COMMENT The late Madam Phek (not her real name, at the request of her family members) passed away some three years ago at the age of 87.

Not knowing her in person, yet being able to put together her biography on behalf of her family, was the most enriching experience in my writing career.

To most people, her life is nothing great, but that is because we have always equated success with money or fame.

But as a primary school teacher in Kahang and a single mother, she is a great example for the younger generation of teachers. If there is one message that comes across through the entire biography, I guess it would have to be familiar maxim: “Focus on children’s education. Whatever the circumstances, never ever give up!”

An unsung hero, life was never a bed of roses after her husband passed away at a young age. At one point, she even wanted to take her life, but by God’s grace, she managed to persevere through extreme hardships.

After re-marrying, Phek raised six sons and one daughter who are today successful in their own ways. One of her sons has a doctorate degree in civil engineering and is a well-known figure in the local construction industry, while another is a gynaecologist in Singapore.

Moving out of poverty cycle

Juggling between her children and a teaching career, she had to make ends meet with a pay of $100 a month. When her older three sons went to Muar for their secondary school education, she had no money to buy their school books and food.

Even when her salary was subsequently raised to $200, she had to find other streams of income to feed her growing up children. Most of her contemporaries thought she was a miserly woman, but they did not see the extreme poverty that she had to go through, being a widow and the sole breadwinner.

During the school holidays, whenever her sister who was working in Singapore visited the family, the two sisters would provide some hairdressing services to the village womenfolk.

She also provided some form of ‘kindergarten services’ for the younger children in Kahang, when she realised that the unschooled children were loitering around while the parents were busy earning a living. It was a service which she could provide to meet a need, and it provided a stream of income to supplement her personal income.

With the extra income that she was earning, she was fortunate enough to have invested in a piece of land, on which she was able to build her house after her retirement. She had the foresight to see that that after her retirement, she and her family would not have the luxury of living in the teachers’ quarters.

With whatever extra income that she could generate, she started to invest in a piece of land which she turned into a small rubber plantation. Subsequently, when times were good, she worked hard at getting the land sub-divided so that the individual lots could be sold to build houses.

Children are successful

Despite all the hardships that Phek went through, she was able to put all her children through university education, with the exception of only one son, who subsequently became the chief executive officer of a multinational pharmaceutical company.

Today, her children can rise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. A virtuous woman, who can find, and many women do noble things but, in my opinion, Phek is an exemplary first generation Chinese Malaysian who managed to raise her children to overcome the cycle of poverty.

If Perkasa thinks that the Chinese are the ‘luckiest’, they are wrong. Wealth does not come when one holds out one’s hands to expect money to fall from the sky; it comes with big sacrifices.

What you see today of wealthy Chinese, there is a story of sacrifice that is never told.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.