That Year Winter Came To Malaya

Chapter 3 - My pre-clinical years

The first year for medical students was crucial. Very often we could already fell the toughness in the studies. One must be strong and with passion in order to complete the studies. And of course dedication and devotion towards the field were imperative. 

My first year was not really that smooth sailing. But with Jo and Julian helping me, I managed to pass the exams. Not really excellent, but at least meet the expectations.

Around this moment, my feeling on Julian grew deeper. I was curious to find out more about him. Through a friend, I got to know that every Friday afternoon Julian will help Professor Stanton to collect tropical plant species for his botanical gardens. It was very much later Professor Stanton established a large botanic centre to house the magnificent tropical plant specimens for research and studies purposes.

Soon after that, I joined in his interest. We were very happy collecting plant specimens, especially herbs. As time progressed, Julian noticed I liked him. In a morning of Christmas eve of 1971, he asked to meet at the jetty near the lake gardens. I was blurry obeyed. Julian made the move by telling how he felt prerogative and always wanted to take care of me. He had thought to confess after the completion of our studies, but he can't wait for that long. That day was a momentous to us, as we embraced the existence of one another. 

In 1972, Dentistry and Law schools were established in the university. Julian's sister, Joanne was in the first batch dentistry. It was a rarity for a female to join this field. Julian always found the similarities in me and Joanne, particularly both of us would always challenge the norm in society's expectations. In this case, I decided to pursue medicine, a field that been dominated by male.

University of Malaya was then at its zenith in a short period of time. The medicine school and teaching hospital were named among the best research centre in the world and top in Asia. It was ranked in par with Cambridge in terms of its research and the state-of-art facilities. The introduction of E.C.G. technology facilities had also helped to improve in the clinical studies. Many of its expatriate faculty members were highly-sought after experts, some were later recognised as Nobel Prize winners.

As a developing nation, we were grateful for this exposure and to learn as much as we could. Bagging with that much of knowledge and experience, we had produced many local talents who later became vocal and contributors to the improvement of our society. Our progress and achievements were much respected by the international community. Most of the Malayans were often invited to give speech at the international platform such as in the United Nations, or given a moderator seat in international forums and most importantly to be in the committee drafting international policies.