Editor’s note:  With the passing of Daim Zainuddin, Malaysiakini is republishing this 2014 KINIBIZ article which chronicles his rags-to-riches story.

On April 29, 1938, a Kedah state government clerk and his homemaker wife welcomed their thirteenth child in Derga, Alor Setar. They named their youngest child Daim.

Daim’s parents are, by all accounts, a major influence on how he would turn out to be. Both felt strongly about education and enrolled all their children in English-medium schools, contrary to growing worries among Malay parents at the time of how English-medium education might affect their children’s religious faith and cultural identity.

The reason for this, according to a profile on Daim previously published on his website, is that “they did not want their children to become better farmers and fisherfolk”. Notably, Daim is a known proponent of English-medium education today.

After early schooling at...