Olympiad...and the story of Boabdil, the Last King of Alhambra

1. I had a chance to make a short 10-day trip back to Malaysia couple of weeks ago before the final exams. Doing pretty much nothing at all at home, I started back my old habit of spending literally hours to read the daily newspaper(I like malaysian papers for some reasons). I came across an article in a local paper that was about a group of Malaysian students who won a gold medal in Robotic Olympiad (in Korea I think).

2. Congratulation to them, on the other hand it somehow reminds me of those days when I had the chance to represent my beloved country, Malaysia to the Olympiad. Different ones of course, I went to the Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO) as well as the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).

3. Olympiad, is the highest level of competition for any student in this world. It's just like the Olympic for a sport person. Among the oldest and most prestige ones are the Maths Olympiad, Physics Olympiad, and the Chemistry Olympiad, all started around 1950s or 1960s. (Nowadays, surprisingly there are more than 12 Olympiads are held annually). The other Olympiads including Robotics, Geology, Astronomy, Biology, and many more that I will never know the names...most started in the early 1990s and the 21st century.

4. In Robotic Olympiads, students are supposed to design a prototype and marks will be given by judges, while for Maths or Physics, they are almost all calculations, experiments and manipulation of both based on theories we had learnt in school. Basically, the former one is about creativity and subjectivity of the judges, while the latter one is totally based on understanding, mathematical ability and manipulation of concepts (how the students could turn and twist their brains to solve them).

5. Any students who have enrolled in a university are prohibited from participating in Olympiads. But based on my own experience,even second year university level physics knowledge is not sufficient to solve a physics olympiad question correctly. 3 questions in 5 hours. Thats all you need to do in APhO & IPhO. But somehow, you will still wish that you have 24 hours or maybe one week to do those 3 questions. There is also an experiment to be done the next day, in 5 hours too.

6. Back in 2004, I was pretty lucky to get picked to go to APhO in Hanoi, Vietnam. In the first round for qualification, 40 STPM and Mara college students were picked based on some multiple choice questions. They were cut down to 13 students after the second qualifying round. There were 11 chinese students and 2 malays including myself. 8 will be pick to go to APhO in coming final qualification round. Traditionally, APhO was held a few months earlier than IPhO.

7. We had one malay physics lecturer, one indian (or maybe serani kot) maths lecturer from UKM and 3 more chinese STPM teachers who will teach and assess us based on past year papers. I remembered all of them saying something like this to me and Nazri Kasuan (the other malay guy in the team) ,

"It's OK for you both coz you both need to just compete with each other to secure 1 place. We always have 1 place ( out of eight) for Bumiputra in our team. But the rest will have to compete for the other 7 places."

8. I never felt any more insult than that in my whole life. Coming from a chinese school, I always believe in fair competition. IT IS TRUE that me and Nazri were ranked 11th and 12th in that group of 13 students based on our previous round result. IT IS ALSO TRUE that ALL malay participants in previous physics Olympiad managed to be in the Malaysian team due to that 'one special place' due to our special privilege. I believe that the lecturers are saying that to stimulate us to work harder, but both of us do not like the fact that previous malay students have been relying on that 'privilege', nor the way the other students of other races might be thinking of us.

9. For the first time in a Malaysian team to physics olympiad, 2 malays managed to get through --- through merit, of course. Fortunate enough (plus DAMN LOT of hard work okk), both of us were ranked 6th and 7th in the team of 8 students who will be going to Hanoi. We are more than happy, of course.

10. The malay lecturer was so happy of course, but I believe he did not put much expectation on us in the coming APhO since there wasn't any malay participant who had won anything in APhO or IPhO before us. So he said ,

"I'm more than happy for you guys, that both of you made it to the competition. This is the first time that 2 malay students qualified together. Previous ones had all relied on the quota to make it to the competition. You made me proud. But as you already know, only 5 out of these 8 will be going to the international one, IPhO. We gonna pick the student based on the your results in this coming Asia one. But in case none of you make the cut to be in the top 5, one of you will still represent the country with the quota. There's always a place for one of you in the team. Just make sure both of you work hard k?"

