Education breaks poverty cycle for Miandy, with help from late Samy Vellu

PETALING JAYA: Raised poverty-stricken in a rubber estate with a father who was addicted to alcohol, Dr M. Miandy Munusamy had deemed his future doomed.

As a child, he believed his fate was sealed to remain at the estate in Pauh, Perlis, and carry out menial jobs for survival when he becomes an adult.

However, as a teenager, it all changed when he realised that the only way of getting out of poverty was by getting a good education.

The 45-year-old, who is a principal assistant secretary of the strategic planning and international relations division of the Education Ministry, recounted how growing up in a hardcore poor family in the absence of fatherly guidance as a child left him directionless in life.

The eighth child of nine siblings, Miandy went to a Tamil vernacular school.

“My father was an alcoholic and was in a drunken stupor every day. He never went to work till the day he died.

“My mother toiled all day as a rubber tapper to put food on the table for my younger brother, seven sisters and me. We were so poor I didn’t even have 10sen to spend in the school canteen,” he told The Star in an interview.

It was in secondary school that Miandy began excelling in his studies.

In 1998, he emerged second top student in Perlis in the STPM examinations.

Miandy (left) with Samy Vellu.

Miandy was elated when he was offered a place by Universiti Malaya (UM) for a degree course in business administration.

“I shared the good news with my mother but she told me to forget any plans to further my studies as she could not afford it.” he said, adding it was the same year his father passed away.

Miandy said days later, a friend told him that the late MIC stalwart and long time president Tun S. Samy Vellu would soon be attending a party meeting at a hall in Kangar and suggested he seek financial assistance from him.

He promptly alerted his mother, G. Kalima, and they went over to meet the veteran politician.

Miandy, then aged 20, and his mother waited outside the hall and on approaching Samy Vellu, they explained their situation.

Miandy during an interview with The StarThe former works minister promised to help Miandy get a scholarship and gave him some cash on the spot to register himself with the university.

Miandy said Samy Vellu kept his word and, on graduating from UM in 2002, the politician secured him a job with the Maju Institute Of Educational Development (MIED) as a loans relations officer.

In the year ahead, he obtained his Master’s degree and eventually a doctorate.

Miandy, a father of two daughters, went on to work for the Higher Education Ministry, holding positions such as a diplomatic officer, education attache and senior assistant director.

He said he is the only one among his siblings who went into tertiary education.

“I wish to advise the young out there from impoverished communities to aim for tertiary education if they wish to get out of the rut they are in.

“When you excel in your school examinations, opportunities will come knocking.” Miandy asserts.

He said Sept 15 this year marks the first death anniversary of Samy Vellu, whom he described as being a godfather to him.