Kuala Lampur, Jan. 16 -- One of my cousins was pretty bad at school. Teachers used to make him stay back all the time.

Today? He runs about three businesses dealing with car repairs and owns half a dozen homes.

Another distant cousin who was known in school only for his height now zips back and forth from Jakarta to his multi-gazillion dollar home in Glenmarie.

Almost everyone I can remember from my SEA Park secondary school class - not just the top-scorers - are now accomplished professionals, most of whom are based overseas.

Enough of my family and relatives. I have a church friend who barely scraped through his SPM. Today he's a Chief Tech Officer for some insurance company.

Another friend whom everyone feared would fail his IGCSE...