SINGAPORE – A Bruneian survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima died Monday at his home in Brunei, his son said Wednesday. He was 92.
Mohammed Yusuf Abdul Rahim died in his sleep, his son Yura Kesteria, a businessman, said.
Rahim was the first Bruneian to be conferred an honorary doctorate from Hiroshima University for his role in promoting peace and closer ties between Japan and Brunei.
The Brunei Times reported Tuesday that in 1939, he underwent training at a teachers’ college in Malaysia, and after the Japanese invasion in 1941 was sent to learn Japanese in Sarawak. Two years later, he took an advanced Japanese course at a school in Tokyo and furthered his studies at the Hiroshima University of Literature and Science.
He was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, First Class, in 1985 by the Japanese government.
Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah attended a prayer service at his house before he was buried on Monday.
He is survived by eight children, 38 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren.
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