11. We did not say much. But we are determined and we know what we have to do. For the final 3 weeks before departure, both of us spent days and nights studying just physics. College works are pretty much had been abandoned. I even remembered not going out of the room for 1 whole straight week, relying just on the instant noodles, Mee Maggi to survive. I even had an argument with one of my group mates for not doing my part of the group presentation (The truth is I actually have an exemption for that assignment). I believed that I'm doing something more important for not only myself and my family, but for the team, our college and most importantly, the pride of my race. We don't like the fact that some people think that malays are relatively inferior to other races in Malaysia, especially in Maths, Physics or other science and calculation-based subjects.

12. Our efforts did not go waste. I won an Honourable Mention, and was the only one who won something for the team (There are 4 types of prize : gold, silver, and bronze medal, and the Honourable Mentions. More than one participant can win the same prize. 1/4 of the participants receive atleast an Honourable Mentions). Nazri did pretty well too, was the fourth best in our team. Both of us surprised our lecturers for making the cut to the international physics olympiad, by being the 1st and 4th in the malaysian team in asia physics olympiad.

13. The malay lecturer was really delighted with the result. I was even more excited to be the first and only malay student to won something in an Olympiad, even tho it's just in the Asia level(I'm not being racist here, it's a matter of fact that chinese students usually do better than the malays in previous Malaysian teams. See: http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/~ipho/participate.htm).

14. Good things never go too long. In the preparation for IPhO, I was the one who was less determined and less hardworking than the others. Partly was due to busy catching up with studies in college, and partly because I was busy applying for entry to universities. Or maybe I was just feeling too complacent with what I've got. I do not know why.

15. I guess my father had seen enough of my lacklustre, half-hearted, and unmotivated preparation. Knowing his son well enough, he told me a story about Boabdil, the last Arab King in Spain.

16. Boabdil was the last muslim king in Spain. He was supposed to defend Grenada, which was the last stronghold of muslims in Spain at that time. Being surrounded by the Christian crusaders lead by Queen Isabelle and King Ferdinand (these crusaders just lost a crusade battle in the Middle East, they were basically an army which was defeated by the muslim army in Jerusalem and had came to revenge in Spain on the way back to their respective country), Boabdil eventually surrendered Grenada to them in January 1492 without any fight. In return, he and his royal family were granted a safe passage to Morocco.

17. On the surrender of his muslim kingdom, which was witness by every citizen (including Christopher Columbus who later found America), he kissed the hand of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle. He passed the key to the gate of Alhambra(his palace in Grenada) to them, and he cried together with the crowd. All the muslims were in tears while all the Christian crusaders were in joy. That hill later was called Hill of the Arabian Tears (translation: Bukit Air Mata Arab. I just could not imagine how he could surrender his kingdom without fighting at all to a weakened crusade army which had just previously lost a battle at somewhere else.It is very sarcastic indeed).

18. While crossing the Gilbratar Strait to Morocco, the king regretted the surrender and cried on the ship. His fellow companions asked him why he is still crying while he is already safe now.

He said, " I cried in fear of my people who will be killed after I left." Which turned out to be true, 2 million muslims and jews were believed to have been killed or forced to convert to Christianity a few years later. (More sarcastically, one of the largest mosque in this world at that time in Grenada, was converted to a church. All are results of this lousy king who surrendered his kingdom. )

His mother, who was unsympathetic at that time, replied him, "You do well...to weep like a woman for what you did not fight like a man." She was saying he did not deserve to cry at all when he DID NOT TRY HIS BEST to defend the country.

19. My father was actually trying to say that if I do not make it in the IPhO, I will regret for the rest of my life for not trying my best. He said that people generally regret when they did not do their best, but they will never feel bad if they had done to the best of their ability. Anyways, I did not take his word seriously in the end.

