Saat Mahathir meluahkan cinta kepada Hasmah

Seventy-one years after Dr Mahathir Mohamad confessed his love for Dr Hasmah Ali through a game of Scrabble, their family has brought that moment back to life this year. The sentiment remains the same despite the changing times. Located atop a table at Merdeka Grill in Kuala Lumpur, a Scrabble board features three words that have stood the test of time for 71 years: I LOVE YOU.

Mahathir slightly squinted while viewing the arrangement of letters. Surrounding him were a dessert platter, pastries, city lights, and family. It was a reenactment, but not just any ordinary family game. Designed by his grandchildren to bring back something Mahathir's father once did for his mother, Dr Hasmah Mohamad Ali, on May 23, 1955.

The original version was much shorter. According to their children, Mokhzani Mahathir, 23 April is the date they consider as the beginning of their love story. It meant so much to them that they kept celebrating it for years, even more than their anniversary. However, there was a problem in 1955. Mahathir was too excited to say those words.

So, he wrote them down. The children shared this after Hasmah passed away at the age of 100, adding an intensely personal side to the love story that has been told by the Malaysian people in various versions for years. A young medical student who would someday speak before the parliament and the president might not be able to express his feelings to the woman he loved.

Scrabble gave him another way. He arranged the letters and let the game convey his message. It sounded almost archaic now, which might be what makes it so captivating. Seventy-one years later, Mokhzani's children decided to bring back that moment for their father and mother at Merdeka Grill, Park Hyatt Kuala Lumpur inside the Merdeka 118 tower.

Pictures capture Mahathir at the table, his hand close to the Scrabble board, while another shows the message in full: I LOVE YOU. The setting is more luxurious than the original atmosphere, but Mokhzani said the important thing remains the same. His father is still too excited to say it aloud. "Maybe that's why we're there," he said.

"That's the old way of doing things." That tiny detail is extraordinary to emerge after Hasmah's passing, as it reveals a personal side to a public story that has been told and retold countless times. They met in 1947 when they were medical students at King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore. Mahathir remembers how he competed with five other young men to help carry Hasmah's books.

When Hasmah later faced difficulties in an exam, she offered to tutor him for free. Eventually, he told Hasmah that he loved her. Several decades later, she remembered that it was the most romantic thing she had ever done. They married in 1956 and spent the following 70 years building a family, pursuing medical careers, and navigating public scrutiny.

They also argued. Hasmah once warned that after their disagreements, they would only leave the restaurant. Mahathir later characterized compromise as a key to a lasting marriage: accepting that the person you love may not always change. The Scrabble story might explain something else about them. Although they lived under public scrutiny for decades, the most meaningful seconds of their lives were theirs alone. April 23 marked one of those moments.