This research was begun in November 2002 and has lasted till today. There were altogether 52 early Malay doctors between 1910 and 1957, inclusive. These doctors included medical doctors, dentists and homeopathy doctors. Most of the medical doctors had received their medical education at the King Edward VII Medical College in Singapore, before the University of Malaya was established and the medical faculty was relocated to Malaya in 1960. A few other medical doctors had studied medicine at the University of Hong Kong, not of their want, but they were stranded in Hong Kong due to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1941. The dentists graduated from the King Edward Dental College and from the University of Melbourne. The homeopathy doctors graduated from India and Singapore but the homeopathy programme was German. The German Consulate-General office was opened in Singapore in 1892, so homeopathy was the in-thing there then, and the British-backed Federated Malay States Government Medical Institution was not opened till much later, in 1905. All our doctors returned to Singapore and Malaya to serve upon graduation. Some went on to further their studies when the Queen's Scholarship was made available from 1950 onward, to very bright Malays. From my research on this topic, I would conclude that all the early Malay doctors were highly disciplined and the best doctors that Singapore and British Malaya and the Federation of Malaya ever had. They were highly respected by their respective societies. They were the hallmark of Malay endeavours in medicine. May we always remember our doctors.
List of early Malay doctors
(ordered by year of graduation; list is still incomplete; another 10 doctors are still missing)
List of early Malay doctors
(ordered by year of graduation; list is still incomplete; another 10 doctors are still missing)
1. Dr Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Razak
2. Dr Pandak Ahmad bin Alang Sidin (also known as Dr Ahmad)
3. Dr Mohamed Ibrahim bin Shaik Ismail
4. Dr HS Moonshi
5. Dr SM Baboo
6. Dr Ismail M Ghows
7. Dr KM Ariff
8. Dr Hamzah bin Taib
9. Dr Husin bin Mohamed Ibrahim
10. Dr Abdul Wahab Khan bin Mohamed Lal Khan
11. Dr Mustapha bin Osman
12. Dr Ali Othman Merican (no record of his graduation year)
13. Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos
14. Dr Abdul Ghani bin Mohammad
15. Dr Megat Khas bin Megat Omar
16. Dr Mohamed Said bin Mohamed
17. Dr Awang bin Hassan
18. Dr Mohamed bin Mohamed Ibrahim
19. Dr(H) Amir Burhanuddin Al-Helmy - no family contact
20. Dr Abdul Karim bin Nawab Din
21. Dr Mohamed Din bin Ahmad
22. Dr Sulaiman bin Mohd Attas
23. Dr Abdullah bin Ahmad
24. Dr Nuruddin bin Mohd Salleh
25. Dr Mohamed bin Taib
26. Dr Latifah Bee Ghows
27. Dr Ismail bin Abdul Rahman
28. Dr Salma bte Ismail
29. Dr Abdul Wahab bin Mohamed Ariff
30. Dr Abdul Aziz bin Omar
31. Dr Omar bin Din
32. Dr Abdul Majid bin Ismail
33. Dr Syed Mohamed bin Alwi Alhady
34. Dr Abu Bakar bin Ibrahim
35. Dr Syed Mahmood bin Syed Hussain Jamalullail
36. Dr Carleel Merican
37. Dr Mohamed Noor bin Marahakim
38. Dr Ruby bte Abdul Majeed
39. Dr Ahmad Ezanee Merican
40. Dr(H) Mohammad Noor bin Nordin
41. Dr Ariffin bin Ngah Marzuki
42. Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad
43. Dr Siti Hasmah bte Mohd Ali
44. Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin bin Raja Shahbuddin
45. Dr Ungku Omar bin Ungku Ahmad
46. Dr Mohd Salleh bin Abdul Hamid (Johor) - completed
47. Dr Syed Hassan Aljunied (Singapore) - completed
48. Dr Shaik Taha Mattar (Singapore) - completed
49. Dr Abdul Samat bin Haji Pagak (Singapore) - completed
50. Dr Zakaria bin Salim (Terengganu) - completed
51. Dr Inayat Hussain bin Amir Mohammad (Terengganu) - completed
52. Dr Kandati bin Seka (Singapore) - unable to locate family
53. Dr Najmuddin bin Ahmad - unable to locate family
54. Dr Johari (Kedah, 1950s) - lost to follow-up
55. Dr Ahmad Ismail (Kedah, O&G) - insufficient information, unable to locate family
Not all the names above were included in the 2 books published in 2012 on The Early Malay Doctors.
Only completed and verified biographies were selected for inclusion in the 2 books in 2012.
Presentation on The Early Malay Doctors:
