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High-flying Malay student at Penang Chinese school becomes education sensation
Ahmad Khidir Ahmad Nazri’s academic success has gone viral on social media, inspiring Malaysians who lauded his Mandarin proficiency
Reading Time:2 minutes
Joseph Sipalan
Published: 12:29pm, 29 Nov 2024
Malaysians have commended a Malay pupil for his stellar academic performance at a Chinese institution, a rare example of a non-Chinese student securing the top spot in the country’s hyper-competitive Chinese school syllabus.
The achievements of Ahmad Khidir Ahmad Nazri, 17, emerged on Sunday after his sister shared a TikTok video of him receiving five top awards including for Top Student and Best in Year from SMJK Heng Ee school in Penang.
The video, which garnered 1.7 million views and more than 200,000 likes, was widely circulated by local media as Malaysians flooded social media with positive messages and posts congratulating him for his achievements.
“Congratulations Ahmad Khidir. I will use this name for my son. May he be successful like you,” read a comment by one Farah on TikTok.
Ahmad Khidir’s accomplishments stand out as non-Chinese students remain the minority in Malaysian Chinese medium schools, which are widely seen as having higher academic standards among public schools with the added difficulty of using Mandarin as the medium of instruction.
Those sentiments were echoed by many on Malaysian social media, who shared their struggles navigating the strict syllabus at Chinese schools.
“It is not easy for a Malay to survive in [Chinese schools] … it is hard to find those who excel,” read one comment on X.
There is, however, a growing trend of students from among Malaysia’s bumiputra – which loosely translates to sons of the soil and includes the Malay-Muslim majority and indigenous groups – enrolling in Chinese schools.
In 2024, more than 18 per cent of the student population at Chinese medium schools is bumiputra, according to government data, up from around 11 per cent a decade earlier.
Ahmad Khidir, who was educated entirely under the Chinese syllabus since kindergarten, admitted that it was not easy to build proficiency in Mandarin.
“You have to try and try again … there is no straight road to success,” he said in an interview with a local radio station on Tuesday.
“Difficulties are only temporary. Stay strong, motivated and keep trying.”
Ahmad Khidir’s success despite the challenging learning environment was not lost on Malaysians, including some ethnic Chinese who felt embarrassed that his Mandarin was better than theirs.
“Tsinghua University China is waiting for you. You won’t need to apply, they will come to you,” read a comment to his sister’s TikTok video, referring to one of China’s top public varsities.
