RIFLE RANGE BOY

We had a good set of teachers. To prove a point to the rest of the world who were mocking at the third Malaysian medical school for straying from the traditional teaching, the powers that be decided to equip the school with lecturers of high stature and calibre. To train some of the local lecturers, overseas dropped-out government scholars medical students were designated as trainee lecturers were excellent in making easy subjects more difficult to comprehend -and I guess they got a kick out it. Since they bungled up in med school, deep-seated psychological envy logically would drive anyone in their shoes (mortarboard) to do the same. Anyway, only a few of them remain in memory. The process of natural selection and natural body defence of engulfing distorted glial cells must have wiped off these painful, traumatic moments! Bacteriophage T4 Let me perambulate some of the lecturers that still linger in the memory bank. I guess they must have a permanent imprin...

Mutley (of Wacky Races) At a time when South Africa was shying away from Apartheid, when the loud sounds of 'Gimme Hope Joanna' were heard in every Soweto* and streets of Johannesburg, Malaysia was embracing racism full scale after the 69 mayhem. What better (or worse) place to perceive this transformation than the local universities. In my batch (just like the rest of the varsity), the non-Bumis stuck together for play and work. A handful of upper-class middle Malay students would join us every now and then. That's it- they were no 'bro'! In essence, the Bumis and the nons interacted amongst themselves. The non-Bumi guys in our batch used to refer to each other with the prefix 'homosapiens' followed by a suffix characteristic of their trait or character. There was a guy who spiced his conversation with unnecessary profanity, hence his title was homo sapien vulgaris; homo sapien negroides- coarse features and thick lips; homo sapien sinensis - ...

Another foundation upon which the concrete was poured during the establishment of PPSP is the concept of developing community-based physicians. It was fondly referred to by its acronym CFCS - much to the imagination of the young minds whenever the word 'F' comes around, with the help of the 'S' - go figure! This is beginning to sound like the TV series 'The Electric Company'. Now, I cannot even remember what CFCS stands for now (Community and Family Case Studies?). In every phase of the medical studies (Phase1-Yr1, Phase2-Yrs2-3, Phase3-Yrs4-5), students were required to follow a patient whom they had seen in the hospital and write about them. It is primarily to highlight how the disease affects the family and to impress to young doctors that a patient is not just a disease bearer, but instead he also carries a myriad of baggage of responsibilities and duties which he has to still perform in spite of his afflictions. Very noble thoughts indeed but what act...

McMasters' method of medical education was a deviation from the traditional medical studies norm that we usually hear of (at least in the 80s). In the old way, medical students were taught the pre-clinical subjects in the early years and were expected to integrate what they have learnt earlier in the clinical years at the tail end of their medical school and use them for the rest of their lives. The critics of this method argued that too much knowledge is learnt and wasted, not of clinical significance. In the USM model, this integration is done early via the problem-based approach of learning and their Holy Grail of community-centric teaching in the hope of producing community conscious physicians. It all sounds very novel and noble but in practice... The powers that be decided that to reach the ambition of the Government determined race-based upliftment of society, they congregated a motley crew of students with variable academic capabilities in the hope of churning out the mu...

Damocles (a courtier in the royal court of the tyrant Dionysius) exclaimed that, as a great man of power and authority surrounded by magnificence Dionysius was truly extremely fortunate. Dionysius offered to switch places with Damocles, so that Damocles could taste that very fortune first hand. Damocles quickly and eagerly accepted the King's proposal. Damocles sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held at the pommel only by a single hair of a horse's tail. Damocles finally begged the tyrant that he be allowed to depart because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate! (Wikipedia)  The University Act was drafted in 1971 to keep a check on university students' opinion on current events after a spate of the ugly showdown between these young punks and the authorities. With that looming in the background like having a sword Damocles hanging above...

Episode 2: Racial Polarization University is the epitome of racial polarization in the country. That I found out upon entry to varsity. Everything else follows as this cream of society is destined to lead the rest of the country whose citizen would naturally follow the ideology of their leaders who have been soaked up growing in a soup of racial discrimination.    University Sains Malaysia (USM) Medical School (PPSP in Malay) started its pioneer batch of students in 1981. Hence, I was in the third set of guinea pigs taught in a new medical education format based on the curriculum modelled by MacMasters Medical School in Hamilton, Canada. It was said that everyone was watching with eyes wide open, in curiosity and possibly for ridicule, its outcome as the system is said to  challenge  the  tradition method of  teaching in a medical school. The enrollment of our class was 96 (after the final adjustments, more later).  Admission to the school was via ...

Episode 1 (Pilot) The bell bottoms of the 70s was getting out of fashion in the 80s. The hairs still remained fluffy and thick. People rarely went to barbers, they just trimmed the hair around the ear or just pulled it back! The bells at the bottom of pants got slimmer, maybe not as thin as the drain pipe. After SPM (the O levels), I spent a lot time at Klang when my uncle moved in to his brand new bungalow in a brand new house estate which is now in a prime area in thick of activities. During this time, I had the privilege of establishing male bonding with a few guys who were there too at time or another - including G, P and LBM. After finally uprooting ourselves from RRF to plant ourselves in BG, I hardly spent any time (a year and a half) before it was time to be off to varsity. Euphoria was the order of the week in the Sham family at the tail end of May 1983. Letters manifested from NUS and USM offering engineering and medicine respectively. After much deliberation, I d...