20. On the plane to Pohang, Korea, my malay lecturer told me that he had put a very high hope on me for the first time. " I can see that you are different than the others. You have the talent to do it. For us, for you and me, for your family, and for our race, please make them all proud. I want you to bring back a medal." There was never anyone from Malaysia brought home a medal from IPhO before that. (There was one before in APhO but not IPhO)

21. My father was right. I failed to deliver. I screwed up my theory paper badly. All four of my team mates including Nazri, won a total of 4 Honourable Mentions(HM). I was the only one who did not get anything. Nazri eventually was the first out of only two malay students (later one was 3 years after us) to win something in the IPhO, the International Physics Olympiad.

22. I was devastated. On the other hand, our lecturers and the rest were very happy cause it was the best ever result achieved by a Malaysian team. The others tried to console me and said that I was the one who drive them and make them wanted to work harder after the APhO. The team achievement was somehow owed to me in a way.

23. I know they were just trying to make me feel better, but the cruel reality is I am THE ONLY ONE WHO FAILED to deliver. Don't think about a medal, I could not even get an HM.

24. When I finally reached Malaysia, me and Nazri prayed in the mosque in our college together. In the final rakaat, I could not help but cry. I remembered the story of Boabdil that my father told me. But I could not help but crying when thinking of how I had disappointed my lecturer, my father and my family, and others who have been so supportive to me. My friends, my teachers in the college, everyone who was waiting for a good news from me, I know I'd let them down. I regret, and I cried for the first time in more than 4 years...my father was right about me after all. I know I don't deserved to cry at all cause I never tried my best in the first place, but I could not help.

25. I am sorry everyone. I know I can't turn back the time...but saying sorry was all I could do now. I will remember this failure for the rest of my life but for sure, I am really sorry for letting all of you down. I AM SORRY.

____________________________________________________________________

1. As a matter of fact, Malaysian team in physics olympiad (and in Maths Olympiad too I believe) usually did not do too well compared to other less developed countries in this region. As an example, Thailand managed to get couple of medals every year. In APhO 2004, 1 bronze and 4 HM for Thailand; 1 silver and 2 bronze for Indonesia; a few silver for Vietnam. In IPhO 2004, the same team produces 1 silver and a few more bronze for Thailand; 1 gold (I think) and a few gold, silver and bronze for Indonesia; and 3 gold and 1 silver and 1 bronze (I think) for Vietnam. Most of them are around 16 years old, and one gold medalist from Indonesia is just 15 years old. As a comparison, Malaysia got 1 HM for APhO 2004, and 4 HM in IPhO the same year. Not even a medal. And we all are 18 years old.

2. First ever medal which was produced by Malaysia was in 2005 or maybe 2006. A single bronze. And another silver the year after in IPhO. Good improvement, but it is still a relatively slow and small achievement compared to our neighbors. Something for us to think about.

3. I believe it's down to 2 things: preparation and education system. We spent 3 weeks on physics camp for our preparation for APhO, and one month plus in total for IPhO. Oppositely, Indonesia spent 45 days for APhO and 3 months for IPhO.

4. In Vietnam or Thailand (countries which have been MUCH SUPERIOR than Malaysia in past Olympiads), has a special school for talented students. Students who are recognized as 'having special ability' in a certain subject, will take a test and go to these special schools around the age of 14 and learn only one subject, in order to get the best out of them. By the age of 16, they could enter the university and specialize in their respective field of talent. In that education system, age is not the benchmark of education level for those kids, unlike Malaysia. Intelligence level is the sole determinant of which level will these kids be. But of course, they have normal school for normal kids too.

5. Malaysia only have one system, that is based on the age (except for international schools). But I'm not sure which one between these two are the best education system for us. Talented students in Vietnam are well polished to suit their ability, but for sure they lack the 'normal' development and 'youth experience' like other kids. However, Vietnam are now attracting the highest FDI, Foreign Direct Investment in the ASEAN region, thanks to their low cost but abundant human capital, as a result of their education system. It is something that we should look into.

6. Even though Malaysia has PTS system where students cut short their education by one year, it is still different than the one in Vietnam. Vietnam's gifted kids only study and specialize in one subject, unlike Malaysia where all of us have to learn all other subjects (in example all 3 science subjects have to be taken for all science stream students, we can't study Chemistry only or Physics only). Don't forget we all have to take some other compulsory subjects, that most of the students end up taking almost 9 subjects in SPM.

7. In Malaysia, scholarships are given based on the overall SPM result and the interview. This means we might have overlooked students who are particularly good in one subject but did not do well on the overall. So how are we going to know if one student who got only 3 As might be much better in Chemistry (as an example) than another 10As student? If we really are going to produce a Nobel prize winner by 2050, I think we should start to review our education system now.

8. A lot of Malaysians have the mentality that being a researcher does not get you anywhere nor make you rich. Hence, a lot of brilliant students end up taking courses like Medicine, Engineering, Commerce or IT. Not many really interested in specializing in Science or Life Science subjects. Even the government did not provide many scholarships to study science courses compared to other courses like Engineering or Medicine.

9. Singapore did not do too well too (compared to Malaysia lah) in the Physics Olympiad. But they are smart enough to try to lure those smart students from other countries. Many of my chinese friends end up studying and working in Singapore after getting the scholarship to study in universities in Singapore. When we were in Vietnam for APhO, the Singaporean team try to court us and lure us to go Singapore after we finish our college and STPM, by offering us a full scholarship to study in the Nanyang University or the National University of Singapore (NUS). We kindly rejected them because me and Nazri already have scholarships, but we are not too sure about the others in our team if they accepted it or not. The rest in the team are studying STPM which means they do not have any scholarships yet, but I heard that all of them got 5 As in STPM in the end. I am not too sure of their whereabout now but last time I met them I do hear some of them are complaining about not getting proper recognition for their effort and their time spent for the country in the olympiad. It won't be a surprise to me if later I find out that some of them really went to Singapore.

10. I heard that there are more and more Malaysians, including some malays, who have openly asked the government to scrap the privilege/quota for the malays (and the other indigenous people of course) nowadays. Partly it is because we have a weak government, partly I think it is because they believe that those privileges are no longer relevant to our society. For the chinese, they long for a more open economy, more placement in the universities and scholarships. For the indians, they want more protection and opportunities from the government. And for those ungrateful malays (I'm referring to those who asked for abolishment of our own privileges), they are either politically motivated or they are blinded by what they think they have achieved with their own hard work. THE FACT IS WE STILL NEED THOSE PRIVILEGES. From my own experience being in a chinese school and the physics olympiad, we could see that the malays still have a long way to go before we are really competent to compete with other races on equal platform. If we don't have the quotas, I believe most if not all of our Malaysian team members to IPhO or maths Olympiad going to be of that one race. If we don't have the quotas, malay students will definitely be outnumbered in universities, especially in overseas. In Sydney, even with scholarships (majority of malay students are sponsored students), malay students are still far outnumbered by the non-malay Malaysian students ( I believe it could be as worst as 3 or 4 non-malays to every malay student). Without the scholarships, I strongly believe it's just gonna be much worst than this. Someday maybe we really do not need the privileges anymore, but before that day comes, we should maintain it. Or maybe the abolishment should be a slow, well-planned, and well-executed long term process, in order to make sure that the malays are always competent as well as competitive.

11. Anyways, back to the topic of our education system, I remember having read somewhere in the newspaper a few years ago, that one smart kid who could read by the age of 3, he end up dropped out of the school (he said the school was boring because he knew everything already), and in the end became a penebar roti canai (a person who makes roti canai). What a waste of talent actually. Maybe this should be a lesson for all of us...

Cheers!

Footnote:

To look at the history of Malaysia's achievement in International Math Olympiad (IMO), available here, http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~do3/imo-malaysia.html For International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) & Asian Physics Olympiad (APhO), visit http://pkukmweb.ukm.my/~ipho/participate.htm Nazri and I participated in IPhO and APhO in 2004. And I'm happy to see that Malaysian teams are performing better year by year since our days. Some even managed to get bronze and silver medals.