KUALA LUMPUR: Besides helping Malaysians involved in any mishap during their travels to Thailand, such as road accidents, Abdul Halim Othman also provides free Islamic education and Malay language classes for Thai children.
Abdul Halim, 55, who is married to a Thai and now lives in Kampung Pak Bara, Satun Province, in Thailand, has been providing these free classes for children between the ages of five and eight for the past 12 years at Misbahuddin Kindergarten every weekend.
Fondly known as 'Cikgu Joe Satun', he said that the Misbahuddin Kindergarten, which is located in the Ban Khuan sub-district, aims to give children from poor families in the village the opportunity to get basic Islamic education in addition to promoting the Malay language to the younger generation.
"The majority of residents in the Satun Region bordering the north of Malaysia are Muslims of Malay descent and still speak the Malay language albeit in the Kedah dialect.
"But most of them who still speak the Malay language are the older generation. The younger generation has assimilated into the Thai culture and speaks the language, especially those in government schools. So, education from an early age like this is important to preserve the Malay heritage and identity," he told Bernama recently.
Abdul Halim, who runs a travel agency with his wife, said the Malay generation in the Satun Region speak Malay in the Kedah dialect, especially when at home, but lack the basic knowledge of using standard Malay and they have problems in writing in Malay.
"They spell phonetically based on the sound of the words they speak, for example, ayer, for air (water), carpoo for kapor (chalk) and some are also fused with the Thai language because the main language in government schools is Thai," said the father of three.
When asked about the method he used to teach at the kindergarten, Abdul Halim said he emphasises a lot on pronunciation and spelling, as well as the syllabification of the Malay alphabet, and also uses the curriculum issued by the South Thailand Kindergarten Coordination Centre (Perkasa).
On how he started teaching at the kindergarten, which has about 200 students and eight teachers, Abdul Halim who hails from Kampung Sungai Seluang, in Lunas, Kedah, said it started when he had to take care of his sister-in-law who was in a coma due to a road accident back in 2011.
Before the incident, he was a freelancer in real estate and often went back and forth between Malaysia and Thailand.
"As it happened, my sister-in-law is a widow and her two children were studying abroad, while her other siblings are living far away. Since I didn't have a permanent job and I had a lot of free time on my hands, I decided to take care of her.
"For six months I took care of her, taking her back and forth to the hospital until she recovered. Because I was 'stuck' in Satun Region and my pockets were starting to dry up, I took a wage to help my father-in-law with his business selling hardware and also volunteered to teach at the kindergarten before opening my own tourism business," he said.
The Universiti Teknologi Malaysia graduate also expressed his gratitude for how his life has turned out which brought him closer to God and doing a lot of community activities.
Meanwhile, Misbahuddin Kindergarten adviser Alee Haura Wan Megat Abu Bakar said only six kindergartens in Satun Province provide standard Malay classes using the Perkasa curriculum.
He said students are also taught Tauhid, Fiqh, Ethics, History, Jawi and Quran with teachers being paid around 2,250 bhat (RM300) a month.
"Malay language and Islamic education are not taught in government schools. Families that can afford it will send their children to private schools. Misbahuddin Kindergarten, which was set up by the villagers, is an alternative to help poor families, with students having to pay an annual fee of only 300 bhat (RM40)," he said. – Bernama