The Sidewalk Math Genius from Parit, Perak
Abdul Halim Bin Bistamam was born on October 14, 1955, and hails from Kampung Pasir Gajah, Parit. He is currently said to reside in Taman Rapat Setia Baru in Ipoh.
What is fascinating about him is that he is a math genius who loves to share his knowledge for free on the busy sidewalks of the capital city, without charging a single cent. Regarding his family, he is married and has four sons and four daughters, totaling eight children.
Abdul Halim Bin Bistamam received his early education at Sekolah Kebangsaan Pasir Gajah, located in a village in Parit, and continued his secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Iskandar Shah in the town of Parit.
Subsequently, he continued his studies at Maktab Adabi Masriyah, Bukit Mertajam, and later entered the Federal Teachers College in Penang from 1977 to 1978.
For your information, he has been interested in his current field since his school days. Who would have thought that a village boy living far from the city would often hold world-class discussions with thinkers in the field of Physics? Among them are as follows:
- At the Brain Power Conference in front of American brain expert Dr. Kenneth Weason, held at the National Science Centre.
- At the World Conference & Exhibition 2006 on Training & Development held at KLCC, in collaboration with UiTM as the conference organizer.
- Meeting and dialogue with the Director-General of UNESCO at KLCC regarding the future of planet Earth.
- Meeting and dialogue with the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency at KLCC.
- Meeting and discussion with the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, UK, at Sunway College.
- Meeting and discussion with national astronaut Syeikh Muzaffar Syukor regarding Neuroscience.
- Dialogue with AERO Space students at Universiti Sains Malaysia in Tronoh, which was reported in the Utusan Malaysia newspaper on June 30, 2009.
- Discussion with a Nobel laureate in physics who was also a member of the research committee regarding the Columbia space shuttle tragedy that exploded and claimed the lives of seven American astronauts. The person referred to is Professor Dr. Douglas Osheroff from Stanford University, America.
Abdul Halim Bin Bistamam is often found in the capital city in crowded areas. He sets up his whiteboard in open spaces and introduces himself with the title 'Physics Professor of the Malaysian Government'.
Usually, people are drawn to the behavior of an old man who might be considered eccentric and pay attention to him.
Public perception changes immediately upon hearing his explanations regarding mathematics, and he is quickly surrounded by curious onlookers.
The right brain of the Malay people is very powerful. Let us think using the right brain. That is the call he often makes to his listeners on the streets. For your information, he usually explains multiplication tables. Not through the rote memorization method we used in the past, which does not encourage thinking, but through other methods that make individuals think outside the box.
Although his attire is simple, his knowledge is profound. It remains a question for us at orangperak.com: why did Abdul Halim Bin Bistamam choose the streets as the location to spread his knowledge? He could have gone much further in his field. Perhaps he has his own reasons for continuing to struggle with such methods, but regardless of his approach, we are proud to have a son of Perak with such a noble endeavor.
