Prof Aishah bt Abdul Latiff

Prof Aishah bt Abdul Latiff
(from Tripod Sept 1998)

Biography
N/A
- her name was mentioned to me by 2 people, my father and my uncle (both deceased)
- she maybe connected to the early Arabs who arrived in Penang (I can't quite remember the details)
- noted as an intelligent Malay female
- married

Achievements and Contributions to Society

1. Malaysia's first female pharmacy lecturer
2. Established Doping Control Centre at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Penang which became a reference and doping testing & control centre for the Commonwealth Games.

From left: Prof Aishah Abdul Latiff, Prof Dzulkifli Abdul Razak and Prof Asma Ismail
at USM Doping Control Centre, Penang. (USM photo 2010). Prof Aishah is the Director of Doping Control Centre in USM, Penang. Tan Sri Prof Dzulkifli Razak was Vice-Chancellor USM. He left to join Albukhary University in Alor Setar, Kedah. Prof Asma Ismail is Deputy Vice Chancellor R&D. She is related to the first Malay doctor, Dr Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Razak. Prof Asma's father, Ismail bin Abu Sittee, had worked with Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin bin Raja Shahbuddin in Jitra, Kedah. Ismail bin Abu Sittee then worked in Penang, alongside Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos. Both Dr Che Lah and Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin were early Malay doctors. Tan Sri Prof Dzulkifli's father, Cikgu Razak was a Malay schoolteacher who survived WWII. He was a sponsored student at the time and miraculously survived the Hiroshima atomic bomb in Japan. He was at the epicentre. He lived to tell his story.

Photo sources:
http://bcme.tripod.com/sept98/isibcme1.htm
USM DOPING CONTROL CENTRE

Ismail bin Abu Sittee

I was browsing the USM collection of videos hosted by the Engineering Campus and saw this Hari Raya 2012 video. I decided to give it a try to see if the video runs on my laptop. It does run in HTML mode. It doesn't seem to work in the FLV mode (wonder why).
http://u-channel.eng.usm.my/videos/1406/klip-raya-kampus-kesihatan-2012

Anyway, half-way through the video, I saw my former schoolmate/classmate(?) from Std 1 at Sultanah Asma Primary School in Alor Star, Kedah - that was 1965. She is Asma bt Ismail, now Prof Asma Ismail.

I managed to write to her just before my book went to print. I was hoping to fix a passage for her in my book but maybe because I was hurrying through the last stages of editing, I totally omitted her info about her father. Who was he?

Asma's father, Encik Ismail, as he was known, was an educated man who served in Jitra, together with Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin (arwah). Tan Sri had requested me to find out about one man who appeared twice in 2 of his photos. At the time, it was a difficult request to fulfill and I thought it would be next to impossible to locate a man from 1965 today. His features would change and he may not look like he did in the photos that Tan Sri gave me. I was worried but I promised myself I would search for the man and made a photographic imprint of him so I could spot him if I saw him (a very big hope).

One day, I was going through a list of my schoolfriends from childhood; there were a few I remembered from 1965, in Std 1. One was Fauzaih Fakaruddin. Another who I knew much later at Tunku Kurshiah College (TKC) in 1974 and right through Form 6 at Methodist Boys' School in 1976, was Asma Ismail.

Asma's mother worked for my maternal grandfather, Dr Che Lah bin Md Joonos, a Penangite from Jelutong. I met the mother on a trip to the community clinic (Klinik Desa) at Sungai Dua. She worked there. When I met her she asked if I was Dr Che Lah's granddaughter and I replied yes. I had never met her before.

I later visited Asma and her family at home. I met her mother again, her 2 brothers and herself (eldest). Her father was not at home when I was there but for a brief time. Then her father returned and that was the first time I met him. He looked a bit like Tunku Abdul Rahman and I got confused. Why would Tunku appear in Asma's house? Then I was told that he was the father. In case you haven't noticed, the men in those days, they all wore their pants up high on the waist - I think it was a trend at the time.

Mr Ismail, as I remember him, was a quiet man of few words. He didn't say much. I probably told him who I was and he knew. Then I left. Her 2 brothers were my brothers' friends.

When Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin requested for me to search for a 'Mr Ismail', I hadn't the faintest idea that he was Asma's father. Time was a factor and he had changed. I couldn't figure out that this Mr Ismail, father of Asma, was the same man that had worked with Tan Sri Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin at the RHTC in Jitra, Kedah. It was only when I emailed Asma to ask about her father that we both discovered the missing link! That was after 9 email exchanges. It was great news for me but I could not get the new info in time into my books on The Early Malay Doctors. Asma's father died in 1992.

This is Asma's description of her father:

My father was Ismail bin Abu Sittee. He was the chief public health inspector of Penang. While in the Health Centre in Jitra Kedah he served as phi and health trainer under Raja Nordin and then under Siti Hasmah. My father was at Jitra till we transferred to Penang in 1969 when I was in Std 3. not in 1964. He was transferred to pg to take up the post of chief phi. He was a health trainer, a very good one at that. My public speaking ability in all probability followed his footsteps. I cannot make out the pictures sent. Pls resend. I have his pictures at home but would not be able to find the old pictures. My father was at Trengganu but never in Kelantan. He was big in malaria eradication but am not aware of yaws. He hardly spoke of yaws. I am privy to work done by my father in malaria since he brought home the gurus in the field from WHO. I met them all. I hope have shed some light on my father. Thank you for re living nostalgic memories. Pls ensure that the facts are right difficult as it is to dig up the past. Raja Nordin punya son Norman may shed more light. We played as kids in the Health Centre at Jitra. Don't think he remembers me. wassalam. 

Asma

Asma's father had also worked with Tun Dr Siti Hasmah in Kedah. I guess he would be in some of her earlier pictures taken in Kedah, before 1969. I have to ask Arkib Negara Malaysia if it can search for Encik Ismail, formerly at RHTC, and later as Chief Public Health Inspector in Penang. I will also need to search my grandfather's old photos for Encik Ismail.

Asma's father, Encik Ismail bin Abu Sittee (left) and Norman's father, Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin, at the RHTC in Jitra, circa early 1960s.

Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin is seated at the table edge. Encik Ismail bin Abu Sittee is standing at left, helping out with filming of the Malayan Yaws Campaign in Kelantan, in early 1960s.

Portrait of (Tan Sri) Dr Raja Ahmad Noordin bin Raja Shahbuddin, in 1965 when he went to UC Berkeley to  complete his MSc in Public Health. His Academic Supervisor was Prof Beryl Josephine Roberts.

Asma's mother, Hjh Aminah bt Yusoff, is linked to the first Malay doctor, Dr Abdul Latiff bin Abdul Razak.

Hjh Aminah Yusoff (photo was obtained from an A4 collage of female descendants of the Bugis Daeng warriors contributed by Zainuddin Dato Yahya). Dr Abdul Latiff was Hjh Aminah's granduncle.

Prof Asma Ismail (photo frame created from USM Aidilfitri 2012 video made by Zamri et al, UKAST). Her great-granduncle was Dr Abdul Latiff.

Search 57

SEARCH 57

7 November 2005

Monday, 7 November 2005, 11.03 am - 1.02 pm.

I e-mailed Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lee Lik Meng, School of Housing, Building and Planning, USM on 24 August 2005. I was surfing his e-learning website and came across his profile. I wanted to obtain information concerning my maternal grandfather, Dato' Dr. Che Lah bin Mohd. Joonos.

I wanted to know if he knew my grandfather who used to work with Penang Town Council after his retirement. I wanted to obtain some background of his work with Penang Town Council.

I also needed photographs of buildings such as health clinics and hospitals in Malaysia, including Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

I needed to know more about the Leper Settlement, Sungai Buloh where my grandfather once worked during the Japanese Occupation.

My grandfather had also designed the layout for Minden Heights housing area, Penang (adjacent to USM, Penang main campus) in the early 1970s where his house still stands today.

He was also Penang's Health Inspector but at that time the rivers in Penang were not smelly as they are today. At the time he was Penang's Health Inspector, he made sure that the rivers in Penang were clean and none of the rivers smelled as bad as they do today.

He made sure that the restaurants and all eating outlets on Penang island kept to strict cleanliness and standards fit for human consumption. He would check out every restaurant where he ate. He would call the restaurants first to make a booking for a table of three (himself, his wife and me). As I recall, he was fond of Dawood Restaurant (we dined upstairs) and another one near the Keramat police HQ, Penang. We also dined (Sunday brunch) at Palm Beach Hotel, Ferringhi, Penang.

