That night, Aisyah sat at her desk, a mountain of revision books before her. On the wall, she had a poster: “ Berakit-rakit ke hulu, berenang-renang ke tepian; Bersakit-sakit dahulu, bersenang-senang kemudian. ” (Row upstream, swim to the bank; suffer first, enjoy later.)

It was 6:30 AM in Kuala Lumpur, and the world was still half-asleep—except for 13-year-old Mei Ling, who was already wide awake. Her alarm had rung ten minutes ago, and the smell of nasi lemak wafted from the kitchen. Her mother was wrapping the fragrant rice wrapped in banana leaf, with sambal, fried anchovies, and a hard-boiled egg.

The Malaysian government has implemented various reforms to address these challenges, including: