Monday 17 January 2011

40. Dr Syed Mohamed bin Syed Alwi al-Hady (1921-2005)





Dr Syed Mohamed bin Alwi al-Hady (1921-2005)
MBBS 1950 UM in Singapore

Date of birth: 7 July 1921
Place of birth: 431 Jelutong Road, Penang (parent's house)
Place where he was raised: 410 Jelutong Road, Penang (by his grandfather, Syed Shaykh Alhady)
Date of death: 2005
Place of death: PJ (?)

Grandfather's name: Syed Shaikh Alhady
Father's name: Syed Alwi Alhady
Wife: Ruby bt Abdullah  (according to Coco & Dr SMA al-Hady's write-up)
Residence: Moved from Penang to Petaling Jaya
Children: 3 - one daughter and 2 sons but one son died of cancer:
1. Prof. Sharifah Fareeda al-Hady (eldest) - formerly Assoc Prof of Pathology and Dy Dean Faculty of Medicine, UM
2. Syed Farid al-Hady - died of cancer of lymph nodes at age 16 in 1973
3. Syed Faisal al-Hady - mechanical engineer; formerly engineer with Esso; quit Esso; ran own petroleum-servicing company

Author's notes:

He lived in a double-storey brick house at Lengkok Pemancar near the Esso petrol station in Jalan Gelugor (Gelugor Rd; now Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah), Penang in the early 1960s.

His house viewed from the main road
Entrance to his former house
Lengkok Pemancar adjoins Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah

The family then moved to Petaling Jaya in a house they bought, close to Tan Sri Ahmad Din's. According to Tan Sri Dr Din's sons, Dr Syed Mohamed Alwi al-Hady, wife Ruby and son Syed Farid al-Hady have passed away. A researcher Sellene mentioned Dr SM Alwi al-Hady had passed away in 2005. Tan Sri Abdul Majid (Coco) mentioned al-Hady's daughter Prof Sharifah Fareeda al-Hady was at UM (but she had already left UM in 2007).

An Internet search gave details of his daughter. His daughter Dr Farida Alhady had served at the UM Medical Faculty. She then left UM and worked at the Ministry of Health (MoH) as Director of MQA (Malaysian Qualifications Agency) but she resigned and is lost to follow-up.

13 May 2012: Prof Datin Dr Farida Jamal (@ Fatimah Jamal) informed she knows Prof Sharifah Fareeda Alhady and will inform her. Prof Datin Dr Farida Jamal said Dr SMA al-Hady's photo should be with the Royal Society.

14 May 2012: Datuk Dr Zulkifli bin C.D. Ismail informed he recently met al-Hady's son. He will inform him to contact me.

26 April 2013: Syed Alwi Aidid (Singapore) updated and informed to find more information in a published book: The Real Cry of Syed Shaykh al-Hady.

I Googled the book title and got this info:

The book sells for RM600 on the Internet but I saw it on sale for RM300 by Penerbit USM at a seminar on Kesultanan Melayu Melaka held at USM, Penang. It sells for Sing$88 on Select Books.

The real cry of Syed Shaykh al-Hady : with selections of his writings by his son Syed Alwi Al-Hady

Author:Alijah GordonAlwi bin Alhady
Publisher:Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia : Malaysian Sociological Research Institute, 1999.
Edition/Format:  Book : Biography : EnglishView all editions and formats

21 May 2013: I borrowed the book from Perpustakaan Hamzah Sendut (PHS) in USM, Penang via Interlibrary Loan.

Dr Syed Mohamed Alwi al-Hady wrote about his life with his grandfather on pages 83-108. There are many family photos in the book.

10 comments:

Sellene said...

This man has already passed away in 2005, and was the son of Syed Alwi Alhady, a writer, teacher and culturalist of some repute who was in turn the son of Syed Syaikh Alhady.

Lots of information about his early years in Alijah Gordon's volume on his grandfather. Apparently he also treated Datuk Zubaidah Hashim for piles in the 1970s (at least according to her husband)

Faridah said...

Dear Sellene,

I have no update from everyone I contacted so far. He passed away but there's no news of the children's whereabouts. I enquired at UM and Ministry.

Dr Syed Alwi Alhady was my dad's uncle. My dad has passed away. I met Dr Syed Alwi Alhady when I was a child aged about 5 long ago.

Sellene said...

He was with Merchant Bank,I think. Became something of a banker, sat on boards of various banks after he gave up medicine. But it might be hard to get them to furnish information.

Strange, it should be easy to get his children to respond. Why shouldn't they want to talk about their father? Why not try contacting Zubaidah Ariff again? He's a close friend of Bhai...hahaha

Faridah said...

The news I had received is everyone in Al-Hady's family died except the daughter, the one with the same name as mine. She's overseas, cannot be contacted.

The last time my sister contacted Datuk Zubaidah Ariff on my behalf, they met at CAP. She couldn't see very well. I thought she needed rest, that time too, Datuk Mushir Ariff had just passed away and they were doing tahlil when I called Datuk Zubaidah at home - she said they were busy! She sounded very sad. She moved house but I think I will still not disturb her. I can try Facebook and ask there but Facebook is very slow now to be of any benefit. Can still try.

MMA has not responded, Not even NSF. Maybe they don't have proper record-keeping.

Sellene said...

Yes, she's staying in Gurney Drive now. I saw her once taking a stroll with her maid along the seafront. So life goes on for her.

By all means, please get hold of her and get as much as you can or you'll live to regret it. She's one of the few women alive who can tell you who's who and all the tittle tattle about Penang people. If you want to find out who all those people are on the GH monument, you cant do better than ask her. Besides, it will be good for her memory if she's stimulated. Old people need that stimulation or else they will succumb to senile dementia. Of course you know that, you're a doctor.

Faridah said...

I will try call her. I'm in Kelantan; she's in Penang.

Faridah said...

What? Me a doctor?! Goodness.... maybe in my akhirat life, not this life! What gave you the idea that I am a doctor?

Sellene said...

Well, aren't you serving at the USM Medic Fac in Kubang Kerian? At least, that's my impression. Of course I assumed you were a medical practitioner although it's equally possible that you may have earned the title through dissertation.

Best to call on her personally. Then she may be more forthcoming, plus it's always easier to ask an octogenarian personally rather than do it through the phone. Pronunciation of names may sound different over the phone etc etc.

Or else, just get in touch with Dato Seri Nazir Ariff, her son. He'll remember a thing or two about these people, too.

Anonymous said...

Hi, dato alhady and ruby alhady have two sons and a daughter namely farid, feisal and fareeda respectively. Farid passed away in 1970. As far as i know feisal and fareeda are still around. Dato passed in sometime ago. Don't know about datin though.

Faridah said...

TQ for the update on Dato Alhady's family.