A day to remember: The wedding of Dr Ling and Ena Ling in 1968.
The life story of Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik as told to journalist Foong Pek Yee shortly after his retirement from active politics in 2003.
Dr Ling was the fourth generation of the Ling family, with a history dated back to Sitiawan, Perak in then Malaya in 1903.
A medical doctor by training, he went on to become the longest serving Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) president and the longest serving Transport Minister (1986- 2003) in Malaysian history.
By Foong Pek Yee
foongpekyee@gmail.com
Sept 18, 2026.
The Penang General Hospital’s ward 10 holds a special meaning for me.
That was in 1967.
” I went to take a look at the place about 9.00pm because the next day would be my first day of work as a houseman there.
“Suddenly I heard a voice telling me that visiting hours was over.
“While I could not remember my reaction, the young nurse who reprimanded me somehow came across as somebody special.
“This is the chemistry of love.
“The nurse Ong Ee Nah is now my wife Toh Puan Ena Ling.
“We registered our marriage on Jan 22, 1968.”
We got to meet very often working in the same hospital and we liked to go dating at the Tip Top Coffeehouse near the hospital in Pulau Tikus, Penang.
“Love blossomed quickly.”
And 1967 was also the year of political enlightening for me.
It was in November and just another evening for us where a few doctors and I were playing tennis.
We got an emergency call.
“We had to rush back to the hospital in tennis shoes and shorts to attend to hundreds of injured people.
“I saw mutated bodies, revealing internal organs.
” A racial riot just took place- the November 1967 Penang Hartal Riot– that left about 20 dead and some 130 injured.
“The riot started with a strike over the devaluation of the Malayan dollar against the British pound and the new Malaysian dollar before it culminated into a racial riot.
“I saw how racial confrontation can end up so tragically.”
The following year, I volunteered to be transferred to the Butterworth District Hospital.
Serving in a rural posting was the logical thing to do because I wanted to specialize and be a physician.
There were only two doctors in the hospital.
“I was a hard-working doctor and on call every other day,
“Our quarters were just next to the hospital and I would wake up to go to hospital any time.
“At times I worked up to 3.00 am.
“I must see my patients before prescribing them medicine.”
Photos: Credit to a publication titled A Tribute to…Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik from his colleagues and friends in the Alumni Association of King Edward VII College of Medicine and the Faculties of Medicine of the University of Malaya and the University of Singapore.
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