Why Malaysia is absent at the IMO

Those of us in South East Asia would have conspicuously noticed that neighboring Malaysia is absent at all International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) meets. Not that they are afraid to under-perform, but simply because Malaysian matheletes aren't allowed to take part in these international math competitions due to politics or race. Years ago, I recalled reading in a journal published by the Malaysian Mathematical Society (MMS) when they openly and courageously revealed that racial or/and political reasons were behind their not sending their best students to take part in any of these IMO’s every year.

Bumiputras Rule

It's an open secret that in Malaysia the majority Malay students lag behind educationally, as compared to their Chinese and Indian counterparts. And even the government acknowledges that Malay students are under-performing in both mathematics and science. That there has to be a corrective action policy — privileges given to the bumiputras (peoples of the land) — testifies to the educational and economic gaps between the majority Malays and the other races.

The Chinese control the economy of the country, and it isn't surprising that the majority Malays aren't comfortable with this economic imbalance. Feelings of envy and jealousy aren't uncommon among many local Malays who feel alienated or marginalized because of limited job and career opportunities as a result of their lower educational levels.

Malaysia isn't a Chinese but an Islamic nation

Imagine five Malaysian-born Chinese mathletes were to represent a country of predominantly Muslim citizens at the IMO. The world may just think that Malaysia is predominantly Chinese, and that may not augur well with the Malay community which has been lagging behind the other racial communities in education for decades, particularly in science and mathematics. Indeed, it reflects badly on the Malay leaders and politicians. The result is gifted or talented math students are barred from competing in international competitions because of race or politics.

Although many better-off Malaysian Chinese students do their studies in neighboring Singapore, they still wouldn't be able to represent their country of adoption at the IMO, as they're mostly permanent residents, especially for those who are on an ASEAN scholarship. Their citizenship simply prevents them from taking part in those international competitions.

A lose-lose outcome

No statistics are publicly available to prove it, but it's not uncommon to find many bright math students among Malaysian and Indonesian Chinese, who are studying in Singapore schools. Many had left their country of birth for a better education and some would easily be recruited in an Olympiad math team. On one hand, politics prevents them to represent their country of birth at the IMO; on the other hand, nationality bars them to represent their country of adoption. It's a lose-lose situation for these talented or gifted mathletes.

Singapore says NO to race-based politics

A similar scenario was averted in predominantly Chinese Singapore, where the national football team consists mainly of Malays. Singapore would be foolish to let race prevail although a team representing a racial mix would have been preferred, considering that the majority Chinese are doing well in other areas. But that hasn't deterred the Singapore government or the local sports council to field the best Malay footballers to represent the country. Meritocracy and ability cannot substitute race and politics, when it comes to representing the country in athletics and games, much less in mathematics and science competitions.

Malaysia at its first IMO?

We can only hope that in a-not-too-distant future Malaysian political leaders wouldn’t let race and politics to interfere with education. Every child should be given the opportunity to pursue his or her educational goals to the best of his or her abilities — and this includes being able to take part in an IMO if their God-given mathematical abilities endow them to do so.

When race or politics stands in the way of one’s mathematical advancement, the world has a responsibility to intervene (or even interfere) to stop political or religious race-based leaders from thwarting the educational progress of a child. 

© Yan Kow Cheong, January 4, 2011

Math for Girls ONLY

Since it started participating in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) in 1985, when it informally sent only two contestants, the China team of six contestants has been Number One fourteen times. An outstanding achievement, considering that the most populated nation is relatively new to this high-level mathematical competition among high-school students, as compared to other countries like Russia and other ex-communist countries, with their rich culture of decades-old Olympiad and competitive mathematics.

Note that China, which hosted the 31st IMO in 1990, didn’t send a team to the IMO when the event was held in Taiwan in 1998. The first IMO, which was held in Romania in 1959, has since been held annually, except in 1980.

Since 1986, the China team has never had a female student. To encourage more female mathletes, the China Mathematical Olympiad Committee launched the China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad in 2002. The top two winners will be admitted directly into the national training team of about 20 to 30 students, from which six students will be finally selected to form the China IMO team.

In 2007, the first girl who was winner of China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad was selected to enter the 2008 China national team and won a gold medal at the 49th IMO, in Hanoi, Vietnam.

A Sample of Questions

Let’s look at a sample of these high-school contests problems, which were posed in recent China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiads.

Eight persons join a party.

(1) If there exist three persons who know each other in any group of five, prove that we can find that four persons know each other.

(2) If there exist three persons in a group of six who know each other in a cyclical manner, can we find four persons who know each other in a cyclical manner? [2006, #4]

A positive integer m is called good, if there is a positive integer n such that m is the quotient of n over the number of positive integer divisors of n (including 1 and n itself). Prove that 1, 2,… ⋯ , 17 are good numbers and that 18 is not a good number. [2007, #1]

Find all positive integers n such that 20n + 2 can divide 2003n + 2002. [2002, #1]

Let ABC be an obtuse triangle inscribed in a circle of radius 1. Prove that triangle ABC can be covered by an isosceles right-angled triangle with hypotenuse √2 + 1. [2004, #3]

Find all pairs of positive integers (x, y) satisfying x^y = y^x–y. [2002, #6]

Given that a × b rectangle with a > b > 0, determine the minimum length of a square that covers the rectangle. (A square covers the rectangle if each point in the rectangle lies inside the square.)

Let x and y be positive real numbers with x³ + y³ = x – y. Prove that x² + 4y² < 1. [2005, #5]

Let a, b, c be integers each with absolute value less than or equal to 10.

The cubic polynomial

f(x) = x³ + ax² + bx + c

satisfies the property

｜f(2 + √3)｜< 0.0001.

Determine if 2 + √3 is a root of f. [2007, #7]

If China had taken the lead to host a Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad to support its female mathletes, it wouldn’t too late for other countries to follow suit to encourage more girls to take part in math contests and competitions. This could only have a positive effect on the enrollment of both female undergrads and postgraduate students, who would be motivated to take up more advanced math courses in university.

A Girls’ IMO

Due to some countries’ high pools of talented and gifted mathletes, perhaps the IMO committee would re-look at its invitation guidelines, by inviting more than one team from countries like China, Russia and the United States, to give more opportunities for high-school students to be a medalist at the IMO.

An Individual Category

There could be an open individual category so that potential medalists-mathletes who don’t make it to their national team (due to the limit number of six contestants per country) could still compete on their own. And, to encourage more girls to compete, there could also be an IMO for female mathletes, in the spirit of the China Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad.

References

Xiong, B. & Lee, P. Y. (eds.) (2009). Mathematical olympiad in China (2007-2009): Problems and solutions. East China Normal University Press & World Scientific.

Xiong, B. & Lee, P. Y.  (eds.) (2007). Mathematical olympiad in China: Problems and solutions. East China Normal University Press & World Scientific.

© Yan Kow Cheong, April 18 2010.