An older PhD holder with poor eyesight but a pretty clear vision

Complied by C.Aruno and Justin Jack

A 79-year-old former teacher obtained his PhD in Malay literature despite health challenges, Sinar Harian reported.

Dr Muharam Awang, who has seven children and 17 grandchildren, had to travel back and forth from Melaka to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

He also had eyesight issues due to cataracts, but said it did not dampen his spirit, and he enlisted the help of his son to type out his research thesis.

“My eyesight was blurry and I was unable to read when I was completing my thesis. I had to undergo surgery in May and after my eyesight recovered, I managed to complete the thesis,” he said.

He said the urge to learn spurred him on.

“At the start, I faced many issues and worse still, when I needed to be proficient in computers. For me, the technical challenges were more difficult to overcome,” he said.

> Singapore-born actress Atikah Suhaime (pic) will marry her fiance in Kuala Lumpur in January, Harian Metro reported.

The 32-year-old actress said she was in the midst of completing her documentation as the wedding involved people of two nationalities.

“Actually, we planned this wedding at the last minute and we had just got engaged last month.

“I was attracted to him because I feel calm whenever he is around,” she said.

Her fiance Datuk Lokman Teh, 34, said that he would not stop her from acting.

“There will be no restrictions for her to continue with her acting career, but I would love to see her join the entrepreneurial world as well,” he said.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.