Recalling the visit of a lifetime
THE unexpected news of the passing of Stephen Hawking was a shock to us.
In 1994 when Dr Augustine Ong, president of the Malaysian Invention and Design Society (MINDS), was conferred the PSM (making him a Tan Sri), we established the Tan Sri Augustine Ong Fellowship Trust to provide fellowships and conduct lectures by leading scientists of Nobel Prize repute.
We wanted to start with a “Big Bang”. When Hawking’s name was proposed as the first Fellow, there was a lot of scepticism – the man was wheelchair-bound, physically incapacitated and would not be able to make the long journey to Malaysia!
With the help of the then director of the British Council, I called Hawking who was in Cambridge University. The response was positive. Hawking had always wanted to visit Malaysia as he had heard glowing reports about the country from his Ipoh-born Malaysian Chinese nurse. There was just the question of getting relevant authorisation from – and a fee of £10,000 for – Cambridge University.
We were thrilled that this great physicist had agreed to come. With financial assistance from the public and MAS providing return firstclass air tickets for Hawking and his then wife Elaine Mason, we planned for the “Big Bang” Lecture.
Three days before he was due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur, we received information that Umno Youth was going to demonstrate and prevent Hawking from coming into the city. Their reason? Perceived negative views of Hawking on the existence of God!
We approached the then prime minister and Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who happened to be the patron of MINDS. Dr Mahathir assured us that there would be no demonstration and encouraged us to go ahead with the preparations. He also wanted to meet Hawking, who arrived in September 1994.
Hawking’s first engagement was with three Malaysian Lou Gherig and motor neuron sufferers in a meeting room in Istana Hotel, Kuala Lumpur where he was accommodated. In an hour-long session, he showed his humane side. He counselled them to be courageous and fight the disease as he was doing. He encouraged them in his metallic voice to “look at me, I was given less than two years to live 25 years ago. I keep alive by keeping my mind alive!”
Hawking later paid a courtesy call on Dr Mahathir.
On Sept 16, 1994, Hawking delivered his public lecture titled Life in the Universe in the Merdeka Hall of PWTC. There was a record attendance of nearly 5,000 people. The hall had a capacity of 3,000 and the spillover crowd in the foyer had to be content with watching him on CCTV.
He arrived 20 minutes late for the lecture, and when he did, he “danced” his way onto the stage in his special wheelchair. It was an enthralling lecture delivered in simple language on the origin of the universe and was easily understood by the layperson.
The next day, he gave a more technical lecture at the National Planetarium arranged by Dr Mazlan Othman. Dr Mahathir was present at this lecture.
During a farewell dinner at Carcosa, Hawking was very happy and “danced” – yes, he deftly manoeuvred his wheelchair and danced, first with Elaine and then with whoever wanted to dance with him! He was a very happy man as was evident by the glint in his eyes.
After Hawking, we had Dr James Watson lecture on the Human Genome Project in 1996. Since then, the Tan Sri Augustine Ong Fellowship Trust has been unsuccessfully looking for speakers of similar calibre.
Three years ago, I went to Cambridge to invite Hawking for a second visit to Malaysia. I was informed that he was too ill to travel and would not be able to make the long journey.
When I saw video clips of him “swimming” in space in a simulator, getting ready to go into space, we tried again to invite him.
It was in that situation we received the sad news of his sudden demise.