How has school prepared her in life? In the early years, the only schools were the sekolah pondok (‘hut' schools), madrasahs and other Islamic religious schools. Education was a privilege denied girls, especially those from poor families. But this changed when primary education was made compulsory, and Malay-medium national schools set up in the 1970s. And many women have excelled in their chosen fields like Tan Sri P.G. (Phaik Gan) Lim, Datuk Nicol David and Datuk Ambiga Sreeenivasan. In the early years, pre-school was unheard of, but now it has become virtually a must. Today, Malaysia boasts of some 43 universities, 31 private university colleges, 9 foreign university branches, and 414 private colleges in Malaysia. In Pakistan, there was the case of Malala Yousafzai who was shot by Taliban militants for campaigning for female education in 2012. She eventually won the Nobel Peace Prize. Rafie painted in oil, watercolours and even Chinese brush.