Rooster during a visit to Yale University in the US.
KUCHING: Rooster Tumeng, 25, a postgraduate student from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai, Johor, is hoping to inspire youths, especially from the Dayak community, with the message that success can be achieved through perseverance and hard work no matter one’s family background.
Rooster, who is currently pursuing a Master in Software Engineering by Research in UTM, is planning to obtain his PhD in Computer Science.
One of his major milestones in 2016 was his selection by the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur as the sole Malaysian representative at the Youth Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Academic Fellowship Programme hosted by the University of Connecticut from March 5 to April 8.
“Education is key, regardless of the current struggles that we face, especially for Dayak youths who come from a humble background like mine. One should never have a negative impression of education,” Rooster told The Borneo Post yesterday.
According to him, YSEALI is US President Barrack Obama’s signature programme which acts as a platform to strengthen leadership development and networking in Southeast Asia.
He was selected due to his deep interest in learning about social entrepreneurship for the betterment of rural communities which he hopes to achieve through organising a robotic competition for rural schools.
For YSEALI, Rooster and 20 other youth leaders from Singapore, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam were selected for a fully funded, academic fellowship on Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.
“It is a five-week programme which includes an academic residency, leadership development, an educational study tour, local community service activities and opportunities to engage with American peers,” Rooster said.
Relating his experience, he said one needs to make sure that he or she does not feel intimidated to take on new opportunities as true potential lies uniquely in each person.
“I come from a very humble background. My dad works hard to make ends meet. I remember having to walk to primary school—about two kilometres daily. During my time in primary school, on certain rainy days, I would be late for school as dad only owned an old Yamaha motorcycle, which would always fail him on a cold start.
“On days when both mom and dad literally had no money, dad would give me and my two older brothers the five sen coins he kept in his old work cloth. We never wanted to complain as we knew dad tried his best to provide,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, Rooster also said that he and his supervisor and fellow Sarawakian Dayang Norhayati Abang Jawawi are in the midst of applying for funding through the US Embassy to work on organising a robotic competition and workshops for secondary school students in Sarikei and Kuching as part of his idea to improve the social entrepreneurship knowledge and skills of youths in rural areas.
“For the initial phase, we are specifically targeting rural secondary schools. This robotic competition is essentially a product of years of collaboration between my supervisor and Lembaga Kemajuan Johor Tenggara (Southeast Johor Development Board) to create awareness and interest among rural youths who would otherwise not have an opportunity to explore this field,” he added.
“My supervisor and I are very hopeful that we can do this programme in Sarawak as it has been quite a success in the Southeast Johor area.”