My parents managed to only complete Darjah Tiga/ Standard Three of their education. Poverty and the nature of 'human capital revolution' during the 1940s did not afford them the luxury of being in an ivory tower.

One became a taxi driver and the other a factory worker in Singapore assembling microchips for a German multinational corporation. They would leave for work at four in the morning and come home at seven at night. That was the story of their lives. I am sure they had the dream of entering a place called the university.

They spent their time -hard times- that took toll on their personal lives, raising their children to enter the university.