By NNN-Bernama,
Kuala Lumpur : Sixty-two years of friendship was renewed when 21 former students, including former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah, from the Class of 1947 of the former King Edward VII Medical College in Singapore gathered for a four-day, three-night retreat from Monday.
The retreat began early Monday with the former students of the college, now known as the National University of Singapore, converging at the Cyberview Lodge in Cyberjaya, the new township near here developed for high-technology enterprises.
Most of them came from Malaysia and Singapore and made their journey to Cyberjaya despite their age, just to renew ties with their classmates of 62 years ago. One, however, is residing in Toronto, Canada, and came for the retreat with help from his daughter.
On Monday, the class of ’47 , including Dr Mahathir, 84, and Dr Siti Hasmah, 83, went on a tour of Cyberjaya, visited the Multimedia University and took a stroll in nearby Putrajaya, the federal administrative capital.
They had a small dinner Tuesday at the Cyberview Lodge and plan to go on a boat tour in Putrajaya Lake, visit the nearby Wetlands and have another dinner at Dr Mahathir’s residence in Cyberjaya on Wednesday.
The entire retreat is being organized and sponsored by property tycoon Mustapha Kamil Abu Bakar, the executive chairman of MK Land Holdings Bhd and EMKAY Group.
Mustapha also attended the dinner Tuesday and is expected to be with the class of ’47 until the end of the retreat on Thursday.
In her welcoming speech, Dr Siti Hasmah said she was glad to renew ties with her classmates, who studied medicine in the college over 60 years ago. “It is nice to meet old friends … watch their children all grown up. This is very exciting for all of us,” she said.