful vitality and optimism was truly the best cure for any fever!

Tunku Zain Al-‘Abidin is the founding president of IDEAS. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.