This is Ainan Cawley. He's 10 years old. His mother is an ethnic Malay from from Singapore and his father is from Ireland. By the time Ainan was 6, he was solving chemistry problems. Now, at 10, he's looking to enter university. According to his parents, however, finding a school in Singapore that would recognize his talents and nurture his learning abilities was an "Orwellian" task.
When a private school in Malaysia heard about Ainan, they swooped in and offered him a full scholarship. Thus the Cawleys moved to Kuala Lumpur, and sparked off the latest tit-for-tat battle between the two nations. Malaysia and Singapore have fought over some pretty small battles in the past, but this one, over who has the best educational system, has become a pretty sensitive topic. For now, the Malaysians appear to have gloating rights. The front page story in the Wall Street Journal this morning certainly seems to reinforce that.
Malaysia Wins Young Singaporean Science Whiz - WSJ.com
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