7 non-Muslims who received the Maulidur Rasul award

Malaysians aren’t strangers to public holidays, given that we get almost 20 of them a year, and one of them is Maulidur Rasul, a day for the observance of Prophet Muhammad’s birthday. Besides the obvious day off, what’s so special about Maulidur Rasul is that there is an award – the Maulidur Rasul award – in recognition of Muslim citizens who have made significant contributions to the country.

Nothing too crazy, until you find out that this award has been given to non-Muslims as well; the most well-known of which is probably Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.

As a humanitarian, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye has achieved much through his active involvement in raising awareness on the importance of practicing “budaya keselamatan.” One of his most notable contributions was when he developed a handbook to help Tahfiz institutions deal with issues related to security. Having said that, he wasn’t the only non-Muslim to have received the award in years past, and in conjunction with this year’s Maulidur Rasul, we’ll be covering a few other non-Muslim peeps who were bestowed the same honor.

1. Dr Lim Swee Tin, the Malay language expert

If you’ve taken PMR or SPM before, you’ve probably heard of the legendary Dr Lim Swee Tin… unless like us, you forgot everything after leaving the exam hall. His work, a poem named “Ketika Kami Bercerita Tentangnya”, was published in “Anak Bumi Tercinta”, an anthology of BM literary materials for Form 3 students.

This expert in BM who is also the award winner for Penulis Asia Tenggara (SEA Write), received the Maulidur Rasul award in 2016.

2. Mithun Jay Langgim, climbing coach

In 2015, a climbing coach, Mithun Jay Langgim, received the award for saving 135 climbers (105 hikers, 2 rangers and 28 mountain guides) who were stranded at Mount Kinabalu after an earthquake hit Sabah on June 5th that year. On top of that, the 28-year-old from Ranau, Sabah received RM20,000 and a trophy from Yang di-Pertuan Agung Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu’Adzam Shah at Malaysia Agro Exposition Park for Maulidur Rasul that year.

3. Wee Soon Yen, only non-Muslim student who scored an A in Arabic

At only 16 years old, Wee Soon Yen was chosen as “tokoh Maulidur Rasul 2011” because of her outstanding academic achievements. The form 4 student from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bachok, Kelantan, Wee Soon Yen not only got 8As in PMR, but she was also the only non-Muslim student to get an A for her Bahasa Arab paper. Most CILISOS staffers didn’t even get that many As for their regular, non-Arabic PMR subject, which just goes to show how impressive her achievement was.

4. Dr Tan Swee Lian, MARDI Research Officer

Dr Tan Swee Lian, an expert in Plant Breeding and Genetics, especially cassava and sweet potato, was a research scientist for the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), and she was with the agency for 37 long years.

She played a crucial role in developing production technology packages for growing cassava in both mineral and peat soils. Her service to the country in the field of agriculture was recognized through the Mangku Negara Federal Knighthood Award in 1993, and the National Maulidur Rasul Award in 2010, and she was then appointed as a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia in 2009.

5. Liew Tong Sin, Fire and Rescue Officer

Liew Tong Sin, an officer at the Alor Star Fire and Rescue Department who served for 25 years as of 2004, was one of the recipients of the Maulidur Rasul award in 2004.

“I totally did not expect this. Whatever I did was part of my duty to my country.” – Liew Tong Sin, as quoted from The Star.

He was given the award as a token of appreciation for his participation in many challenging, life-threatening operations including extinguishing forest fires and leading a team to cull pigs infected with the Nipah virus in 1999.

6. Chee Hoi Lan, a dedicated mother

Chee, who’s 83 this year, single-handedly raised her adoptive stateless daughter, Rohana Abdullah, as a Muslim after the latter was abandoned at the kindergarten where Chee was working at. Realising early on that Rohana might face issues of race and religion in the future, Chee made sure that Rohana would never be lacking in terms of her Muslim upbringing.

She worked tirelessly to enroll Rohana in religious classes and saw that her daughter got all the basic religious education she needed. For that, she was given the Maulidur Rasul award this year, and was dubbed the “Ibu Sejati-Keluarga Malaysia” icon.

The Maulidur Rasul award: Merit where it’s due

It’s pretty cool to see non-Muslim peeps being recognised for their contributions to our country, and hopefully, the award inspires more of us to step out of our comfort zones to give back to our communities.

In closing, here’s a piece of trivia we found – apparently, Michael H Hart, an American author, put the Prophet Muhammad SAW as one of the most influential individuals in history in his book titled 100 Most Influential People In The World.

“My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular level.” – Michael H Hart, as quoted from 100 Most Influential People In The World.

Happy holidays, every-baddy!