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Fri, Dec 05, 2008
New Straits Times
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Teacher honoured for her courageous act
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>KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - She bravely stood her ground even as the first blow from a hammer struck her, narrowly missing her right eye. Teacher Seng Woam Guai is a real-life heroine in Johor Baru after she risked her life to save one of her students who was brutally attacked by a fellow schoolmate on July 18.
The Bahasa Malaysia teacher of Sekolah Menengah Foon Yew was distributing examination papers to a class of Form Two students when the attacker gate-crashed.
"It happened so suddenly. I was busy handing out exam papers when suddenly, this boy, who was dressed in school uniform, came into the classroom.
"He started attacking one of my students, so I acted," the bespectacled mother of four said.
Armed with a hammer and spanner, the attacker, who is a fifth former from the same school, brutally attacked his target. Seng instinctively put herself between the attacker and her student, only to be beaten herself.
"I was only doing what any teacher would have done. My students are like my children so, of course, I would protect them."
What made Seng even more remarkable was her compassion. "I've forgiven the attacker. I did it because he is young and has his future ahead of him."
Yesterday, Seng received an award for her courageous act at the inaugural F&N Out-Do Yourself Award ceremony.
Four people received awards for their contributions to society.
Weightlifter Siow Lee Chan won the sports category when she put an end to Malaysia's 16-year medal drought by bagging a bronze medal in the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
The other winners were social activist Norlina Alawi and blind postgraduate student S. Prakash.
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