The Success Story of a Not So Bright Girl

Below is the long call speech I prepared for my call at Kuala Lumpur which was adapted for the call in Sabah but found out it was not necessary, as here, we don’t need to do the background speech as at Kuala Lumpur. My original long call speech in KL was given by Pn H who gave her own version of it using the facts from the speech I drafted. She gave the speech in such a lovely soft-spoken sincere voice that I myself was deeply touched by my own story told through her mouth as if it was another person’s story.

 

The Applicant, Ms FV, the eldest daughter to Mr VTP and Mdm HBE, came from Kampung Kionsom – a village near Inanam. Her father is a farmer while her mother is a home maker. She grew up in a simple “kampung” environment deprived of all the luxuries enjoyed by most children at her age at that time. Nevertheless, she is determined to be successful in her life and has never given up hope to pursue a degree in law despite all odds.

After completing her secondary education in 1993, she started applying for the Biasiswa Kerajaan Negeri Sabah (State Government Scholarship) from the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam Negeri Sabah or JPA every year. In the first few years while waiting anxiously for the JPA’s grant, she worked as a bank teller, legal secretary and even as a court interpreter at the High Court in Kota Kinabalu.

Finally, in the year 1997, the Applicant was granted the long awaited scholarship and with that financial aid, she is able to graduate with the LL.Bs from the University of London via external program at Kuala Lumpur in the year 2000.

Thereafter, the Applicant came back to Kota Kinabalu to fulfil her bond with the Sabah State Government but JPA decides to release her of the bond as there was no appropriate government position for her at that time. She then returned to West Malaysia and worked with a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur shortly before she was offered a position in the Malayan Law Journal Sdn Bhd and has worked there as a legal editor for 3.5 years.

In the year 2004, the Applicant decided to take up CLP course and passed the CLP examination the following year. She then underwent 9 months of pupillage at Messrs BSS & Co and Messrs MKP in Kuala Lumpur.

After her pupillage in West Malaysia, the Applicant feels that it is her obligation to serve the people who has made it possible to fulfil her dream, so she returned to Kota Kinabalu and continued a further 3 months of pupillage at Messrs SYLTCC & Co.

The Applicant would like take this opportunity to express her appreciation to the State Government that has financed her legal education without which she would not be standing here today.

She would like to thank her parents who has been supportive in her long pursuit of higher education despite the family’s financial difficulties and would have preferred if she had started work right after her secondary education to help support the family.

The Applicant is also greatly indebted to her Masters, Mr BSS, Mr PK, Ms NT and all the partners, lawyers and staff at SYLTCC & Co who has given her guidance and encouragement all through her long pupillage journey which started in December 2005 at Kuala Lumpur.