Our own Celebrity Chef?

At a dialogue during the launching of Mendaki's latest book which chronicles the Malay community's journey through education, Professor Yaacob Ibrahim expressed his hope to see "peaks of excellence" within the Malay community. He said "When I go around and ask people : Who is the top Malay doctor? Who is the top Malay lawyer? People are hard pressed to find them". He was encouraging the Malay community to "push to the next level" having done considerably well over the years.

A researcher Siti Hazirah Mohamad who was also in the panel of speakers however pointed out that they should not just benchmark themselves to the traditional notions of success. I agree totally with her.

One thing that strikes me when engaging with children in Pertapis, a Malay Children's Home, is their caring nature. Though there may be some teasing and bullying, generally the older children seem to care for the younger ones. I have on many occasions witnessed the welfare staff resorting to calling a certain older child to help pacify a younger child throwing a violent tantrum. The children also seem to provide moral support to each other. In my opinion these children will excel in human service related jobs like nursing and social work.

I also notice the children love to imitate the chefs in the Cooking TV shows. I think the Malays are quite artistic and may do well in culinary art and entertainment.

If Yaacob Ibrahim is spurring the Malay community to produce a famous lawyer or doctor, I think the children in the Malay Children's home are at a huge social disadvantage to achieve that. However if according to Hazirah Mohamad we change our definition of success, I am very hopeful the children in Pertapis will be successful in pursuing career in the service industry. That is why while engaging with them at pretend play I encourage them to pay close attention to customer needs be it as a nurse or as a chef. Who knows one day we may have our own Gordon Ramsay or Jamie Oliver.