Alexander (third left) handing over his personal donation to Afendi in the presence of the school’s committee members (from left) Muhd Iskandar, Alexander’s wife Susan Clement, Sumardi Ghazalee and Umar Usaini at Madrasah Darul Uloom Islamiayyah in Kuching yesterday.
KUCHING: Former Bujang Senang striker Afendi Julaihi, 45, is now the principal of Madrasah Darul Uloom Islamiayyah, a religious school here.
Currently, the religious school has 13 teachers and 147 students aged between 12 and 17. Out of these, 75 are boys and the rest girls.
“Football has been in my blood, and I am still doing it for charity now and again. But my focus now is more on religion and teaching my students to be better Muslims,” Afendi told The Borneo Post here on Tuesday.
Afendi disclosed that he started the religious school sometime in 2010 from a humble beginning with the assistance of his wife and friends, using the residence of the late Tan Sri Ikhwan Zaini, which had been donated to the museum, as their temporary campus.
He said the school’s focus was on Quranic studies and its recital and also Hadith.
“Besides the two compulsory subjects, we also teach other subjects such as Mathematics and Science, which will ensure that they can further their studies to Universiti Selangor (Unisel) once they complete their studies here,” stressed Afendi.
He said among the 13 teachers; three are locals; three from West Malaysia; four from Indonesia; two from Pakistan and one from Bangladesh.
“As far as our students are concerned, there are some who come from as far as Hong Kong and other neighbouring
countries. Our main objective is to make this madrasah a well-known institution like Limkokwing University in the future,” he enthused.
The school’s plan to expand will become a reality soon as it already has a new site at Rampangi, to cater for increasing number of students in the near future and hoped that it would be completed by 2020.
“The mosque is already 99 per cent completed. Once it’s completed, it will be used as a multi-purpose facility for our students. After that, we plan to build more facilities such as boarding blocks, teachers’ quarters and classes. The whole project is expected to cost RM15 million,” he revealed.
When asked how he expected to complete the project, Afendi smiled and said, “We leave that to Allah and hope generous individuals will come forward to assist us,” he said.
Afendi said the government gave RM50,000 to the school this year and it would get RM60,000 next year.
Meanwhile, Ngemah assemblyman Alexander Vincent handed over his personal donation to the school for its students to celebrate the coming Hari Raya.
Alexander, whose son Muhd Iskandar is one of the staff of the school, also pledged RM5,000 from his minor rural project (MRP) fund to the school.
“I am glad to assist in a small way to the school. We are very lucky here in Sarawak because many Muslim elected representatives also donated their MRP funds to churches,” pointed out Alexander.