He made sure the markets, especially Jelutong market, were kept clean. As I recall, almost everyone selling in Jelutong wet market greeted both his wife and him when we went marketing with his Chinese amah, Che Che (sister).

Che Che was a female refugee fleeing mainland China. Che Che was married with 2 daughters but they died due to starvation (her breastmilk dried up) during the tortuous journey to Malaya. Che Che worked for Dr. Che Lah's household most of her lifetime. Che Che adopted a girl, Ah Fah. Che Che went to live with a kongsi in Penang in her old age and later died at the kongsi. I was upset when Che Che died as I had fond memories of Che Che. At the time I came to know Che Che, I was five and she was 52 years old but was strong. She had good teeth and build. Che Che actually taught me some Chinese, Chinese ladies internal (tie string type) and outer garments (light blue top and loose black pants), and how to prepare Chinese dishes. We enjoyed listening to Chinese stories on radio and fed the dogs nasi anjing. Che Che was fun and a very loving Chinese woman.

Dr. Lee Lik Meng replied and thanked me. He did not have information concerning my grandfather. However, after we met in USM Health Campus in Kubang Kerian Kelantan, while on his return flight from Kota Bharu to Penang, he suddenly realised that there is one man who might be of help to me. This man used to work in the Penang City Council in the 1960s but is now active in NGOs. Dr. Lee Lik Meng gave me Dato' Anwar Fazal's name. Dr. Lee Lik Meng believes that Dato' Anwar Fazal is a walking library and would know about my grandfather.

Dr. Lee Lik Meng e-mailed me again on 3 September 2005 to inform me that luck was with me this time. He asked that I contact Dato' Anwar Fazal for some more insights about my grandfather.

Dato' Anwar Fazal had replied to Dr. Lee Lik Meng's e-mail on 2 September 2005 with 'Penang Town Council' as the subject. Dato' Anwar Fazal e-mail contained a line that read "he was an icon ...was with the rural district council ... my father nearly bought his home in jalan pemanchar ... more later ... anwar."

I was amazed by Dato' Anwar Fazal's instant recall of my grandfather! I do not even know when they last met. I have not met Dato' Anwar Fazal at the time of this writing.

I can still recall my grandfather's house in Jalan Pemanchar. I met an American archaeologist from the University of California, Berkeley at my grandfather's house in Jalan Pemanchar. Prof. Collin had just returned from an teaching archaeology in Indonesia and had put up in my grandfather's house before returning to Berkeley. I met and consulted Prof. Collin concerning my upcoming studies in California in 1976 and he provided me some advice. He told me to look for him in Berkeley when I arrive in California (I did but could not locate him somehow - lost the information he wrote for me).

I am not too sure about rural district council. Which district council was this?

As I recall there was a woman who knew my grandfather very well. She worked at one of the district clinics in Penang. She is Prof. Asma Ismail's mother. I don't know her mother's name but I met the mother once at the clinic where she worked in 1982-1983. I have never met the mother before but her mother instantly recognised me and asked "Ni cucu Dr. Che Lah ke?" when I first met her at the clinic where she worked. We were on our Community and Family Case Studies (CFCS) visitation to health clinics in Penang under Prof. Rusli Nordin's supervision. We chanced to stop by her workplace. I met her again when Prof. Asma Ismail got married. I met her a third time near a staircase when she came to visit USM Kubang Kerian. The last time I met her was while she was recuperating from a car accident in Hospital USM, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. It would be good to interview Prof. Asma Ismail's mother as she would know alot about my grandfather.

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Acknowledgement

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lee Lik Meng (now Prof. Lee Lik Meng in 2012)

School of Housing, Building and Planning (HBP)

Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)

11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia

E-mail: likmeng@gmail.com

Dato' Anwar Fazal

Worked with Penang Town Council in 1960s

Retired from UNDP

Works for World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA)

Url: http://www.waba.org.my

Prof. Asma Ismail

Director

Institute for Research on Molecular Medicine (INFORMM)

Universiti Sains Malaysia

16150 Kubang kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

E-mail: asma@kb.usm.my

Prof. Rusli Nordin

Deputy Dean

School of Dental Sciences

Universiti Sains Malaysia Health Campus

16150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

E-mail: rusli@kb.usm.my

Prof. Collin Edwards

Archaeologist

University of California, Berkeley

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