Bid to help former child prodigy Sufiah

KUALA LUMPUR, April 2 — The Prime Minister's Department and the Malaysian Missionary Foundation (Yadim) will try to assist former child maths genius Sufiah Yusof, now aged 23, who is fending for herself as a prostitute in Salford, Manchester.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Zahid Hamidi said they would help the gifted girl to return to the right path through the "Save Sufiah Programme".

"The first thing we should try to do is to contact her mother or arrange a meeting with Sufiah to find out the reasons for her to turn to prostitution, offering her services through the Internet and using the name Shilpa Lee," he told reporters after attending a briefing by Yadim yesterday.

It has been reported in the "News of the World" newspaper that Sufiah is now a £130-an-hour hooker operating from her dingy backstreet flat.

The "Save Sufiah Programme" is headed by Deputy Minister in the PM's Department Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim, who will come up with strategies to assist Sufiah as soon as possible.

Sufiah created news when she was accepted into Oxford University at the age just 13.

Her mother, Malaysian-born Halimaton Yusof from Muar, Johor, and her father, Farooq Yusof from Pakistan both tutored her and her siblings at home.

However, Farooq is now in jail after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting two 15-year-old girls whom he home tutored in maths.

On another development, Zahid urged Muslim bloggers to help counter the attack against Islam by Dutch legislator Geert Wilders through his short film "Fitna" which was posted on the Internet.

"This is the time for the bloggers to do something useful and not just use their blogs to condemn the government," he said.

Zahid said the action to boycott goods imported from the Netherlands was good but not enough to counter the anti-Islam attack.

"This is also the time for Muslims to set aside their political differences and unite against anti-Islam elements."

The 15-minute film, which was posted on the Internet on March 27, links Islam to extremism and violence. It has drawn condemnation and anger from Muslims all over the world. — Bernama