PUTRAJAYA, March 17 (Bernama) - Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said that he could not possibly mistake Benjamin Henry Sheares for somebody else as the former Singapore president was his teacher.
"I met Mr Sheares because he was my teacher. It was a friendly visit but it was not when I went to see prime minister (Lee Kuan Yew) on my first visit," he said when asked to clarify the meeting with Sheares by a foreign journalist.
The journalist said newspaper records showed that Sheares had died at the time and that he actually met then president Devan Nair at a luncheon.
The fact checking arose when the meeting with Sheares was mentioned in the book entitled 'A Doctor in The House: The Memoirs of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad."
Facts or more accurately "memories" of Dr Mahathir continued to be disputed as it mentioned of a cold reception during his visit to Singapore when he just became prime minister.
Instead the journalist said his record showed that Lee himself welcomed Dr Mahathir at the airport and was not received by a protocol officer and that Lee only appeared after 15 minutes.
"Well the first part (of the chapter) was about my meeting with Lee Kuan Yew and the second part was about the meeting (with Sheares). It was not on the same day or during the same visit.
"Definitely, I met Mr Sheares. I went with my wife and she can confirm whether it was true or not."
Asked whether he went to see Sheares after the first visit, Dr Mahathir said, "I can't specify little things like that. People do forget things. I can't remember exactly what I did on 21st May 1931, can you?"
The journalist answered "I was not born yet."
"You were not born yet? At least you remember you were not born," he replied.
Dr Mahathir was met after launching Emkay Group's Bangunan Lestari in Cyberjaya near here yesterday.