Joy all over as maid receives diploma - NST

Pembantu rumah, Sarmini Muhyadi, 28 tersenyum setelah menerima Diploma in Management di majlis Konvokesyen Open University ke-10

KUALA LUMPUR: Jubilation was written all over Sarmini Muhyadi's face when she accepted her scroll at Open University Malaysia's (OUM) 10th convocation yesterday.
Indonesian maid Sarmini studied part-time and completed a four-year diploma course in management at OUM. She had an admirable cumulative grade point average of 3.39 at the end of last year.

Sharmini with her Diploma. Pix courtesy of Bernama

OUM president and vice-chancellor Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Anuwar Ali presented the scroll to the 28-year-old Sarmini during the sixth session of the ceremony.

Beaming with pride, Sarmini's employer, Wee Phooi Khuan, and her sister, Wee Chooi Khuan, were at the ceremony to show support.

Phooi Khuan's husband, industrial design lecturer Tan Choo Tang, however, could not attend the convocation as he had to attend a business meeting.

"I am happy that she has obtained her diploma. I feel I have fulfilled my responsibility to help achieve her dream of getting a tertiary education," he said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Tan said Sarmini was overjoyed when she received a call from her parents in Indonesia congratulating her on her success.

"Even the media in Indonesia had interviewed her parents on her accomplishment," he said.

Asked what Sarmini intended to do, Tan said she wanted to gain some working experience when she returned home to Kampung Banyumas in Jawa Tengah, Indonesia.

In an article that was featured in the New Straits Times four years ago, Tan was quoted as saying that Sarmini had wanted to return to Indonesia to further her studies after working here for three years.

Knowing well that her savings were insufficient for a tertiary education in Jakarta, Tan had then offered to cover half the cost of her studies in Malaysia.