JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA - His heart has never beaten so fast, Lee Khai Yuen says, recalling the interview session for the selection of the pioneer batch of Legoland Malaysia theme park project model builders a month ago.

"My heart was beating very fast when I sat for the test and attended the interview."

Lee said he was happy to be among six successful applicants for the "unique" job. About 200 people had attended the interview.

He was also the top scorer in the test.

"I had always loved playing with Lego bricks when I was young. So when I saw the advertisement for the interview, I grabbed the opportunity.

"The interview was a fun experience. I bought two sets of Lego bricks to practise for it."

The 34-year-old Johorean quit his job as a part-time design lecturer at the Southern College here to join the model builder programme.

"I am putting aside everything for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The only female member of the pioneer group, also a Johorean, is mechanical engineer Kharunnadia Kamarudin, 23, who also quit her job to take up the offer with Legoland Malaysia.

"Initially, my parents objected but I managed to persuade them that this was a great opportunity to have a unique career others can only dream of."

Kharunnadia, who graduated from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and got her engineering job at a private firm, was confident she would not regret her decision.

"I studied industrial design with a minor in mechanical engineering. There are now limited opportunities in the designing field in the country.

"This job as a master builder with Legoland is indeed a rare opening for someone with an educational background like mine to do something unique."

The other members of the pioneer group are Khadzlan Hairani Ali Omar, 24, of Sarawak, Pang Chueng Shuong, 29, of Sabah, Ahmad Yazid Sunisdan, 26, and Mohd Firdaus Rahiman, 24, both of Johor.