Mensa UK accepts three-year-old Malaysian as youngest member

PETALING JAYA: High IQ society Mensa UK accepted three-year-old Malaysian boy Haryz Nadzim Mohd Hilmy Naim as their current youngest member, the Metro UK reported on Friday.

Haryz who is living in Britain with his parents scored 142 on the Stanford Binet test, a cognitive ability assessment used to measure IQ (intelligence quotient), which puts him in the top 0.3% of the population.

According to the Metro UK, his parents Anira Asyikin and Mohd Hilmy Naim, both of whom have engineering backgrounds, never expected their son to show signs of such incredible intellect.

"We didn't have much experience, so we just thought that's how kids were," Anira was quoted as saying by Metro.co.uk.

"It was only when he started going to nursery, we were told he is more advanced than other children, then we realised he was special. By the time he was in nursery, he could read the whole of some of his favourite storybooks," she said.

"We hope that we can help him to reach his full potential and support him with whatever he does. We didn't want him to feel under-stimulated, but at the same time we didn't want him to feel he was being pushed. We want him to be a normal child who plays and does normal things that children do," said Anira.

"He is very much a three-year-old in every other sense. He enjoys jumping in puddles, painting, singing, all the normal stuff for a child of that age," she said.

She added that while his favourite television programmes are Story Bots and Numberblocks, he often preferred to converse with older peers and adults.

"Haryz loves to ask questions and talks about space and numbers, and he loves reading books.

"What's even more remarkable about Haryz intellect and love of reading, is that English isn't even his first language. We communicate with him in the Malay language at home," explains Anira.

Haryz's parents hoped this was the first step in his journey towards achieving incredible things.

"It's exciting and we are sure this will help him in giving him a little bit of belief and confidence in himself so he can better benefit society in the future.

"We hope we can provide him with an environment that will motivate him to learn.

"The most important thing is that he is happy with what he is doing, and we will be proud of him no matter what he achieves," said Anira.

Haryz's parents had set up a YouTube channel called Little Haryz, so other children could watch him and be encouraged.