Staying strong for sake of her family
By : Zaharah Othman in LondonTHERE was a definite sense of deja vu that I felt during my last visit to the Yusof family in Coventry a few days ago.
The first time, the parents proudly presented their third child to the world media as the youngest student to study at the prestigious Oxford University at the age of 13.
Three years later the media returned for more explosive exclusives when the child genius disappeared for two weeks amidst a very public quarrel with her family, as revealed in her email.
Sufiah was showing signs of wanting to break away from the family that studied and had fun and played tennis together.
The phone call that Halimahton received from a reporter last Sunday morning, while she was tutoring a student in her house, stunned her, to say the least.
"The reporter said that Sufiah is a ..........," she said, unable to make herself utter the word, which now appears alongside child genius, every time Sufiah's name is googled.
After the initial shock, Halimahton prepared herself for the media that was already knocking on her door.
Comforted by her eldest daughter, Aisha, 25, Halimahton decided to stay strong for the sake of her other children.
"I realised that I have strength from my faith as a Muslim," said Halimahton, after a long interview and photography session with the Daily Mail.
The family had not had much time to recover from the news that Farooq was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment for the indecent assault of two 15-year-old girls that he tutored.
"We appeal to her to come back. We don't care what had happened," said Halimahton who believes that Sufiah must be having some problems to make her do such things.
"Sufiah must know that we are always here. I am waiting for her to contact me."
Halimahton suspects that one of Sufiah's friend's must have tipped off the News of The World about Sufiah.
The family had not had contact with Sufiah since they received an email from her three years ago, soon after her divorce.
According to Halimahton, Sufiah warned them not to contact her or her former husband "or else she would report them to the police".
"I respected her wish and allowed her her freedom. She just emailed Aisha once when she heard that her grandmother had died. That was all."
When Halimahton broke the news to Farooq in prison, his appeal for Sufiah was, he said, "Blame me if you want to, slap me, but come back and we can talk."
According to Halimahton, Farooq, who had always treated Sufiah more favourably, said that Sufiah should be dealt with with compassion.
"Do not punish her," he said.
Farooq's relationship with Sufiah had always been a big question mark, sparked off by the angry contents of her email which was published in a British tabloid, her refusal to see her father after her disappearance, and the constant disagreement.
"If we mentioned her father's name, she would walk away. She would be very angry. She'd even be very angry with her former husband when he supported the father.
"In fact, it was Jonathan who brought Sufiah to reconcile with her father before their marriage," explained Halimahton in her sitting room, flanked by daughter Zulaikha Sabrina, 14, and son Iskandar, 21,
When asked if Sufiah had explained why she disappeared for two weeks, Halimahton simply said, "It's her father. They must have had some argument."
With hindsight, would Halimahton have changed the way they home-schooled their five children?
"No," came the answer immediately and firmly.
"And I would like to put the record straight. It was my method of teaching 100 per cent. I was teaching the children and he took over two months before the exams and claimed credit for everything."
Perhaps Halimahton did try to assert her role in teaching the children, as reported by the Guardian some years ago.
When asked how she felt about that, she said it was a family thing, claiming that her method or teaching was never strict and rejected the word "regime".
"It wasn't a regime. Looking back it was just about an hour of study and we would go out to the library and tournaments. We had fun. Farooq was never strict with the children." she said.
Another story being reported in the media about the method of teaching was the cold room temperature that was supposed to help the children concentrate.
"Our lounge was very cold as the walls had no insulation. When the journalists came, they found it to be freezing and Farooq told them that the cold helped with the studying," said Halimahton visibly amused.
And why was the mistake never corrected like everything else?
"We thought it was funny. Farooq liked to boast and he talked a lot."
Halimahton was reported to have started divorce proceedings against her husband.
"When he comes out, he has a lot of explaining to do. He has also said that he would like to be alone to contemplate."
In the absence of the father, Iskandar is taking charge. The family has been liasing with the UK Malay Association.
Hamidi Abdul Rahman is president of the association and also a long-time friend of the family and the family has asked him to co-ordinate any efforts to help Sufiah.
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