Search 42

SEARCH 42

25 May 2005

It is Wednesday, 16.48 on my office pc.

The 42nd search is to write about a surprise reply e-mail which I received today from Dr. M. Bakri Musa (also see Search 37 re Dr. M. Bakri Musa). His e-mail was dated 24 May 2005, 11:16:47 am with this subject "Re: need assistance re early Malay doctors".

Dr. Bakri congratulated me for embarking on what he thinks is a worthy project. Come to think of it, I feel that writing any bit about history is always a worthy project. Dr. Bakri indicated that he had wanted to write about similar line (history of medicine in Malaya) but never got around to doing it. He is far away half way round the globe and busy. I can't blame people for not writing and I surely can't blame people for not having time to write. I didn't have time to write but I had to force myself to write until writing became almost a daily practice instead of watching TV. Anyway, Dr. Bakri was kind enough to inform me of another of his previous ambitious writing project. But somehow he has switched gears and is now into political commentaries (www.bakrimusa.com).

Dr. Bakri went on to say that he is more interested about the early doctors who are still alive 'before we lose them'. He named a few more doctors:

• Majid "Coco" Ismail (refer Search 15 re Tan Sri Dr Abdul Majid Ismail)
• Ariffin Suhaimi  (should be Ariffin Ngah Marzuki; refer Search 25)
• ALhady

According to Dr. Bakri, it would be nice to conduct 'oral history sessions' with them. I think this means having live interviews but since these doctors may now be quite old, whether they can withstand the pressure of live interviews, I have some concern. Dr. Bakri added that these doctors may remember 'the old ones'. Yes, I believe so.

Dr. Bakri kindly offered to help should the need arise. He is very much interested in my findings!

I am glad that readers are taking a keen interest in what I am writing for the net. This article is now 42 searches long. It holds a wealth of information and I hope some day I can find time to organize it into a book. I will need to find a good publisher for the book version. Care to help with book publishing? I have not even got to the images yet! Should I make this a book?

I browsed through my son's history book for fifth formers during lunch break today. It was written by Prof. Ramlah Adam along with 3 others and published by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP). The cover had the faces of the first 4 Prime Ministers of Malaysia - Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Abdul Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad. Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is our present Prime Minister. I was trying to figure out what sort of cover design would be good should I decide to make a book. Please give me some ideas.

It is 17.24 on my office pc.

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Acknowledgement

Dr. M. Bakri Musa

bakrimusa@juno.com

Columnist with Malaysiakini (www.malaysiakini.com)

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Telehealth Research Group
http://www.medic.usm.my/rnd/telehealth
School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia