Dr. JB Lim’s Brief Introduction of Himself to IEM

Dr. Lim Ju Boo

Date: May 30, 2020

Dear Elite Members of the Professional IEM,

It is a great honour for me to be requested by Ir. Lau Tai Onn to write an 800 word message to the esteemed members of your Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM).

It is such an honour and privilege I least deserve. Thank you for having me to pen just a few words of introduction to members of your elite profession.

Perhaps before I pen further, I need to introduce my small self at least once.  I was asked this by the Honorable Ir. Lau Tai Onn to give my CV and a photo. It sounded like making a spectacle out of me to give my photo and profile.

On second thought it may only be fair to the rest of the respected members of the IEM before I can write a short 800-word message or a story of small myself which unfortunately is a “round peg in a square hole” or a “square peg in a round hole”.

Either way I am a misfit among the elite members of your privileged profession of engineers.

Briefly, I was born in Batu Pahat, attended High School there, and in Johor English College, did my A-Level at Singapore Polytechnic before attending various universities and landed up in the opposite profession as a doctor.

But more importantly to me was, I was later trained to be a medical researcher to allow me to work as one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in United States and at the Institute for Medical Research (IMR) in Kuala Lumpur.

It took me a very long time – over 15 years across 5 universities, namely  in Calcutta, London, Reading, Cambridge and Oxford starting from my Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry, Physiology, Zoology to my Post Graduate Diploma in Nutrition, then my Master’s in Food Quality Control, my MD and my PhD in Medicine, and recently (2019) my post-doctoral in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Cambridge and later in Forensic Science (Toxicology) also from Cambridge once again, and lastly in Astronomy from the University of Oxford  (Dec. 2019). 

After my PhD in London, I was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine also in London, and was also admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health, London. That was in the late 1990’s till 2000 - a long time ago.  That is all briefly my CV.

Actually my love is in the physical sciences such as astronomy, mathematics, physics, especially in nuclear or particle physics, nuclear engineering and it has never been in any of the biological or biomedical sciences.

Alternatively I also wanted to be a pilot, an astronomer or an astronaut but an ill wind kept diverting me to land in the wrong medical runway. 

Allow me now to briefly tell you a childhood story.

I was born and brought up together with my 8 siblings in my parent’s cold storage shop house in Batu Pahat in the 1940’s to 1950’s.

In those days there was no television except the radio and we used to listen to Radio Malaya playing the same Chinese and English songs over and over again.

For lack of entertainment, our school mates used to come to our shop house to visit us almost daily, and the only entertainment we can offer them was some biscuits, kuaci, peanuts, F & N drinks, then  turn on the fan,  and  tune on the radio for some songs.

One day one of my sisters’ classmates as usual came along to visit her.

So the only entertainment for her was to turn on the radio. But it was not working. So my sister called me to see if I could fix the radio. I was very proud to be called in as an “expert”.

So I did. What I did was, I looked at the back of the radio and shook some loose wires behind.  There you are it started “singing” those old tunes again.

Both my sister and her friend were very amazed at my “performance”. 

You know what? My sister’s friend was so impressed that she remarked that I shall one day become an engineer. I can never forget those remarkable words. 

My head swelled instantly with pride like a balloon for at least 3 days thinking one day I shall become an engineer.

In those days for anyone to become an engineer, a doctor or a scientist was very much respected. So I couldn’t help thinking how I could one day become an engineer by merely shaking some loose wires behind our radio set?

It was too much of a dream for me to be an engineer one day, because all I wanted then was to be able just to pass my Senior Cambridge to become either a teacher or a clerk to earn some money. 

How was it possible to become an engineer one day by shaking some loose wires, I asked myself?

My head swelled and swelled with such pride for days.

(Added by Dr. Lim later in a WhatsApp message to the blogger: “Not only my head swelled up with pride instantly but I went somersaulting around the house for many days, and stood on my head for half an hour everyday for two weeks or more that I would be an engineer one day when I only wanted to be a clerk or a school teacher if I can pass my Form 5 Senior Cambridge.

My parents wanted to send me to see a doctor about my abnormal behaviour.”)

I am afraid I cannot continue anymore.  I need to stop here as it is approaching 800 words as my limit. 

I truly like to tell, tell and tell many stories, and about my admiration for all the stupendous feats of engineering which to me are some of the Wonders of the World. 

But I need to abruptly stop here.

Thank you for having me.

Lim Ju Boo

(901 words)

The blogger’s note:

Ir. Dr. Wang Hong Kok

On May 22, 2020, Ir. Dr. Wang Hong Kok, the IEM Chairman of Standing Committee on Information & Publications cum Chief Editor of the Bulletin Editorial Board, after reading my blog-posting of Dr. JB Lim’s write-up regarding Covid-19 (see: https://taionn.blogspot.com/2020/05/dr-jb-lims-challenging-questions-on.html) that I shared with him, approached me to invite Dr. Lim to contribute an article of 800 words relating to Covid-19 for the August 2020 issue of IEM monthly “JURUTERA” bulletin.

Ir. Dr. Wang initially proposed two titles as follows:

1.  Coping with covid-19 pandemic: A Malaysian doctor’s perspective

2.  The origin of Covid-19 virus - The myth

He later told me that, “The audience is not engineers only, it can include any working person or the boss of a company.  Maybe the victims should consider short-term challenges and long-term challenges to tie over this monstrous pandemic”.  He subsequently suggested, “Leave it to Dr. Lim.  Under 800 words. Include a photo and a brief biodata.”

I have duly transmitted all the above messages word-for-word to Dr. Lim for his attention and reference in contributing an essay to IEM.