ABSTRACT
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was a medical student at the King Edward VII College of Medicine from 1947 to 1953. He described his student days with fondness; he made many friends while he was at the College. He recounted his early days as a doctor before he entered politics in 1964. He became the fourth and longest serving Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years from 1981 to 2003. He concluded “The contribution of my Medical College days in Singapore to the racial harmony, peace and prosperity of Malaysia is tangible but unquantifiable.”
As a small-town upcountry Malay boy, Singapore was to me a great big city when I first arrived in 1947 to join the King Edward VII Medical College. The tallest building was the Cathay Building, a full 13-storey high. It housed the Cathay Cinema and belonged to the enormously rich Chinese millionaire, Loke Wan Tho.
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