From switchblade to scalpel: School ‘gangster’ is a neurosurgeon thanks to teacher

The Star:

From switchblade to scalpel: School ‘gangster’ is a neurosurgeon thanks to teacher




Kindness nurtures brilliance: Dr Parthiban visiting Lioe at the retirement home he pays for. With him are his son Laxmirayan and mother Sampuranam Ponalagu, 70.


PETALING JAYA: From a mischievous child in his early years and then a gangster in secondary school, nobody would have imagined that Parthiban Navoo would someday be performing brain surgery and saving lives.

With his poor grades, his school teachers had given up on him and often remarked that he would fail “even as a labourer.”


But an act of kindness and compassion by his favourite teacher at a Chinese vernacular school was all it took to motivate and transform the unruly child to the renowned neurosurgeon he is today.

Dr Parthiban, 56, and his three siblings grew up in a shophouse in Sungai Lalang, Kedah, a small village surrounded by estates and populated predominantly by Chinese-Malaysians, about 10km from Sungai Petani.

His parents ran a small sundry shop in the village which he describes as a “cowboy town,” and struggled to make ends meet with meagre earnings from the business.

Dr Parthiban said there were days his family had to settle for just a single meal.

Most days, it was just black coffee for breakfast before he took a five-minute walk to his school SJK Chung Hwa, which he attended from Year One until Form Five.


He had very few friends and showed little interest in his studies, often failing all subjects in every exam.

“It was in the 1970s and I got enrolled in the school as it was the closest to home. My parents could not afford to give me any tuckshop money and during recess, I was the only ethnic Indian student in the school and would spend my time alone sitting on a guava tree in my school compound,” said Dr Parthiban, who is a neurologist at a private hospital.

The spark for change came in Year Three, when his class teacher Lioe Sie Luan saw his potential.

Lioe, whom Dr Parthiban fondly refers to as “Low Ser” (teacher in Chinese), asked him what he was doing up a tree every day during recess.

After Dr Parthiban told her about his plight, she led him to the teacher’s room.

“She took out a tiffin carrier from her bag and served me some mee hoon she had packed from home.

“She told me that I no longer had to go hungry as she would bring food for me every day.

“There were stares from the other teachers, but Low Ser told me to ignore them.

“ She gave me words of encouragement and made me feel special, as if I was some top student in school when I was a complete failure and all my marks were in the red,” he added.

The 50-something teacher also gave Dr Parthiban a Chinese name.

“She said with the right name, I would succeed and go very far in life. Hence, she named me Mah Der Ven, which means as energetic as a horse, knowledgeable, and wise,” he said.

However, Lioe retired two years later and Dr Parthiban was back to his old ways, even joining a street gang upon entering secondary school.

“I was notorious and beyond control. I got into confrontations with other gangs and was arrested several times by the police, ending up for days in the lock-up.

“However, because I was underaged, I was let off all the time,” he said.

His turning point was in Form Three when he was reprimanded by his teachers for his dismal grades, and was told that he couldn’t even make it as a kacang putih (nut snack) seller.

“On that day, I remembered Low Ser’s advice, and started focusing on my studies day and night. I decided it was time to turn over a new leaf. When I scored straight As for my SRP and SPM exams, there was no turning back.

“I went on to pursue Form Six in another school in Sungai Petani, and emerged top student for the STPM,” he said, adding that his results enabled him to obtain a seat for medicine in Universiti Malaya.

He managed to locate his former teacher and stayed in contact with Lioe until she was placed in a nursing home in Sungai Petani after her husband passed away.

“She lost her house to her in-laws after her husband died. Both her children, a son and daughter, migrated overseas and never returned to Malaysia.

“She ended up in a low-cost nursing home with poor living conditions as she could not afford a better one,” said the surgeon who has a 17-year-old son.

Dr Parthiban, who by then was a doctor in public service, promptly returned to Sungai Petani and visited Lioe at the nursing home before moving her to a more conducive retirement home, footing the extra costs for the improved care until today.

“She is 90 years old now. Every time I visit her, she keeps telling me that she’s a burden to me. To me, it is nothing compared to what she did for me. I am where I am today because of my dear Low Ser.

“It is the least I can do for a great person who changed my life. She showered me with love and compassion.

“Her kind act gave me hope that there was someone out there who believed in me. This spurred me to change and give up my wayward ways.”