Meet Dr Zarina Mustafa

Both Prof Asma Ismail (now VC USIM) and Dr Zarina Mustafa (School of Educational Studies, USM) are descendants of the first Malay doctor, Dr Abdul Latiff bin Razak. There's a road named Jalan Doktor Abdul Latiff at the General Hospital Kuala Lumpur (GHKL) which was renamed Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).

Dr Zarina contributed a lot to make the biography of the first Malay doctor a success. Otherwise I didn't have photos for the biography of Dr Abdul Latiff. She had obtained the photos from her uncle, engineer Zainuddin Dato Yahya. Zainuddin had compiled many photos of his Bugis clan which I used for my book.

I had called Dr Zarina to meet her at her office but Affandi got distracted after solat Jumaat and went to visit his old friend Prof Omar Shawkataly (a Malacca man), while I waited for him, and Dr Zarina waited for me.

I informed Dr Zarina that I was waiting for Affandi at Canselori. She wanted to go somewhere and came to see me at the Canselori. We sat there and talked like kids do. It was good to catch up on old times. She was surprised, happy, stunned, thrilled and lost for words that the books were ready and appeared right before her eyes, in her very own hands!! Nobody could imagine that the books would be out after 10 years of research. Yes! We made it after all!! Alhamdulillah. Thanks to all team members who helped. Now we have books which we can share.

Dr Zarina leading the way (Kami Memimpin)
School of Educational Studies, USM