No... not the GENERAL ELECTION. This comes hot on the heels of the GE, the SPM results from last year's SPM examinations, taken by my sister in fact.


The original news article on NST here.

For the lazy ones...

Kedah student scores 20 A1 in SPM, beats earlier record of 17 A1

PUTRAJAYA, Wed:

A new Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia genius has emerged. Azali Azlan, 17, of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Yan, Kedah, scored an unprecedented 20 A1 and 1 A2 to beat previous record holder Nur Amalina Che Bakri, who scored 17 A1 in the 2004 SPM examination.
The middle child of teacher-parents, Azali studied nine of the 21 subjects he took on his own because they were not offered at his boarding school. He also did not attend tuition classes, except those offered by his school.

Azali attributed his overwhelming success to his parents and teachers who sourced for him books for the additional subjects he took.

Azali, described by his teachers as an overachiever since his primary school days, said he did not impose a tight study timetable on himself to avoid stress, but studied when he felt like it.

Described as an overachiever eh? Do i laugh or don't laugh? No comment? How do you take that statement of trait?

“Of course you have to consistently 'feel like it.' I studied everyday. I also did a lot of prayers, watched my diet and took the advice of my headmaster to consume a lot of dates, honey and milk. When I thought there was nothing more I could do to best prepare myself, I decided to fast throughout the exams,” he said at the ceremony to announce the SPM results at the Education Ministry here today.

How does one consistently 'feel like it'???

Azali obtained A1s in Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Science, Accountancy, Higher Arabic Language, Economics, Commerce, Geography, History, Malay Literature, Arts, Tasawwur Islam, Al-Quran Education and Assunnah, Syariah Islamiah Education, Islamic Education. He scored A2 for English for Science and Technology.

Tasawwur Islam, Al-Quran Education and Assunnah, Syariah Islamiah Education, Islamic Education... these seem pretty redundant to me. Maybe he did it for the lulz?

Azali stressed that said he took the 21 subjects for his personal satisfaction, not to beat records. “To me, it is meaningless if I did it only to break records. Actually, I only decided to take 21 papers after my SPM trial which I scored 18A1 and 3A2.”

Azali admitted that pressure to excel did at one point almost got the best of him but he overcame it after meetings with his counselors as well as talks with his parents.

A ‘Nilam’ award winner (given in recognition of champion readers at state level), deputy prefect and school debater, Azali, who was in the first cohort of Form 1 students to be taught Mathematics and Science subjects in English in 2003, said he answered his papers entirely in English. He wants to pursue a degree in biotechnology, abroad.

His proud parents Rozita Sanapi, 46 and Azlan Othman 51, who teach in Penang were also at the ceremony. Rozita said his son had since young, shown a very keen interest in education and reading.

“When he was in Standard 6, he would ask me to buy workbooks for all subjects and would finish at least five in a week and studied till wee hours in the morning. He always sets his targets and achieves them,” she said.

Azlan said he had talked Azali through the pros and cons of taking 21 subjects and supported his son’s final decision to do it.

The rest is history.

Do not that i'm not trying to ridicule or criticize him or anything, but this just goes to show the absurdity of the education system here in Malaysia. Hishamuddin... you gotta do better man. Don't turn our education system into a laughing stock. As are good but having too many As ISN'T GOOD AT ALL.

Wonder what western colleges and universities would say about this.