HER time of birth was historic, to say the least.

       Bethanie Yeow Xinyi was born one second after midnight on Jan 1, 2000.

       That made her one of Malaysia’s first millennium babies.

       Her parents Yeow Wen Chong and Lim Sau Chuin, both 31 then, were delighted with their 3.2kg bundle of joy, who was born at a specialist centre in Penang.

       In a news report about the birth, The Star quoted Yeow’s father as saying that he began counting the minutes when his wife started pushing shortly before midnight, as he feared the Y2K bug.

       (The Y2K bug had unsettled the world as the year 2000 beckoned due to worries that a technical flaw could cause disruptions with computers not interpreting “00” as 2000, but as 1900.)

       As it turned out, there was no cause for such concern.

       And Yeow is now a young woman of 21 pursuing her final-year studies in computer software engineering.

       A date to remember: The Star’s report on Yeow’s birth one second after midnight on Jan 1, 2001.

       In an interview, Yeow said the uniqueness of her birth date began to dawn on her when she had to complete a project as a secondary student in Penang Chinese Girl High School.

       The project had required her to find out about her family history and collate the information in a scrapbook.

       It was then that she found out about the news clipping in The Star about her birth, so she asked her parents about it.

       “They told me how it happened and that they kept the article as part of the family memorabilia,” she said.

       Yeow added that even her teachers and friends found her birthday fascinating.

       She spoke of always being the youngest among her schoolmates every year.

       “All my classmates were older than me by a year. I joined (the class) a year early due to my unique birthday,” she said.

       For her 21st birthday, Yeow said she had a simple celebration at home with her parents and 16-year-old brother.

       Like all other students in the country, she said the Covid-19 pandemic had impacted her studies somewhat.

       With physical classes temporarily halted, she is now attending online lessons.

       “Earlier this year, we had to return home (from campus) as the pandemic worsened,” said Yeow, who has been staying with her family at their house in Batu Maung since then.

       On her future plans, Yeow said she intended to gain work experience in the industry first before deciding if she wanted to pursue further studies.

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