Malaysia Veterinary Forum (Archive)

Dr. TanDY

It is very sad that our ruminant lecturer - Dr Fatimah - from the vet faculty (UPM) passed away yesterday.

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Source from Veterinary Association Malaysia (VAM)
http://vam.org.my
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Demise of YBhg Assoc Prof Dr.Fatimah Iskandar : President VAM

Dear all,

It is much sadness I wish to inform you that our dear A/Prof. Dr.Fatimah died suddenly after falling down in the bathroom this afternoon (21/07/2007). Her body would be sent to Penang for burial tommorrow.

We encourage all of you to visit her family and pay your last respect to her today at No. 52, Persiaran Wangsa Baiduri 3, Subang Jaya (beside Hotel Subang Villa ). Tel : 03-56338406.

We convey our sincere condolence to her family during this time of bereavement and may God bless her soul.

Dr HanMRCVS · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 557 Location: Johor Bahru

she always tries her best to teach, listen and was very patient to all the students. i remember once when she asked our class for 'feedback', some of us told her that we are graduating without 'ethics' and thus making us 'non-ethical' vets (since we were never given any formal lectures on professional ethics).

she was amazing, that she actually listen to our worries and held formal classes to lecture us on the subject of ethics. a wonderful person. her passing is a great loss.

Dr. TanDY · Posted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:02 pm Post subject:

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Written by Dr Henry Too
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Her name was Che Teh Fatimah Nachiar Iskandar. I used to tease her about her
impossibly long name. Popularly known as "Dr. Fatimah", she was my colleague
while I was working in UPM. She was my friend. She also had a tendency to
stick to her guns as she often held very strong opinions on certain things.
However, you could always persuade her to see things your way as long as you
did it subtly and with a touch of diplomacy and humour. The latter is
important. Crack a joke and get her laughing. After that, you had a better
chance of convincing her or at least get her to compromise. A wonderful part
of her personality is that she never did harbour any grudges. I have a rather
unfortunate tendency to get into heated arguments with people and I've have
had many an argument with Fatimah. However, there were never any ill
feelings. This was because we had a unique friendship. We can fight without
hurting each other. She had a great enthusiasm for the things she believed
in. She would fight for a cause. The amalgamation of two veteinary
associations to become one was a worthy cause. She worked very
enthusiastically in the runup to the formation of VAM. We were part of the
organising committee for the scientific sessions of the first VAM congress.
VAM was a dream. The unity of two veterinary associations to become one
professional body. Fatimah was an idealist. But she was also a pragmatist.
She found it easier to accept the fact that, instead of two, we now have 3
veterinary associations i.e. SAPAM and MEVA. When we felt outraged that the
lecturers in the Dental Faculty is placed on a higher pay scheme that
veterinary lecturers, we (Dr. Aziz Saharee, Dr. Fatimah and myself) engaged a
lawyer and fought the case in front of a tribunal in order to right the
anomaly. It was a lonely battle. We got no help from UPM nor from the DVS. We
knew that we would not benefit even if we had won because only the younger
lecturers were affected by this anomaly. We often asked each other, "Why are
we doing this?" It was understood that we would have to pay the lawyer out of
our own pockets - if we lose. We won't lose, said Dr. Fatimah grimly. We knew
how stubborn she can be and that it would be pointless to argue with her.
Even the lawyer admired her tenacity. Needless to say, we won! It was a
victory for the veterinary profession. And our profession has precious few
victories. Fatimah would worked tirelessly for a cause. The veterinary
profession is a cause she believed in. She believed in her students. She
believed in her colleagues. I have to keep correcting my tenses when writing
about Dr. Fatimah because I kept using the present tense. This is because I
still have difficulty accepting that she is no longer with us. I just saw her
last Friday (i.e. July 20). She told me I should come back to UPM more often.
She was a good person. She tries hard. Sometimes, she tried too hard. She
could be a little obstinate but she was never mean. She was never unkind. And
as I've said before - she was my friend. I shall miss her.

Dr Nat · Joined: 07 Dec 2005 Posts: 1834 Location: Klang Valley

It is indeed a lost. One thing I learnt from her is that there can be more than 1 correct answer, and to learn that there are many other ways to see things or approach a subject. She doesn't teach vet med in a straight forward way as in the books. She prefers interaction with the students. And I noticed that she will patiently listen to any student's answers, and she will never say that the student is wrong - only a different point of view.

dark · Joined: 18 Jun 2006 Posts: 11 Location: Malaysia

its a lost to the faculty ..
to upm ...
to Malaysia ...

the only competent large animal clinician that i knew. I dont know any other lecturer that have a very good knowledge of large animal internal medicine (ruminant) than her. What ive learned from her? I dont really know. But i do know, faculty of Veterinary Medicine ... wouldnt be the same anymore ...